Don't forget that all this month I have giveaways for books and other goodies taking place to celebrate the upcoming publication of my second Skeet Bannion novel, Every Broken Trust, on May 7. And if you're near the Kansas City area, join me and an interesting crowd of friends for the official launch at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 10, at Mysteryscape, 7309 W 80th St., Overland Park, KS.
Learning the Art and Craft of Poetry (Part Two)
You have been doing your due diligence with careful reading as
a writer of the work of others. You have gained a number of techniques and
craft elements that work with your individual voice and vision. You have
learned a number of mistakes to watch for as you reread and revise your work.
And you’re going to keep doing this. Now it’s time to add another step.
This is the moment when conferences and workshops can be
useful, now that you’ve laid a solid foundation. A good workshop can offer you
the feedback and support of a group of aspiring writers. You may even make
friends for life with one or more of them. In fact, that’s one of the things
workshops and conferences are most useful for—the contacts and connections to
the larger literary world you can make at them.
Big Secret: it’s possible to make similar contacts and
connections without leaving home—unless you live in a rural area or very small
town. (In that case, you definitely want to start saving money to go to one of
the many writing conferences around the country.)
Most cities and many medium-sized towns have poetry readings
and book signings, if only at local bookstores or libraries or colleges. Often
it’s simply a matter of finding out what, where, and when. These are usually
not well-publicized to the general public. If you do some detective work,
though, you can learn about where they take place and when and who is coming.
Usually you will find a mix of locals and poets from elsewhere in the country,
some with national reputations. These readings may be free or ask just a
nominal admission fee.
Attend these readings and book signings. Buy the book
(remember Part One?). Have it signed. Talk to the poet before and after the
reading, at the signing. If very few attend—a common phenomenon—stay with the
poet chatting. (You will be remembered and loved for this act of charity!) Ask questions
of the poet if you’re not holding up a long line, and if there is a long line,
talk to the other local poetry lovers and writers in it. For the price of a
book of poetry, you will get information and make contacts that will be useful
in your life as a poet.
Oh. You couldn’t do that. You’re shy. Well, how will you do
it at your expensive conference or workshop then? Look at this as important
practice. A life in poetry is not that of an ascetic writing in an attic
isolated from the world. No one will seek you out and beg to publish your work,
not even if you sew them into little packets—that only worked once for an
extraordinary person with a sister dedicated to her posthumous success. You
want to have readings of your own, don’t you? And if you do, you want people to
come to them, don’t you? Pay your dues now to support a literary community so
there will be one when your time comes.
Start with online groups and listservs, if you’re shy. You
can even find internet classes and workshops. You can make good friends with
similar interests in online communities. You will hear about calls for
submissions on many of them. These are chances to publish in special issues of
journals or in anthologies that you may well otherwise never know about. Then
branch out into the live world. Go to a reading. Force yourself to introduce
yourself to one person there. Meet the poet. Buy the book and get it signed. Go
home. See! You survived, and now you know two more people in the world of
poetry.
And there you have it. Buy poetry, both books and literary
journals. Read like a writer with pencil in hand, learning from the poet’s
techniques and mistakes. Practice. Practice. Practice. Take part in all kinds
of online, local, and national literary communities. Support other writers as
you hope one day to be supported. And then start the wheel all over—read,
practice, reach out and support; read, practice, reach out and support. It’s a
way of life, sometimes frustrating, sometimes exhilarating, but a continuous
cycle.
It’s not your business to worry about where you fall on the
Majah, Minah, Mediocah hierarchy. Not that any of us can really help caring
about things like reputations, of course. We can’t allow it to become important
to us, though. Worrying what influential others will think of your work will
cramp your writing and your own individual voice, which is really all any of us
have to offer the world in the end. Your business is to read, write, find
others who can teach or help you and whom you can teach or help—and keep on
doing it to the best of your ability. Focus on the work. In the end, it’s
always the best of us.
Have a superb weekend!
