Putting Work Out There
Must be the new 50-year-old me. But the past three days, I've been a frenzy of deciding to just do it and put some of these poems and prose poems I've been working on for the past half year now! out there. Entered four contests: Meridian at University of Viriginia, Crazyhorse at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, Georgetown Review at Georgetown College in Kentucky (who knew?) and Chelsea, a magazine in NYC. Don't you just love the way those fees wrack up? Quite the cash cow income stream for these small college and university presses. I also sent submission off to two more mags, ones recommended by the teacher in the on-line poetry class--Poet Lore and Southeast Review. And the Greensboro Review since I recently got a rejection note from them with a personal noteo saying they'd like to see more of my work. Those are the ones you are supposed to follow up on, right? I also figured I could do a blind submission to The Grove Review up in Portland just because I've subscribed, seen the locals they are publishing so why the hell not bring my name and work to their attention.
No belaboring, no fretting, no perfectionistic freaking out. Just doing it. Maybe I've finally grown weary of thinking I'm not good enough. Maybe I finally realize there isn't enough time to think that way. Maybe I've seen enough of the stuff out there that sucks and if that's everyone's personal best, then hell, I am as ready as I'm ever going to be. Now to keep writing, keep amassing work that's good enough...one foot in front of the other, showing up every day at the keyboard, the page.
