I’ve been Thinking (unedited)

book, Collating poems, discovery, poetry, Uncategorized, unedited, women writing

I’ve been thinking how discovering one tiny thing, one obvious to anyone who has done it all before, can make a huge difference. Yesterday I had several files of poems (the physical kind, in poly-pockets. I like things physical) lurking, filed by date, 2012 to the present. I submit poems quite frequently, so the published ones are all highlighted so I don’t send them elsewhere; I note down where and when published, because that’s useful. But, now I’m getting a collection together, (it already has a home, so it’s a matter of deciding the order, chucking out or grabbing back others if I realise they don’t work together.)

So, the small but mind blowing  discovery? Collate the poems like a book. Have them face each other, find where they are happy to partner up with another poem. So damn obvious, but what a difference it’s made 🙂

8 thoughts on “I’ve been Thinking (unedited)

  1. You’re so organised! I agree with you about the physical poem. I keep mine on the computer and I don’t yet have a book, but a pocket folder is essential for ordering a reading. I can see it would be even more so for a book.

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  2. When I did readings my poems were all handwritten. I didn’t type up a poem until I first submitted a couple for Best of Manchester Poets. I didn’t have a computer. Filled with Ghosts was a handwritten journal. After I started getting a lot of work published I needed to have a system. I’ve had a couple of computer crashes that have wiped out everything, so I typed up all the handwritten stuff Collating the collection means that is vital 🙂

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  3. Today was good . i think i know what I’m doing now. I’ve been putting off diving in…though usefully I tackled all that technology stuff last week to avoid starting poem sorting 🙂

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