In a fog of
tiredness staved off by coffee at a Garden Room Writers’ meeting at the end of October, I suggested submitting a piece daily for the month as a
writing challenge.
I
thoroughly enjoyed the Month of May Poetry Challenge and figured that this would be a similarly stimulating thing to try.
I
approached the task with determination, even posted on Twitter to fasten myself
to the commitment and got off to a fine start. (The coffee had kicked in by the time I got home) Over the next day or so,
I
researched new outlets, intending not to rely on magazines or sites that had
taken my work before and organised a planner with deadlines and T&Cs.
I sent
poems out for nine days in a row. After a lapse, I sent out work on three more
occasions. A mere forty percent of what I’d hoped.
Still, I
learned a few things along the way.
I love
Angela Carr for her monthly compilation of submission opportunities.
It is
healthy to probe around the folders and take a fresh look at older work.
I am a
fussy submitter. I will not send out work for the sake of it.
I
discovered some great new places to read and send work; I like the look of the
Lascaux Review, and Jacar Press's One a lot. Leanne O'Sullivan has a beautiful poem in the recent issue.
When you
send out a lot, you get rejected a lot.
There is a
great comfort when rejections come that there is still work out there and with
it the continued hope of success.
I have
always resisted sim subs, and I plan to continue this. Too much organising
required.
Some sites,
for example Riggwelter Press have a very quick
turnaround. I’m not convinced this is a good thing but it was helpful to have
the work available again quickly in the context of this challenge.
It’s definitely
easier to write daily than to submit daily, reassuring to have tested this.
My best
outcome is that work has been accepted by Algebra of Owls, for publication in January and that wee validation, that hit of
encouragement never fails to give me a boost.
