I had another rejection this morning. That’s two this month, though as it was a month of pushing the boundaries it’s not a surprise. I had four earlier in the year (three of which were actually competition entries). Over the years I have not had much luck with competitions – I’ve been commended twice, which is better than nothing, but not great when you consider the cost of entry fees. As I said before, I have learned to cope with rejection over the years. I’m still no farter on with my thinking about the direction to take and the effort to put in.
I know I should be concentrating on writing haiku until I get better at them but I have two problems here. One is that I don’t actually know what “better” is. A lot of haiku I read don’t seem any better than mine, and in many cases feature things which, according to the various “guidelines” shouldn’t be in haiku (remember they very small poems with very large mounts of rules.) An editor i was in correspondence with recently told me that when they started writing haiku they decided which rules they were going to adopt and just kept plugging away. I might do that. Or I might just relegate haiku to something I do to fill in time on a slow month.
The other problem is that I like being published (though it’s not the driving force it used to be) and I’m lazy. I may as well write what I enjoy and what I’m good at. If I were being paid for poetry that’s definitely what I would do.
However, I don’t need to make a decision yet.
This morning I printed out four poems which I am sending to a magazine that sticks to the old-fashioned ways, including submissions by post. After printing and before sending off, I looked at them and realised the top one was a long way from “finished”. The second one was so bad it immediately provoked me into making notes on it. I didn’t follow up, as I had to get to work, but it was an interesting lesson. I suspect that reading words printed on paper, instead of on a screen, triggers a new set of critical thoughts. Tomorrow I will set to revising. I may have to start printing everything out in future.
Now it’s time to get some work done and go to bed. I have a blood test at 7am so I need to get some sleep.
My Orange Parker Pen
I think that you are probably quite right about the different reactions to digital and written words. Things that can seem quite lively on the screen may look more pedestrian in cold print.
Because I read these in reverse order I know you got up in good time
That’s how I once found out you were better before I knew you were ill. 🙂 Reverse reading can be an interesting technique.
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Overall it sounds like you are still doing well with acceptances and should not despair! You wrote, “An editor I was in correspondence with recently told me that when they started writing haiku they decided which rules they were going to adopt and just kept plugging away.” That sounds like excellent advice to me.
Yes, it is good advice. I’m a long way from despair Lavinia, I’m hardly even mildly disappointed at the moment and a few more acceptances will soon fix that. 🙂
I have used the rejections in a positive manner, as my next post will show.