my thoughts on this …

by Sharik

Posted to Indies on 2004-03-04 12:08:00

Parent message is 613511
Hey, Andeh,

My thinking is this, which is very much the opposite of what you would do if you are writing articles instead of poetry:

Write what you like in the style that you like and that is ‘yours,’ and, simultaneous with that, create a list of magazine/places that you like where you would be happy to see your work appear.

Don’t completely go by what has appeared in the magazines you like. Sometimes they will say “we are looking for fresh, and new arty stuff” because they are trying to get away from the stale stuff, or too-much-the-same stuff, they have been posting/publishing.

Don’t be shy about submiting to places where you think the chance is small that they will post/publish your work. Submit something to The Atlantic Monthly every once in a while! You should figure that if less than half your stuff is rejected then you need to upgrade the places you submit to.

Quality will usually trump style. So make it GOOD. Make every word the right one. Say something new and challenge the same-old, same-old style ditch that some good magazines fall into. Remember that if you work is completely wrong for a magazine, they will reject you quickly, which is good. Much better to be rejected fast than to have your stuff in the hopper for a long and then be rejected.

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