Poetry Updates: Submissions and Swaps

This week, I submitted 8 poems to two different publications. Four went to Rattle, a publication of adult poetry, and four went to High Five, a Highlights publication for children aged 2-6.

Through this submission process, I realized that I might be more suited to writing adult-themed poetry. There were fewer restrictions on the Rattle submissions than the Highlights submissions.

If you consider child development, this makes sense. Young children have a smaller vocabulary, and while imaginative, have not yet developed abstract thought. Often, I’ve found that kidlit genre publications have a limited page space. This becomes evident in their limiting word counts or line counts for the poems.

I had to alter one of my poems, which was a story in verse from 177 words to 160 words. This was not difficult, but since it was in verse, I had to make sure the story retained both its meaning, cadence, and rhyme scheme.

Another thing I realized is that what one thinks might be a good picture book idea might be better told in a poem. I recently finished a first draft of a picture book. It is 473 words long. The language is simple but not too simple – there is room in the story for a child’s vocabulary to be stretched. As a person who loves words, this is essential for me to offer in any work I pursue.

My poem (on the same topic as the picture book) is more wonder-filled and vibrant. But told as a picture book, it loses those qualities and becomes boring. I will continue to work on both to see if I can use some of the ideas and imagery I produced for the poem in the picture book.

Lastly, I am participating in a Summer Poetry Swap with some Poetry Friday friends. I’ve done this for the last few summers and love the expectant waiting for a snail mail package with a poem enclosed.

This year, I am trying hard to personalize the poems I send to my assigned recipients. I noted that most try to do this, and I wanted to as well. So both of the swaps that I’ve sent out have included a poem written about the person I’m sending to. In addition, I’ve been getting practice by painting watercolors to send along with the poems that augment the theme of what I’ve written.

It’s been fun and good practice for both my writing and painting.

Lastly, if you did not see my post from yesterday, I am ramping up my writing on WordPress and letting the pressure of Medium go right now. While it’s been nice to be paid for my Medium writing, the site has changed, and I’m now struggling to earn from my pieces – usually it’s not more than a few cents. This has been demotivating, so I am trying to let it go.

However, Medium pays for “evergreen” articles – ones that have a lasting theme or interest. Therefore, I’ll leave my pay there open, I just won’t concentrate on it as much. I encourage you to subscribe to this blog to keep up with my thoughts and activities. Thanks!