How does your work first enter the world? Do you have a social group or writers group that you work ideas and poems with?
I love talking to writers about writing. I love reading writers who talk about writing. This is one of my favorite parts of being on Twitter and getting newsletters like Jami Attenberg’s “Craft Talk.” So, community and talking about writing is a very real and important thing to me. That being said, I’m no longer at a point where I share my work with anyone before submitting it to journals. There is a fragile period when I have to rely on my own intention and self-belief to bring a poem to fruition. I have to trust that I might see value where others might not. I have to know my poem better than any outside reader. So it is not worth risking cold water hitting a poem before it is strong enough to withstand that scrutiny—until its potential has already been realized. Currently, eight poems from my new manuscript are out to several journals and contests, which will be my first gauge. A couple journals have sent positive feedback along with their rejections, which is actually a great sign this early in the process. My hopes are high that some will find a good home soon.
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