I have to say, Millicent, that I pretty much agree with you, despite having
little experience with submissions. a few years back I did make it a habit
to send submissions here & there, even managing to get published in two
little british journals, but pretty soon I grew tired of all the different
guidelines, themes, styles, preferences &c., because every magazine seemed
to vary wildly from the other. some encouraged submissions of poetry, prose
& essays practically without length limitations, while others wanted only
prose or claimed to only occasionally publish poems, while still others were
plain cryptic about it, either fumblingly or hautily.
I guess I should've taken it all in stride, but at the same time my style of
writing seemed (and still seems) to be written for very different purposes
and with a very different sort of energy, compared with the impeccable,
polished, "well-knit" verse that populated (and still populates) poetry
journals. as though every piece of poetry you submit, let alone that gets
chosen in, has to be pure, crystallized form off of which everything
bounces. that overpolished look has never suited me, because I enjoy poetry
that tends to ramble slightly and that makes connections and webs that
aren't always clean or collected, while obviously having some sense of
poise. if it's too clean, I distrust it, at least while writing myself. I
can't even get into that crystallizing mode.
now maybe I just got the wrong impression or based by opinion on only a
handful of negative-toned experiences, but I haven't submitted anything to
journals since 2007. on the other hand, I've started writing in finnish as
well, and started performing at open mics in both languages, which is
exhilerating and in many ways more rewarding that getting published.
although I do still need more experiences with the latter to be able to say
that.
KS
On 20 October 2010 22:52, Millicent <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I must be getting old now, officially, since I mourn the good old days!
>
> Here's another pet peeve.
>
> In the olden days of poetry submissions, I printed out copies of my poems,
> put them in an envelope with an SASE and a cover letter then mailed them.
> Pretty much the only "guidelines" I checked were dates that the journal
> accepted work and how many poems they wanted (3-4 or 3-5). I also used to
> rotate which journals I subscribed to (limiting myself to five each
> year--for financial reasons). Back in the 90's I even had a spiffy computer
> program that spit out cover letters and tracked submissions for me (all I
> had to do was enter the journal and, once I had submitted there, the address
> and editor info was saved).
>
> Now?
>
> Gosh. Some journals are online, some are print. Some want snail mail
> submissions, while others request email but no attachments, while still
> others WANT attachments (but all poems in one file with a specific name).
> Still more have their own forms or online submission tools. The most
> complicated ask you to create a login and password and fill out a form, then
> create a PDF for each poem as well as a cover letter, then confirm your
> submission via email.
>
> I am sure it will happen some day, but it would be nice if there were
> standards or a central submission tool. Or, heck, even an agreement about
> requirements.
>
>
>
> Millicent
>
|