Tuesday, January 6, 2009

welcome, 2009

So at the end of each year, I write down what I've done during the past year and ideas of things for the upcoming year. In 2008, I did this blog -- and RePoWriMo itself, of course -- got some poems published, got some rejected, and wrote the first draft of a historical novel during NaNoWriMo. Not too bad.

I also got some poems rejected that I'd sent out TWO YEARS AGO and had pretty much written off anyway. And I got a poem rejected from an online journal that had already published it about six months previously. I wrote back, pointing this out, and got a muttered e-mail about "different editors." Which is very true, and important to keep in mind if you're sending your work out -- rejection doesn't necessarily mean your poem is bad, sometimes it just means it's not what the editor wants just then, or they're in a rotten mood and don't like anything. A poet I took a workshop with said that he doesn't send his poems out until he's confident enough in them that a rejection won't have him second-guessing his work.

So, happy and productive writing in 2009! Hope to see you in April for a new year of refrigerator poetry madness.