Life as an Artist in Residence
My box of poems to edit - there are currently 34 poems in the box.
It’s day 60 of my residency at Mesa County Public Library, so it’s already over halfway done!
In that time, I’ve edited many poems in my book, (I should have kept track of how many) and it now totals 91 pages. I’ve also written new poems that aren’t in the book yet.
My editing process works like this: I have a manilla folder for each poem, and after I’m done editing a poem, I print the revised version and put it in the folder. Then I put the folder at the back of the box of poems I’m editing. Every day I take a few folders from the front of the box and edit those poems.
When I edit, I read the poem with pen in hand, marking it up, then I make changes on the computer and print the new version. For each poem, I track the date I wrote it and the date of each revision. The edited poems then go to the back of the box so I won’t see them for a few days until they work their way to the front and I can read them fresh. New poems jump into the rotation at the back. When poems are finished and ready to send out for submission to journals, I copy and paste them into my poetry manuscript and then file the folder in my filing cabinet, in alphabetical order. I have two sections in the file cabinet; one for published poems and one for poems seeking a home. This system works great until I forget the name of a poem I’m looking for, because sometimes I edit the titles.
You would think the number of poems in the box would get smaller as I go through this process, but between adding new poems and adding back poems I once thought were finished but later realized need more work, there always seem to be plenty of poems to edit!
A poem I’m editing - I’ve revised it 13 times so far.
During the residency, I have also taken time to submit more poetry. Currently I have ten poems out being considered for publication. Two were recently accepted and are in the process of being published.
I’ve also almost finished a story I’m writing about my granduncle, Wendell Nickerson, who died in World War II.
The first few paragraphs of my story about Wendell Nickerson.
In addition to writing, I’ve taught two workshops so far during the residency; one on how to write your own greeting cards (you can see my example below), and one on how to write a list poem about a color using all of the senses. These were lots of fun! I’ve gotten to meet some interesting people during my workshops and meet and greets, and it’s given me motivation to get my book finished! It’s interesting how the immediate feedback from a complete stranger thumbing through my poetry manuscript or reading my poems on display at the library is so powerful and motivating. It is helping me realize that even though my book is not complete or perfect, the words can still touch people and I need to stop worrying so much about making my book perfect and just get it out into the world.
My last workshop will be April 12th at 6:00 p.m. and we’ll be writing postcard poems, which I’m excited about. I plan to have examples from the Postcard Poem issue of Rattle magazine, from Ted Kooser’s book, Winter morning walks: one hundred postcards to Jim Harrison, and from the Cascadia Poetics Lab’s Poetry Postcard Fest. I hope you join me and try your hand at a postcard poem! Bring your word bag if you have one. If not, you will get one for free at the workshop! Don’t forget, you can also drop by during my meet and greet hours every Tuesday from now until April 18th from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 970West Studio at 5th and Ouray in Grand Junction.
What writing projects are you working on this spring, and what is your editing process?