Here's a quick tip to help you overcome procrastination.  It really works if you give it a chance, but there's a catch. You have to write in a notebook, or keep a continuous doc or series of docs somewhere. If you're a poet who likes to really write on the fly, like without any schedule, tools, or method, this may not work so well.

For me, getting started is always the toughest part of writing. Whether I'm writing a poetry or prose, it's writing the first line or sentence that holds me up. There are various well-known tricks to get around this, such as starting off your work day by editing rather than writing, "free writing" in a journal or some other platform, and -- everyone's favorite -- guzzling gallons of strong coffee.

But I've found, for poetry, what works best is just leaving a "hanging title." This means, when I finish a poem in my journal, I sometimes jot down a title for the next poem. I just dream up a cool title, note it down, then start my next writing session by filling in the blank part. That is -- the poem!

Even if you only wind up with a few lines for a particular "hanging" title, this little trick will get you writing quickly each day.

A couple caveats:

1) It's not usually best to jot down multiple titles. If you do that, you'll overwhelm yourself even if you don't think you're doing so and kill the spirit of the whole thing. That said, sometimes, you get a lot of ideas for titles, so what are you going to do? 

2) If the poem starts coming right there as you're jotting down the title -- if you hear a first line or something -- go for it. If not, refrain  from jotting down too many notes etc. Just get the title down and let the Muses work on the poem when you're not looking.

3) Don't write down a title unless you feel a spark. If you start writing "Cat Poem 55," "Cat Poem 56," etc., the tip probably  won't work as well.

That's about it. As always, your mileage is sure to vary. If you're the kind of poet who comes up with titles last, you may not like this technique. I don't use it every day, but I've found it really works to get me going in some  cases, and it's resulted in a quite a few good poems.   

Tally
Poems Written: 309
Submissions: 51
Rejections:  20 (13 tiered)  
Acceptances: 0
Poem written today: "Talk Candle"  

Should you ever just give up on a poem?

Some poems come out almost fully formed, just perfect straight out of the fire, like a gift from  from the gods. Others have to be wrangled, sawed, sanded, polished and, in some cases, given a full body-transplant. What makes it worse is, a poem can be this close to brilliance and then it takes months and sometimes years to actually get it right. 

So you have a decision to make as a poet. Luckily, you get the chance to make the decision over and over. Basically, what you have to decide with each poem is:  how much can revision help? Usually the answer is: a lot. Even if you only make small changes or a small change to a given poem, the results can be dramatic.

There are times, though, when you just have to let go.

Some poems just fail.

Unfortunately, there's no rule when it comes to making this judgment call. And it's liable to be different, in any case, for each poem. Given, these vagaries, here's a few points that I've found helpful over the years:

• It's way easier, like 200% easier, to revise a poem you haven't looked at in a while. This is hard to do because we all get attached to and exacted about our latest work, but this is the single most effective revision strategy I know. 
• Making revisions after you've published or posted the poem is permissible but it looks really bad and you can avoid it by simply following the first point above.
• Sometimes the needed revision takes your poem in a surprising direction, maybe even away from what you originally intended.  Just let it happen. 
• It's much more common to need to take things out of a draft than add them.
• Revision is fun and rewarding if you can accept it as part of the process.
• If you've tried a few times to revise a poem and it's not going anywhere, set it aside. You don't have to throw it away, just use it to harvest lines and words and ideas for other poems and other revisions. It's legal to steal from yourself.

​I also have a thought on not revising or refusing to revise your poems: that's why your poems aren't working for anyone else but you.

So do your poems a favor and shine them as best you can.

If you hate revising and polishing, consider two options (best used together!):

1) Have me do it for you! Click the "Poem Polisher" button below. I've helped lots of poets.
2) Use my 7 Secrets of Poetry pdf as a guide for revision.

Tally
Poems Written: 307
Submissions: 51
Rejections:  20 (13 tiered)  
Acceptances: 0
Poem written today: "Street Steel"   

 I want you to consider two things right now: plane crashes and poetry. 

Some of us might think it would be a grand gesture to write one last poem on a plunging plane -- moments before death.  

Some of us might think it would be cool if we could write a poem  that  predicted  the future. 

Lee Campbell may have come close to do doing both.

On February 25th,1989, United Airlines flight 811 experienced and emergency when a cargo door blew open, ripping a hole in its fuselage that sucked nine passengers out into the sky above the Pacific ocean.  A four minute fall to the sea waited for all of them, including the twenty-four-year-old Campbell. 

Of course it goes without saying that Campbell and the others all plunged to their deaths.  Many questions surrounded the disaster; Campbell's family remained persistent in trying to find answers. 

 One eerily interesting thing  that Campbell's parents found after their son's death  was the following poem that he'd written not long before the disaster:

`Was That Me?''
​
Waves hypnotizing me with green, beckoning fingers
A dream of space flight weightlessness
Air rushes past to fill a vacuum,
Progressive holes which must be filled

That's all there is to the poem, unfortunately.   However this little poem  says a lot, does it not?  What I'd like you to do is simply imagine that the poem was written by someone who didn't die in a plane crash. 

Is it still an interesting poem ?   

What do you make of the title ?

I have my own  thoughts as always, but for now, I'll simply say that this little fragment-poem can teach us all a lot -- it's up to us  to extract all we can from it and from Campbell's unfortunate death.

You might say that any poem can teach us a lot -- and that's true, but I still think this one's special.  I hope you do too.  Please leave a comment or send me an email or a message to let me know how you feel about it. 

Also if you'd like a set of fresh eyes for your poetic endeavors, I offer a poem polishing service. I think you'll be happy with the results, so check it out my clicking the link below. 

 You can also order my Seven Secrets of Poetry PDF by clicking the button below.

Read Lee's full story by clicking on the plane crash picture above. 

A lot of poets, including myself, use secret weapons in their poems. These are better than tips and secrets; they're like super powerful, but largely unseen, strategies to really make a poem sing.

You can do it, too, but you won't have a lot of luck getting other poets to tell you their super secret weapons. You'll see the results when you read their work, count their readers, and find their poems being published, winning contest, awards and so forth.

In today's post I'm going to give you two really powerful secret weapons that many successful poets use, but pretty much don't broadcast. 

Here we go.

Poetry Secret Weapon #1:  Find a first-reader that honestly responds. It can be anyone. It doesn't have to be another writer. It doesn't have to be the same person every time; in fact it's better if it's not. Just find any person that you can bounce your first draft off of and really listen to their reaction. Don't assume you're right. If they offer an edit, or a line, or even a new title seriously consider their input. 

Poetry Secret Weapon #2:  Find an editor. Get someone to fine-tune your poems. It's virtually impossible to do it yourself. You can spend months trying to spot tiny flaws and imperfections, or you can find someone who's willing to look over your poems and see all the things you're bound to miss.  Again, it doesn't have to be the same person each time, but do yourself a favor and find one or more people willing to serve as extra eyes before you release your work to the world.

Don't use the same person as your first-reader and editor. if possible, get more than one of each.

These two tools are basically what takes place in a poetry workshop or writer's group. For many of us, this isn't an option for whatever reason, but we should still find ways to get feedback, editing, and polishing for our work.

As it happens, I offer services form interested poets. Consider getting feedback, or a quick polish (or both) through one of the buttons below.

Or simply send an inquiry to pitchblackpoet@yahoo.com

I've also posted a lot of poetry tips, ideas, and exclusive access to my own poems over at my Patreon page. There's also unique pictures and  access to my flash-fiction and occult writings. Please help me out by supporting me at Patreon!!! 

​ Thanks so much!! 
​@BlackstonDan

In my last post I mentioned some reasons why I think it's still a good idea for poets to submit poems for publication. In this post, I'm going to list three big perils of publishing. Of course, there are more than three!  But these will get us started.

1) Long response times. It's worse for poetry than in any other sector. I know because I submit (or have submitted) everything from flash fiction to novels. Go back and read that first sentence again. Underline it. Bold it. I can't overstate this. I've waited years to hear from journals. It's not unusual to wait six to eight months just to get a form letter. In fact, this is what happens most of the time for most people who submit.

2) Rejections.  No  matter how talented you are, or how thorough, expect to get far more rejections than acceptances. Also, don't try to read anything into your rejections. We all get the same notices. If an editor specifically requests you to send again, that means something, but if it's a generic "feel free to try again" that's not the same thing. You can increase your chances by sending your best, most fully polished poems, and targeting them to the right places.

3)  Ambivalence. It can be tough to  fight your way through long response times, grueling competition, and long lead times before publication only to find out no-one really cares that your poem's in a journal. How many people do you know who've even read a single poetry journal in their lives? You may find that even your closest friends and family just can't work up much excitement for your triumph. It's not like you won a sports trophy or got a bunch of money.

With these perils in mind, it's still definitely worth your time and energy to submit your poems. I'll get back to talking about why in a future post. 

And remember: the best way to avoid rejection is to send your best, fully polished work to journals you want to publish in with a simple, short cover letter (or email).

If you'd like some feedback on your poems, or want to get an edge in submitting to publications or contests, consider getting feedback, or a quick polish (or both) through one of the buttons below.

Or simply send an inquiry to pitchblackpoet@yahoo.com

I've also posted a lot of poetry tips, ideas, and exclusive access to my own poems over at my Patreon page. There's also unique pictures and  access to my flash-fiction and occult writings. Please help me out by supporting me at Patreon!!! 

​ Thanks so much!! 
​@BlackstonDan

Somebody asked me the other day if I thought there was really any point to trying to get your poems published. This is a good question, particularly nowadays when you can just upload anything you want to social media. 

I think there's a point to trying to publish your poems. In fact, several points. Here's some of them:

• Published poems will be seen by people outside of your social media bubble.
• Published poems are edited. Many poems that are posted up online have grammatical errors, punctuation errors, and other issues that make them look a bit sloppy.  It's essential to get more than one set of eyes on a  poem before you release it to the public.
• Published poems go out to a subscriber base that wants poetry.
• Published poems appear alongside other notable works and poets.
• Published poems pass through an intense process of competition. This process can be very good for a working poet who wants to hone their craft and get better.
• Published poems are eligible for awards like the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net awards.
• Published poems are sometimes paid for. That's right, you can make money for writing poetry. 
• Published poems are sometimes still put out in print journals. It's is a great feeling to hold a paper journal in your hands that contains your poetry and bio.

There are other reasons, but this should do for now. My advice is: submit your poems for publication! But be prepared for long response times and and unavoidable rejections. 

The best way to avoid rejection is to send your best, fully polished work to journals you want to publish in with a simple, short cover letter (or email).

If you'd like some feedback on your poems, or want to get an edge in submitting to publications or contests, consider getting feedback, or a quick polish (or both) through one of the buttons below.

Or simply send an inquiry to pitchblackpoet@yahoo.com

I've also posted a lot of poetry tips, ideas, and exclusive access to my own poems over at my Patreon page. There's also unique pictures and  access to my flash-fiction and occult writings. Please help me out by supporting me at Patreon!!! 

​ Thanks so much!!