A while ago I resurrected a collection of my poems from the deep recesses of my electronic files. It was a chapbook-sized collection (a small booklet) of poems about wildfires and wildland firefighters. I liked the poems. I had sent them out to several journals and contests over the years, including five poetry contests between 2011 and 2014. One poem from the collection was published, but no contests were won. I paused for a few years, but I really wanted to share those poems. In mid-2022, after yet another unsuccessful contest entry, I gave up and decided to just print the booklet on my home printer, bind them by sewing through the midline with one of my vintage sewing machines, and give them as gifts to family and friends. In preparation, I shared the final draft chapbook with my writers’ group one more time before proceeding with my plan.
My writers’ group people vehemently vetoed my plan. They thought the poems deserved to be formally published, not printed at home. They insisted. I frowned. They insisted some more. I sighed at the idea of a lot more work to find a publisher, but finally agreed with my friends. What’s another year or so in the slow process of getting my poems out there…
I researched more contests and started sending the poems out again. Contests aren’t free; many charge a reading fee. That’s okay, because I have an official writing business now, and can claim the entry fees as losses. I was not optimistic as I sent each contest entry out. A writing teacher long ago said you hardly ever win contests, especially when they offer prize money. Nonetheless, I was determined to give it another try. I would do it for my writers’ group, to honor my support system. Then, when it didn’t work, I would home-print my collection after all and give them away as Christmas presents to family, friends, and my writers’ group.
Guess what happened? Eleven entries and submissions later, I have a publisher. It wasn’t a contest, just a submission to a press that prints poetry books. Ravenna Press in Edmonds, Washington, will be publishing my chapbook, Fire Triangle, in a volume with two other authors’ chapbooks. It will be part of their “Triple Series” and should be published in the Fall of 2023. Learn more about Ravenna Press and the Triple Series here: http://ravennapress.com/books/series/triple-series/.
I’ll share more details later, as I learn more, and as the publishing date gets closer.
In the meantime, thanks to the members of my writers’ group that pushed and prodded and insisted I get off my rear-end and send those poems out again. I am thrilled that my collection of fire poems was selected for publishing, and I’m doubly thrilled that it will be published by a Washington press. The fire poems are set in the Northwest, and it is fitting that the publisher is also in the Northwest.
Of course, I didn’t win any money. I’m pretty sure I won’t get rich writing poetry, essays, and blogs, but I am truly enjoying this writing and publishing adventure. First a humorous memoir published, now a poetry chapbook on the way… and then what next???
Michelle Eames 