Blog

5 Tips for Submitting to Literary Magazines

Tips
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest "...publishing is a practice that creates a piece of the writer's identity... it also proves to be validating."  - dimitrireyespoet.com Many moons ago when I started calling myself "poet" I learned that I would have to "walk the walk" in order to do so. Doing this meant that I had to also be able to "talk the talk." In other words, I had to develop the language to be the poet, and the way one develops the language is solely through participation. As I mention in many of my practices, one needs to be the active poet to find their own success as a writer and to be clear, success doesn't mean awards and status (although that'd be nice!) but success is ultimately measured by how happy…
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Poetry Styles You Already Write In

Exercises, Writing Process
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest "What differs between prose and poetry is the way in which the poem sings. It’ll feel like a poem. That means there will be something underneath the narrative."  - dimitrireyespoet.com If you’ve written any poem, chances are you’ve either “written into” or “wrote aside” one of these 5 types of poems below. When I started being a student of poetry I began to realize that though I didn’t know what I was necessarily doing, whatever I was writing was a poem that fit into a certain framework. This blog is a confidence booster for anyone who has written at least a few poems. And as a reminder, as long as you tell yourself that you are a writer and you practice writing, you’ll always be improving. Appreciate your…
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Revising Poetry: The Purpose Triangle

Tips, Writing Process
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest "If you’ve considered the general purpose, audience’s purpose, and the speaker’s purpose, I promise you that your poem will immediately become cohesive. You may even want to try this hack with a poem you are stuck on."  - dimitrireyespoet.com A lot of the writing process could and should be with revising and editing. These are the stages where your poem can change dramatically and truly become something cohesive. There are many ways in which people decide to edit and while some take the more natural approach poem to poem, some form a methodology— steps to the editing process that the poet does poem to poem. Whether you are a Type A or Type B personality, the editing should always revolve around the purpose of your poem. Therefore,…
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5 Reasons to Title a Poem

Tips, Writing Process
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest "One can be tooling over the mechanics of a great poem then throw it away with a generic or safe title... the title is another way to add a certain depth and complexity to the piece. It can be the bearings for your readers or it can lead them astray."  - dimitrireyespoet.com Titles are the first impression of poems because this is usually what jumps out at your readers. For one, the title usually looks different in size or line weight. It is also most likely on it’s own line, creating its own distance from the rest of the poem. Even so, with beginner poets, titles can be one of the most overlooked things in the poem. One can be tooling over the mechanics of a…
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6 Ways to Share your Poetry with an Audience

Professionalism
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest "...you should ask yourself what your poetry serves. Being aware of the spaces you take up when you are penning poems gives you an idea of just what you have to offer in other spheres besides literature."  - dimitrireyespoet.com Just yesterday I ran into an older conversation while finding pictures on facebook for the YouTube video that compliments this blog and it was on the topic of book sales. A long time New Jersey poet, and recent compatriot expressed that he was on his sixth published book he’d only sold a total of 30 copies throughout this extensive writing period. Now this pains me as an artist, especially when I know how much of ourselves go into our work— and I’m not even talking about our experiences…
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Are You Ready for an MFA?

Professionalism
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest Save and print this checklist for your use! Getting into an MFA program gives one an excellent opportunity to study their craft, learn about themselves as a writer, make excellent connections, and put a great accolade under their belt. Sometimes there are even perks like scholarships, being able to attend a program for free, and gaining useful experiences as an assistant or lecturer. With an MFA being an excellent opportunity, it remains highly competitive and upon acceptance, the 2-3 years of work is very strenuous and time consuming. Here are 15 questions to ask yourself when applying to an MFA program. Are you ready to write daily? Are you ready to have fresh material to hand in every week? Are you ready to read multiple books…
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Be The Speaker, Not The Writer

Tips, Writing Process
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest "The entity in the poem solely exists on the page and through performance. It can contain pieces of us or others in our lives, but “the speaker” is an interpretation.."  - dimitrireyespoet.com A common mistake I find in writing communities (even those that have been practicing for awhile) is when people talk about the poem and they address the voice in the poem as “the poet” or “the writer.” This is to be avoided. The entity voicing their observations are having thoughts that are obviously created by the writer, but the one who pens the poem also has the poetic license to create and change the story. Therefore analyzing the poem as if the character is speaking solely about themselves is a false analysis and isn’t the…
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2 Poetry Hacks to Make Your Words Better

Tips, Writing Process
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest "The most pleasurable moments in verse are when emotions and occurrences calculate themselves on the basis of how we can stretch a description."  - dimitrireyespoet.comSo you’ve written your poem and now is the time to reread it. There’s work to do, but you know the heart of the poem is in there, somewhere.You edit your work line by line, checking for grammar mistakes, while also considering your overall tone, metaphor, and analogy. Lines are getting added in while phrases are getting cut out, and finally you notice something— you’ve just used a particular word 3 times in 3 lines! This can be a frustrating experience with writers, as we find ourselves toying over the exact words to represent our art and the repetition of certain words can…
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Poetry Book Haul- May 2019

Uncategorized
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest All of what I said in my posting was true! Books are just NOT in my financial plan most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I do wish I could have floor to ceiling shelves filled to the brim with beautiful books. But finances, space, other projects, and a slow reading speed also play part in my book purchases. But alas, as I mentioned, there are other ways one can obtain books for free or at a discounted price.Two of the featured books in this blog are from journals I’ve been published in. I’ve acquired these by being a contributor to the journal, meaning they accepted one of my poems for publication. This is called getting a contributors copy. Two of these books were gifted…
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3 Types of Writer’s Workshops

Professionalism, Uncategorized
Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest Attending a writer’s workshop is just one of many ways to become a better writer. If you don’t only read poetry, but you read about the poets, you’ll soon realize that there are both poets that are reclusive, and have been lucky enough to create and find success in singularity, and that there are others who found like-minded creators in their communities. The latter found success via the company that they kept. Whether you fit into one category or the other, I recommend the writer’s workshop to everyone so much so, that I have an entirely different blog highlighting 6 Reasons YOU NEED TO ATTEND a Poetry Workshop. Please click on that blog to find a helpful infographic that compliments the information. You can also watch…
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