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author

I'll start: I've been asking my husband for time in various ways (I'm taking a research trip with my mom this week and going away for a week to write in December). What's harder for me is asking for encouragement because I don't want to admit when I'm struggling. So I've been working on that. I met up with a friend on campus on Thursday, and I'd spent the whole day struggling with book proposal revisions and was just feeling terrible about it. But when my friend asked me how I was, my first impulse was to be like, "great!" but instead I said, "not great, really" and talking about how it was going and getting her encouragement went a long way.

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author

And! I can't personally offer anyone much in the way of money or time, but I do have lots of resources--so if you're looking for info on writing-related things, throw that request in here, too. I'm a bit collector of articles and lists on everything from revising a poetry manuscript to writing residencies you can go to for just a week or a couple days. Let's also use this space to share the knowledge and expertise in this community.

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I have a writing group that meets monthly. At the end of September's session, we all set intentions for the following month to work on or finish before we meet again. Our next meeting is coming soon and it really did help me prioritize my writing over all the other things I could do.

Now I want to ask my partner to help me set times when I can write without guilt. He's super supportive and yet it's difficult to step away sometimes. If we're all in agreement, I won't have any qualms AND he can hold me to it.

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author

ooh yes I love this--especially the different kinds of accountability you're asking for--both a product to show your writing group and making the time to actually get that to happen.

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Oct 3, 2022Liked by Nancy Reddy

I’m in a writing workshop, the feedback I got was be more cohesive. Putting words on the page is fine, putting knowing what to do afterwards is hard. I have drawers full of stuff, but I’m not sure what to submit. Still working towards that first book.

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author

and a more philosophical piece, about how to decide when you're ready to submit: https://www.cincinnatireview.com/submission-trends/is-your-poem-ready-for-submitting/

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I really appreciate it. Will look into it.

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author

if you're looking for places to submit, Heavy Feather Review has a great roundup: https://heavyfeatherreview.org/calls/ And Emily Stoddard's Poetry Bulletin is super helpful, too: https://www.poetrybulletin.com/about

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