Looking back down at it all, I see my struggle of getting published. How hard I've worked to improve and how much work my writing still needs. It's a true journey when you're writing for the Times, and I'd like to spend some time reflecting at the past few months of the time and effort I put in to my writing.
My first poem was published on June 13. You should have seen the smile on my face. It stretched across my face from ear to ear and I was filled with a great rush of excitement. I hadn't ever really spent time writing poetry before, and so when this poem was published, my world of possibilities was just unlocked.
Comparing that to some of my most recent poems, I think I'm well on my way to success. I've grown from all the feedback I've received and just from reading other poetry. There are high expectations from poets who write for the Times, and I feel I could become a wonderful poet if I keep up what I've been doing.
My first two "actual" articles were published the next week along with another poem. I felt so excited and tempted to write when I realized I was actually having my work published. Most of my articles within those few weeks were rated 4 stars, along with my poetry. At that time, I was really trying to become more dedicated to writing that I pushed myself to write so much that the quality of each article had sunk and so did the quality of my poems.
But the next week, my third poem was published. My heart had dropped to my stomach when my other articles weren't there, but the poetry that was accepted still excited me. I got plenty of comments on the poem I wrote during the week of June 27. I had people beginning to y-mail me, telling me I'd be famous one day and it inspired me to write and write and write. They liked the way I took a sock in that poem and made it sound so interesting. The poem was rather short, but I am still pleased with it a few months after.
My next poem wasn't published for about three more weeks. I was forgetting to focus on the quality of my writing, but pulled myself back together after a while. It truly was disappointing to not see everything I'd submitted in the Times, but once I read over my work once more, it was obvious everything needed a lot of work.
It was a whole month before my next poem was published. I felt as though all the other poets had been writing for so much longer than me, that I seemed to be falling behind. I worked for a month trying to pull together a decent poem, but I kept telling myself to not even bother, they were all better at writing poetry than me, so why keep it up?
During that week, I saw kittieme in a chat room and she complimented me on my poem. It was then that I regained my strength and began to feel confident in my poetry. I think it really made me feel good when she said that because she's really been an inspiration for me. She's written so much for the Times and I've read almost all her articles. I would at least have to take a chance and hope for the best. I could keep dreaming about being a Whyville Poet, but it wouldn't happen without dedication. So the next week, I submitted a poem and a story for Creative Writing. I haven't continued the series yet, but I really hope to in the future.
By this time, I was a little over half way to reaching my goal of becoming a Whyville Poet. It wasn't much of a struggle to get published once I really took the time to write and revise.
On September 26, my third article in the People category was published and I decided to start a new series since I was struggling with finishing the old one. I kept on writing poetry and nine poems had been published. It was exciting to count up nine poems and realize that I'd be a Whyville Poet the next time I had a poem published. I felt confident once again with my writing around this time, and most of my poems were rated five stars. I hadn't received many comments on them though, which wasn't a big help to improve them.
Since then, I've remained dedicated to the Times and have been truly putting everything I can in to my writing. As of October 31, I've had thirteen poems and eight articles published. I dream of becoming a Senior Whyville Poet by next year, and will continue to work hard for that title. To spark some creativity, I also hope to write more in other categories and become a Times Writer. I'd really like to write in the Science category, and I think I'll try that soon.
There's a lot of writing that I never seem to finish, and a lot I never submit. Right now, I have thirty nine saved drafts on my email that I've never finished writing. I have hopes for those pieces too, though.
Twenty one articles published was all a struggle of creativity and time. Wish me luck. It's been only five months and I've still got a long journey ahead of me.
xoxo,
xPoetx
