Jane's been trying to post since the deadline passed to no avail. Here's what she wanted to share:
Now
that submissions have closed for The
Well-Versed Reader, the fun for Nancy and me really begins. We would like to thank all of the wonderful
poets from twenty-five states and seven countries who sent their narratives for
consideration. We heard from one hundred
and twelve poets, so we have now well over three hundred poems to winnow for
the book. That will take us a bit of
time, so hang tight. We will contact you
before summer.
As
proof of the power of poets to move poets, I’d like to share that North
Carolina had the largest number of submitters, perhaps because Nancy and I used
the North Carolina Writers Network and NC Poetry Society to get the word
out. Thanks to those organizations and
their generous writers for helping spread the word.
The
second largest number of submissions came from Texas. Why? Two words: Laurie Kolp.
Our friend with whom we write at Poetic Asides, Robert Brewer’s poetry
blog at Writers Digest, used her
position as president of her state’s poetry society to encourage her local
poets to submit.
While
we are about thanking people, Robert Brewer cannot be overlooked. A number of poets who submitted reported
seeing our Call for Submissions mentioned on Robert’s blog, Poetic Asides, the
hometown of poets from all over the world.
Robert does more than most to cultivate a friendly place for poets to
meet, read one another, and comment, a task over and above his actual job at
WD. He offers weekly Wednesday prompts and both an April Poem-a-Day Challenge
and a November Chapbook Challenge.
That’s right. Those efforts are
extras for him, as he labors on the yearly Poet’s Market. Nancy and I are so very appreciative of the
way he introduces poets to publishers and places where they can learn, grow, make
friends from near and far, and find themselves and their readership.
So
now the work begins. No need to nudge us
for results. We will not hold out on you
fabulous poets. As soon as the results
are final, we will be emailing participants.
Thank you all for your support of what we believe to be a darned
interesting project. Write on, friends!
