Is Your Brain a Cat or a Dog? (A Poet’s Dilemma)
Alarie in her reading/writing chair, late at night during the full moon.
[Archived from New Year 2020]
To speak in metaphors, as poets like to do, do your thoughts obediently follow you about (dog/conscious/analytical)? Or do they to turn their backs, wonder off, lie down on your face or book, and do whatever THEY want to do (cat/subconscious/creative)?
You’ve generally heard this division expressed as Left Brain vs. Right Brain, but we all share some portion of both, only I can never remember which is which (probably proof that I lean toward Right Brain). According to both the Myers-Briggs personality indicator and college board scores, I’m almost half and half, like a few of the half-dog cats who’ve owned me. However, my M-B profile has changed over time. When I worked as a technical editor, I was more math and judgment oriented. After years of being a creative writer, my dreamy/perceptive/creative side took over.
Watson
and Darby
trying to point
my way to
enlightenment.
A Poet’s Dilemma
My main philosophy of writing poetry is that I must surprise myself before I can surprise readers. Why bother to read any literature that doesn’t surprise us in some way, even if it’s to wonder, “How did the author climb inside MY head?” However, surprising yourself isn’t that easy. You can’t yell, “Boo!” or tickle yourself because you know what’s coming. To surprise yourself, you must slip into some level of subconscious – like sleepwalking on paper. For me, that’s easiest to do late at night.
This is the Right Brain, cat participation. When my brain feels like writing, it’s a joy. When it does not, it is frustrating. Writing also requires the obedient dog of analytical thinking. Sometimes, letting it run on its own across the page is enough to make the jealous cat yell, “I’ll show YOU!”
The dilemma is complex. From experience, I’d say most poets are introverts. A very large portion of them are also teachers, so they got over much of their inhibition about public speaking in the classroom. I did not, so it took me about five years of nervousness and the resolve to train myself past stage fright. (Two of my early blogs from 2018 cover overcoming my phobia.)
To further test a poet’s determination, the two beginning phases for poets, submitting poems to journals and compiling a book for publication, require the Left Brain: paying attention to detail and having courage to face rejection without taking it personally.
Herding Poems into a Book
So how do you herd the gossamer dream-stuff you’ve written over a year or, in my case, about seven years, into a book? A poet on Facebook asked me if I’d share my strategy for organizing my newest poetry book, almost ready to send off for publication, and I decided to put my response in this blog.
I recommend that poets working on first books google other articles on how it is done. There are many similarities in the guidelines, but if you read poetry books, you’ll see variations, too. I relied on a lot of advice to get started. After publishing a chapbook and two previous collections of poetry (see BOOKS), I’ve learned what works for me.
Don’t rush! You need to publish a lot of your poems in journals (a long, tiring process) before you put them in your book. There’s no specific percentage, but I’d say 20-80% should be previously published. If you’ve published a lot of books already and established a name for yourself, the percentage can be on the lower end. (If you self -publish, you can do whatever you want, but that isn’t the best way to impress the poetry establishment, who can be your best friends if you’ll let them.) Having a publisher to handle book distribution frees you from a lot of tedious work and expense.
I’m not disclosing the name of my forthcoming book until I land a contract. I’m superstitious about that, but here are the basic steps I underwent to organize the new book. [It’s now 2023, so I can tell you the book published in 2021 was Three A.M. at the Museum, go back to the Book tab at the top of my homepage to see it.]
Steps to Putting Your Book Together
Immediately after publishing my last book, I started a new file, titled NEXT BOOK, and put newly published poems that I felt strongly about there. As I saw the volume increasing (30 or more), I analyzed what themes were emerging. Because most of the poems were ekphrastic (inspired by art), I decided to come up with a name for my future collection and to write a title poem to put first in the book. Some people put it last, but in this case, I thought it set up my rationale for the collection, tying in art and my late-night working hours. (A title poem is optional. This is my first book to have one.)
I directed more effort to writing new poems that fit the main themes.
Once I had enough poems to fill an entire collection, I went through them all again, pulling pithy quotes from individual poems that I felt could possibly work as section headings.
Then I proofread and judged which poems I thought would go into the book. I printed them all out, because I can’t sort them effectively on the computer screen.
I decided which quotes worked the best as section headings: quotes that were thought provoking, but also quotes that contained an umbrella theme that could apply to almost all the poems in the section.
Next I laid the title section pages out on the floor. The first poem after contained the quote. This automatically placed stronger poems throughout the book. Pacing is important. I also chose one of my favorite poems to end the book. If readers agree with my decision, they’ll feel satisfied rather than dropped off a cliff.
Then I sorted the remaining poems, placing them in sections where they somewhat fit the quote. Some became companion poems that naturally followed the one before. Others were mood shifters. I try to add humor or at least hope after grouping several poems about death or sadness.
The poet should always keep good records of where poems were submitted and where they were first published. First publication rights need to be cited with gratitude in Acknowledgments.
That is not the end of the process. The author still needs to submit the MS, being careful to follow each publisher’s guidelines. Find one or two good proofreaders to check your work. Locate people to write blurbs for your book cover, and think about what you want the cover art to be. Not all publishers will allow you to direct the cover, but there’s nothing wrong with locating free-use art, or photos, or art that you own to use as suggestions to your publisher. Just stay flexible to talk through any difference of opinion.
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Watson enjoys late night poetry readings.