Branching Out—And Into—A New Year

Where (oh where?) did 2011 go? While it's not officially time to take down the 2011 calendars and replace them with 2012, the time is indeed close at hand. As the years go by, those monthly pages on the calendar seem to need turning ever-more furiously. And sometimes it's mid-month before the pages do get turned. While the passing of time seems to speed up exponentially as we get older (and I know there's some mathematical reason why it seems that way), most of the time it's from sheer busy-ness that I can't quite keep up with time's passing.

In the last few months, I've not kept up with my blogging as I should. I am not one to make New Year's resolutions (for we all know how those go), but instead, I like to try to implement permanent behavior changes. Goodness knows there are many things I'd like to work on and change permanently, but I am going to focus on the regularity of blog posting as a top priority. Blogging is writing—and as writers, we know that the only way to accomplish writing is to do it. Waiting until the time is right or until the spirit moves us does not get it done. I'm likely to have more success with this blogging-more change in behavior than with trying to eat less ice cream. I know how that goes.

Here at the Aurorean, much of the passage of 2011 has been spent not only with our biannual Aurorean publication and all that entails, but in carefully planning and launching our expedition into the world of chapbook publishing. Yes, we have published chapbooks and full-length books of poetry in the distant past (before the widespread usage of the World-Wide Web and its promotional advantages for authors and publishers), and more recently, full-length collections—in 2007, one by small-press great B.Z. Niditch; in 2010, an anthology of poems by Maine Poets Society members; and earlier this year, a collection each by Margaret Rockwell Finch and Marta Rijn Finch, co-presidents of Maine Poets Society.

But beginning this year, we branched out to offer a yearly chapbook competition through Encircle Publications. The above image is of the end result. As with the Aurorean, we wanted the end result to be a work of art—not just the art of the poetry inside, but the art of the presentation. We wanted to offer a reasonable entry fee and ease of submission process. We wanted to become a chapbook publisher that does everything we can to help our authors succeed. We wanted to find the best manuscript from those submitted. We determined to judge the manuscripts blindly—removing identifying information and any list of submitters' publication credentials from the manuscripts themselves. The editors also approached each reading without potentially-biasing comments from the other editor. Comments were shared and discussions held only after both editors read each manuscript personally with fresh eyes. The field was narrowed as we proceeded, and on we went to first, second and final rounds. A winner was declared with anticipation, excitement and a sense of accomplishment. Regarding the winning manuscript, both editors were in absolute agreement.

This first time out, the winner has set the bar high for our future annual contests. That is a good thing. It will insure that as editors, we keep our poetry judging and all-around quality-control thinking caps on at all times. Eleanor Lerman, author of The Sensual World Re-Emerges (Sarabande Books) had this to say: The question that begins Lisa Bellamy's elegant and eloquent collection of poems is a poignant one: are we all "just wind and gristle"? In the pages that follow, this skilled poet goes on to assure us that we are not. In fact, the healing light of our humanity suffuses all our days, as do our memories of our mothers, our home towns, our childhood prayers, and the sight of the stars overhead each night. Sadness is everywhere, Bellamy tells us—but like the bees "mixing nectar with tears" to produce honey—so is joy.

Our first press run arrived just today and we have been busy packing orders and copies requested by reviewers. We hope you will see what fuels our enthusiasm. Copies of Nectar can be ordered (shipping always included) here: http://www.encirclepub.com/store/product/nectar Let Bellamy's amazing poetry serve as your companion as you put up that new 2012 calendar and journey into the new year. As well, join us in 2012—share your work with us by submitting to the Aurorean (Spring/Summer deadline: February 15th). See http://www.encirclepub.com/poetry/aurorean/guidelines Or, submit to our 2012 chapbook competition (deadline to register for online entry: September 1st). See http://www.encirclepub.com/chapbookcontest

I wish all of our Aurorean friends a warm holiday season and a poetry-filled 2012!

Notes from an Assistant Editor’s Point of View

For this month’s blog Cynthia has asked me to chime in on what its like to serve the Aurorean as an assistant editor. Frankly this is one of the very few jobs I’ve worked that I can say is taken with a deal of pleasure and excitement. This is especially true when we approach the production of a finished product. Certainly it’s not all sun and rainbows but the tasks that fall on the mundane side of things (going through the mail, acknowledging submissions) aren’t physically or mentally challenging in the least and can be accomplished swiftly with a cup of tea at my side and a cat on my lap. Other tasks do require a bit more moxie but that’s where the fun comes in.

Over the course of a reading period my eyes are often the first ones to get a look at the submissions that roll in. After a good chunk has piled up I take it home for the weekend and when I’ve got a few hours to spare I sit down with a cup of coffee and begin my reading. The fun comes when I find a gem. The truth of the matter is that those gems are really few and far between. I’d guess that the Aurorean accepts poems from about 10% of the manuscript submissions it receives (even less if we break it down by individual poem). This means I read A LOT of poems that won’t make the cut. It’s easy sometimes because it’s usually very clear when someone has not read our guidelines or is unfamiliar with the Aurorean and what we publish.

Cynthia and I talk time and time again about how wasteful it is of a poet’s time and money to submit blindly to publications without ever having read said publication or adhered to said publication’s guidelines, not to mention our own time in responding to submissions that clearly aren’t for us. It doesn’t matter. We can scream it till we’re blue in the face but the fact will remain the same; a good 30% of our submissions can easily be rejected almost out of hand because they fail to meet simple guidelines. A good chunk of other poems might meet our guidelines but fail for all sorts of other reasons (lack of focus, unoriginality, vapid lines, shoddy line breaks with no appreciation for natural rhythm, natural pauses, or the sound and sense a poem begs to impart to one's ears). Sometimes a poem is rough for one of these reasons, yet a keen editor’s eye can buff out a rough spot and make the poem shine. If I see a spot that needs buffing I’ll point it out but I’m certainly not paid to revise or reconstruct a whole poem or even explain in great detail why a poem can’t cut it. Suggested revisions of poems are things a poet accepts or not. I write comments for Cynthia to read on all the manuscripts I see. Sometimes the comments are brief like “Nothing here grabbed me,” “such-and-such is a nice poem, I love the imagery” etc. Sometimes they’re more voluminous like when I see a rough spot that just needs a buffing. After commenting they then go to our Editor.

Sometimes we both wrestle with a poem together because it has merits but needs two editors’ eyes to make it shine. Sometimes a poem has some brightness to it but it takes a set of two eyes to see why it’s really a muted brightness (against all the other accepted ones) and needs to be rejected. We can’t publish every good poem we get. We have space restrictions and this means that good poems often get squeezed out. No biggie, we’ll encourage the poet to try again.

This leads me to impart some tips from my perspective on how to give yourself the best chance at publication in the Aurorean.

1. Read the latest issue. When you’re done with that read another issue.
2. Read our guidelines. Learn them, live them, love them.
3. Read your poems aloud. If it doesn’t sound right it isn’t.
4. Revise, revise, revise, and if you can and have the inclination to do so then join a group where you can also workshop your work and get feedback for the revision process.
5. Submit early. As Cynthia’s last blog indicates, we work in increments and accept poems in batches throughout the reading period. We always know how many we’ve accepted and how many more we need to accept in order to fill our pages. Good poems get squeezed out the closer we get to our deadline.

We’re now in our Spring/Summer reading period, which means the Fall/Winter 2011/12 issue of the Aurorean is due out in a little over a month. We’ve still got a lot of typing and proofing to do before it goes to print. Then will come the exciting part, the finished product’s arrival, the packing and the mailing, that beautiful little journal finally in our hands. It’s always a thrill to hold that thing and flip through it.

With last year’s Fall/Winter issue, we added a new multi-media addition and it’s something we hope to continue. After the journal has been packed and mailed Cynthia and I will take to our sound studio where we’ll each record a reading of our featured poets’ work and one other poem from the issue for use in a poetry journal trailer that we’ll post to our site and youtube.com to help promote our journal and our poets. Besides being fun and often hilarious to make (after 10 takes we start to lose our marbles and often fall into uncontrollable fits of laughter) I think these trailers are a wonderful addition to the journal, and a nice way to showcase our featured poets’ work. If you haven’t seen our first two trailers you can view them here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-W3Ftcryp4&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wZEHZ-Z5bU

I look forward to the upcoming month with great anticipation—till then, all the best to our contributors and readers as we continue our swing towards autumn and winter.

Devin McGuire
Assistant Editor

Time Flies When You Work in Increments

It is to my embarrassing astonishment that I have been so utterly remiss in my Aurorean blog. I like to post at least once a month. As you can see, two months have completely slipped by. How time flies when you're having fun? Yes, and no.

On the yes side: We are having SO much fun sprinting to the Fall/Winter submission deadline of August 15th (we are buried in terrific poems). And we are beginning to become happily inundated with manuscripts for our new chapbook contest (check out http://www.encirclepub.com/chapbookcontest) with a deadline of September 1st.

On the no-fun side: I have been dealing with doctors' appointments, a giant insurance company and medication (and its side effects) around Lyme disease. If you are interested in checking out my more personal blog dealing with Lyme disease, visit http://writinglyme.blogspot.com.

But, no matter getting sidetracked, we are on-target as we should be for late-October release of our Fall/Winter issue. This is due in large part to the support and help I receive at home from my husband, and, on the office-front, from my Assistant Editor Devin McGuire. Who will be our Fall/Winter Featured Poets? Showcase Poets? Bookend poets? What fall (or winter) delight will readers see on our cover? Of course, I can't reveal those secrets now. But to make sure you don't miss out, reserve your copy at http://www.encirclepub.com/store/product/340.

As most of us are, I am well-practiced in being sidetracked by life, and over the course of almost sixteen years of publishing, I'm proud to say that the Aurorean has only become sidetracked from its publication date goals very rarely. I know what it's like to be overwhelmed with deadlines, so I try to eliminate that problem by continually reading for the next issue. Soon after one issue is released, any poems that may have been accepted for the next issue (due to seasonality) are typeset and proofs sent out. Then, we begin anew. There is always a "mock" Aurorean (an Aurorean-in-progress) sitting next to me. At any given point in a reading period, we know how many poems we have accepted and how many we still need to fill our pages. If I had to do it all at once, I couldn't do it—whether it be sending acceptances, returning/replying to the poems we can't use, typsetting poems/bios, making proof corrections, or managing the mailing list. Working in workable increments works well.

If we get thrown by anything unexpected, we can easily catch up and then make our to-the-printer target date. Our printer needs the digital files to be uploaded by the beginning of the month of publication for a late-month release (and I must admit, my husband helps greatly on the office-front too, as he works "computer magic" and uploads our files).

So onward we race to the next exciting compilation of fall/winter/New England/seasonal/meditaional/uplifting poetry! (In increments.)

On to the Next Whirlwind & Minding Our Deadline Manners

Since my last post, the Spring/Summer issue has been published and mailed; we've heard from many happy readers/contributors; we've attended the Massachusetts Poetry Festival with dozens of other small presses and journals (pictured: poetry, poetry, poetry from our table on down!); and…we're starting all over again.

Our reading period for the next issue (Fall/Winter 2011–2012) is in full swing. This finds us editors always thinking ahead (or trying to think ahead) to the next seasons on the calendar—the seasons we said our good-byes to just a few short weeks ago. The snow in our corner of Maine finished melting in April, and here we are in May reading poems about snow. Falling leaves. Dangling fall leaves. Frost.

This brings me to a reminder for poets who submit to virtually any journal: While it might be Memorial Day on the calendar, most editors are thinking ahead. To their next issue. So if you're finding yourself deeply inspired or particularly prolific because of anything spring/summery, please check guidelines to see when you should submit those warm-toned poems. In our case, if you have a poem about Flag Day (hypothetically), you don't want to submit it in June! You'll want to wait until at least August 16th, when, once again, we begin reading poems for the next spring/summer seasons. And you'll want to get that Flag Day poem into us by the day after Valentine's Day or—you guessed it, it'll have to wait another year.

Although seasonal work is a big focus of ours, we do accept work that isn't seasonal, nature-based or in haiku form. But writers get carried away with the wonder of the moment so that sometimes we forget where an editor's mind may be as to deadline-related needs. Perhaps this bit of advice from George Santayana will prove helpful: "To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring."

So now, the whirlwind of reviewing poems and creating a new Aurorean from scratch begins. Before we get too far into it, though, watch for a promotional video for the current Spring/Summer issue to be released soon (after all, we do want you to enjoy spring and summer no matter which seasons we have to be thinking about). If you have "Liked" the Aurorean's page on facebook, we'll post a link to it next week. If you haven't "Liked" the Aurorean's page on facebook, here you go:

https://www.facebook.com/Aurorean

The Excitement, The Anticipation, The Nerve-Wrackingness!

In less than a week, the Spring/Summer issue of the Aurorean goes to the printer. This time period (in producing each issue) always proves to be frantic. And this time this issue even more so, as I've been a bit behind schedule due to my recently diagnosed Lyme disease {http://writinglyme.blogspot.com} and the fits and starts of various treatments involved. But no matter what happens, I tell myself, It will get done! And it will. And it does.

But there is the excitement involved in choosing a cover image for each particular issue. (Just look at the image above! Isn't it fun? Rich? Spring-y?—it's much more fun than chasing down that last bio or getting that last proofing question answered!) There is the joy in choosing colorful and sometimes beautifully-textured paper for our endpapers and Insert pages, and having a new review quote ("This little journal will fill you up"—see last post) to add to the back cover. There is the sheer excitement involved in knowing who our Featured Poets are, whose chapbook we chose to recommend, whose poem was chosen as "Best" of our last issue, and the happiness in being able to release that information to our readers.

There is all that. And anticipation. How will this issue—the first one out after an amazing 15th Anniversary celebration—be received? Will that cover look as good as I anticipate? Will the endpapers and Insert pages match nicely against that cover? Will another review of endorsement appear in NewPages or will Small Press Review again choose us as a "Pick"? Will it all work together, poems individually, poets individually, and as a complete body of work? Will we wend our way into new homes, finding new friends as we do so?

And then there are the nerve-wracking issues that keep editors up at night. Did we proof it all correctly? (Sending out proofs for our poets to check is one thing. If they miss a glaring error while proofing, that is one error whose burden rests on us as well.) Will there be any unforeseeable delays at the printer? Did the paper company send the correct endpapers and Insert papers to the printer? Am I certain Poet A agreed to our suggestions? Did we make double-certain that the page numbers listed in poets' bios are truly the page number(s) where each poet appears? Will we get the mailing list 100% accurate, and the envelopes and boxes labeled and in plenty of time? What if my computer crashes the day before I'm scheduled to send to press???...and on and on until we finally knock ourselves out with sleeping medication and return to sanity the following day.

You might think by now that the nerve-wracking part of my job as editor tips the scale. But it all works together in harmony. And I can be certain that when I say "click here to reserve your copy" {http://www.encirclepub.com/store/product/340} I have faith that there will be a copy for you, and one we can be proud to send to you. Moving into our sixteenth year, I know that to be true.

New Year, NewPages/New Review, New Ideas!

It's a bit late to say "Happy New Year!" at the beginning of February. I've taken a bit of a hiatus from the blog (no posts at all in December or January; no posts from me since November). But there's good reason for that—refer to my "Stealing Time" post of October 7th. I mentioned that I'd been fighting an illness. In November, that illness was finally diagnosed (Lyme Disease*). Since then I've been busy putting my recovery protocol in place and dealing with exaggerated symptoms (the Lyme does NOT want to go away—it was very happy having me as its unwitting host). After a little over two months of treatment, I am beginning to see tiny glimmers of better days ahead. So it's time to get back to the Aurorean blog and say (a very, very belated) "HAPPY NEW YEAR!".

One of our first happy surprises of 2011 was a wonderful review of the 15th Anniversary Issue in NewPages. Reviewer Sima Rabinowitz ended with a gem of an endorsement: "This little journal will fill you up." :-) {This is us, smiling.} Rabinowitz honed in on poems by contributors Steve Ausherman, Brigit Truex, Bridgette E. Hahn, Kenneth O'Keefe, and Connie Post. We are honored as always to have such fine talent grace our pages. To read the full review: http://www.newpages.com/literary-magazine-reviews/2011-01-30/#Aurorean-v15-i2-Fall-Winter-2010-2011. If you're not familiar with NewPages, it's THE go-to online site for everything-literary. Journals, contests, chapbook publishers, writing programs and more.

As we move into our 16th year of publication, what's in store? We want to consistently offer our readers and contributors what they've come to expect—from our New England theme, our love for Nature and haiku, our upbeat quality, to our timely response to submissions and our punctual publication (I'm proud to say that from Volume I, Issue 1 to now, we have always published in the month promised). But what else? New ideas!

In the coming months, we will be announcing new ways for poets to recieve more reward and recognition for outstanding poetry. Poets' work will be showcased in the Aurorean with designations in addition to our now Featured Poet, Best Poem of Last Issue, and Creative Writing Student Outstanding Haiku Award. We are carefully reviewing ways to do this without taking any of the distinction away from the Featured Poet position, and without taking emphasis away from poets who may have multiple poems in an issue.

Stay tuned to our Announcements page on our website {http://www.encirclepub.com/poetry/aurorean/announcements} as we formulate these new ideas and put them into place. 2011 is just the beginning. To use Browning's words, "…the best is yet to be." Of course, at the beginning of that statement, he said, "Grow old along with me"—let's just leave the "old" part out.



*See my new brand-new blog, WritingLyme: http://writinglyme.blogspot.com