Editorial: Set Your Work Free!
Aug 17th, 2009 | By W.B. Burkholder | Category: Featured Articles | 958 views
SET YOUR WORK FREE
I would hope that my work challenges the reader or listener to investigate their own inner thoughts, those thoughts that might be conjured through my words. I truly believe though that there are very few works that make a lasting impression. I do not delude myself from the fact that my work for the most part is probably taken with the proverbial grain of salt. Most works are read, contemplated on for a short period of time, the reader or listener continues on with their daily life. And that’s as it should be.
All the poet can hope for is to give pause to a person’s day and allow them a short respite from their daily grind. I am sure that that there are pieces of mine that are better than others, and might have a longer lasting effect than most. But to be honest I try not to worry myself over this, it’s not that I don’t care, I do. But humility goes along way in contributing to the creative process.
I look at my work much as a parent looks at their children. The parent in the beginning think of them, conceives them, delivers and loves them, They do the best they can to present them to the world in the best light possible however, Once they have been set loose on the world, they are on their own. To either stand or fall against it.
I have seen and known Poets that worry too much about their work, that are truly fearful of sharing it or publishing it. To me it is a clear lack of confidence in themselves and of their work. Once my work hits the page it is on its own to stand or fall. And really at that point, I can only watch.
Each of us dreams of the masterpiece that will set the world on fire, myself included. However, to be a writer we must come to terms with the reality that our work will not always be accepted, will not always be loved, and will not always be the masterpiece we hoped for. This is for the public to decide, it is for them and only them to ascertain the depth and meaning of the work. For without readers the works are mere scribbles on a page.
In many cases, I write from my personal experiences. I believe that there is an element of my writing that people connect with or can relate to. My greatest blessing in life has been to share my work, regardless of how the public perceives it. Again, as I stated before, I would hope that my work is enjoyed by many. But in the end, it is the work itself that will dictate that. My hopes and dreams really have nothing to do with that. It lies in the reality of producing work that the reading public can embrace and identify with.
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About W.B. Burkholder: Content Editor, Troubadour 21 - Bill is a Poet, Author, Digital photographer. You can find his work at Nirvanasgate |
©2009 W.B. Burkholder All Rights Reserved
Being fairly new at sharing my poetry, this has been an issue I, myself, have struggled with. I am finding that, the more I share, the more comfortable I am sharing and the more focused I become on Self Expression rather than public approval.
I sent a poem to a friend recently who immediately emailed back that she wanted to edit it. My somewhat miffed response was that it was my Self Expression and that if she edited it, it would no longer be mine and to go write her own poem on the same topic and we could share.
Dear Susan,
I’m a “newbie” here at Troubadour21, but I just read the editorial by W.B. and your response. I know what he means when he says we write, and our creations are like our children. We create our poems (songs, novels, etc.) and then we generally — at some point — let them out into the universe. It is part of the creative process to learn to publish work, but it is also necessary to know when that time has come.
For some poems, you may find yourself writing, proofreading, editing, and re-writing, over and over again. In that case, the gestation period of a poem (or other work) may be months, or evens years, before you are satisfied that it says what you intend it to say. In other cases, one might dash off a work in minutes, and declare it finished. In either case, the piece should be the best we can make it before sending it off for publication (or, as in your case, off to a “friend.”)
I put the word, friend, in quotes, because a true friend will not decide to edit it for you as your “friend” seems to have. As a life-long editor of poetry magazines, I can say that — while many writers’ work can benefit from suggestions or edits — it would be kinder for one to ask if the author wants editorial suggestions before deciding to edit it for them. (In general, professional editors either accept or reject work for a given magazine, and do not make many edits. If a piece is accepted, but needs minor typos corrected, they send a galley proof of the corrected work to the author to verify.)
But you are speaking about a non-professional situation, in which you sent a poem to a friend. Some poets (especially the “stream-of-consciousness” type of writer) may feel — as you did — that the work represents them, and it would not with edits. Even though I have been a magazine editor for decades, unless I am hired to edit someone’s book — which occasionally happens — I never try to edit friends’ work, without making a gentle suggestion. It might have been better had they offered “I see some misspellings (or typos) and some places where you might have said it differently. May I share my ideas with you?” In that way, you would have the option of listening to the suggestions or not. Your response, though, was quite justified in this instance; their decision to edit it without even (at least) offering positive feedback first, gave you the right to challenge their seeming attack on your work.
People who want to offer you suggestions are much better off doing what good teachers do — and having been a teacher in grades K-6, middle school & H.S. as well as teaching college level courses, I have some experience in this. The best way to offer criticism is to first tell the author what works, and then point out any problems in the piece that they might not have noticed. Nevertheless, it is good that you have reached the point where you want to let people see your work; as W.B. said, it shows you have reached a certain level of confidence about your work — don’t let your “friend’s” reaction scare you off the idea of submitting work to magazines…however, if you find yourself facing a pile of rejections from magazines, you might consider that your friend might have had some good ideas (which they offered poorly and which you couldn’t accept). If this happens, it’s time to take a poetry workshop, wherein each member of the group (as well as the leader of the workshop) is going to give each other feedback that should be constructive criticism. A workshop situation presumes sharing work with the intention of giving and receiving feedback that acknowledges what works and what doesn’t work in the poem (as opposed to what the reader likes or doesn’t like), with the positive comments first.
Good luck to you!