One of my goals for my Patreon page was to share my writing process for my first poetry book, Reality Check. Here’s how I got started. Now that I have at least one patron set up, here’s how I got started.
I basically took most of the poems I’d written on Patreon and combined them into a small collection. The collection of 18 poems was split into three parts: Emotion, Time and Self. I decided to include these specific poems in this book because I had noticed they all carried a similar theme. Since I had just lost my job back in March 2021, I needed a creative outlet to keep me going. I didn’t want to job-hunt right away. So I thought, why not finally put my skills to the test and create a book?
At first, I’d thought of writing an actual novel. A YA (young adult) novel with characters and setting and plot and stuff. But I kind of chickened out and decided to test the waters with something smaller. I thought poetry would be a good first start, since that’s part of my blog’s name too. One day I will eventually write a novel. I just need a good setup first, which will take a while!
The 2020 pandemic also helped put things into perspective for me and writing Reality Check, too. There are some poems that truly spoke about the uncertainty and confusion about the world. There are also some poems about how I coped with the pandemic. Why I couldn’t go outside and see my friends, family and really enjoy life. Also, RC was written during the 2020 US presidential election! I didn’t include many details it, but it was good to let out some of those thoughts into a poem.
A website and editing program that I had used to upload my first draft was a website called Reedsy. I think I had found it from Booktube, and I’d thought it was a great tool for new writers to search for editors, designers, marketers, translations, ghostwriting, book reviews and more. I sent and compared quotes from 10 different editors who would work within my budget to work on my manuscript, and landed on Erin L. McCoy.
Editing and Revising
Erin and I worked tirelessly together on cleaning up my specificity and emotional delivery. I have a tendency to keep things vague in my writing. Not diving in too deeply, especially when it comes to writing about people. The people in my life didn’t choose to be in the “public eye”, so to speak — I did! [even though I don’t think of myself as a celebrity at all.] But we did work together more on expanding my vocabulary to include more specific and exact emotions so my writing could be interpreted better by the reader. She also gave me a ton of resources to use for my future writing, like:
- The Poetry Foundation: Erin’s notes, If you haven’t checked it out already, this site doesn’t just have an amazing treasure trove of poems, but also a lot of essays and articles about poems, and resources on poetics and forms.
- “Modern and Contemporary American Poetry”: Erin’s notes: I took this free online course a few years ago and it is a fantastic introduction to the different styles and movements in contemporary poetry. Highly, highly recommend. I’ve also enjoyed some of the classes on Masterclass and Great Courses Plus, but those have a subscription cost, unfortunately.
- Cave Canem: Erin’s notes: An amazing writing program that offers workshops, including free and low-cost options. Elizabeth Acevedo and SO many other amazing writers have gone to Cave Canem! And they’re based in Brooklyn, so not too far from you!
- The Vs. Podcast: Erin’s notes: Hosted by two of the best young poets of our time. They have fascinating and fun discussions with a huge range of different poets.
Other Authors
As well as some other resources and writers she said my work reminded her of, which I thought was really sweet!
Lucille Clifton: Erin’s notes: Her short, luminescent lines remind me of yours. A few of her many, many great poems.
- blessing the boats by Lucille Clifton | Poetry Foundation
- the garden of delight by Lucille Clifton | Poetry Foundation
- won’t you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton | Poetry Foundation
Aracelis Girmay: Erin’s notes: She seeks hope and beauty in adversity in beautifully crafted lines that remind me of your work:
Alice Notley: Erin’s notes: Because I know you like book series, I thought you might like her collection, Descent of Alette, which is a book-length feminist epic. It’s one of my favorite books! Here’s an excerpt”: https://poets.org/poem/descent-alette-i-walked
It was really nice to be able to connect with an editor and gather more information for my own writing. As scary as it was to initiate the action of sending out my work in the first place, it was worth getting someone who knew a bit more than me about editing poetry.
What’s Next?
I’m now working on finding a professional interior designer to put all of my work together into digital and print manuscripts, so that will be the next update on Reality Check.
Patreon Shout-Outs
Thank you for supporting my Patreon Page: John Reid
Visit https://www.patreon.com/poetrybooksya for more exclusive, creative writing and poetry content! Also visit my introductory post on Patreon here.
Some posts include:
- Blog posts that don’t make the main website
- Poems of the Day
- Topic choices for me to write about on the blog
- Tier-Ranking teen tv shows!
Don’t want to support monthly? Check out my Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/poetrybooksya
Comment below! What do you think about the latest updates on my book, Reality Check?
Thanks for reading,
This is super exciting, Danielle! Thank you for sharing your process with us. Writing a book seems like a huge feat for so many people and here you are, doing it! All the best. Sounds like you are getting a lot from your writing journey.
Thank you again so much, Nkem! Yes I am doing it!! 🤩🤩🥰
Wow, I had asked before in your other post about what inspired you… I see now. I think this pandemic in all of it’s uncertainty really gave us all the courage to go after our passions. I am in the process of working my second journal which will be more of a workbook/self-help guide for those seeking life coaching and whew chile, it’s work! So I can definitely appreciate how much value you provide to your audience by sharing the process and resources. I didn’t realize how much went into the book publishing but I can tell you’re determined to make sure it was done right. I’ll be checking back too as I have another platform where I feature creatives like yourself. Maybe you’ll be interested in sharing your story there too!
Thank you so much for your lovely and inspiring comments. Yes, this book has been a long and hard process, but I’m glad I did it. A lot goes into the book publishing world, and I’m still learning as I go. And since this was my first one ever, I treated it like it was my first child lol. My first step creatively into the world. I hope you come back for more. I have a lot more to talk about, just from Reality Check alone! 😄😃❤️