7 Steps to becoming a sucessful poet - Part I

Read!

Becoming a sucessful poetRead as many poems, lyrics, and creative writing you can get your hands on. Read multiple sources from manuscripts of world renowned classic artists to pages of a modern journal. Anthology reading is significantly recommended because of the variety of authors, writing styles, and content on each page. It is imperative that all writers contribute to at least 1 anthology in their lifetime. There are never enough anthologies for everyone to read. It is also intelligent to pay attention to words in songs that play on the stereo.

Lyrics are more often overlooked works. Read the little booklets in the CD case bands release, they are not just for looks. Read each and every poem that you come across. It is also a good idea to read poems from web sites, there are a large number of poems on sites that are not read enough for the quality they contain. It is always great to contribute work to any online sites that you can because it helps you gain recognition and helps other poets who read your work. All sites online with poetry exist to benefit poets and if you desire to be discovered, it is good post your works everywhere. Remember, you can always improve and if you read other works, you are more likely to discover good habits and great styles.

 

Find your style

You have a style that you enjoy to write, whether you are aware of this now or not. After you read many poems you will discover a style that describes you. Your style will convey your emotion 100% and readers become aware of this. Writing is not poetry if you fail to write in your style that you enjoy. Poetry can be described as turning emotions into words and painting a mental picture with words. It is impossible to write in a style other than your style and create your best work. You have to find what makes your pencil move and this may take a while to do, be patient and you will discover what style makes you a poet.

 

Research

It is crucial to research the market you are submitting to. The editors highly despise when guidelines fail to be met and this will almost always be cause for rejection. Find what editors want and give them just that, this helps exceptionally well for sites that include contests. Almost all sites that have contests ask for a small entry fee and this is nothing after the prize is won. Winning is easy when you have researched that market and establish what editors want. This trick is much easier than you can believe.

Most poets do not research; they would rather spend the time sending to more markets because they believe the more people you send to, the better your chance of getting published, right? NO, that is the thing that almost all poets get wrong and they wonder why they are being rejected everywhere. You must research the market you are sending to and your chances of getting published have increased dramatically. Also, if you are the only one who understands what you are doing when submitting to a contest, you have a vastly increased chance of becoming a winner.