Last August at Table Rock, a few of us lamented about wanting to take a chapbook class, but there were none to be found. Sue Dunlap Weaver came back, “What if I could talk Connie Green into doing one at her house in Lenoir City for about 10-12 of us?” We were giddy with the mere thought of it! Connie Green is a poetic legend in Tennessee Mountain Writers and beyond. She has taught poetry to some of the most talented people I know. Sue managed to talk her into it and I got into the class.
We met the first time last November, the Saturday Russ and I had finished our first round at his late parents’ house, trying to start getting things ready to put it on the market this year (we hope). We wrote several poems that day and got our first poetry partners. Mine was Sue. I was ecstatic!
Now, between these meetings, we have assignments, too. We’re supposed to be reading at least three poems a day. Keeping a journal of what we observe around us. Writing poems to add to a rough draft of a chapbook. And what, exactly, is a chapbook? According to a handout Connie gave to us at our first meeting, “A modern iteration of a 500-year-old publishing tradition, a poetry chapbook is a small poetry collection that is significantly shorter than a typical printed poetry collection. Typically running in the range of 20-40 pages, a chapbook can be affordably published by small presses and is therefore a more economical option for emerging writers who may be financing their own book of poems.”
In February, we were to have our second in-person meeting. The person I was rooming with got sick and we didn’t get to go because we didn’t want to take whatever she had in to Connie and her husband, or the other participants. Which turned out to be a smart move, since both of us ended up with the flu. So, I missed that second day of prompt-writing with the group. I got the prompts to bring home, but it just wasn’t the same as being there with everyone else. I thrive on camaraderie. (You know, I’m like Ariel from The Little Mermaid – “I wanna be where the people are!”) We also got reassigned to poetry partners – someone had to drop out so one of our groups now has three people in it and I’m in that group with two lovely ladies and wonderful writers, Sarah Pross and Melanie Harless.
So, if a chapbook is 20-40 pages, and we’ve been writing poems since November, we probably have a lot of poems that won’t make the final cut. That’s okay. Not every poem is a winner. Not every poem should be published. At least, not all of mine. Some of mine are real duds. Sometimes, what I write is also “for my eyes only.” I just need to get something out of my system. And that’s part of what writing is, I think. There are probably very few writers whose entire body of work merits publication. I’m certainly not in that number!
This coming Saturday, May 10, our third face-to-face meeting is happening. And our rough drafts of the chapbooks are due! It’s very exciting, but also quite nerve-racking! I’ve struggled for the past six weeks to define some of the themes in my work, thus far. The broad themes that permeate the pieces are Appalachia and Family. There are some that overlap those two themes, and that’s what I tried to put in my collection. Then there’s the daunting task of titles. If you know me and you know my writing history, you know I’m horrible at titles. My best ones come from someone else. I’ve selected a tentative title – I won’t reveal it here – but it’s one of the poems I wrote last year that received an honorable mention in a state poetry society contest (let’s see who was paying attention last year when I made announcements, lol). For now, at least, I think it captures an overall sense of being in the collection. When we meet this Saturday, though, we’re exchanging our work in groups, and letting other people read it. So, someone else may think of a better title – which would be completely fine with me. People may think some of the poems I’ve included might be better omitted. It’s ultimately up to me, but I value the opinions of other people in the group. We will also have writing prompts on Saturday, so there’s more writing ahead. Which is exciting. Maybe something new will come out of the new prompts and end up in my final draft.
My current draft is 28 pages, with the title page, table of contents, and acknowledgements page. I have an acknowledgements page because I am using eleven poems that were published somewhere else originally. Apparently, chapbook publishers like that; it shows that you have a potential audience for your work and make you more marketable, I guess. Some of the poems, though, if printed in a typical-sized chapbook, would be two pages long, instead of one typewritten page, so I’m probably already pushing the 40-page upper end of the chapbook definition from Connie’s example. Hopefully she will have some guidance for us on matters like that this Saturday.
Our last meeting will be on Saturday, August 9. Then our final drafts are due. What happens from there will be up to us. There are chapbook contests out there on a regular basis looking for contestants, usually at $15 per entry. So, you want to make sure you have the best product you can possibly have when you enter. No one likes throwing away their money, especially at $15 a pop! Hopefully Connie will have some ideas for us as we finish. She has connections and knowledge that are more far-reaching than most of us do. That’s why she’s the teacher and we’re her eager students. I’m really enjoying her class, though, and the time together with her and the other students. I feel privileged to have this opportunity. I’m so glad we said something to Sue last August! Who says dreams don’t come true?!?
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