Perseverance is crucial. I never really lost “faith” over those years, even though the process took a great deal longer than I had hoped. But I was teaching, traveling, writing new poems. I was also writing and publishing some non-fiction pieces about an experience in Colombia, which became a book-length manuscript. I also developed a book of exercises (Writing Your Rhythm), from the years of teaching. I am extraordinarily thankful, now, to have had the time to further find my voice before emerging with a first book of poetry.

And this is a problem, I think. Because book publication has become tied to the flukishness of contests, and the sheer number of contests then dilutes the prestige of any one of them. And I think, due to the strong element of chance (and some would add, nepotism) now attendant on book publication, that a book should no longer be one of the hurdles required for certain jobs and grants (as it now is). A poet could have every single poem in his or her manuscript published in such journals as Poetry and The New Yorker and STILL be unable to win a contest. There is no correlation between journal and book publication. Also, with a first book a requirement for many jobs, a number of manuscripts are out there ONLY to fulfill that requirement for job seekers—NOT because the poet feels his or her work is ready to place in the eye of the world.

(Actually, there are a few presses who claim to look at poetry manuscripts with a query. But almost invariably the response I got from sending one was a flier for a new contest.)

Like Diane, I also have been shopping a manuscript around since the beginning of the 1990s. And like her, I am also grateful for the opportunity it gave me to improve the manuscript. I used to wonder if maybe I had gone the MFA route the process might have been a little easier—I might have been more in the loop, and a mentor might have helped me with that all-important task of ordering the poems. But maybe not.

As it is, I think things worked out for the best in the end. The book is much stronger than it would have been had my prayers been answered sooner. And I am very pleased with my publisher, Bill Baer, and what an attention to detail he has, and what a lovely job he has done with the book. I am very lucky. For one thing, Bill Baer and Dana Gioia were very helpful with improving the order of the manuscript, which was a mess from years of desperate tinkering. It is my suspicion that, as a rule, the contest system favors a polished and slick manuscript package over the quality of the poems therein.

The web site has been really useful in promoting the book. The book has no distribution in book stores, so this seems one of the best ways to disseminate ordering information, link up with on-line booksellers, offer some sample selections from the book, etc. Of course, a web site is pretty useless unless you have some links to it. I have been lucky to have a modest web presence, on sites such as this one, EP&MO, the Alsop Review, Poetry Daily (which has featured Diane and some of the other panelists), et al. Also, a web site gives people an easy way to get in touch with you, especially good for me since I live abroad.

Sorry to wax prolix. The topic of book contests seems to be one that just gets me to ranting...