Why I'm Not Posting My Most Recent Poem Here

I sometimes post my poems here, and I certainly write about my poetry interests here. I wrote, or rather finished the first draft of, a new poem recently, but I'm not posting it here.

I've been thinking about and working on this little poem for about a week and yesterday I got to the last full stop. I'm not going to post that poem here though, not yet. I have other plans for that poem, a plan that will lead to reasonable money, if the poem is accepted.

That's why I'm not posting this poem here. If I were to post that poem here, on this blog, that would mean the poem has been published. Posting work to a website that is open to other people equates to publishing, for that work. And lots of potential publishers aren't interested in work that's already been published.

If a writer is interested in gaining mainstream publishing, it's important to consider these issues. If, on the other hand, writers are interested in getting their words 'out there' and aren't chasing widespread mainstream publication, then blogs can be a godsend.

I've tried to be a little choosy with my words, in particular poetry, and so try to remember to think of the possible opportunities for each poem. I say 'try to remember', as I've proven many times, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes, the same as everyone. And of course, just sharing my words with others is a fine thing. There's no shame in posting poetry to a personal blog, because that's just another, and sometimes very effective way, to share your words.

Anyway, once the little poem that prompted this discussion has been considered and published, or found to not meet the publisher's requirements, then the poem may be posted to this blog. When that happens, my followers, and others who happen to find their way here, can read the poem. It's nothing life changing, but I like to think it's cute. I may be completely wrong about that, you can be the eventual judge, when it appears here.

As always, I welcome the thoughts on others on this blog post!