Having an Effect

Once upon a time, long long ago in the early 1980s the Melbourne Branch of the Poets Union of Australia began an initiative soon followed by all the other branches. In an era where editors of literary magazines sometimes took months or even years to respond to a submission, which we regarded as contemptuous and improper, Australian poets began accompanying submissions with a note: I reserve the right to submit this elsewhere without further notice if there is no response within three months. When editors started receiving a lot of these, they took notice! This was revolutionary at the time. 

I was one of a few friends who had a private discussion to arrive at this idea, which we then put to the Melbourne Branch, which took it up forthwith and enrolled the other branches. (If recollection serves, others were Lyndon Walker, Kristin Henry, Stephen J Williams, and possibly Cliff Smyth.)

Well, that’s old history now. The Poets Union of Australia couldn’t continue as a union for poets; it lacked the right criteria to legally exist. Those State branches which continued did so as societies instead.

Fast forward to today, and I read something on Substack (by an English poet, I think) about deciding to leave a poem with a magazine ‘beyond the standard three months’ as an experiment to see how long it took them. (Answer: a year.) 

Well that was all very interesting, but what made me chortle with glee was the discovery that it is now STANDARD, and apparently unremarkable, for poets – and not only poets within Australia – to withdraw submissions that receive no response in three months.

I have not lived in vain.

Memory Lane (and a warning)

This photo (uncaptioned) popped up on facebook today as a memory from 12 years ago. A publicity shot for some poetry event or other. I remember the photo session better than what it was for, as a dear friend did the posing and snapping, and made it lots of fun. The book is my Secret Leopard, which was published nine years before that – still available, but only as an ebook now. (Please ignore the scammer who offers the paperback on Amazon at an inordinate price. He or she almost certainly has no actual copies, and in any case I, the author, will never see any of that money if anyone ever does pay it.)

Substack, My Way

 Goodness gracious, I have 11 subscribers already! 

I have dipped my toe into that water because there are people there I wish to read, and I had to join to do so. And I found one article (so far) that I wished to write, which seemed to fit better there than on any of my blogs or other social media platforms (all two of those: facebook and Instagram).

So I'm using it all 'wrong,' which is typical of me. (Natural rebel.)

That's a good thing with other social media, including my blogs and this blog-posing-as-website – to use them MY way, selectively, and avoid many of the perils of social media usage which I read about. I'm not sure it's so useful to treat Substack the same way. It already appears to be more sensible to use it as intended and designed for. So perhaps I'll come closer to doing that, as time goes on, e.g. with more frequent posts and a consistent focus.

Meanwhile, I don't intend to use it as revenue-raising; my Substack will remain free to subscribers.

I am at https://substack.com/@rosemarynissenwade