Week 4

I'm so sorry, but this is going to be a short post again. My grandmother's in the emergency room, and I've got to get back up there as soon as I can. This just hasn't been my family's month for health, has it?

Source 1: Winning Writers

I have to admit, I'm always wary of sites where you have to pay to get resources. Some are definitely valid, but there are so many sketchy sites on the web that it's probably a good thing to be paranoid. This site, by virtue of being included on Dr. Reid's list as well as it's appearance, looks to be valid, which makes it an interesting resource.

I've got to admit that I'm a bit miffed at having to sign up for a newsletter before I can access the lists of contests. I get enough junk email at the moment, so I'm going to skip that and bookmark the site for later. I do like the collection of poetry resources, though, particularly the list of exotic forms. I tend to write freeverse, but I love learning about new poetic forms and experimenting with them. The Guide to Verse Forms is particularly useful, with a huge list of forms.

The list of links to legal resources for writers is also handy. I've got to admit that I haven't the first clue about copyrighting my own material, so I'll definitely bookmark this page.

Source 2: The Iowa Review

I really like the simple layout of this site. It seems to be the online edition of a print journal, much like what we at TAMU-C have done with The Mayo Review, and only some of the works are included on the site. As I said, I like the simple layout because in a format like this, the simplicity allows the reader to focus on the words themselves instead of being distracted by flashing graphics or (god forbid) annoying music.

I noticed on the writer's guidelines page that this journal does not accept email submissions. This seems really strange to me, probably because we encourage email submissions to the Mayo Review. The vast majority of people spend time on the internet every day, and it's much more convenient to put together a journal if you've got everything already in computer-ready formats. It seems to me that blocking email submissions would discourage many writers who are short on time and would find email submissions easier to work with.

Source 3: Net Verse

What a nifty collection of articles! the first one I read is from 1997 and talks briefly about everything from British online poetry to science fiction poetry (you can see why this caught my eye) to really, really BAD poetry by William McGonagall. I've heard of McGonagall before (in reference to Harry Potter; wonder if JKR named the transfiguration professor after this guy?), but I hadn't had the joy of reading quotes from his work. Wow.

There is also a fascinating article about the emergence of hypertext poetry from 1996/1997. I do wish that this writer had kept going with these articles, or would come back to the subject now. I think that an examination of e-poetry over the last decade would be a fascinating read, especially if it traced the evolution of the form from early, link-clicking poems to newer forms using Flash animations and so on.