Yesterday & Today: 4th July

As anticipated, I began the selection process for New Contexts: 5 yesterday alongside some ‘Z’ drafting which (I have to say) went very well in that it flowed, I was into the character I was working on etc. I must have spent over an hour in a single session simply adding to the stock of words – which is good for me as my ‘units’ of work tend to be around 40 minutes.

In the evening it was the Yorkshire ‘Stanza’ group. My poem was well-received and I was given some useful feedback – which is what such meetings should be about.

The NC:5 work was interesting. Here’s my selection process:

1 – I sort all submissions into alphabetical order by name of piece (this is to divorce them from the person who wrote them).

2 – I then start reading at ‘A’ (surprise, surprise!) concentrating on the poems in the first round.

3 – I then move each piece into one of three folders: ‘shortlist’, if I know I want to include the piece; ‘reject’, if I know I definitely won’t be including the piece; and ‘longlist’ for those I’m in two minds about. I usually set the bar pretty high during the first round of reading, so perhaps around 30% might make it to the ‘shortlist’ folder. [Interestingly, the percentage yesterday was a little lower; maybe I was being severe or the quality wasn’t quite there.]

4 – I then follow the same process for prose pieces.

5 – When I have finished this round, I see how much I have in ‘shortlist’ – it’s never enough for a book after the first pass – and then return to reread all the pieces in ‘longlist’. After this round all pieces should either be in ‘shortlist’ or ‘reject’. [Having said that, it is not unusual for there to be a third round…]

6 – Then I put a draft of the book together to see how it looks. Only when I’m happy with that do I contact the relevant writers.

As we’re out and about today it may be that I struggle to do any work at all. But that’s ok; I forgive myself in advance! If I expect nothing, any work I do manage to fit in will be a bonus.

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