One thing at a time, Jen, one thing.
The other day my husband and I watched "What About Bob?," that wonderful Bill Murray movie about the charming obsessive-compulsive guy who overcomes his neuroses one baby step at a time. Baby steps out the door. Baby steps to the elevator. Baby steps. In the process, he sabotages his psychologist's vacation and burns down his family's house--but for some reason they love him anyway. Baby steps.
Building a literary journal probably should go one baby step at a time, I think. Over the last few weeks, I've been trying to put all of these tiny steps into one great big, very effective giant first step. As you can see, there aren't poems here yet, because taking all of those steps at one time is not a possibility. Yes, at some point I want Floorboard to be a member of CLMP. Yes, someday there will be fund raisers and a budget and a wave of advertisements in prominent places.
In the meantime, I think taking baby steps is the best thing to do. So here we go.
September 3, 2010
I have learned a couple of things today... or maybe it's more like I have added a few more things to the big pile of How To Make The Floorboard Review.
I was reading through this fabulous article on the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses website. If I am considering whether or not to trust one of my poems to a publication, and if I'm on the fence about it, the little CLMP stamp in the corner of the website will always give me that little nudge toward "submit." Those journals just seem more together, more legit, more awesome. Today I learned that before you can join CLMP, your journal must have published at least one issue and also have some promotional materials on hand. Promotional materials--posters, brochures, business cards, maybe some little specially printed folders... Anyway, membership is $75 a year. Good to know. "First things first," you say, maybe, but a girl's gotta have long-term goals. I have learned that you have to think about these things!
I read also, and you'll have to forgive me because for the moment, I don't remember where I read this--that if you're a non-profit you have to act like one. That means you have to have fund-raisers. When I think about non-profit fundraisers--and you'll have to forgive me again, because this is insane--I think of chandeliers. And then I think of franticness. Thankfully, we're not quite there yet.
Oh--I also gleaned a helpful little tidbit about taking blind submissions--those without the author's name attached. This way nobody will have reason to doubt the fairness of your editorial choices. You can stay consistent with your vision without feeling like you have to accept something only because you know a person.
Speaking of knowing a person: School started 2 weeks ago, and that means a lot of paperwork has exchanged hands over the last few days--syllabi, handouts, assignment sheets, quizzes. Let me tell you, to my great embarrassment, almost every single one of those documents has had some sort of blatant error in it: a glaring type-o, the wrong date, information in the wrong box of a rubric, something unnecessarily confusing, a formatting problem... and I am a writer, a member of the Professional Organization of English Majors, one of those people who point out typographical errors on gigantic billboards and bumper stickers and signs in the pediatrician's office! But, alas, though I am a writing teacher, paid to catch other people's writing errors, anthe most important piece of advice comes to mind. Know thyself: I need a proofreader. Once you find a skilled proofreader, suggests a bit of advice at CLMP, "never let that person go."
Onto the big pile of things I'll use to polish the Floorboard. (Probably at some point, punning about floor-related items will get old... but not yet!)
August 20, 2010
How did I not think of this before??
Of course we need book reviews!
The poetry and essays and photos will come out 2-4 times a year, and for a little pizzaz in between those times, we could have a rolling book review column. So go ahead and let me know if you'd like to review a book of poems or non-fiction! (I've been enjoying that brilliant idea--not entirely my own!--all week! I'm so excited to share it!)
Next steps for Floorboard? I think it's time to get to work on the non-profit status. Which I know nothing about. It'll be an adventure. I've got my feet to the floor. -jk.
August 15, 2010
Progress, Floorboard...ers?
This week, thanks to my technically savvy husband, we were able to get our email functioning. What a production. Let me tell you how it went: I fiddled around with Google Apps for almost 3 hours. "You want me to upload what now?" I said, over and over. Finally, I surrendered. "Let me look at it," Kyle said. Less than 30 minutes later, [email protected] was fully functional. There's a moral in there, I think.
The other very exciting technical tidbit of this week is about our submissions manager program, Submishmash. Once the email was up and running, we could set up a Submishmash account--and let me tell you, I am in love with the Submishmash. (Check them out, for sure.) As a writer, I find Submishmash extremely refreshing--brilliantly refreshing, even. As an editor-type, and one who evidently has limited computer know-how, I can only rave about how wonderfully personable and helpful the staff at Submishmash is, and how incredibly simple it was to set up an account with them for Floorboard Review. It's so exciting. I love the Submishmash.
Another online literary journal-y thing I have been mulling around has been the very touchy issue of reading fees. Wait, wait! Before you close your browser and walk away disgusted, let me say that I am in two camps when it comes to reading fees. On one hand, writers aren't looking for a place to spend money, they're looking for a place to send things. As a writer, I can attest to this fact! And from an organizational perspective, there are a lot of legal paperwork types of things to deal with once there's money involved, even with non-profits. On the other hand, I have read about the benefits of a tiny reading fee. Some journals charge $2-3 per submission, which, some say, weeds out some of the less serious writers. It also undoubtedly provides a bit of income to fund promotional moments like purchasing ads in Poets and Writers, for example. Ads are definitely good.
In addition to all of these wonderful things, the most wonderful, and I think the most important thing that's happened with Floorboard has been the enthusiasm of a small army of writers and at least one photographer who have expressed interest in being part of Floorboard. I am so encouraged and inspired by you all--thanks, from the floorboards of my heart, for your support! -jk
August 9, 2010
Well, here it is. The very, very infant begining of Floorboard Review. Go ahead. Soak it in.
I couldn't be more excited about this new project. I am so much looking forward, with a few of my writer friends, to building a tremendously cool online journal. The bricks will be outstanding poems, essays, and photography. The mortar will be the readers. The floorboards will be the collective love of the words. I can't wait.
In the next few weeks and months, my biggest editorial challenge is going to be figuring out the technical end of making an online journal. My biggest personal challenge will be building a fence around this project to keep it from over-running my entire life! So wish me luck, and spread the word. I'll keep you posted. -jk