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STRIP

Oddest rejection letter:

“Dear Miss Readman,

We read your poems with more interest than usual, but no.”

(Eh? What’s that supposed to mean?)

Funniest rejection letter

“Dear Miss Readman,

We enjoyed reading your story. However, it is the policy of this magazine to publish stories containing only sexual acts of an enjoyable nature.”

About these publications

I've heard a few writers say publication is something for writers to stop focusing on. Though the people who say this are always published, which is a little odd! In a way they are right, publication isn't everything. Most writers put the writing and trying to just become a better writer first. They should. That being said, writers are communicators. They have an idea, a gem, a mood they want to share- to do this the work has to be published somewhere and someone has to read it. It's good for the writer. They can learn this way. They hope it will be good for a reader. A writer hopes to write something that will add a little thought or feeling to someone's day. Without local presses publishing me I don't know if I'd have the faith in myself to keep writing. I'm glateful I had that .

These are the covers of some publications I've had out with local presses. Some of them are anthologies, some are pamphlets. They aren't books that have ever been in shops, but the work of local presses and people who love poetry is important. It's where a lot of writers receive their first encouragement, it gives them the confidence to keep writing (which isn't always easy if you are sitting on work no one gets to see.) I've included links to these projects by small presses because they produce some really interesting work and need all the support they can get.