Literary Journal. If you are interested in starting a writer's group or a Literary Journal, here are a few ways you can get the word out about your new venture.
What Can You Do to Help Popularize Poetry?
You can offer to subscribe to contemporary poetry journals for a local high school. Remember, one of the reasons people don't drool over poetry is that they haven't been exposed to what's available.
You can start an open mic poetry reading at your local bookstore or library.
Volunteer at a local school to help students write and publish their own Literary Journal.
Donate poetry books by contemporary poets to your library or school.
BUY SOME POETRY!! If you love to write poetry, one of the best ways to develop your skills (and even find markets for your poetry), is to buy and read poetry by other conemporary poets. When you buy a book of poetry, you are contributing to the market. The more people go out and buy books of poetry, the more popular the market will become.
Start a local writer's group, and make a point to discuss some of the works by conemporary poets.
Start a Literary Journal, and emphasize works by poets that would appeal to a general audience, rather than only to other poets.
Some Writing Group Ideas
1. During the first meeting, you can ask each of the members to write a short blurb about their writing goals and what they would like to get out of the writing group. Ask them what their preferred genres are and what they would like to improve.
2. Always talk about the preferred criticism style before unraveling another writer's work line by line. Some people are looking for serious in depth critique, while others are looking simply to discuss the content of their work.
3. Share published literature. Collectively read a novel or several short stories and discuss what works in those stories. Good writers tend to be good readers.
4. You can start each session with a free writing exercise to get the writing molecules in motion.
5. You can give take home assignments. These can be vague writing prompts that will work with any type of genre. Writer's Digest usually has quite a few good writing prompts that can be used for fiction writers as well as poets.
6. Introduce guest speakers. If you have a favorite writing instructor from college, don't be too shy to ask him or her to give your writing group a little visit.
7. Discuss publication venues. It always helps to discuss some of the Literary Journals that accept submissions.
8. Start a small Literary Journal! You can do this by collecting and working on the pieces that you and your members do in the writing group. These little journals don't have to be fancy, nor do they have to be widely distributed. Distributing a few journals to the library and to other non-profit organizations can be a good way to help your group gain some experience in the writing industry.
Overall, a writing group has a plethora of possibilities. A great attribute of a well tuned writing group is the fact that you might life long mentors, prot?g?s, and friends.
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