Put Together a Poetry Collection
Putting together a poetry collection is an exciting challenge! It’s a road trip through your own imagination. Many poets say that the final poem in a collection is the arrangement of the poems. That’s why I use mapping as metaphor for putting together a collection; it helps us visualize the journey the manuscript creates for readers so we can write the “final poem”.
Manuscript mapping can help you identify and develop a clear and unique arc for your collection from the very start of the process. Unlike an editing or feedback package, which typically critiques an already-completed manuscript, my manuscript mapping process is designed to guide and inspire writers as they envision and arrange their collection. The process can also be used to re-envision and re-arrange a collection that is struggling to gain traction with contests and publishers. Manuscript coaching from me is not a series of critiques; it’s skill-building guidance (with a side of quiet cheer-leading) that helps you deepen and enrich both the individual poems and the manuscript as a cohesive whole—so you can become aware of your own writerly strengths, sharpen your self-editing skills, and write your best possible book.
The Manuscript Starter
This coaching package ($180) is designed to help you envision and plan your manuscript from the very beginning. You’ll get tools and guidance to help you clarify the purpose and center of your manuscript—so you can transform a stack of poems into a collection with a coherent vision. You’ll also gain awareness of the themes and patterns that recur in your work, develop the conversation between your poems, and build your self-editing skills. Package includes:
-Lifetime access to the manuscript-mapping workbook I’ve developed to help you explore and articulate your manuscript’s heart and purpose (you are welcome to use it for future projects)
-Five approachable assignments that will help you tap into your creativity, discover your collection’s center of gravity, develop its atmosphere, come up with a working title, and identify your most important poems
-Feedback from me on your assignments
-Comments from me on 10 of your poems (up to 14 pages)—to help you understand how they will work together in a manuscript (and how to arrange them)
-Suggestions for where to submit not-yet-published poems
-a 60-minute coaching call to help you integrate and implement feedback; you’ll leave with a clear plan for putting together your poetry collection
-the option to schedule additional coaching calls and a discount on future feedback for this manuscript
The Manuscript Mapper
This coaching package ($180 + $9 per page) is designed to helped you re-envision and re-build an existing manuscript. You can use it to reinvigorate a project that has started to feel stale or flat to you. Or to relaunch a manuscript that is struggling to gain traction with publishers. While I will assess your manuscript (and help you better understand how it might be landing with readers and editors), my approach is not to criticize and “fix” your poems; I’m here to empower you with clarity and structure as you retune your collection. Revision is not a tedious slog—it’s an exhilarating discovery process! Package includes:
-Lifetime access to the manuscript-mapping workbook I’ve developed to help you explore and articulate your manuscript’s heart and purpose (you are welcome to use it for future projects)
-Five approachable assignments that will help you tap into your creativity, rediscover your collection’s center of gravity, develop its atmosphere, understand how individual poems fit (or don’t) within the collection, and identify your most important poems
-Feedback from me on your assignments
-Comments from me on every single poem to help you understand how they work together in your manuscript (and how to re-arrange them for a more compelling read)
-Suggestions for where to submit not-yet-published poems
-a 60-minute coaching call to help you integrate and implement feedback; you’ll leave with a clear plan for revising your collection
-the option to schedule additional coaching calls with a discount on future feedback for this manuscript
The Manuscript Mapper with Line Edits
This coaching package ($200 + $18 per page) is designed to helped you refine and hone an existing manuscript. It is for poets who are serious about getting their manuscript contest-ready or publication-ready and who are willing to invest in transforming their work. Package includes:
-Lifetime access to the manuscript-mapping workbook I’ve developed to help you explore and articulate your manuscript’s heart and purpose (you are welcome to use it for future projects)
-An editorial letter exploring how your poems work together and how they might be pushed towards an even more powerful arrangement
-Manuscript comments and suggested line edits
-Practical strategies for revising individual poems
-Suggestions for where to submit not-yet-published poems and the manuscript as a whole
-a 75-minute coaching call to help you integrate and implement feedback; you’ll leave with a clear plan for revising your collection
--the option to schedule additional coaching calls