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Welcome to Scrap Paper Thinking |
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Yet another website the world doesn't need you might say. You're probably right, but I bet you got random crap going around in your head and are looking for a way to channel it into something useless. There you go, that's what I am doing and that's what Scrap Paper Thinking is about. If you want to write, you might be in the same position as me; i.e. you think about writing most of the the time, you jot down notes here and there, you feel bad when you don't feel like writing. Your writing is illegible, your hand tires quickly, because you're a slave to the keyboard. The novelty of your myspace page peters out after a while. You publish a couple of things in online magazines, but the breakthrough doesn't come. You'll probably never be able to live on it. But what the... You know what you know, each piece you write is unique, published or not. There is none like it anywhere else in the world. Poetry is random, some people don't understand it, don't want to understand it, think it's outdated. I reckon it's the best thing I ever came across.
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It's been a long time coming |
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 You know the scenario: One submission after the other, and after three months or so the standard replies come flying in: “Whilst we enjoyed your work, we currently have no use for it…”, or, “We receive a tremendous amount of submissions on a daily basis, so you will understand that the selection process is a really tough one…”. The thing is, I do understand indeed, because I know that there are gizillions of people like me out there, trying to get at least one piece published.
Anyhow, when we went back for a visit to the UK in October, my sister in law had a stack of post for us and amongst some more rejections there was a letter from the editor of Poetry Now, part of Forward Press. They agreed to accept one of my poems in their upcoming anthology “Awakening Inspirations”, out in January! Needless to say I nearly hit the ceiling! I am especially happy that it’s Forward Press, because they are a long established publisher of poetry following their creed “poetry for the people by the people” and have published poets like Carol Ann Duffy and Wendy Cope. So, keep writing, keep revising and most of all keep sending off. You’ll get you foot in the door when you least expect it!
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This is a really interesting project, first started in a Bulgarian version, and now also available in German and English. It’s a multi-media journal, covering poetry and prose, visual arts, critique, interviews, reports, etc. I first learnt about Public Republic through my “myspace” friend Katya, who is one of the editors, and I don’t want to miss it anymore, not only because I have the honour of having been accepted as one of the contributing authors, but also because it is simply interesting, inspiring and eye-opening.
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