Finished.

I am proud to announce I have officially closed the book, literally, on my latest manuscript.  I am finished, all in, at the end of the road, spent, whole, and complete.  At 80 pages, this marks the end of my writing and 95% of all my editing responsibilities.  That remaining 5% will be the kind of fixes I see during the submission process and consist mostly of fixing awkward tenses or a misspent comma.  As the manuscript takes to the internet and the publishing world, I now send it off feeling as if everything which needs to be there is there.

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Some numbers for those who think of such things:

I have, as of today, submitted poems from this manuscript 44 times to 42 different journals.

I have, as of today, had 19 poems from my manuscript accepted for publication.  This marks a record for me in my best publishing year so far.  19 poems in 8 different journals. 

The manuscript, with all end matter, clocks in at 80 pages, 46 poems, and 3 sections.

I have been actively writing this manuscript for approximately 18 months.

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I have exactly four places to submit this manuscript to before I have to start looking around for more places.  I want to keep the batches small, not out of superstition, but because I would rather take my time sending it out into the world, and only to the places I think would really enjoy reading my manuscript.  I have already told you I will not be submitting to any contest, and I am going to stick to my guns.  No contests.  I really think my pathway leads in other directions.  There comes a time when we need to stand firm on an issue, and this one is mine.  For me, contests are a bad idea right from the beginning.  I would rather buy a book from a small press and be entertained with said book, than sit at home anxiously waiting for bad news.  And that's exactly what it would be.  I would be sitting around obsessing over semi-finalist and finalist lists, wondering who might be reading my poetry, which celebrity judge would be making the final call, and hating myself more each day.Researching individual presses suits me.  I am more than willing to pay a reading fee to a press I believe in and have spent some real time looking into and still coming up with nothing than I am entering any contest for free.  I do not think other people are bad for entering contests.  I am simply saying I am not built to handle that kid of stress.  

Time for me to go.  I will be certain to keep you updated as to how things go.  You will be among the first I tell anything.  I promise.