Thanks for this wonderful idea! Instead of submit, offer. Instead of reject, decline. And the joke about declensions someone threw in via a comment! No need to belabor the "church offerings" meaning...this is a minor use of the word. We are always offering all kinds of things to each other. ("More cake? Potato chips? Can I be of assistance?")
I chuckled at your suggestion that the word "offering" had a religious tone. Mostly because since my all-too-lengthly evangelical experience, the word "Submition" has a particularly heinous connotation for me. I like the concept of framing the work for consideration as a "freewill offering." but I will now (thanks to you connecting the submission dots for me) will no doubt be doing an emotional double-take when SUBMITTING my precious literary children for editorial scrutiny and potential subjecation. LOL. Keep coming back (to reframing)... it works.
The Amherst Writers & Artists method, founded by Pat Schneider, has long been advocating "offering" vs. "submission" for the very reasons you specify. Thanks for this inspiration to send more poetry (and prose) into the world!
Love this. Renaming my "submissions" board now. The religion connotation is all too real for me, but it also feels gentle and reminds me just how sacred this writing work is...which is how I always want to view it. Not as a product, but as a practice. Thank you so much!
What a refreshing way to think about this! I am a poet who is immediately going to rename my "Submissions" folder to "Offerings." I wish Duotrope would rename their "Rejection" response to "Declined" like Submittable does. Makes for a nicer experience and it means the same thing, ultimately.
This was so good! I like the idea of offering my stories to some publication. I've had a lot of rejection slips. I don't think about them any more. I used to have a nail on the wall and would hang them up like trophies some hunter exhibits with pride...but since everything has gone digital, they don't send them out anymore. Gone are the days when there'd be a little hand-written message...
Love "offerings"! Many years ago, after taking a break from submitting (and therefore quickly developing the deep sense of how committed a writer I was with or without future publications), I began to submit and experience the positive emotions that flowed from those submissions. I still continue to submit frequently and widely, because it feels good. I get lots of rejections and have a lovely group of acceptances, also. It's so important to view our processes as writers/creatives within a positive framework—otherwise the business of the work can overwhelm and discourage!
Fabulous shift. Words make a difference and who better knows this than writers! Well perhaps philosophers as well. None the less change a word, change the perspective and In doing so, new breath is infused in our attitudes. Bravo to all the offerings.
"Offering" is a much better word than "submitting." For one thing, it implies consent. And spirituality. One is pleased to offers a pebble on the altar of poetry, as I once heard a famous poet say. (Ellen Bass, though I fear I am paraphrasing.)
Matt, thanks. I wasn't aware of the origin of the phrase, "poetry is not a luxury," which I paraphrase on my FB page. Ellen Bass used the phrase in a class, which is why you couldn't find it in a poem by her, if that's what you were looking for. I like how you expanded on the idea.
Great idea! On similar lines, I label the rejections I receive as 'Learnings'. It takes out the sting and identifies it as such - a learning that I had not found the right home for my story.
Psychologically appealing. Good idea. This mindset, once embedded, may even allow the formality of continuing the use of "submission" without psychic wounding!
Thanks for this wonderful idea! Instead of submit, offer. Instead of reject, decline. And the joke about declensions someone threw in via a comment! No need to belabor the "church offerings" meaning...this is a minor use of the word. We are always offering all kinds of things to each other. ("More cake? Potato chips? Can I be of assistance?")
I chuckled at your suggestion that the word "offering" had a religious tone. Mostly because since my all-too-lengthly evangelical experience, the word "Submition" has a particularly heinous connotation for me. I like the concept of framing the work for consideration as a "freewill offering." but I will now (thanks to you connecting the submission dots for me) will no doubt be doing an emotional double-take when SUBMITTING my precious literary children for editorial scrutiny and potential subjecation. LOL. Keep coming back (to reframing)... it works.
Such a subtly nuanced term. An offering. It’s almost...poetic, even.
The Amherst Writers & Artists method, founded by Pat Schneider, has long been advocating "offering" vs. "submission" for the very reasons you specify. Thanks for this inspiration to send more poetry (and prose) into the world!
Love this. Renaming my "submissions" board now. The religion connotation is all too real for me, but it also feels gentle and reminds me just how sacred this writing work is...which is how I always want to view it. Not as a product, but as a practice. Thank you so much!
I changed the label on my folder from SUBMISSIONS to POEMS OFFERED (because “offerings,” for me, also evoked the word “burnt”). 😊
What a refreshing way to think about this! I am a poet who is immediately going to rename my "Submissions" folder to "Offerings." I wish Duotrope would rename their "Rejection" response to "Declined" like Submittable does. Makes for a nicer experience and it means the same thing, ultimately.
This was so good! I like the idea of offering my stories to some publication. I've had a lot of rejection slips. I don't think about them any more. I used to have a nail on the wall and would hang them up like trophies some hunter exhibits with pride...but since everything has gone digital, they don't send them out anymore. Gone are the days when there'd be a little hand-written message...
Love "offerings"! Many years ago, after taking a break from submitting (and therefore quickly developing the deep sense of how committed a writer I was with or without future publications), I began to submit and experience the positive emotions that flowed from those submissions. I still continue to submit frequently and widely, because it feels good. I get lots of rejections and have a lovely group of acceptances, also. It's so important to view our processes as writers/creatives within a positive framework—otherwise the business of the work can overwhelm and discourage!
I love this idea. I’m going to change my file names!
Fabulous shift. Words make a difference and who better knows this than writers! Well perhaps philosophers as well. None the less change a word, change the perspective and In doing so, new breath is infused in our attitudes. Bravo to all the offerings.
"Offering" is a much better word than "submitting." For one thing, it implies consent. And spirituality. One is pleased to offers a pebble on the altar of poetry, as I once heard a famous poet say. (Ellen Bass, though I fear I am paraphrasing.)
Matt, thanks. I wasn't aware of the origin of the phrase, "poetry is not a luxury," which I paraphrase on my FB page. Ellen Bass used the phrase in a class, which is why you couldn't find it in a poem by her, if that's what you were looking for. I like how you expanded on the idea.
Great idea! On similar lines, I label the rejections I receive as 'Learnings'. It takes out the sting and identifies it as such - a learning that I had not found the right home for my story.
Psychologically appealing. Good idea. This mindset, once embedded, may even allow the formality of continuing the use of "submission" without psychic wounding!
I hear the poet in your prose writing, Rebekah. Also, good thinking! Barbara McG. Bolton