LETTER

News: Prompt #1 — First Kiss, Happy Friday, and more!
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I just wanted to drop you all a line before the weekend and share a few things.
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- If you missed our first Writing Prompt, well, check it out!
Poetry Under Cover Prompt #1 — First Kiss
- The schedule, this week, was a little hectic. I decided that Monday’s publishing would only be the prompt submissions. Thursday’s publishing was delayed until today. If you had a piece submitted and worried that it had been missed, fear not. The prompt just took precedence Monday.
- Please remember that we won’t necessarily publish everything in our queue on a given publishing day. If we reach the publishing cut-off and your piece didn’t make it in, it will, next time, barring any other issues. We understand what it’s like to write something that excites us and then have to wait. We will be discussing potential updates to our process to try and improve anything we can. :)
- We can’t always publish what is submitted. This is easily the worst part of being an editor. Some submissions just don’t fit the idea of PUC, but that doesn’t mean the writing isn’t good, it just means it would be better off (for the writer’s sake) hosted somewhere more appropriate (LIKE HELL! Just kidding) Other pieces need some editor attention, which we don’t like doing without the author being involved.
If you feel your piece is inordinately delayed please check your submission for notes from us. Other times, and this is tough, the piece just isn’t good enough. Now, I believe in sending these back, with suggestions, and we will always be open to considering a rewrite, and, if we have time, will usually even be happy to help. Unfortunately, this does sometimes offend people, and we all three regret that, but we want to maintain some level of quality here without being snobbish about it.
We’re not perfect. We make mistakes. We have our own distinct likes and dislikes. It may be that we just don’t get it. We may reject something that you adamantly believe is quality work. I say good luck! and that I would love to be wrong! You getting published somewhere makes me happy.
We’re always open to discussion through email (best way to get in touch) and if, for some reason, you find yourself in conflict with an Editor, you can always ask to be handed over to another Editor.
Our goal is not to discourage you, even if we encourage you to submit the piece elsewhere or tell you it needs work. It amazes me how many people have had a rocky start, but when genuine constructive criticism is given, and/or the writer is challenged to reach higher, delve deeper, open up more, I’ve seen absolute gold happen. It’s almost magical. So keep an open mind and a questing heart!
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Editor Insight
This is something I’m starting as another way to keep things between us, our readers, and our writers, close and engaged. The other two editors (this is Heath by the way) are free, as always, to include this idea in their letters, or not. We keep a very hands-off policy as far as our internal dictates. We’re close friends who trust each other to uphold the vision of Poetry Under Cover in each of our own ways.
My intention for Editor Insight is to invite you into some fun, interesting, and/or dramatic bits of what goes on with your Editors behind the scenes. I will typically place this at the bottom of my letters since it’s not something that will interest everyone.
Here we go. I hope it’s something that you enjoy!
I wanted to invite you all in for a peek at a foible of ours — the Oh, this one is for you! Yes, sometimes a particular piece, for various reasons, is thrust upon an editor not in charge of publishing for that week. For me it sometimes comes down to certain authors that I just love, or even a writer whose work speaks to me, but maybe not to the others, so it’s put in my lap to show some love. Sometimes we do it to tease each other.
The outcome of this can vary. The editor on the receiving end of this may elect to publish it on publishing day even though it’s not their publishing week, or if they’re up next, they may save it for their publishing week.
We don’t step on each other’s toes, we dance on them. We’re all up in each otha’s bidness!
Please know that this is never ever a disrespect to anyone’s writing. On the contrary, it’s often done out of respect. We love all of our readers and writers.

