I remember initially feeling hesitant and insecure about publishing my poetry collection, You Will Find Your Way. There were LOTS of reasons why.
One of the reasons was I was worried people would say my writing isn’t poetry or isn’t very good. I worked up the courage to tell some of my friends about my book and asked them to read an early draft. Their praise and enthusiasm helped me work through this fear enough to put the book out there in the world.
But even still, some self-doubt must have lingered because I included a note in the preface that acknowledged some might say I’m not a poet or that I’m clearly an amateur. I also settled on the subtitle “poetry and musings” instead of a more confident stance like “a poetry collection.”
It’s interesting now that over 200 reviews across different platforms have come through, they overwhelmingly positive with mostly 5 and 4 star reviews. But I do have some 3 star reviews and within them are readers who argue that my work isn’t poetry.
For example:
💬 “...The content doesn’t quite rhyme and it’s not poetic. It’s a bit misleading to call it poetry.”
💬 “...There was a lack of poetic form.”
💬 “The writing is decent, and the words are thoughtful, but they don’t feel like poetry.”
But there were also many readers saying things like:
💬 “Naomi, You are definitely a poet.”
💬 “Wooow, a strong, brutal and fearless poet in the action!!!”
💬 “I loved these collection of poems. They made me think and feel and ponder on the human experience. The poet is raw and thoughtful.”
I later discovered that even well known and successful poets have scathing criticisms online of their work with people saying they’re not poets. This amazes me, and yet doesn’t at the same time.
So this “not a real poet” is going to keep on going behind the scenes slowly writing more poems to share with readers knowing they’re not for everyone, and that’s okay. 🥰
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