I would be remiss if I did not address Rachelle Cruz’s most recent blog post here. She asks, when do you know a book of poems is ready to submit for publication. I’ve addressed it before on this here blog, for example here and here. I think this is a good question, and I think that even as authors with more than one book, we don’t always come to this answer so easily.
I’d previously mentioned how early on (i.e. in Diwata‘s previous incarnation), I queried a few publishers, and sent Diwata out to a few publishers during open reading periods. I even submitted to maybe three contests. I’d decided to send it out because at that point, I felt like I couldn’t write Diwata anymore. In my mind, I’d exhausted the theme and what I felt capable of writing on the theme that would fit the body of work that was the manuscript. It was as complete-feeling from beginning to end as I was capable of thinking about it. Ultimately, I was exhausted, and I wanted to move on.
