The Poetteer

 Back in 2014 I wrote a short story with a little twist on little red riding hood. Enjoy!  Once upon a time lived a little girl named Ruqayyah. She lived in a small town with her parents. She didn't like being in big cities because it was busy and dirty. Grimy people were lurking in the shadows. She had the charm to make them good. There was something about her green eyes.  Her mother loved the color red and thought it would go well with Ruqayyah's green eyes. Mom bought red fabric and stitched her a headscarf. Ruqayyah loved it. She wore it every day.  One day her mother said to her: 'Come, Little Red, here are some homemade cookies, fruit, and dates; take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they will help her. Go before it gets hot, and walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path, or you may fall and break the cookies or scrape your knee, then your grandmother won't get anything; and when you go into her room, don't forget to say, "Good

Hello Poetteers,  I'm sharing more poetry books I discovered and am excited to read! March Coming Home to Her By Emily Juniper It is a celebration of being human. It is a coming out journey, an exploration of sexuality, femininity, loving, and being loved. How to Bloom By Tatyana White Jenkins A collection of poems about the enthralling, complex, grueling, and beautiful journey of growth. April The Gravity Inside Us By Chloe Frayne  An ode to whatever it is we carry that pulls us in and out of place, and speaks so insistently of fate. The Medicine That Burns by Molly S Hillery It is a raw declaration on what a life of trauma can look like after the dust settles and the poems have happy endings. It is an unflinching narrative on how hurt is cyclical, how recovery must be redefined repeatedly, and how shame can poison us in the worst ways. I See How You've Kept Me by Aisha Adams A debut poetry book that takes you through a journey of brokenness to reach complete healing. May The

Hello Poetteers,  Going wide can be overwhelming. Finding a good distributor can help lessen the stress. I started using Draft2Digital to reach ebook retailers unavailable through Smashwords. Like Smashwords and Amazon, it’s free and easy to use. I enjoy using D2D for its features. The interface is easier to use while Smashwords needs an updated facelift. You can schedule sales ahead of time on D2D while on Smashwords you need to set the sale on the same day. On Amazon, you can’t place your book for sale or free unless you exclusively publish with them. Smashwords sales use coupon codes that buyers will have to remember. A benefit from that is you can have a private or public sale. Smashwords can be nit-picky about your book format. If it fails the review, your book won’t be available on the Premium Catalog. D2D helps with table of contents and adding in end matter. It allows you to add a design style. It’s accessible to download MOBI and EPUB. You can pick which retailers you want you

Hello Poetteers,  Self publishing can vary from being free to expensive. It depends on your skills, if you're willing to be self taught and hire out for higher quality work.  Indie author publishing tools A cover designer can run between $150-$300  An editor costs between $200-$400  There are other expenses like formatter and illustrator.  Or you could do the cover and interior by yourself on programs like InDesign which costs about $240 a year. Vellum is $250, a book formatting software for Mac.  Distributors IngramSpark is $50 - to upload a book & then $25 for each revision. Other expenses Isbns $125 - from the Bowker site (for US only). You can purchase an isbn (2 for each: paperback & ebook) to have your name and LLC attached to your book. You can also use a free one through your distributors. Their publishing company will be attached to your book. Also, you’ll have several different isbns for your book through all the distributors you use. Reedsy goes in depth about

Hello Poetteers, How to know you’re over-editing Something we all worry about is over-editing. It’s bound to happen. Over-editing is when your work is no longer moving forward. It happens when you doubt it's not good enough and are attached to what readers think. You will know when the emotion in the poems are lost and you're not excited anymore. The poems sound the same & you feel tired with the poems. There are no questions left to ask. You're focused on the same section and tiny details. You can't finish because it's hard to let go.  How to tackle it when it happens Remind yourself that you're writing for yourself. Hopefully you are saving each draft. Don’t be afraid to go back to an older version of the poems. How to prevent it Set deadlines. Take breaks in between each round and use a checklist. Send it to beta readers and an editor.  Are you looking for a poetry editor? Check out my services and snag a spot!  Stay inspired,  Fida 

Hello Poetteers,  Editing my own work is harder than editing for my clients. With my clients I see it from an outside perspective. I’m attached to my poems. I may not see the plot holes or may not pay attention to the tone of poem. Editing is a skill you can improve on. Analyze the poems you read and study the songs you listen to. Ask yourself what you like and dislike about the poems? What would you do differently?  Are you looking for a poetry editor? Check out  my services  and snag a spot!