This week, I spent some time with the wonderful residents of Litchford Falls Healthcare & Rehabilitation. It was great to see that there’s no age limit on writing and enjoying poetry. Many thanks to Ericka and Chris in the Activities Department for asking me to come.
Speaking of writing and enjoying poetry, I wanted to share a few of the many ways to “publish” your poetry that don’t involve traditional publishers or contest fees. It’s never been easier to distribute information and publish your own work with the myriad of word-processing programs and online publishers and printers. With a little creativity and work, you’ll be surprised at what you can do with your own poetry.
- Arrange your favorite poems one to a page using a word-processing program like Word. Create a simple cover and print out as many copies as you want. Word can even help you arrange your poems into a booklet format.
- Pair your poems with photos and create a calendar. Online publishers like Lulu.com have easy-to-use templates and print-on-demand services.
- Create your own greeting cards with pictures and lines of your poetry. Print them out yourself or use a site like Shutterfly.com that has high print quality and many options of paper.
- Start a blog and post your poetry online. Solicit opinions from your friends and family. A word of caution, though: make sure you feel comfortable with your poems being online forever and you are open to your poems being copied and commented on.
- Have fun!
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