Wonderful, darling by Veronica Zundel

When I started my MA course in Writing Poetry nearly seven years ago, I said that I wanted to write better poetry but didn't want to join the 'poetry scene'. Subsequent experience has not changed my mind. In my limited (and due to the pandemic, mostly online) encounters with it, the poetry scene has turned out to be little different from the theatre scene. It is full of people who all know each other and call each other 'darling' and who pronounce at any exposure of the work of a poet they already know, 'What wonderful poems! What a wonderful evening!', regardless of the actual quality of the poetry (and I am one who prefers to see poetry on the page to judge whether it's any good, since a decent reading (including by me) can make a pretty indifferent poem sound much better than it actually is.

The trouble is, if you want your poetry exposed and published, you basically have to be part of the poetry scene. Even if you self-publish, you will need to enter the scene to sell your self-published work, and it will be harder to sell than if it were published by a known poetry publisher. There really is no other way. So some time I will have to bite the bullet, get on the circuit (to mix my metaphors) and plunge in.

But this has also got me thinking: is there a 'Christian writing/writers' scene'? And if so, what effect is it having? Several new and excellent writers have emerged in the last few years (and they are not necessarily spring chickens) so that would seem to suggest the absence of a clique which you have to become part of to get seen and published. Nevertheless, 'who you know' still seems to be a significant factor in success in the Christian market -- that, and the energy to keep churning out a new book every year or even more often,  energy which some of us simply don't have,  or which is taken up by other demands such as caring responsibilities (which, as always, fall more heavily on women).

I have to acknowledge that the ACW has been a positive force in nurturing new writers, and helping them hone their skills. Is it equally generous in seeking out the shy wallflowers who may be too timid to ask a question at an ACW day but who may actually be the writers of tomorrow? I'm not sure. It's too easy at an event (and I am as much a culprit here as anyone) to gravitate to those one already knows and wants to catch up with. It's also easy to value some kinds of writing over others -- to applaud those who have got a novel, or several novels, published but to overlook those who 'merely' write for Christian magazines or devotionals, or even their local paper,  which they may actually do very well. 

If there is a 'Christian writers' scene', let's try to make it one that has no 'celebs' or 'lesser beings', but one that welcomes all and gives opportunity to all. Oh, but let's also make it one where quality is paramount, whatever field of writing one is in. Simply exclaiming 'Wonderful!' does no one any favours at all.

Veronica Zundel is an author and former editor who has written/compiled nine books (all out of print) but continues to write her regular column for Woman Alive magazine and Bible notes for New Daylight (BRF). She is a widely published and occasionally prizewinning poet.