by Kim Roberts
Like most writers, I am plagued by a constant, nagging sense
that I should be doing more of the administrative tasks needed to advance my
career.
Recently, I was having coffee with Leslie and said something
to her about the problem of “doing
Po-Biz.” I asked her, “You fiction writers don’t call it that—what do you call
it?”
She looked up brightly and answered, “Crap.”
Which sums up how most of us feel, I’d guess—we know we need
to do it, but it’s a chore. What do I mean by Po-Biz? It’s the part that feels
most like work: applying for grants,
fellowships, awards; sending out finished poems to journals, anthologies,
competitions, presses; setting up readings; finding reviewers for our books. It’s a big black hole: you can never do
enough.
In the past, I’ve handled Po-Biz randomly, working up a head
of steam and then sending out queries or applications in spurts—with long
fallow periods between times when I tried to build up the energy to focus on
administrative matters once again. This past January, I made a resolution to
try a new tactic.
For the entire month, I did one piece of Po-Biz per day. I
never did more than one thing, so it was never overly burdensome, and even
small things counted. So one day I might merely send an email to a person who
organizes a reading series, and the next day I might take on the larger task of
sending a new book manuscript to a competition or applying for a residency at
an artists’ colony. By the end of the month, I’d done an extraordinary 31
things.
Will this tactic bring me more professional opportunities?
Hard to say. I may just get more rejections than usual. But I believe in
putting my work out into the world. I can’t get opportunities if I don’t apply
for them—and the more things I apply for, the more (statistically) for which I
will be in the running.
And I found, surprisingly, that it was not too difficult to
devote a month to the discipline of “doing Po-Biz.” I certainly felt virtuous
every day. I’m thinking of picking another month and doing it again.
ABOUT KIM ROBERTS
Kim Roberts’s fourth book of poems will be released by
Poetry Mutual this April. Fortune’s
Favor: Scott in the Antarctic is a connected series of blank verse sonnets
based on explorer Robert Falcon Scott’s journal about his race to the South
Pole in 1911 – 1912. More information about the book, including a short video,
can be found on her website: http://www.kimroberts.org.
