Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: revision process

Burrow

Burrow is an online literary journal that is dedicated to mental health. It is published by Old Water Rat Publishing which is a family affair consisting of Phillip Hall (poetry editor) and daughter Rhiannon Hall (managing editor). They publish poetry and other micro forms on what it means to live with good or poor mental health. They feature poets at every stage but their main focus is on new and emerging poets of any age.

Having a literary journal dedicated to mental health is vital given the current challenges facing humanity and the planet. After two years of a pandemic, lockdowns and isolation we need the solace that self care can bring more than ever. And this is a journal that is '…especially interested in where self-care intersects with such priorities as: ecopoetics, postcolonialism, ekphrasis, progressive religion & secularism.'

I am excited to announce that three of my poems are featured in the most recent issue of Burrow - Gifting (February 2022). It's humbling to be rubbing virtual shoulders with such Australian poetry luminaries as Anne Elvey and Owen Bullock.

My suite of poems is called Gifts that Bind and the poems are a different brew, binding threads and Catching Some Zeds. The first two poems are about the eco-dyed notebooks I made and you can see pictures of them in Burrow. The third poem is about giving yourself a break and taking a nap instead of ticking off more things on the never ending list of things to do.

The handmade poems bring together my twin passions of writing and making. Both creative endeavours – one featuring hands, the other head – are filled with heart. And of course, the poems speak to the joy of making things for someone you love. I am so excited to have poems that are about my experiences of creating things with my hands published in a literary journal!

If you are in need of some self care, I would highly recommend checking out the most recent issue of Burrow.

February 21, 2022
Tidal River

The ocean. The horizon. Mount Oberon. The river. Wildlife. Friends.

Five days camping and sleeping under the stars.

Bliss.

February 18, 2022
What Next?

I am feeling a real shift in my energies in the last couple of weeks. After having crashed and burned in January, I'm rising from the ashes ready to fashion a new self. But who will I be?

Okay, that's a tad dramatic. Perhaps it's more about fashioning a new routine or crafting a better life. You know, being mindful about what I want to do and where I want to spend my energy. Because let's face it all resources, even energy, are finite.

I'm really feeling the pull to return to handmade and making objects I need with my hands. I haven't really done any craft for a couple of years and I miss it. Desperately. Buying things isn't anywhere near as fulfilling as creating something with your own hands.

I'm also wanting to spend more time with my gorgeous girls – learning, growing and laughing together. I've been so busy with my projects (especially with Pocketry) and serving other people that I haven't had as much time for them. And they are smart and funny and full of plans and energy. It is so wonderful to watch them grow into the people they are meant to be. When I look at them I realise how precious and short our time here is. Soon they will be flying the coop and I want to savour all our time together.

The other thing I am keen to do is dive into the three million writing projects I have buzzing around in my brain. Ideas for collections of poems that want to be written. Plans for mini books featuring my poetry and photography. Playing with words, illustrations and design to create digital pieces. Delving into non fiction and essay writing. Taking my rewilding experiences with Firekeepers of the last six years and learning to write about Australian nature. I've got so many ideas, it's wonderful!

What are your plans for the coming year?

February 11, 2022
Back On The Bike

I woke up this morning all groggy and fuzzy (it's both a reality and a metaphor for how I've been feeling of late). The aim of getting up early was to get some work done before the kids woke up. It was my attempt to get back into the swing of things after taking January off. But the thought of sitting down at my computer wasn't appealing at all. Once I opened the curtains and saw that the sun was just getting up my decision seemed more simple – go for a ride and see the sun rise.

It feel so good to be back on the bike. There was so much beauty in the morning with the birds already awake and excited about the day. It's hard not to feel good when you hear them so busy and joyful all around you. I think it was the magpie I heard when I was still lying in bed that planted the seed for this adventure. Lying there under the doona, half asleep and hearing her carol in the dawn was a wonderful way to wake.

I stoped about a million times along the way to take photos and drink in the beauty all around me. I feel like I've been asleep to all that gorgeousness for the last month while my brain went AWOL. And now, after my morning ride through beauty, I am coming into focus.

February 9, 2022
Bushranger’s Bay

It's great having friends who know places to go to around Melbourne. And it's even better to spend a day with those friends visiting one of those places. Especially when that friend is knowledgeable about plants and which ones are good to eat like the native raspberry that was growing alongside the path or the saltbush berries nestled in the leaves.

Travelling with friends has you doing unexpected things and this list was no different. We climbed the massive rock that was next to the beach and stood on the top of it perilously close to the edge in the strong winds blowing in off the water.

Just in case that wasn't enough to get the blood pumping I then got dumped in the waves and churned like milk into a pat of butter. I loathe being dumped and getting salt water up my nose and down the back of my throat. Nothing like a good dunking to know that you're alive (and thank goodness I still was!).

We'd never been to Bushranger's Bay before and enjoyed the walk to the beach and back along the sandy track. We even saw a wallaby in the bushes next to the path as we walked down to the beach. And then on the way back there was an echidna!

With the pandemic and restricted overseas travel we have been doing a lot more travel close to home and I am falling in love with our own unique Australian animals. It's all too easy to think that all the spectacular and amazing things are overseas and that I have to spend a fortune and hop on a place to see them when the reality is, this country (and any country for that matter) is incredible. All you need to do is have an open mind and a willingness to explore.

January 31, 2022
Cut The I

I have been trying to push my craft to see how good I can make my writing. It's why I do workshops all the time. I feel like an eternal student – always curious, always learning.

At the end of last year I completed the Poetics of Reticence class with Eve Grubin through the Poetry School in London. It was a fantastic 10 weeks of reading, writing, sharing and commenting on poetry. I love doing these kinds of workshops because I find being part of a group pushes me to write better things. And of course the tutor brings their expertise and particular way of looking at poetry which then informs my writing.

I don't want to keep writing the same poems again and again. I want to experiment with form and play with ideas. I want to get better at saying what can't be said. At hinting at those big things that concern us all.

I find it very easy to whip up a typical narrative plainsong style poem but I am interested in learning how to be more lyrical. I want to add metaphor and beautiful language to the plainsong.

I am also interested in writing more universally and less from the perspective of indulgent navel gazing. Okay, okay, I know that's a little harsh but I'd like to write less poems that have 'I' in every other line. In fact, I'm experimenting with not using it at all.

What are you experimenting with in your writing?

January 5, 2022
Between Pen and Paper

When I start a project I have heaps of creativity and enthusiasm. After the initial rush wears off, I settle into a bit of a groove and find my focus. Towards the end I get bored and have to push myself to finish. If I don’t, there’s a feeling that I won’t ever complete it. However, if I rush through the end, there’s the risk that I will botch it or don’t do it jsuctice.

It’s a delicate balancing act between getting the thing done and making it as good as it can be. I have a tendency to say, it’s good enough and claim it’s done. I’m wanting to push through that initial feeling of near enough is good enough and get to a new place of wow, this is brilliant!

But keeping the enthusiasm going can be hard. After a while doubt starts to creep in. For me the real danger is letting that doubt take hold and abandoning the project. I haven’t yet quite worked out how to push through the doubt and keep working on something that I know needs that last little bit of oomph to make it shine.

What do you struggle with in your writing or creative practice?

December 21, 2021
A Good Listener

My poem, A Good Listener, about climate change and suburban gardens has been accepted for publication! I am so glad that this poem found a home and that editor Joan Fenney of The Crow saw something in it worthy of publication.

I've sent this poem off to many journals and competitions, believing there was something in it worthy of publication. It's hard to know just what it is that makes a poem one you believe in, one that you stubbornly keep sending out, rejection after rejection. Whatever it is, this poem had it. And so I kept on sending it in to journals, hoping that one day an editor would see in it what I did – words worthy of reading and being shared.

If you'd like to read my poem, head on over to Ginninderra Press' website and sign up for The Crow. It's well worth it!

December 6, 2021
Getting Rejected

As a writer the one sure thing about your work is that you'll get rejected, countless times, before you're accepted. The above picture is a list of the poems I submitted in 2020 via the Submittable platform which is used by many literary organisations. There were also a whole bunch of poems I sent off via email.

The way I've dealt with the inevitable fear and doubt of submitting my work to journals, competitions and publishers is to embrace rejection – #letgetrejected. I got this idea from someone, I can't remember who, online. I send out each poem fully expecting it to be rejected so when it happens I don't fall in a heap because it's what I'm expecting. On the rare occasions my work is accepted, there is great rejoicing and jubilation. Often dancing and shouting too!

Once I get rejected, I send the poem right back out again to someone else. Sometimes I edit it and sometimes I send it off as it is. I got this idea from Liz Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, in one of her TED talks on creativity. What one editor rejects, another may accept. It's all down to taste and timing.

If you write enough, you'll develop a back catalogue of poems you can draw upon to send out. And the process of submitting and resubmitting your work over a period of time will mean your style and voice are heard by editors. They may not initially warm to it but over time they will come to know it and hopefully, appreciate it.

May 12, 2021
The Revision Process

I'm just finishing the last lesson for the brilliant Online Poetry class I've been doing with Pip Smith. I can't reccommend this class highly enough. Pip is a brilliant teacher and you get great feedback on the poems you submit in response to the assignments for each week.

This lesson is all about the process of revision and I wanted to share with you some thoughts I had about my process after responding to this question from Pip:

Do you have a reliable revision process? If so, do share!

And here's my answer of sorts:

When I write a poem, I don't start out with a long, paragraph or chunk of writing. I tend to write my first draft in lines, breaking them with natural pauses. I'm interested in trying the paragrpah approach to see if that chages my thinking / writing and adds more lyricism to my poetry. I suspect it might shift my work from bare/bald to colourful/descriptive.

Hmm, interestingly I haven't thought much about the revision process of writing poetry, however, I've thought a lot about the creative process of writing poetrry (and written lots of poems about it!). I really like your clay sculpting analogy (or is it a meataphor?). I think you've set me off on a whole new direction!

I think I often revise as I go. Crossing out words, leaving spaces for words I know should be there but can't think of at the time, adding in lines etc. My first drafts look like a mess of scribbles and footnotes and lines connecting it all.

And then I'll type it up, often editing as I go. And once it's typed, read it through, hearing it in my head. I think I could add reading aloud to this process. There's something different about shaping words with your tongue and sounds with your throat

It was amazing how this simple question provoked a whole series of thoughts and gave me two new ideas to try with my poetry:

write my initial thoughts as a paragraph / stream of consciousness and

read my drafts aloud to feel the words on my tongue and in my mouth

April 21, 2021