Apparently it's publishable.

[HighlandCowbag]

OK so I am a very mature student who did a creative writing module. The feedback I have received is very good (a strong 1st) and the portfolio is publishable. Presumably the best place is competitions? It's a mixed portfolio of 1 short story and 4 poems. Where is the best place to start? Have done a google search and loads come up, am unsure which are 'worth' entering? Would be mainly for the experience and feedback. But £££ would be nice as well.

Get a copy of Writing magazine try WHS)and take it from there. Lots of advice and information. Join a local writing group and talk to other members. Good luck.

No idea sorry just wanted to say wow well done!

Thanks both, will see if I can subscribe to the magazine maybe? I thoroughly enjoyed the module so have chosen a level 2 creative writing module as well, mainly because I enjoyed it rather than I thought I was amazing at it so the feedback was a welcome bonus.

Congratulations - that’s great! I hope you really enjoyed the process of writing and sharing.

I suggest that you start sending the poems off to poetry magazines and see if one would like to publish any of them.

There’s usually a list of poetry magazines that are currently accepting submissions on the A Dreaming Skin website.

for each magazine, take a look at the poems they currently publish. (Look on their website and their Twitter feed, or go to the Poetry Library in London to see print magazines.) See which magazine publishes poems that you like, and that are like your poems. If you don’t like the poems, don’t submit to that magazine.

Then send your poems to each magazine that you like, following their submission requirements carefully. Some places ask for a submission fee of £2-3 for a certain number of poems, so think about whether you’re happy to pay that.

This is a good example of a cover letter and biography: theadroitjournal.org/2019/08/09/how-to-write-a-cover-letter-for-a-literary-journal-magazine-or-publication/amp/

Keep a list of the magazines you’ve sent each poem to.

You may have to wait up to 6 months to hear back from a major magazine.

If a poem is accepted, write to each of the other magazines you sent it to, to let them know that it has been accepted elsewhere, and that you’re therefore withdrawing it from consideration.

Meanwhile, start reading a wide range of poetry magazines and newly published poetry. Find the ones you like, and subscribe to one or two (or go regularly to the Poetry Library).

We’re living in a golden age of poetry publishing, so there are many, many poetry magazines, and even more poems being sent to them. Don’t be discouraged if you get very high numbers of rejections, especially when you start. Apparently Kwame Dawes said that you have to get 36 rejections before you can be disheartened. I think I got 35 rejections before my first poem was accepted - by a major journal.

I wouldn’t enter any competitions, which are expensive, until you know that your poems are reliably being picked out for publication in magazines.

I’ve mentioned money twice - poetry does cost, although much less than most hobbies, so I’d recommend deciding how much you want to spend on it in advance, and then sticking to your budget.

Very best wishes for your first publication! There’s nothing like the sound of that first magazine hitting your doormat.

Thank you so much for this, that's very helpful. I did enjoy writing them very much, much more than writing essays.

I am doing a level 2 poetry module next semester so will have a reading list for that which I intend to start over summer, plus I want to get some more poems started, the module is quite intense. I will look into submitting the poems I have already done over the summer, once I am back from holiday.

The U.K. magazine Neon maintain a big list of literary mags and another list of competitions. You could find somewhere there.

There are hundreds and hundreds of options and it can take a few tries before getting something accepted. It’s mainly about picking the most finally/stylistically appropriate places to submit to.

there is also a website called “chill subs” but I haven’t used it yet. It’s for finding magazines open to submission

Just a quick update.

I never did send any of my year 1 portfolio off anywhere, lack of confidence more than anything. But did the year 2 module last semester and submitted one.of my collections (just 5 poems) to the university creative writing journal and it was accepted and published a few weeks ago 😁.

I also got amazing feedback from the lecturer, who is a bit of a name in modern poetry and this has given me the confidence to chose both the poetry and a prose module for next year. And am considering a masters in creative writing.

I'm going to submit my second portfolio to some competitions/journals for consideration as well.