#lunarthreads

[softheartedpoet]

hi hello i am new to the poetry thing but i want to start posting my things on tumblr, any advice for me??? i love your writing by the way! it's beautiful and really heartfelt, you're very talented.

hi hi sorry it’s taken me several days to get to this—i’ve been thinking about it and i wanted to wait till i had a big enough pocket of time to give this ask a proper response.

so it seems there are two areas of advice in regards to your question: 1) how to go about posting poetry on tumblr, and 2) how to get better at writing poetry in general. i’m going to try and address both!

1) posting poetry on tumblr

tags: use tags! tags are a great way to expose your work to people who don’t already follow you. i believe tumblr has a thing that seems to be pretty universal wherein only the first five tags that you use show up in a tumblr search, so take advantage of those five! there are the usual (#poetry, #spilled ink, #writing) and those for networks or reblog blogs (like #writerscreed for @writerscreed, #inkstay or #daretowrite for @inkstay, #poetryriot for @poetryriot, etc.) and if you have mutuals that track their user tag and let you tag them, you can tag them so they see your work, too! not every network or reblog blog will reblog every tagged work, but some are better about it than others as long as your poetry meets very minimal guidelines (not filled with hate speech or glorifying harmful behavior etc.)

privacy: as i’m sure you’re aware, tumblr’s recently rolled out this feature—safe mode—wherein posts deemed “inappropriate” for minors are blocked from view if you’re under 18 (i believe this is determined by the email you used to sign up). i also recently found out that my whole blog was hidden to those under 18 because i had marked it as “explicit” a while ago, partially because i was a little uncomfortable with minors reading my poetry especially as some of them touch on difficult adult topics, but none of my poetry is really detailed in respect to those topics anyway, so i turned that off when tumblr rolled out the safe mode feature. if you’re comfortable, not marking your blog as explicit will allow you to reach underage bloggers!

another note on privacy: there’s also the option to make your blog hidden from search engines (this includes tumblr’s own) which makes tagging a moot point. there’s also the option to make your bog only viewable to logged-in users, which affects exposure a bit less than the option to hide your blog from searches, i think. again, both are up to you!

networks and friends: join networks if you’d like! a couple bloggers i know have their own networks and indexes. the lovely @illuminosity runs a writers index @writersindex, as one example! a couple others i can recall (though i’m not sure all of them are taking new members): @ocean-blind (which i am a member of! they are currently not accepting new members), @nosebleedclub, @inkflowsnet, and @inkstay​. there are far more than i could name here, and the longer you’re immersed in the writing community here, the more networks you’ll find!

i highly recommend making friends with other writers if want to! you can leave replies on their work, or strike up a conversation about writing in their ask or over messages. it’s always nice to have more writer friends (in my opinion) and if they share your work, that helps with exposure, too!

submissions and prompt responses (i guess this is a subset of networks): some blogs will host challenges or prompts for poems like @poetryriot​ and @writerscreed do, and most of the time, they’ll reblog your prompt response. some blogs also accept submissions (same two blogs as for prompts that I mentioned and @twcpoetry too, as well as others i’m sure). you can try those to gain more exposure as well!

i think that’s about it for advice i have on gaining exposure for your poetry on tumblr—now, for my general advice on writing poetry (which i think is fairly standard, but i will outline it anyway):

2) writing poetry

write. write all the time, anywhere, everywhere, on anything, everything that strikes you as worth writing about. or even not worth writing about! just write, write as often as you can as much as you can, even if it’s just a stream-of-consciousness blob or two lines on a coffee shop napkin. not everything you write has to be good, and it won’t be, but the expectation of writing something good will weigh you down. once you accept that your writing will suck now and then, you will be able to write more freely, and the less your writing will suck over time! the more you exercise articulating thoughts, ideas, and emotions, the greater command you’ll be able to have over that process. this point ties into the next, which is:

get a notebook. or two, or three. bring one or more with you everywhere, even if you’re just going to pick up your mail. always have some way of recording your writing on hand (and don’t always rely on your mobile phone! those can die unexpectedly and with them, your ideas will too if you don’t have a way of recording them)! don’t be afraid to record things in public. using your phone to record ideas in a note app is less conspicuous than whipping out a pen and pad of paper, but if i saw someone stop mid-step to jot something down, that would definitely intrigue me. i’d want to know what they were writing!

and often underestimated in importance but just as crucial as writing much and writing often, is reading. read. read, not just poetry, but anything well-written that strikes your fancy. read things that aren’t well-written too, to see what pitfalls to avoid! you can take the studious approach to reading (take notes on what you like that the author does) or you can just remove your so-called “writer’s glasses” and just read for the sake and pleasure of reading. take note of writers and poets whose work you like. try to figure out why you like their work, and what makes their work work.

experiment. yes, experiment. if you’ve been reading and writing long enough, you’ll have an idea of the kind of style you’re most comfortable in. that’s excellent! but don’t let your growth stop there. experiment with different styles and forms of poetry. tumblr is good for exposing you to different kinds of writing. don’t just stop at poetry: try your hand at other kinds of writing, too: memoir, short story, nonfiction. all writing feeds into each other, and as i mentioned earlier, the more you write, the better you’ll get at all kinds of writing, which, of course, includes poetry.

well! there was a super-long, more-detailed-than-you-were-probably-expecting answer to a short question! i really, really hope it helps! :)

and as for your compliments, thank you, truly! it’s encouragement like that that makes me want to keep on writing and sharing that writing with you all!

[free-as-an-owl]

LUNAR THREADS GIVEAWAY!

After some time of scavenging I've finally gathered enough bits to have a little giveaway and share with you lovely souls!

This will include:

~two fox ribs and a vertebrae

~turkey and dove feathers

~hermit crab shells

~polished rose quartz and raw clear quartz

~pine tree sprigs and mountain lichen

~25% off item of choice from my Etsy shop Lunar Threads

RULES:

**This is open to U.S. residents ONLY**

-Must be following me (free-as-an-owl)

-Reblog and like as many times as you wish

-ENDS MAY 13TH!!!!!!!!

*winner will be randomly chosen and contacted through tumblr message, if winner does not respond within two days a new winner will be chosen*

Please also check out my shop on Etsy! www.etsy.com/shop/LunarThreads

(sorry about photo quality they won't seem to upload properly!)

[free-as-an-owl]

Pieces inspired by nature, made from love and a bit of magic.

[free-as-an-owl]

For anyone who has seen my Etsy shop or would like to check it out I'd love to get some feed back!

Let me know what you think and what I should improve on. I'd also love to hear some suggestions on jewelry ideas.

www.etsy.com/shop/LunarThreads

[free-as-an-owl]

Pieces inspired by nature, made from love and a bit of magic.

[free-as-an-owl]

Check out my etsy shop!, I make jewelry among other things. 

[free-as-an-owl]

Pieces inspired by nature, made from love and a bit of magic.

[free-as-an-owl]

"Yggdrasil" available here!

[free-as-an-owl]

"Yggdrasil" similar pendant available here!

[free-as-an-owl]

"Flora" available here!

[free-as-an-owl]

Pieces inspired by nature, made from love and a bit of magic.

[free-as-an-owl]

"Elven" available here 

[free-as-an-owl]

One of a kind re-cycled handmade jewelry made from bones, stones and pieces of metal, Check it out if you have the time!

[free-as-an-owl]

"Autumn" available here

[free-as-an-owl]

"Trade" available here 

[free-as-an-owl]

"Herbal Luck" available Here