Revising a Revised Edition

 

Cover design by Christy Aldridge of Grim Poppy Design

One thing on my agenda for the year is to get books currently out of print back into print. This is why I have been saying “And it’s still in print!” when sharing about books that really are still in print! I have had over 15 books go out of print after two publishers shut down, so I spent some time deciding just HOW to get those books back out there.

 

Fortunately, I know of some publishers who DO publish previously published books (and Twisted Dreams Press is among them), so I set aside certain titles to submit to them at certain times. (Yeah, I’m not submitting all of them all at once.)

 

Some authors I know who have also had this experience chose to self-publish their books in order to get them back out there. Part of the goal of Dreamweaver Press, an imprint I manage through Twisted Dream Press, is to publish books that went out of print. I let these authors know and I am working with some of them to get their books back into print.

 

Meanwhile, I created a schedule for when I submit manuscripts and when I’ll be self-publishing my own books in order to get them back into print.

 

One of those books is my collection of confessional poetry, 3 A.M. Poetry.

 

This book is my collection of poems that further explore some bad things I experienced in my past. However, when I was looking it over again in order to prepare the manuscript for self-publishing this month, I realized that some revision was in order.

 

But then I wondered, should I revise a manuscript that was previously published? Why not give readers the same kind of material that appeared in the first edition, as happened with my deaf poetry book Noiseless? The second edition was published by Alien Buddha Press and it’s the exact same book that was out there the first time.

 

However, readers will not get that experience when they pick up my other poetry book, Other, which I self-published after the publisher shut down.

 

And they won’t get that experience when they pick up the new edition of 3 A.M. Poetry either, which just released as an ebook!

 

Still, before it was published, I struggled with the decision of whether or not to revise it.

 

When I decided to proceed with publishing this poetry book in 2025, I started out with the original collection of poetry that I wrote many years ago that was titled 3 A.M. Poetry. However, that manuscript was too short, so I revised it. I threw in another short collection of poetry that I wrote, and added a few other poems. It all worked out because all of the poems were on the same topics: Abuse, addiction, alcoholism, depression, mental health disorders (I have anxiety, depression, and panic disorder), rape, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicide.

 

Then came the task of whether or not I should revise the revised edition after the book went out of print!

 

When faced with this situation, the author can look at the manuscript and make the personal decision of whether or not they want to, or should, revise it before attempting to get it back into print.

 

In my case, though, I had one issue: What if revising the book changed it so much that readers wouldn’t be able to relate to or appreciate the poems in it anymore? Should I even touch it, or just let it go out there the way it originally was?

 

But after reviewing the manuscript, I decided that, yes, it could use some revision. One poem was too similar to another. Another poem didn’t capture what it was about very clearly. Still another poem had no place in a collection of confessional poetry. (Yes, I realize that people might appreciate the break from all of that confessional poetry with something different, but there are other poems in the book to serve that purpose.)

 

So, yes, I decided to proceed with revising it. I took poems out, rewrote some others, added new ones, and ensured there were no duplicates (this can happen sometimes, especially with long collections of poetry). I also added an author’s note that included the number for the crisis and suicide hotline, as well as trigger warnings. Now I feel this revised edition, which is truly a REVISED edition, is so much better than the original book.

 

And that’s exactly what we should give to readers when we are trying to get books back into print. We should give them books that are bigger and better than the original one. That’s what I did with Other, that’s what I have done with 3 A.M. Poetry, and that’s what I’m doing with another one of my out-of-print books, 365 Tips for Writers.

 

Just because a book has gone out of print, it doesn’t mean it will stay out of print. It WILL get back out there in the world, and in some cases, the new revised edition will be even better than the last edition.

 

If you’re interested in this poetry book, which released on Kindle today, you can get your copy here.

 

The print edition is coming soon!

 

Here is the book’s blurb:

 

Survivors of an abusive childhood know just how hard it can be to break free from their past. Memories linger. The anger lingers. The poems in this book reflect battles the author has had to fight, then and now. Some of these battles are an ongoing torment that could make the dangers of mental health disorders seem like a welcoming reprieve. The last two poems in this book reflect how the author broke free from the darkness and found the strength to keep going.

Warning: The poems in this book explore topics of abuse, addiction, alcoholism, depression, rape, self-harm, suicidal ideation and suicide.

I Have Permission to Write, But Do I Need Permission to Publish?

 

Photo Credit: Markus Winkler via Pexels

So there I was, writing yet another poem to go into the book of memorial poems I have been working on for several months, when a thought struck me: What if the family of the person I was writing about got angry at me for even writing this poem?

 

For context, this book of poems is a collection of verse written in memory of people I have known, as well as people I didn’t know. But saying they were people that I didn’t know doesn’t necessarily mean they were complete strangers. Some of those people I didn’t know who I have written memorial poems about include family and friends I knew on social media, but not in real life. I didn’t exactly know them for years, though there are some I knew for years via the internet.

 

Then there are the people I didn’t know personally, but knew about because of their celebrity – such as Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy, Jr., and Ozzy Osbourne. I wrote poems in memory of them sometime after they passed away.

 

But now I’m wondering: Do I need permission to include these poems in my book? What if the family gets angry at me for writing these poems?

 

I had that thought after writing a memorial poem about a cousin whose life ended this summer, and it bothered me that I might experience negativity from her family when that poem is published in the book. It bothered me so much that I reached out to another cousin and asked her if it would be okay to include this poem about our cousin in this book. I also said, “I don't want it to look like I am trying to be a part of something that I am not a part of and I don't want people to get mad at me for writing something about a person I did not know, even if it is written with loving thoughts and kind words.” My cousin replied that she thinks this late cousin’s sister would appreciate the gesture. Just to be on the safe side, I reached out to this sister to start a conversation about it.

 

With family, it might be easy to resolve that problem, because then I could reach out to them about it. With friends, I have done the same. But with celebrities? I am not so sure.

 

Would I need permission to get the poems I wrote in memory of these celebrities published? Their deaths moved me and I felt compelled to write about them. So I wrote poems in their memory – about the lives they lived and the ways they have touched others. They are all positive poems. I don’t say bad things about them. But now I wonder if even getting these poems published would be a problem.    

 

I suppose that, as in every case when it comes to an author being conflicted about something in a book, it would be better to just leave that decision with the publisher. So, that is what I will do, in this case.

What We Write About When We Write About Death

 

Photo via Shutterstock

 

“How do I write kindly about someone who bullied me?”

 

This is the question that lingered in my mind this week, because that person recently passed away. This situation got me thinking about how we write about death, as well as the people who have passed away.

 

When I told someone about a book I have been writing in which I write poems in memory of people who have passed away, he wanted to know how it was possible for me to write these poems about people that I didn’t even know. That’s right; I have written poems honoring the memory of celebrities, public people, famous people, and important people – and they were all people I never knew or met. People like Michael Landon, Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy, Jr. and even Ozzy Osbourne. I never knew these people. Never met them. But their deaths affected me, so I wrote those poems.

 

When it comes to writing about death, however, that’s when extra care should be used. Death is such a delicate subject to write about. There is so much that we don’t know about death, about the great beyond. We don’t know what it’s like for a person breathing their very last unless we are the ones to do this. We don’t know what people see when they are about to die – though some people have told stories.

 

Death is a subject I have written extensively about, and not just in the scope of grieving the loss of a loved one. In a poetry book that will be released next month, I explore the topic of death as an object of fascination, the superstitions attached to it, the stigma associated with it, as well as how some people crave death so much that they live as though they are not living at all. I have met people who were so obsessed with death that they even pursued careers that had them handling corpses in some way. And a novel I have planned explores one such fascination with death that it drives someone to make it happen in a variety of ways just so he can witness it again and again.

 

Writers have taken other approaches when writing about death. In the novel The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, the story is narrated by Death. In Scythe by Neal Shusterman, Death is also a character, as well as a role in the story. Then there is the portrayal of Death in various movies and plays.

 

The big thing that tripped me up about writing about my former bully, though, was how others would feel after reading what I wrote about him in this poem. Especially his wife and his adult kids. This, too, is one aspect of writing about the death of someone that must be handled delicately. What words will we write about someone after they are gone? How does someone’s death affect us as a whole? Of course, how they lived will affect what we think of them after they have died. It will affect how we feel about them – if we feel anything at all.

 

Ultimately, however, it can depend on our own personal experience with that person. We can’t expect someone who was abused by their parent to write lovingly about that parent after they are gone. We can’t expect someone whose last encounter with a person being a painful one to reflect upon them fondly after they have died. To do so would be fake, and writers are doing a disservice to their readers when they are being fake with their writing.

 

Still, this person’s death was not about me. It was not about how I knew him, my experiences with him, or what I thought of him. I can keep this to myself, in private, but never in something that will last after I, too, must leave this mortal coil.

 

But here I was, presented with this task of writing about someone for my poetry book, and unsure of just how I should write about him, because my experience in knowing this person was more negative than positive. Never mind that he once gave me a ride on his motorcycle. Never mind that he once took me on a test drive when I was learning how to drive. Never mind that he helped me out with a couple of things I was stuck on with a book I was writing. His bullying was what stood out when I remembered him.

 

And that’s not what I wanted to affect the poem I had to write for this book. Because this book is not about me. It is not about how I knew someone. Ultimately, the poems in this book are meant to serve as a lasting testament to a life someone lived. And these poems do not include the bad things they have done while alive.

 

The key to writing about someone in a positive way when we were not close to them when they were alive is to find a method that works best for us. One way to do this is to change the narrative and record the lessons we learned from these people. Or we could change up how we see their death and write about it in a way that feels more comfortable for us. Alternatively, we could write about our very last positive encounter with this person, if there was one, or we could write about their qualities or personality that people liked about them.

 

There is a poem in this book that I wrote about someone who often physically assaulted me, but I did not mention this at all in the poem I wrote about him after he passed away. Other people knew him in different ways that did not include violence, so I kept the violence out of the poem and wrote about his good qualities that made him so likable.

 

Yes, I wrote kindly about a former bully after he passed away. And I know that if I can do that once, for someone I knew for a lesser period of time than my other former bully, then I can do that again.