Should I Add To My Manuscript of Poems?

I have a finished manuscript of poems, titled Beyond These Dark Lands Are Edges of Joy, Poems of Comfort and Hope, but I wonder if I should add a few more poems while my wife edits the punctuation and stuff, or say it is done and be done?

MY ORIGINAL VISION
I have a couple of poems that were not quite ready when I asked her to edit them. I was thinking then that it was time to move forward to the next step. My vision for this book is that it would not be such a long collection that no one would read the entire thing. I wanted the reader to get the full effect of the collection when they needed it so I was going to keep the book short. Besides, if it is short it will have fewer pages and would cost less to produce and less to sell.

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There have been a few pieces that have been in the back of my mind. They were in an early state of completion when I decided to declare my book finished.  But since my wife is doing the editing for me over the next few weeks I thought I could finish them and slip them into the collection.

I am afraid that if I take this approach I will keep adding one more and then one more and so on and never see it as a finished work. It will become a huge volume fraught with redundancy and become meaningless.

THERE ARE SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER
Though I see each poem and every page as a tiny treasure I know I must be merciless to prune pieces that weaken the message.

I need a standard which says for this reason or that a particular poem will be included, or for this reason or that a piece must be purged.

SO, STANDARDS
I'll add poems if they meet these guidelines;

• The poem must be unique in the work; it should say something that no other poem says.
• The poem must have the same style as the rest of the work.
• The poem must share and enhance the theme of the project.
• The poem must generally add to the feel and message of the book.

Of course, that means if something is in the collection already that does not meet these standards they must be chopped out.

THE BENEFIT OF GUIDELINES
I know people think that serious poets are intuitive and sensitive people who are connected to some either of creativity.  Creativity is a good start but success is the results of discipline and hard work. Using these guidelines will help me make a better more successful book.

WILL I ADD THEM?
I believe that based on the guidelines I articulated above one of the poems has a place in the work, so I will slip it in the folder among the other pages when my wife is not looking, another poem is a definite possibility that needs further consideration. There are others that I believe will be in on of my future projects.

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Should I hire an editor service for my book of poems.

I have finished a full draft of my book of poems titled, BEYOND THESE DARK LANDS ARE EDGES OF JOY, Poems of Comfort and Hope; it is the result of a year of writing. I have written and rewritten each page more times than I can count. Now I want to have it edited for grammar and structure.

PRICE IS NOT AN ISSUE - (because I am poor I can't pay any price, so it is not an issue).
I could pay an editing service and the price varies from a few hundred dollars to thousands. I believe the project is worth the investment, not because I hope to make any money on it, poetry books never make money, but I believe in the message of hope and comfort. I believe that the Lord has given me an opportunity to bless others through this project. However, I do not feel able to engage an editing service.

BUT
I do not feel that my grammar is up to the task so I have taken a multi-step approach.

FIRST
First, I take full advantage of the benefits of Microsoft Word. It is my first level of spell-checking and grammar. I have found a trick that helps me to exploit its effectiveness. I will paste a page into Word and then change the font to something completely different. I think my subconscious does not recognize the writing and I feel like I am reading something new and I see errors in my writing.  I do this many times changing the font type or size each time.

Another technique to check my writing is to read it out loud, then you catch mistakes.

SECOND
The second thing that has helped me has been the free version of Grammarly, an online grammar checking service. I use the free version because I am neither able nor not willing to spend the money for the subscription version. It is not that expensive but I am poor.  I really like Grammarly and recommend it to anyone who is writing any project. It causes me to look at my work fresh. Grammarly catches things that Microsoft Word misses.

THE BEST FOR LAST
The final and most important step in editing my book is my wonderful wife. She is a school teacher. She teaches ESL, English as a second language, in the public school, so I asked her to look my work over. I admit that I was a little fearful. It would be different if I was hiring a stranger. A stranger might not care much, but a family member may have a more emotional involvement.

She is starting the school year, so she has a lot on her mind and her time gets eaten up by being a teacher. In the first weeks of school, I think she works between 60 and 70 hours. Teachers have all sorts of in evening back-to-school events, parent-teacher meetings, conferences, online learning modules (something new), and lesson preparation. After the first few weeks, her schedule settles down to almost normal.

She has started reading and editing my poems and is about a quarter of the way through.  I think after a few weeks she will be done and I will be able to start formatting it for the printing company.

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(c) Adron 8/29/17

How to Handle The Feeling Of Being Overwhelmed

I am starting a new project, well, not exactly starting. I have wanted to publish a book of poems for as long as I can remember.  I have been seriously working on the collection of poems titled; Beyond These Dark Lands are Edged of Joy, Words of Comfort and Hope for the better part of the last year, now I've gotten a draft done.

I have so many questions about what to do with it,

• Should I self-publish or use a traditional publisher? 
• Should I use a print on demand service and if so then which one should I choose? 
• What about the Copyright and ISBN?
• What should I do about the cover art? 
• Can I get a review of it before it is published? 
• Will I use my own website to promote it or pay for a service? 
• Can it get it published ever?
• What if it is a big flop and an embarrassment?
• Will my friends disapprove?

There is a verse of scripture that comes to mind, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7, ESV.

Yes, I believe in prayer. I believe that in prayer we become partners with God. Prayer is not that we bring our problems to Him just so He can fix them but when we pray about our concerns we acknowledge He is supreme and able to intervene.

The most important thing about prayer is not that we get an answer but that we come closer to the one we are praying to. We experience God and learn more about Him. We find our real need is not to get an answer to our prayers but to have a deepening relationship with God.

I find that my concerns stop being concerns when I stop looking at them so much but instead fix my gaze on God who is bigger. When I talk to Him about them I become ready to accept the confidence that He will give peace.

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(c) Adron 8/26/17