Would your poetry manuscript benefit from a review?
Manuscript review can be useful:
• to learn if your manuscript is of publishable quality;
• for help identifying which poems are your strongest work;
• for help organizing and ordering your poems into a coherent and meaningful book;
• when you have shopped a manuscript around to numerous contests and publishers and can’t figure out why it isn't finding any takers.
My responses are thorough and detailed, based on close readings of your poems, and are usually returned within six weeks. Writing and publishing poetry is a difficult business, and I don’t guarantee that after a review with me your book will find a publisher. But I do guarantee that you will find in me a fully engaged and enthusiastic partner in helping you reach that goal. My intention in every case is to support and energize you with my response, and to assist you in bringing your manuscript to its fullest possible realization.
If you are interested in a manuscript review, would like to know about my fee schedule, or have other questions about how the process works, please contact me at: [email protected]
Private Instruction
Another way I work with poets doesn’t involve a complete manuscript. As often as you like, you can email me a packet of up to five poems which we would then discuss a week or so later by online videoconference. If you’re interested in this, please contact me at [email protected] for more information. This option is ideal if you don’t have access to a local poetry workshop or other high-quality feedback; it also provides an incentive to regular work and revision.
"I am having a very difficult time trying to articulate the immense gratitude I feel for the changes you provoked within me as a poet. The mere QUANTITY of detailed attention to each poem was astounding but the overall embrace of my PERSON, my inner self, my gifts and my shortcomings is what I can hardly speak of."
— Mark Solomon, author of My True Body, published by Havel Havulim
“It is hard to express the relief and gratitude I feel when working with you on my drafts. You are a very gifted teacher, a wonderful sounding board and incredibly sensitive and sharp reader. I trust my work in your hands as you are quick to find the soft spot, the part of the poem that needs attention. In your hands, a problem in a poem (or a problem poem) becomes a refreshing opportunity to experiment and play. You are direct, clear, kind and generous with your time. To hand a poem over to you is to give it a new life….Honestly, I feel blessed to be working under your ‘poetry’ wing. Thanks, Patrick!”
—Jessica Bennett
"Hiring Patrick Donnelly is one of the best professional decisions that I've made. Patrick's line edits gave me definitive insight into poems that I'd been revising for years, and I'm deeply grateful for his advice on organizing my manuscript as a whole. Patrick's criticisms were sensitive, thoughtful, and completely to the point. Patrick is one of a kind."
—James Arthur, author of Charms Against Lightning, published by Copper Canyon Press
“I can't tell you how grateful I am for you to have done the work of bringing to bear your excellent ear, heart, and educated mind on this task. I can already see that there is enough here to keep me busy for a long time and to help me get to a new level with my writing. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your work.”
—George H. S. Singer, author of Ergon, published by WordTech Communications
“...I've been reading through your response virtually continuously since I received it yesterday. And though your end of the conversation with me is now done, at least for now, my conversation with you (in my head) is just beginning. I knew you were going to be good for my work, I just forgot how good a good editor can be. You are right on with my impulses, tendencies, etc. I don't know you, but I love you.”
—Valerie Bandura Finn, author of Freak Show, published by Black Lawrence Press
Manuscript review can be useful:
• to learn if your manuscript is of publishable quality;
• for help identifying which poems are your strongest work;
• for help organizing and ordering your poems into a coherent and meaningful book;
• when you have shopped a manuscript around to numerous contests and publishers and can’t figure out why it isn't finding any takers.
My responses are thorough and detailed, based on close readings of your poems, and are usually returned within six weeks. Writing and publishing poetry is a difficult business, and I don’t guarantee that after a review with me your book will find a publisher. But I do guarantee that you will find in me a fully engaged and enthusiastic partner in helping you reach that goal. My intention in every case is to support and energize you with my response, and to assist you in bringing your manuscript to its fullest possible realization.
If you are interested in a manuscript review, would like to know about my fee schedule, or have other questions about how the process works, please contact me at: [email protected]
Private Instruction
Another way I work with poets doesn’t involve a complete manuscript. As often as you like, you can email me a packet of up to five poems which we would then discuss a week or so later by online videoconference. If you’re interested in this, please contact me at [email protected] for more information. This option is ideal if you don’t have access to a local poetry workshop or other high-quality feedback; it also provides an incentive to regular work and revision.
"I am having a very difficult time trying to articulate the immense gratitude I feel for the changes you provoked within me as a poet. The mere QUANTITY of detailed attention to each poem was astounding but the overall embrace of my PERSON, my inner self, my gifts and my shortcomings is what I can hardly speak of."
— Mark Solomon, author of My True Body, published by Havel Havulim
“It is hard to express the relief and gratitude I feel when working with you on my drafts. You are a very gifted teacher, a wonderful sounding board and incredibly sensitive and sharp reader. I trust my work in your hands as you are quick to find the soft spot, the part of the poem that needs attention. In your hands, a problem in a poem (or a problem poem) becomes a refreshing opportunity to experiment and play. You are direct, clear, kind and generous with your time. To hand a poem over to you is to give it a new life….Honestly, I feel blessed to be working under your ‘poetry’ wing. Thanks, Patrick!”
—Jessica Bennett
"Hiring Patrick Donnelly is one of the best professional decisions that I've made. Patrick's line edits gave me definitive insight into poems that I'd been revising for years, and I'm deeply grateful for his advice on organizing my manuscript as a whole. Patrick's criticisms were sensitive, thoughtful, and completely to the point. Patrick is one of a kind."
—James Arthur, author of Charms Against Lightning, published by Copper Canyon Press
“I can't tell you how grateful I am for you to have done the work of bringing to bear your excellent ear, heart, and educated mind on this task. I can already see that there is enough here to keep me busy for a long time and to help me get to a new level with my writing. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your work.”
—George H. S. Singer, author of Ergon, published by WordTech Communications
“...I've been reading through your response virtually continuously since I received it yesterday. And though your end of the conversation with me is now done, at least for now, my conversation with you (in my head) is just beginning. I knew you were going to be good for my work, I just forgot how good a good editor can be. You are right on with my impulses, tendencies, etc. I don't know you, but I love you.”
—Valerie Bandura Finn, author of Freak Show, published by Black Lawrence Press
