Pubmission Editor Profile: Rose McLarney, Poet, Writing Teacher, Slush Pile Guru

When I was an editor at Lark Books in Asheville, NC, I had the privilege of working with Rose McLarney. Not only was she the front line of our submissions process, bravely facing the slush pile day after day, but she was a talented (and published) poet and an exceptional editor. Rose went on to become a writing instructor at Warren Wilson College, but I am pleased to work with her again now that she’s become a new Pubmission Editor Reviewer.

Rose McLarney

Four Way Books will publish her first book, The Always Broken Plates of Mountains, in 2012. She’s a finalist for the Ruth Lilly Fellowship, her poems have won Alligator Juniper’s 2011 National Poetry Prize, and her work has appeared in publications including The Kenyon Review, Orion,  New England Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, and many other journals.

Pubmission writers can select Rose for an Editor Rating or Editor Coaching. I asked her a few questions to give writers more of a sense of who she is, how she feels about the future of poetry, and what her expectations are for the submissions she reviews.

Pubmission: Thanks for chatting with us, Rose. Let’s start with your teaching approach. As a writing instructor and an accomplished poet, how do you prepare students for the challenge of the submissions process?

Rose: I’m frank and make it clear that every writer gets rejected—numerous times. You cannot expect that you won’t be rejected, so you can’t let rejection upset you. You can learn from rejection—as a writer you always have to be bettering your work and sometimes rejection is a cue to undertake more rigorous revision. But when you do think that a piece is polished and it gets rejected, send it right back out—even on the same day, if that helps you, psychologically. I have a spreadsheet of publications that I’ve researched and read thoroughly and justifiably feel are a good fit for my poems on the ready.

Pubmission: Your first book, The Always Broken Plates of Mountains, is due for publication in 2012. Do you have a strategy for how you will help your publisher market it?

Rose: I’ll do some readings to promote the book, but I think the best way to reach the most substantial audience is through media: getting your book reviewed and getting other writers and bloggers to mention it. The best way to earn those mentions is to be sincerely involved in communities of writers, whether through a school or program or online, so that you have real connections and reciprocal relationships.

Pubmission: You managed the slush pile at Lark Books (now Lark Crafts) for several years. What was the most challenging aspect of that process and do you recall a common mistake that writers made in their submissions to you?

Rose: The most common mistake submitters made was to reveal that they had not taken time to familiarize themselves with our guidelines and the kinds of books we published. My biggest challenge was to cull such large numbers of submissions, and to allow myself to make decisions such as rejecting submissions because of errors in the cover letters. I wanted to give everyone with a good idea a chance, but when you are dealing with an over-abundance of manuscripts you have to use any evidence you can to determine which authors might be the absolute best with which to work.

Pubmission: As an Editor Reviewer on Pubmission, can you tell us what types and styles of writing appeal to you the most?

Rose: Literary writing is what I do and what I teach every day. So, I suppose my innate draw is to poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. But I also appreciate nonfiction, from cookbooks and how-to books, to research and persuasive work, and understand that it has the same potential to be excellently written.

Pubmission: Is there a place for poetry in the digital revolution?

Rose: Yes—in a time when we have shorter attention spans and want screen-sized reads, why not poetry? I’ve never understood why people feel such an economical form is inaccessible. Poetry is one of our earliest forms of artful communication—it has its roots in oral traditions that predate writing. So there’s no reason to think that the ways in which modes of communication will change in our lifetimes will extinguish the craft.

Thank you, Rose, for the interview!

If you’d like to receive an Editor Rating or Editor Coaching from Rose, sign-up (and get 6 free credits) or log-in to your Pubmission account. Both features are available from the menu on the right side of your writer’s dashboard.