Let’s Get Published: Poetry Editing and Submission Intensive
with Ollie Schminkey
July 8, 2026
Length: 6 weeks
Open to AllText and Live Video
Zoom calls Thursdays from 7-9 PM Eastern.
Original price was: $445.00.$380.00Current price is: $380.00.
Original price was: $445.00.$380.00Current price is: $380.00.Enroll Now
Submitting poems for publication can feel vulnerable, especially when you’re not sure whether a draft is ready. Before sending your poems out into the lit-mag world, join us and gain a clearer sense of how they’re landing with readers, where they can be strengthened, and how to submit them with more confidence and clarity.
Each week, you’ll bring existing poem drafts to class, receive focused and detailed feedback from me and your coursemates, and learn how to revise your work with publication in mind.
In our weekly meetings, after a short lesson on poetic craft with examples to help grow your writing, we’ll spend the bulk of each session peer editing as a group. You’ll get tips and tricks for identifying which presses and journals are a good fit for your work, and you’ll get detailed instructor feedback on one poem a week. In between sessions, you’ll be expected to complete those edits and turn in the second draft.
At the end of the course, you will have a packet of at least 4 edited poems (we will all submit our packets on the last day of class). Please note that there is not an in-class generative component to this workshop; I am happy to provide prompts if you would like to write outside of class on your own time, but you should come prepared with at least 4 poems you’d like to edit.
Ollie aims for all of their classes to be actively non-competitive, non-judgemental, pro-diversity, anti-racist, pro-LGBTQ, and extremely fun! You can expect a collaborative environment, a flexible approach to poetry, and (hopefully) a good laugh per class.
Poems in this workshop will cover a wide variety of themes, some of which contain mature content and may be activating for some participants.
Who This Course is For
This course is open to poets of all experience levels who are serious about editing their poems (no draft is too “rough”!) Please note that you should come to class with at least 4 poems that are already written that you’d like to edit and submit. This course offers the feedback, structure, and encouragement you need to revise your poems with care, and prepare them for submission. Please note that this is not a chapbook or manuscript course.
Direction and Feedback
Each week, we will peer edit/workshop a poem from each student during our live Zoom meeting. Each week, you will also receive detailed individual instructor feedback on that poem privately. Before the next session, you will be expected to complete the edits given to you (both peer and instructor feedback) and submit a second (or third) draft of the poem. As the course moves on, you will receive instructor feedback on both your first draft from that week, as well as the second draft from the previous week. (A total of 8 revisions, 4 first drafts and 4 second drafts).
Zoom Schedule
We will meet weekly over Zoom for 2 hours on Thursdays from 7:00-9:00 PM Eastern, from July 9th-August 13th.
Learning and Writing Goals
Learning Goals
In this course, you will learn to:
- Understand the mechanisms of successful submissions, and apply those qualities to your own work
- Learn how to both give and receive constructive feedback
- Identify journals and contests that would be a good fit for your work
Writing Goals
- Learn about the poetic tools that make readers connect most with poems, and use those tools intentionally in your own work
- Edit eight drafts (4 first drafts and 4 second drafts) based off of peer and instructor feedback
- Compile an intentional packet for submission, and submit it!
Weekly Syllabus
Week One: A Shared Vocabulary
We are going to begin at the beginning, and we’ll spend the first few minutes reviewing some poetry vocab (that’s probably more practical and helpful than your high school English class) so that we all have a shared language to work with when editing.
We’ll also review some workshop guidelines and how to both give and receive editing feedback. And then, of course, we’ll dive right in! The rest of the session will be spent peer editing, so come prepared with a poem to upload to Wet Ink.
Each week, you’ll also post a poem for detailed private instructor feedback. You’ll be expected to complete all edits before next week’s class and turn in a second draft.
Week Two: Metaphors and Images
Metaphors and images are a great tool that many poets use in their poems. We’ll do a deep dive into what makes metaphors work, images shine, and poems connect with readers.
We’ll spend some time learning from the greats (otherwise known as poets I personally think are great, which will be a diverse array of contemporary poets– no dead white guys, here). Then we’ll hop right back into editing for the bulk of the class!
For next week, you’ll get detailed instructor feedback on both this draft and your second draft from last week, and you’ll be expected to complete all edits.
Week Three: All Good Things Must Come to An End--How to End a Poem
You’ll learn about 3 ways to effectively end a poem and leave your readers with that “wow” feeling. Of course, we’ll look at some examples in class, and of course, we’ll spend much of our time editing (with endings in mind).
You’ll receive detailed one-on-one feedback as well, and edits will be due for next week.
Week Four: The First Impression-- Let’s Talk About Titles
Titles are often the first piece of information that potential publishers will have about your work. We’ll spend a few minutes up top talking about the importance of titles, and how to write good ones.
As always, we’ll spend most of the session editing, and you’ll get instructor feedback (and get those edits done)!
Week Five: Double-Take-- Editing Second Drafts
Many poets stop after one round of edits, but that’s like only watering your plants once and expecting them to bear fruit. Most poems need at least two rounds of edits to truly shine.
This week, we’ll be peer editing a second (or third, if you’re a superstar who has been keeping up on their second draft instructor edits) draft from everyone in class. By this point, you’ll have detailed instructor feedback on all four of your second drafts that you’ve submitted.
You will be expected to complete any remaining edits before next week’s class, coming prepared with a packet ready to submit!
Week Six: Submission
What exactly is a cover letter? In what order should I submit my packet? To how many places?
This week, we’ll talk about the logistics of the submission process: how to identify journals that are a good fit for your work, how to format your packet so that your work is taken seriously, and how to click “submit!”
We’ll spend this class putting our packets in order in real time, creating lists of journals to submit to, and then actually submitting them to at least one publisher.
Original price was: $445.00.$380.00Current price is: $380.00.Enroll Now
Student Feedback for Ollie Schminkey:
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I gained as a poet. The feedback Ollie gave me alongside my classmates gave me the courage to submit my poems to literary magazines for consideration. Two of the pieces I created in Ollie’s class won contest for publication. Amona White
Ollie was very encouraging and supportive; they not only knew their stuff, but shared feedback in a non-critical manner. This course provided an intimate and challenging opportunity for me to learn about various poetry forms/styles, as well as the experience of writing and sharing unedited, first-draft poems based on prompts provided by the instructor. It forced me to work outside my comfort zone, and that was a benefit in and of itself, outside of the class material. Arnold Doyle
Ollie is an excellent teacher, very lively, encouraging, and gives excellent suggestions and comments. Hongying Liu
One of my favorite courses so far. I love the short assignments daily, the positive feedback from the other participants, and the positive/helpful critique from the instructor. The prompts were always challenging and fun. Nichole Gavel
The content was really well done and thoroughly prepared. I definitely learned a lot and appreciated the teachers feedback. Ollie was great. I would take another course with them and plan to. Sarah Mark
Ollie was a wonderful teacher. I think it was through their feedback that I gained the best understanding of how working in this kind of format can truly revolutionize your writing. Nancy LaChance
“Ollie’s class was like a warm virtual hug every week. They fostered a truly lovely community of poets turned friends, and they were always so kind, present, thoughtful, and fun. I wholeheartedly endorse this class and will sign up for anything Ollie teaches in the future!”
“It is very welcoming and Ollie acts like part of the group, not a top down structure. The prompts are great and not things I would have thought of on my own.”
“This class will be a catalyst for re-visioning and creating poems for a chapbook. Even if you know a lot about poetry, you will learn something new. Ollie was an amazing instructor!”
“It’s an opportunity to congregate with an amazing & very charismatic poet and a group of like-minded people to talk about poetry and learn about other poets, to write a fun weekly prompt, and to learn from and edit the poems of your colleagues. It’s a great time, lots of fun & laughter (some tears!), and it is a tonic to the soul.”
“A fun and effective workshop for writers of any experience.”
July 8, 2026
Length: 6 weeks
Open to AllText and Live Video
Zoom calls Thursdays from 7-9 PM Eastern.
Original price was: $445.00.$380.00Current price is: $380.00.
Original price was: $445.00.$380.00Current price is: $380.00.Enroll Now
