Tag Archive | writing poetry

NaNoWriMo 2016: Week 2 Recap

This post is a couple of days late, but I’m here! I’m still kicking! At this point I don’t see how 50 hours will happen, but I’m certainly not giving up.

The weekend saw a couple of good writings days, but I’m woefully behind. So far behind that at this point, my more serious goal is 25 hours. (Though the insane part of me does still whisper in my ear that 50 could happen…)

I finished day 14 at 10 hours, 38 minutes of time logged.

Keep in mind that I’m not counting any time my brain wanders to thinking about my project during the day. Or any time I may be vaguely thinking about it in between more serious writing sessions while I do other things. I’m only logging focused time on the project. Butt in chair, pen in hand, total focus. My brain is getting tired… I forgot how much creative focus can be a mental drain!

I’m also starting to feel ‘hungry’ for other poetry. I’m draining so much out of my head that I need to replenish it with the awesome words of others. Thankfully I own at least a few poetry books and have been rereading through those, plus I picked up a new book from the library just yesterday. There’s some poetry books on my Christmas list (*fingers crossed!*) and a friend just got me a subscription to Southern Poetry Review for my birthday so I’m very excited! Not to mention the second issue of Outlook Springs should be headed my way soon too. Plenty of new words to consume in 3, 2, 1…

I’ve been very scattered with my writing this last week. Working for 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there… having difficulty getting any one piece to talk to me strongly, but making sure I take the time to be quiet and focus on each one in case they’re just being quiet. This is a change for me, and a positive one. I’m trying to stop writing ‘only when I’m inspired’.

The good news? I finished a new poem! Edits and all. It’s the second complete poem of the collection. (I realized that one of the poems I finished in the spring was actually the beginning to the collection I thought I hadn’t started yet. Funny how that works sometimes.) Two poems hardly make a collection, but they are a beginning. Perhaps I can finish at least one more before the month is up? Retraining your brain, your creativity, and your motivation is hard…

NaNoWriMo 2016: Week 1 Recap

Nov8

And so November has begun! I’ll be posting once a week with an update on how the writing is going for the month, and I hope you’ll check in for that! You can also follow my Facebook page for daily (or near-daily) updates.

Note: After November my blog may not be quite as busy for a time, but I’ll still be around. I don’t want this blog to turn into what my previous blogs have been, a race just to post something within a certain time frame. You may have noticed there are a few categories on this blog with no (or few) posts yet. I promise they’re coming. Some of them are just much more time intensive and why would anyone want to read a post that I don’t feel like putting my heart into writing? Those categories are place-holders and will slowly be filled.

This year, NaNoWriMo is not only about starting a new project for me, but also learning to allow myself to do something I love. I’ve known for a long time that I’m holding myself back, but it hasn’t been until the last couple of months that I’ve worked out at least part of my mindset behind it. This NaNoWriMo is a small step in taking back part of my creative self.

In case you haven’t read this post yet, I’m being a NaNo rebel and working on my first poetry collection. I’m not about to write 50,000 words of poetry (even really, really BAD poetry), so my goal is to commit 50 hours of time this month to working on that collection.

It’s been a slow start. But I expected that. As of the end of Nov 7th I have given the project 3 hours and 41 minutes of time. I have some serious catching up to do! Keep in mind that I only count completely focused and dedicate time. Idle wandering as I think things over, internet researchings, etc. are not being counted. I don’t think that’s fair.

Want to follow 5 writers (and not just me) this November? Make sure to check out the Rabid Rainbow Ferret Society’s blog (my writing group) for weekly updates too! Here’s the first week: NaNoWriMo Week One! – Ferret Updates

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo or any other writing project this month? Tell me about it in the comments!

NaNoWriMo 2016: Poetry Collection, Coming Right Up!

Oct1

I finally have a solid idea for what might be my first collection. Certainly my first consciously themed poetry project. It began as an idea for a single poem. Specifically, a title. When I couldn’t pin down what I wanted to write, having too many options, I thought perhaps it would be a few poems or a poem in many parts. Before long I realized that the concept I had was not for just one or two poems, but a theme for a collection.

I’ve been tossing it around in my head for well over a full year now, and seeing as how it won’t go away I think I need to work on it. Unfortunately wanting to write it does not immediately make it appear as a bestseller on the shelves of Barnes and Noble tomorrow. I can daydream all I want about it, but if I think about all of the steps it will take to get it into published form I won’t even start. There’s simply too many. (And this is where a lot of writers in all genres get stuck.) Instead I’m working on a game plan to get around to writing it in the first place.

I’m afraid if I tackle it now, while I’m still only writing in fits and starts, I won’t stick to it, no matter how much this project means to me. So instead, I’m using NaNoWriMo this year to kick off. If I can dig my claws in deep, I don’t think I’ll let the project go even if I can’t devote time to it at a consistent pace after November. In the spirit of 50 (since NaNoWriMo’s goal is 50,000 words), I pledge 50 hours of “butt in chair” time, all to this project (unless another poem that doesn’t fit just insists on not waiting, you know how it goes).

Does that mean I’ll stop at 50 hours? Of course not! I hope to spend more time! But I will do everything in my power that month to see that I devote at least 50 hours. If I spend that much time focusing, I know I will get something written. Even on my day-dreamiest days I can’t spend a full hour staring at an empty page without writing SOMETHING before I give up. 50 hours will equal progress, even if I can’t guess how much.

So until November starts I’m quietly working on the logistics in my head. I have a few different ways the collection could be arranged, and while I won’t worry too strongly about that until it is nearing completion, the core ideas for arrangement in my head I am trying to sort because they will at least partially determine how I go about writing.

All I can say is that my favorite pens and a shiny new journal (picked up during last year’s writing retreat with the Ferret girls; I told you this has been in my head for awhile) are ready to go!

Thoughts on Rejection

Jul14

We are now over the hump of the first half of the year and this is right about the time I’d love to be announcing “Guess what? I had work accepted for publication!!” Unfortunately… that’s not the case. And it’s awful easy to feel down about it.

Some rejections I expected. Big publications that accept a very small volume of work. But hey, pie in the sky, right? The answer is always no if they don’t even see your work.

Other rejections I had hoped not to see, felt like I had a better chance of finding placement, but in the end it was not to be. Once again… small volume of work accepted. Maybe I just wasn’t a good fit for the editor.

But at the same time my feelings on the matter are still bolstered this year. Continue reading →

Never Say Never

Mar14

Honestly this isn’t bad advice for life, but I think it is even more appropriate for artists of all kinds. Never say you will never try out a different form of your art.

In 2011, I wrote a piece I called “Swing Set Sonnet”. I loved the title then and still do now. I will freely admit I’m addicted to alliteration. It happens without me even thinking about it. (I even promise my admission was not alliterated on purpose!) But I forced the image I had to work within the constraints of a sonnet – something it firmly did not want to do – all because I loved my title. This was an awful idea. Instead of letting my poem find the form it needed, I bullied it into being something that could never work. Continue reading →

Writing Words That Matter and Being Proud of Your Writing

Oct18

You never know how, when, or to whom your words may be important.

A little over two months ago, I wrote a post I called “I Remember, I Remember Everything”. The title came from song lyrics for the band Kill Hannah, which is disbanding this December. It was something cathartic that I felt driven to write when I had unexpectedly strong emotion over the news.

It resonated with a few people. And then it slowly faded away, like everything on the internet.

Until earlier this month, when I received a reply to a Facebook message I had completely forgotten I’d sent. Two months ago, I had sent Mat Devine (lead singer of Kill Hannah) a link to the blog on the off-chance he might one day see it and read. After all, it was him I was thanking for everything. And it was Mat who replied to me, saying he had read it, that he appreciated it, and asking permission to share on Facebook with all of Kill Hannah’s fans. I blushed all over myself, and then I said yes. Continue reading →

Answering Your Questions, Part 2

Jun9

It is now time for me to get to all of the writerly questions you lovely people left me during the poetry giveaway in April.

Onward!

1) Do you have a writing schedule?

Absolutely not. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. I don’t do very well on a strict schedule. What I do need to make sure I do, however, is to make time for writing. It’s all too easy to get caught up in everything else there is to do.

2) Do you feel your poetry has evolved over time or do you have a style that you’ve stayed true to?

Definitely evolved. Still evolving. Continue reading →