Line upon line

Does your inner writer need a New Year boost?

2011-12-28T21:47:00.000-08:00

In my blog reading over the last few days I've come across a wealth of interesting articles. Some of them might interest you too.

Literary agent Rachelle Gardner muses on the process of making resolutions. This discovery of hers resonated with me: "Last year ... I identified that for me to be successful with my goals, I needed to first identify the underlying emotional reason for the goal." Read all of "Goals, Resolutions, Words."

I'm not sure I'm ready or lusting for massive blog success. But if I were (if you are), I would give "21 Quick Actions you can do today to set your blog up for massive success" a read.

You'll find lots of common sense in "Chip MacGregor's best writing advice."

Ilya Pozin's "7 Things Highly Productive People Do" contains Tony Wong's common sense advice like "Be Militant about eliminating distractions" and "schedule your email" as well as anti-intuitive suggestions like "Stop multi-tasking." Read all of "7 Things Highly Productive People Do."

Finally, if you're needing more ~~time wasters~~ great advice for the ~~procrastinator~~ writer in you, check out "The Top 10 blogs for writers - 2011 / 2012."

Tarr Award presentation to J. I. Packer

2011-12-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

This 11-minute video features several minutes of introduction by Grace Fox followed by Dr. Packer's gracious words of acceptance of The Word Guild Tarr Award for Writing.

Dr. J. I. Packer receives The Word Guild Tarr Award for Writing

Write a Christmas Poem (16 Christmas poem prompts)

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

The God who speaks planets, suns and galaxies into existence becomes a fertilized egg in a woman's womb. It's what we celebrate at Christmas. How it fires our imaginations and challenges our pens! Which poet hasn't tried writing at least one Christmas poem? Some attempt to write a new one every year.

But there's a problem with that. For in spite of the Christmas story's mind-bending beginning, its cast of colorful characters, unlikely setting and gripping plot line, it's been around for 2000+ years. By now it's as familiar as a cliché. With the body of Christmas writing that has collected over the centuries, isn't there a possibility—even a likelihood—that someone will have already had our Christmas thoughts and written them? How then can we keep our writing from being second-hand? How can we write engagingly and freshly about Christmas?

As I struggled with writing this year's Christmas poem, I decided to look for ways to think about Christmas that might yield new ideas. I've come up with 16 Christmas poem prompts along with examples where I could find them. Some of these ideas I've already tried. Others have me itching to get pen onto paper!

1. Christmas Character
Focus on one character from the Christmas story. Prepare to write by rereading the Christmas story (Matthew 1 & 2; Luke 2). Imagine your character’s back-story, home, and family. Then retell the story or arrive at some truth about Christmas from that individual’s point of view.
Jan Wood, in her poem “Chosen” talks about Mary:

Mary
handmaiden
chosen
among women
not for your wide hips
or easy stride
chosen
when so many others
would have nursed
and cuddled
deity… (Read all of "Chosen.")

2. Magnified Christmas Moment
Choose a moment in time from the Christmas story and explore it fully.
Claudia Burney puts a magnifying glass on the moment of Mary’s encounter with God as His chosen in her poem, "May It Be Done:"

Fear not,
    but tell no one.

    You are now
    a bearer of the holy.

    Sit, pondering
    Mystery.

    There is no shadow
    in My Light,
    hovering
    above the face
    of your womb waters…
               (Read all of "May It Be Done.")

3. Modern Setting
Imagine a Christmas character or some of the story events in a modern setting. You’ll need to use your imagination and give yourself permission take some poetic license to write this poem.

4. Christmas Symbol
Choose a Christmas symbol (star, bell, poinsettia, manger, gift) and write a lyric poem examining it in depth. This may involve doing some of the research explained in October’s column.
Jennifer Zolper’s poem “Star” is such a poem:

God didn’t mean to torment the astrologers.
He would fulfill the promise,
Send the shimmering Guide at
precisely the right moment.
But then, as ever, their seeing was as dark
as a moonless night.
How many eyes winked and squinted
Imagined holy stars that weren’t
Each rhinestone of Orion’s belt was suspect…
(Read all of "Star.")

5. Christmas Symbol Personalized
Write a poem about what a particular Christmas symbol or object means to you. Chris Green expresses how he feels about seasonal tree markets:

    Christmas trees lined like war refugees,
    a fallen army made to stand in their greens.
    Cut down at the foot, on their last leg,

    they pull themselves up, arms raised.
    We drop them like wood;
    tied, they are driven through the streets…
              (Read all of "Christmas Tree Lots.")

6. Unlikely Character or Setting
Combine the season of Christmas with an unlikely character or setting; for example, Christmas for the single person, the homeless person, the immigrant etc.; Christmas in a nursing home, prison, hospital etc.

Utmost featured a Christmas poem contest a few years ago with just such a stipulation. I wrote “Menno Home Christmas” for it.

Best Christmases were long ago and far away.
Weihnacht? But all is wet and green; there is no snow.
“Good morning, Mrs. Rempel, how are you today?”
At breakfast munch the toast while carols play…
sang that one in a pageant once and stole the show;
best Christmases were long ago and far away.
(Read all of "Menno Home Christmas.")

7. Sad Christmas Poem
Though the Christmas season is usually a joyous time, for some it is a time of sadness, regrets, even desperation. Write a sad Christmas poem.
Fran Howell’s “Christmas Lights” is a good example. It begins:

A thin denim jacket shelters shoulders
slumped against darkness
arctic air squeezes
through broken zipper
temporarily reverses the sign
"Out of Work, Please Help!"
(Read all of "Christmas Lights.")

8. Childhood Christmas
Write about Christmases from your childhood. Start gathering material by writing lists and word clusters. Focus on particulars and include sensual detail—sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch. You may decide to write your memories in prose first. Later distill what you’ve written into a poem. Here are some of my memories—from my poem, "Bonding"—of unwrapping a Christmas doll:

…Carefully I deliver her
from the store-womb
undo each twist tie and rubber band
till she is free
and I can hug
her soft stuffed body…
(Read all of "Bonding.")

9. Poignant Moment
Think back to a Christmas moment that was especially poignant—perhaps a moment of epiphany, when you understood something significant about Christmas. Charles van Gorkom brings us such a moment in “Christmas Prayer”:

…I remember long ago
on Harry Road
in a shed on Christmas night
I sat among sheep
with an oil lamp—
leaned sitting in the hay
against a fat sleeping ewe–
(Read all of "Christmas Prayer.")

10. Christmas Reflections
Reflect on what Christmas means to you presently. Again use lists and word webs to gather your thoughts. Choose one of the things from your list and elaborate in a poem, or make your poem a list of things.
Mary Lou Cornish reflects:

I cannot write about a manger
without thinking of a cross.
When angels are glad-singing,
joy-bringing, I hear
sorrow-sobbing
desperate joy-robbing,
cries from a crowd dispirited
at the de-souling
of the incarnate God.
(Read all of "I Cannot Write About a Manger.")

11. Christmas Specialist
Write about some aspect of the Christmas story from a specialist’s point of view. Are you a carpenter (Joseph), a farmer (shepherd), a hotelier (innkeeper), or a civil servant (tax collector)?
Physician Darlene Moore-Berg’s poem “Embryology” takes the idea of how babies are formed in utero and writes about this aspect of the incarnation.

A subtle thing
one simple moment to the next
a rhythm, a pulsatile beat
and the heart of God
takes on a mortal cadence.
In a dark, muffled womb
four chambers form- room
to comprehend the flow
of human blood...
(Read all of "Embryology.")

12. Christmas Acrostic
Choose a Christmas word (STAR, BELL, MANGER, ANGEL) or phrase and write an acrostic poem. Colin Marshall’s poem won an internet Christmas acrostic poem contest in 2007. Notice how it flows, so that the words beginning each line (which start with the required letters) feel natural, even inevitable.

When autumn trees have shed their last
In encore to summer past,
Silent nights grow longer still,
Harbinger to winters chill.
(Read all of "Wishing You A Merry Christmas.")

13. Christmas Tune Lyrics
With the tune of a familiar Christmas carol or song in mind, write a poem as a set of new lyrics.

14. Model Poem
Choose a poem you love for whatever reason—rhythm, rhyme scheme, emotional tone—and write a Christmas poem patterned on it.

To do this, you may first want to analyze the model poem to discover what’s going on in it. Scan it and determine the rhyme scheme. You may decide not to follow it precisely, but it’s good to start out by being familiar with its construction.
One year, using “The Kye-Song of St. Bride” as a model, I composed “Christmas Echoes”:

Generous Christmas carries
Rare and radiant gift:
Gold, myrrh and frankincense begin
But thanks fall short, to our chagrin,
For Godhead wrapped in baby’s skin
Radiant, rare
Holy gift.
(Read all of "Christmas Echoes.")

15. Ekphrastic Christmas Poem
Write a Christmas poem inspired by a painting, photograph or other visual work of art. John Dreyer’s poem was inspired by Frederico Barocci’s painting “Madonna and Child with Saint Joseph and the Infant Baptist” from the National Gallery in London.

Herod's recent butchery is passed away
in the Baraccio Madonna's blue sky morning;
Salome's request macabre and
Pilate's washing of his hands are
cowardices yet to come.
For now, her nephew's
teasing of the cat
distracts the nursing child
from her breast.
(Read all of "Madonna's Blue Sky Morning.")

16. Christmas Poem That Isn’t
Write a Christmas poem in the form of some other kind of communication, an email, text message, postcard or news report for example. Here are some lines from my poem “Christmas Cake,” written in the form of a recipe:

November or early December’s the time
to start on this year’s Christmas cake
Pour several cups of sweet anticipation into a large bowl
– the first snowfall when we hauled out the Christmas records
– all the dolls in the Sears catalogue
– paint smells from the basement
Cut in a pound of cold reality
– the year I worked nights and slept through
– the first Christmas without Daddy
– the one I broke my wrist
and cream these ingredients.
(Read all of "Christmas Cake .")

Now it’s your turn. Choose one of the prompts above to guide you. Combine the ingredients of the wonderful Christmas story with your unique experience and point-of-view. This meld of Christmas old and Christmas you is one sure way to create new Christmas poems—poems unlike any that have been written in all the years since God incarnate came to Bethlehem.

(This article was first published as a Poets Classroom article on Utmost Christian Writers, December 2008.)

Catching up

2011-12-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

November is over. If you're wondering how I did with my November poem-a-day challenge, well, I certainly wasn't perfect. But I do have 24 new poem attempts in my files and that is much better than I would have done had I not set a 30-day goal.

One of the reasons I missed making my goal was that I got distracted by an exciting development in my 'career' (feels weird to call it that). As I mentioned before, a novel I have been working on for some years (and wrote the bulk of in November of 2009) made it onto the list of finalists of the 2011 Word Alive Publishing Contest. It was a few weeks ago in November that I made the final decision to self-publish that book through Word Alive Press. As a result I was busy, first considering my options, and then putting together the contract documents. I found it all energizing, yet draining, so that the last thing I wanted to do at the end some days was more creative thinking.

Regarding my book-publishing journey, it's still early days. Right now my manuscript is in the hands of a concept (big picture) editor. When I hear back from her, I'll consider the changes she suggests, get the story in as good shape as I can before I pass it on to the publisher's editor. And we go on from there. In the weeks and months ahead, I'll be writing about the publishing / marketing / publicity journey of that book, along with the usual poetry fare I often write about here.

I want to leave you with a couple of quotes from an insightful article I read in Writer's Digest many years ago. I filed it away, ran across it the other day and was inspired by it all over again.

"Most of a writer's life is just work. It happens to be a kind of work that the writer finds fulfilling in the same way that a watchmaker can happily spend countless hours fiddling over tiny cogs and bits of wire. Poets also love to fiddle with a word here, a word there—small spaces for hours. And when I'm working on a poem, I'm working harder than I've ever worked at anything in my life—I'm concentrating harder. But it's enjoyable. Not something I would describe as fun—it's more like rapture, a kind of transcendent play" - Diane Ackerman, "Tight Focus in Small Places," The Writer's Digest, September 1997, p.31.

And further on she says:

"Regard the world with affectionate curiosity and then write from the heart. You have to trust that you have something important to say and that you were put on earth to "stain the willows with a glance." And that the world will not look the same once you have written about it, that you will bring new life to the world through your vision" - same article, p. 33.

November—the month of writing craziness

2011-11-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

It's November, National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo links thousands of writers around the world, who are even now pounding their keyboards in an attempt to accumulate at least 50,000 words and realize the goal of writing an entire novel in one month.

I was part of NaNoWriMo in 2009. And I churned out a novel—Destiny's Hands. After more work on it, I entered it into the Word Alive Press contest this spring and was ever so thrilled when it made the list of finalists. It may someday even see the light of publication.

I have not joined NaNo this year in the novel-writing sense. But in that spirit I have set my own November goal. For me November would be called NaPoWriMo - National Poetry Writing Month because I have promised myself to write one poem a day.

Robert Brewer at Poetic Asides planted the idea a couple of years ago with his November Poem-A-Day Chapbook Contest. He posts a new prompt every day of November and invites participating poets to send in a chapbook collection of their best poems (inspired by the prompts) at the end of December.

I am not planning to be part of this, but I do check his prompt every day to give me poem-writing ideas. If it doesn't inspire, I have a pocketful of other prompt sources: Adele Kenny's blog, Poets and Writers, and Writers Digest prompts to name a few.

I find such poem-a-day challenges good to get me to just write instead of wait for that extra-special inspiration that will end up in the GREAT POEM. Sure, I end up with a lot of mediocre poems, but Diane Lockward, in her November newsletter says that's okay. Talking about her recommended book for the month—Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking—she says:

"I underlined this: 'The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars.' A good reminder that it's okay to do some bad work.

On risk-taking: 'And tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite to succeeding.' And 'to require perfection is to invite paralysis.'" - (Quotes by David Bayles and Ted Orland).

So there you have it—permission to write lots of poems with the hope that one or two will soar.

Throughout the month I'll be posting some of these on my poetry blog along with the prompt that inspired them. Maybe we'll see you over there?

Whatever you're writing through November, may it be a satisfying, productive month!

It's not always the right time to share your work

2011-10-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

It is becoming more and more accepted to share one's creative writing—poems, stories, personal essays—online. Still, doing that has its pitfalls, beyond the one that such works are then considered published and may not be eligible to submit to some publications and contests. Another danger is the effect that going public may have on you, the writer.

Bonni Goldberg talks about this in Beyond the Words.

"I often check my motives before I share by asking myself, what I want to get from making a given piece public. I know it's not the right time if my "want" list includes items such as empathy and understanding from my audience or their appreciation and attention rather than the opportunity to voice something I care about or to celebrate what moves me. As you take time to become aware of your motives to go public, you'll notice when it will be more nurturing and respectful to your Writing Self to wait" - Beyond the Words, p. 170.

Goldberg has opened a vein of truth here! I can think of times when I posted something, waited on tenterhooks for a response and when there was none, felt deflated and a failure. It pays to be aware of why we want to share something, and when is a good time. Sharing out of neediness can be a dangerous thing to the health of our creative selves.

Snatch those poetry moments

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

This blog has been sadly neglected in the last few weeks. I've been busy since the end of September, teaching a weekly class, welcoming my new granddaughter into the world, and celebrating Thanksgiving!

I miss the slower, lazier days of summer when I had time to moodle on poetry. I don't feel myself, somehow, when not tending that part of my writing plot. And yet it's the first to go untended, perhaps because it feels so much like play.

That is probably why the quote I found the other day resonated.

"A musician must make his music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to ultimately be at peace with himself." - Abraham Maslow

I also found this great little bit of wisdom from Barbara Crooker quoted in Your Daily Poem. Speaking about her publishing achievements (700 poems published in more than 2000 publications) she credits her success to perseverance as much as talent and says:

"Writing poetry is not putting down whatever comes into your head and leaving it at that, never taking it any further. Poetry involves layers, and a lot of revision." - Barbara Crooker

Hopefully today I'll find time to write another poem... or revise an old one!

When writing about God

2011-09-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Fernando Ortega (songwriter) gives advice to lyricists that applies to poets too:

"Be specific when you write songs (poems) about God.

Avoid cliché.

Avoid convenience.

Avoid an obsession with the consumer.

Avoid the temptation to make commercial success your central goal.

Write with intelligence, employing all the craft, skill, and experience with which God has endowed you."

Read all of "Avoiding Convenience: A Word to Hymn Writers"

Poetry Pickings [09-14-11]

2011-09-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

The internet is rich with poetry these days. Here are a few of my recent finds.

What is Poetry?
That's what we're discussing this month at Tweetspeak and on the TS Poetry Press Facebook page. Angela Alaimo O'Donnell writes today on the Tweetspeak blog:

"I am a teacher of Poetry.

This means that several times a year I walk into a classroom, the seats filled with Bright Young People between the ages of 18 and 22, and try to make them fall in love with poetry. This, I admit, is a challenge. Poetry is difficult to define and defend—and past the age of 8, is difficult to learn to appreciate.

To read poetry, we need to cultivate a mode of reading that is less frantic than the hunt-and-gather method instilled in us by content-driven disciplines (not to mention daily life), to discover how to be patient with ambiguity and uncertainty, and to give ourselves permission to read for the pure pleasure of it...

Read the rest of "What is Poetry: Falling in love, 1"

Rabbit Room CD release party
Cool poetic lyrics by Jason Gray along with the songs are posted in the Rabbit Room. He has put up the lyrics of every song on his new album A Way to See in the Dark along with the story of each. It's an online record release party. But don't delay if you want to hear the songs. The audio files will only stay online for 24 hours. Here's the title cut "A Way to See in the Dark."

Magical Mystical Teacher
Magical Mystical Teacher posts photos along with short poems, often haiku, and once in a while a reflection about teaching (like "Praying in My Classroom"). You will be lifted!

Porch Poems
Canadian poet Janet Martin has poetry coursing through her veins. She posts to two poetry blogs. Front Porch Poems has poems of faith. Love and nature are her study on Another Porch right now. Here's first stanza of the very charming "Summer's Quadrille" from that blog.

We feel a tender beauty-tug
A bitter-sweet caress
As summer, with a mindless shrug
Begins to shed her dress
Choosing instead of emerald green
A gown of red and gold
With petticoats of scarlet sheen
And sashes bright and bold

Read the rest here...

Advice to rhyming poets

2011-09-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

We all know that unrhymed free verse is the most common form poetry comes in these days. But perhaps you're not like everyone else. Maybe words come to you in rhyme and rhythm.

I gave the dilemma of a rhyming poet in a mostly free-verse universe some thought the other day when a writer friend emailed me about a poet we both know who writes beautiful rhyming poems. She was discouraged because that's what she writes, loves to write, yet people say keep saying things to her like, "I don't read it if it's not free verse." What's a rhyming poet to do?

Here are some suggestions I (a writer who likes writing in both rhyme and free verse) passed on to her. Maybe, if you prefer writing rhythmic, rhymes, they will encourage you too.

You / we are not alone. Have you heard of the New Formalism? It's a modern movement of poets who prefer to write in rhythm and rhyme. I found a pretty good definition (including the names of some people who are involved) here.

A wonderful website called The Poem Tree features lots of poetry from New Formalism poets. One of my favourites is A. E. Stallings. Who can resist:

Cardinal Numbers

Mrs. Cardinal is dead:
All that remains—a beak of red,
And, fanned across the pavement slab,
Feathers, drab.

Remember how we saw her mate
In the magnolia tree of late,
Glowing, in the faded hour,
A scarlet flower,

Read the rest...

The Machines Mourn the Passing of People

We miss the warmth of their clumsy hands,
The oil of their fingers, the cleansing of use
That warded off dust, and the warm abuse
Lavished upon us as reprimands.

We were kicked like dogs when we were broken,
But we did not whimper. We gritted our cogs—
An honor it was to be treated as dogs,
To incur such warm words roughly spoken,

Read the rest...

The Tantrum

Struck with grief you were, though only four,
The day your mother cut her mermaid hair
And stood, a stranger, smiling at the door.

They frowned, tsk-tsked your willful, cruel despair,
When you slunk beneath the long piano strings
And sobbed until your lungs hiccupped for air,

Read the rest...

For further education along these lines I have just the book. Writing Metrical Poetry: Contemporary Lessons for Mastering Traditional Forms by William Baer came out in 2006. It teaches about rhythmic styles and forms (Sonnets, the quatrain, couplet, tercet, and French forms such as the Villanelle, Rondeau, Triolet). Your local library might have it.

Also, you might enjoy Your Daily Poem. It's a website with a new poem every day. The poems are wide-ranging in style from modern free verse to traditional poetry that's in the public domain. The standard is that the poems must be interesting and accessible to ordinary readers (not just literary types). (After you have read it for a while and if you feel your poems would fit with it, here is information on how to submit poems to the site.)

Finally read "A World Short on Masters," a wonderful article that encourages you as a writer to be your own artist and, more, to become a master artist in your chosen genre. I think that means if you're a rhyming poet, be the best rhyming poet you can possibly be. It will make both you and your readers happy.

Poetic Voice Lesson 2 - Expand Your Range (conclusion)

2011-08-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is the second and concluding article in a two-part series on poetic voice. (Part 1: Poetic Voice Lesson 1 - Sharpen Your Ear)

Nothing spells disaster for a singer like a case of laryngitis. A close second is a limited range—above and below which notes are strained and pitch is off key. Did you know that writers can also suffer from laryngitis and a limited range? In this second voice lesson, we’re going to work at developing voice. We’ll look at some things that cause poetic laryngitis and suggest exercises to help you find your writing voice and expand your range.

Poetic Laryngitis

1. Mental and emotional permission

When poet Sheila Bender began writing poetry she described her voice as “rusty from disuse.” Under the teaching of poet David Wagoner, she explored reasons for this and found they were mostly mental and emotional. She realized that her family looked on art as superfluous. Furthermore, when she wrote about deep feelings, she felt like she was betraying her parents and husband. In order for her to “sing loudly and at greater length,” like her teacher instructed, she needed to give herself permission to write, and to write about certain subjects.[1]

The same may be true for you. You may feel strongly about some things, yet when you write about them you worry about betraying those close to you, disappointing those who have ideas of what you’re like, or even compromising your own ideals. The permissions and taboos we impose on our writing are personal. It’s important to realize, though, that these self-imposed rules will affect voice, perhaps even our ability to sing at all.

2. Bombast Complex

After spending some years in jail before becoming a writer, Les Edgerton occasionally returned to visit his former mates and encourage them to believe that life could be turned around. He soon began getting letters from inmates that were “rollicking and exhilarating.” They told of car chases, lawyerly ineptitude, shootouts, judges they were convinced had been fixed and more.

So impressed was Edgerton with what he called the “literary gold” of these letters, he invited the writers to send him stories they had written. But did he get back writing of the same quality? No. The stories they sent were “writerly”—poor mimics of Zane Gray or as stiff as school essays.[2]

The same thing can happen to you. If instead of being yourself on the page, you write to impress the reader, your voice can get lost in Thesaurus-hyped purple or academic stiffness and bombast. Natalie Goldberg says, “Learn to trust the force of your own voice. Naturally it will evolve a direction…but it will come from a different place than your need to be an achiever.”[3]

Voice Exercises: Find your voice and expand your range

Before we go any further, let’s make sure we’re on the same page by reviewing what we mean by voice in poetry. In Voice Lesson 1 we used John Drury’s Poetry Dictionary definition of voice: “…the characteristic sound, style, manner, tone of a particular poet or poem.”[4] We examined the elements he named in his definition—diction, syntax, attitudes, subject matter, rhythmic proclivities, line lengths, punctuation, the presence or absence of meter and rhyme, and tone—and explored how each contributes to a poet’s voice.

Keeping that definition in mind, here are six things you can do to help you re-discover your voice and expand your range.

1. Find your subject matter.

What matters to you? What affects you deeply? To discover what these things are, make a list of high points, low points and turning points in your life. These subjects will probably lead to your most powerful poems.

In addition, always carry a notebook with you to record ideas. As poet and teacher Michael Bugeja says, “If you record your muse, you’ll increase your output as a poet. You’ll also become more aware of epiphanies and experiences.”[5]

2. Imitate the poets you admire.

Artist Pablo Picasso believed that the very attempt to recreate another artist’s pictorial voice ultimately led an artist to his own. Writer Gabriele Rico says, “…we grow into our own voices by trying on many voices, not just the voices outside of us, but the multiple voices within us…. All the voices you try on are aspects of yourself.”[6]

To mimic a writer, pick a written passage (poetry or prose) you admire and read it several times. Choose a word from that passage. Prepare to write by doing an idea-generating exercise from that word such as brainstorming a list or making a word cluster.

Now do a timed free-write, keeping the sound of the model passage in mind as you write. Return to your free-write later and refine what you have written into a poem or salvage one or two lines to use later in another poem.

You could also do a poem echo. Copy out a favorite short poem. Below it write a poem of your own (any subject) using the same line, sentence and punctuation structure as your model poem.

3. Use the four-step voice process (developed by Michael Bugeja[7]).

In relation to any specific poem ask:

i] With whom am I speaking (myself, child, parent, society at large, etc.)? The listener may never make an appearance, but having him in your mind as you write will help you determine the voice of the piece.

ii] Where is this conversation taking place? Again, the setting may or may not make an appearance. But even if it is only in your imagination, it can affect your tone.

iii] What is the nature of the epiphany I wish to share? A self-deprecating poem that makes fun of a quirk of yours will surely have a different tone than one in which you realize how unforgivness has shriveled your spirit.

iv] What voice is appropriate for i, ii and iii above? List the adjectives that describe the voice you’d like people to hear from your poem. Now go through your poem again and substitute words that best convey the voice you are after.

4. Explore your own various voices.

Identify the voices you use throughout the day e.g. spouse, parent, employee, child. Do a free-write on any topic in the voice of each of these personas.

5. Get into character.

Reread a favorite Bible story. Rewrite that story from the point of view and in the voice of each main (or minor) character.

6. Read your poem aloud.

Read your poem aloud to determine how your poem’s voice comes across orally. Adjust the physical elements of your poem—line lengths (short lines slow the reading, long lines speed it up), punctuation, stanza breaks etc.—to reflect how you would like others to read/hear it.

Vocalists work on scales and exercises regularly and for years to bring their voices to full potential. Voice training for the poet takes time and practice too. But unlike the rote repeating of scales and exercises that train a singer’s voice, a writer’s voice training is far more varied.

Each day can be a foray into new territory. Gabriele Rico calls it play: “We learn about voice in writing by taking on many voices, by experimenting, by allowing our imaginations to express this voice, that voice. In the process we find the writer’s voice that is most authentically our own… Only by playing can you discover authenticity of voice. No one can do it for you.”[8]

**********************
Endnotes:

[1] Sheila Bender, Writing Personal Poetry (Writer’s Digest Books, 1998), p. 13
[2] Les Edgerton, Finding Your Voice (Writer’s Digest Books, 2003), p. 2
[3] Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones (Shambhala, 1986), p. 37
[4] John Drury, The Poetry Dictionary (Writer’s Digest Books, 2006), p. 342
[5] Michael Bugeja, The Art and Craft of Poetry (Writer’s Digest Books, 1994), p. 19
[6] Gabriele Rico, Writing the Natural Way (Tarcher / Putnam, 2000), p. 171
[7] Adapted from The Art and Craft of Poetry, p. 144
[8] Gabriele Rico, Writing the Natural Way, p. 173
************************

© 2009 by Violet Nesdoly. This article was first published at Utmost Christian Writers.

Writers on Vacation

2011-08-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Recently Shelley Haggard and I teamed up to write "Writers on Vacation." Her story "I Was Planning to Write .... Really!" tells of her recent trip to Italy and what became of her resolve to blog about it. That's followed by my "Ten Tips for Vacationing Writers."

Read "Writers On Vacation" (published this week in Abbotsford Today).

The discipline of paying attention

2011-08-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

Luci Shaw's musings on paying attention are wise. They urge us to live through senses exquisitely attuned to wonder and the sacramental. She says:

"I want to start where I am and use what I have and in the writing the mundane and the trivial may show themselves to be of greater significance. All of the ordinary givens are fodder for my faith.... God speaks from the loaves of bread, mu granddaughter's water-colour of a rainbow, the buzz of a housefly....These graces often begin with moments of attention and surprise" - Luci Shaw in Breath for the Bones, Kindle Location 1676.

For me, following in Ann Voskamp's train and keeping a gratitude journal has, for the past year, helped me to do this. Then last week a comment on someone's post about Breath opened a little wider the door to fulfilling this discipline. She said something like: "Stop in the middle of what you're doing and ask, What is holy about this moment?" (Sorry if I butchered the quote; I looked for it again but now can't find it.) I love that—for I'm still far too easily distracted from seeing the sacred in everyday things and need all the help I can get.

Another help is the inspiration of reading the writing of people who actually pay attention. Besides Luci's own vivid examples, I think of what I recently read in one of Wendell Berry's essays.

"Perhaps it is to prepare to hear someday the music of the spheres that I am always turning my ears to the music of streams. There is indeed a music in streams, but it is not for the hurried. It has to be loitered by and imagined. Or imagined toward, for it is hardly for men at all. Nature has a patient ear. To her the slowest funeral march sounds like a jig. She is satisfied to have the notes drawn out to the lengths of days or weeks or months. Small variations are acceptable to her, modulations as leisurely as the opening of a flower." - Wendell Berry in The Art of the Commonplace, page 19.

Isn't that gorgeous? I read that and say, being attuned is worth striving after. So I will continue to work at the discipline of paying attention — one that I've been working on for a while now. I wrote this in 2004-ish.

Writing

Besides the path that winds
through my waking and sleeping
grow like wildflowers
scenes, insights, connections
Some days I am too rushed
or distracted to see
On others I am wiser
live with the perception
that gathers a bouquet
chooses one or two to press
between the covers
of a book

© 2004 by Violet Nesdoly
****************

This post is part of the discussion of Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination, and Spirit by Luci Shaw. Laura Boggess discusses Chapters 9 (Paying Attention) and 10 (Cultivating Creativity) here. At the bottom of the post you will find links to other posts about these chapters.

Of trickles and gushers

2011-08-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

I loved Luci Shaw's chapter on journaling in Breath for the Bones. I could have underlined the whole thing. I think one reason this chapter resonated with me so much is because Shaw has articulated my experience in many areas.

The way beginning to write sometimes turns on, in my brain, a Pied Piper's song for words and images.

"I find that as soon as I put words and ideas onto paper, in my notebook ... they begin to gather to themselves more images, more words and ideas" (Kindle Location 1394).

Many poems of mine have begun as journal entries (I even wrote an article about it: Poem Seeds: Collecting Poems from Your Journal).

"I write my journal which is where most of my seed poems are recorded" (KL 1421).

I often begin a poem (any piece of writing for that matter) without knowing how it is going to end. The way inspiration comes to me during the process of work is one of the reasons I chose the Madeline L'Engle quote as my blog description: "Inspiration usually comes during work rather than before it."

"The writing, the music, the painting, the art will begin to open doors as it advances, without my always knowing where it is going or what the end result will be. The rational, planning mind does not leap ahead of the intuitive, imaginative mind. They work in tandem" (KL 1421).

I have also been often surprised by how much I find to say about some topics. Some subjects tap into deep, formerly undiscovered reservoirs within me (I think of it as finding a gusher).

"Writing is a process in which we discover what lives in us. The writing itself reveals what is alive" - LS quoting Henri Nouwen (KL 1430).

I have been a faithful journaler with much bookshelf space given to fat 3-ring binders filled with handwritten words...
"The task of the writer is to create a rich, immediate, usable past" - LS quoting William Saroyan (KL 1439).

... until 2010. And then those jottings dried to a trickle. It took me a year and a half to fill up a 3-subject coil notebook. I just started a new one at the beginning of August.

What happened? I'm not sure exactly. Distraction? So many words floating around, any more seemed extraneous? Bored with the sound of my own musings? I think above all, I lost sight of the point. Luci's image of the lighted display of the path of an airplane at the beginning of the chapter reminds me about it.

"I want to see clearly the country I have come from, and what lies ahead, and how fast and direct is my journey toward it" - KL 1384.

Reading this chapter couldn't have come at a better time for me. So far this month, the journal-writing is flowing. I feel I have reunited with an old friend - myself. I may just be needing more 3-subject notebooks before the year is up!

**********

This post is part of the book discussion of Breath for the Bones, over at The High Calling. Read Laura Boggess on Chapters 7 and 8 ("Be Brave with Words"), then follow the links at the bottom of the article to more discussion of these chapters.

Moodling Metaphor

2011-07-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

I bought Luci Shaw's Breath for the Bones after reading the first instalment of the Book Club discussion by Laura Bogess last Monday. (Grabbing a book at a moment's notice — I love it that I can do that sort of thing with my Kindle.) It is a good time for me to be reading this book and thinking along Shaw's lines. I read the two chapters discussed last week and found myself nodding, yes, yes.

Then I came to Chapter 3 ("Meeting the God of Metaphor") and on reading her story of the oak tree, my heart began to pound. Here's that story:

"After Harold died, my good friend Bernie Bosch and his sons took down the old dead oak tree that stood in our front yard. The previous spring it had not leafed out at all, and we had known it must be toppled. Bernie waited until the ground was frozen hard so that the crash of its enormous bulk wouldn't damage the lawn.

It was a huge job. And after the screaming power saws were silent and the tree was dismembered, all the wood had to be split and trucked away (that was the deal—he cut the tree down in return for the wood), and the mass of debris piled on top of the stump and ignited. The white-hot blaze burned for days, and even after the flames died down, a thin tendril of smoke still threaded the air above the site. It looked like a dormant volcano. The fire ate away most of the stump and the roots deep below the surface so that a week later all that was left was a black-rimmed saucer of ashes like a wound in the sod.

It was then I realized why the felling of the tree occupied my thoughts so consistently and with such a sense of significance. It was because I was the frozen sod with the deep wound, and Harold was my tree who was simply... gone. How unreal it seemed that his roots that had for more than thirty years penetrated deep into my life, that had anchored us and joined us so solidly and securely, had been eroded by the fire of decay. The space above ground that for so long had been filled with his vertical strength and solidity and shape was empty; air had risked in where, before, the towering trunk had outbranched to leaves" (Kindle location 678).

She goes on to explain how her latching onto that metaphor of Harold as the tree and herself the ground with the gaping hole was a healing thing: "I needed to find a picture, something so real in my imagination that I could derive sense impressions from it, and building from this stimuli I could perhaps see a pattern and derive significance from the image."

The reason I responded viscerally to Luci Shaw's story and how it affected her is because I have my own tree root story. Four years ago, when we were moving, we needed to empty our son's bedroom. Even though he hadn't lived at home for some time, his room was still full of 'him.' I spent hours one weekend, collecting his stuff from every nook and cranny of his room and assembling it in the middle of his floor, ready for him to take it to where he lived. It made me very sad and I felt restless until I saw a metaphor in it all. I even wrote about it.

The Prodigal’s Things

Unearthed from dresser drawers 
   closet corners and bookshelves 
his things sit in the middle 
   of his empty room 
the rootball of a dug-up tree

Lawn bags stuffed with clothes 
   balance on plastic tubs 
      heavy with Playstation, Game Gear
      trophies, marbles, a slingshot 
      ball glove, card collection, skate decks 
  and boxes bulging with photo albums, CDs, books . . .

Will he think we’re kicking him out?
“Don’t be silly,” says his dad
   “He hasn’t lived here for two years
and we’re selling the house”

Still the taste of mother-angst
   lingers on my tongue 
   wakes me at night
In the morning I place empty hands 
   on those uprooted tentacles:
“God, please look after this transplant 
with light, love, new life,”

and my heaviness lifts 
   as I am reminded
the great Tree Farmer 
   who made the tree
   planted him first in our home
   and knows intimately 
      each sapling in the forest
is still in charge

"A metaphor, because of its implicit reality and force in one arena of life, can transfer or carry over its meaning into another arena. The image acts to bring sense and immediacy and relevance to the real-life situations it parallels."

I agree. We can spend our time in much worse ways than moodling metaphors.

This post is linked at "Breath for the Bones: Tell Me a Story," where writer Laura Bogess talks about chapters 3 and 4 of Luci Shaw's book. There you can find links to other blogs which have joined in on the discussion.

Inscribe - join the family!

2011-07-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

I first came across Inscribe Christian Writers' Fellowship ten years ago. We met in the back matter of a 2001 Christmas anthology published by Essence. As I read the bios of the contributors I came across many who belonged to Inscribe Christian Writers' Fellowship (Alberta). Curiously, only one of these people lived in Alberta. The rest came from B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. Could that mean that Inscribe was an organization for more than just Alberta writers, I wondered?

It took me a little while to find them (internet newbie that I was back in '01), but I eventually did and discovered they were indeed Canada-wide and beyond, making connections via email and online. I soon decided to join, and Inscribe has been like a writing family to me ever since. Here are some of the reasons I love being a member:

1. Writer friends.
As an Inscribe member I never need to feel alone or isolated as a writer. Each member gets an invitation to join Inscribe's Yahoo forum where we can connect at the click of a mouse. Even if you're like me and choose to lurk more than chime in on the conversation, it's so nice to have this daily connection with other writers.

2. FellowScript.
One of the perks of membership is a subscription to Inscribe's quarterly newsletter, FellowScript. I find FS a great source of information and inspiration when it hits my mailbox every February, May, August, and November.

3. My own poetry column
I felt hugely honoured when I got the assignment to write a poetry column for FellowScript back in 2005. Writing my Line Upon Line column for each issue is a wonderful challenge for me to keep on top of all things poetic.

4. Conferences.
The writerly development of Inscribe members is further encouraged at regular conferences. These happen about twice a year at some location in Alberta. I have had the privilege of attending one and it was a fabulous time of learning and meeting people in the flesh that I had up till then met only online.

The beautiful cake that the Inscribe organizers (Marcia reminds me it was Sue Plett - thanks Sue!) commissioned to celebrate the launch of Marcia Laycock's novel One Smooth Stone and my poetry collection Family Reunion at the Inscribe Fall Conference, 2007.

5. Contests.
Inscribe also sponsors regular contests (often in conjunction with the conferences). At various times I've been a winner, a runner-up and a judge in these. They are an opportunity to work up a piece of writing and, if one chooses, even get it critiqued.

6. Online presence.
Finally, I must mention Inscribe's online presence. The website is a virtual smorgasbord of helpful articles and links available to everyone — not only members. They also publish a group blog where individual members get to showcase their writing.

So, if you're a Canadian Christian writer who is going it alone, consider joining Inscribe. At only $40 a year for residents of Canada, $50 for US and international residents, I'm sure you'd agree it's a bargain!

This post is part of the July's Inscribe blog tour.

Poetic Voice Lesson 1 - Sharpen Your Ear

2011-07-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Chances are what attracts you to your favorite fiction writer, newspaper columnist, blogger, or poet has a lot to do with voice. Les Edgerton, author of an entire book on voice says, “The theory I’ve arrived at ... is that readers select certain authors to read in much the same way they select their personal friends: on the basis of the ‘voice’ (personality) of that person” - Finding Your Voice, p. 4.

If voice is so important and having a pleasing one determines whether you’ll be published and read, a study of voice is worth a little time and effort. Let’s take a close look at voice, then, with a focus on voice in poetry.

In this first voice lesson:

We'll ask ourselves what voice is.
We’ll take apart the notion of voice by isolating its components and thinking about how each might contribute to a poet’s voice.
We’ll practice listening by reading segments from poems by contemporary poets.
Finally, we’ll describe the voice we hear coming from each.

Defining voice

Finding a useful definition of voice was not as cut and dried as I expected it to be. The simplest said that voice was the revelation of a writer’s personality. That is somewhat helpful. But for the purposes of getting our teeth into the concept, I settled on John Drury’s The Poetry Dictionary definition: “The characteristic sound, style, manner, tone of a particular poet or poem. On the page voice comprises diction (word choice), syntax (word arrangement), attitudes, subject matter, rhythmic proclivities, line lengths, punctuation, the presence or absence of meter and rhyme, and tone" - The Poetry Dictionary p. 342

Let’s look closely at the elements in Drury’s definition (not necessarily in his order), to see what each might contribute to a poet’s voice.

A poem begins with subject matter. It’s an important starting point in developing voice, according to Michael Bugeja: “When they (well known poets like Sylvia Path) matured as poets, they began to write about people and topics that thoroughly consumed then.... Once they had discovered their subject matter, voice followed" - The Art and Craft of Poetry p. 140.

Another aspect of subject matter would be the imagery used. The world those images are taken from (for example nature, home, war, business), their originality and the aptness of the comparison all contribute to a poet’s voice.

Tone is a musical term that suggests the very sound of the voice coming from the page. It is also sometimes used interchangeably with mood. How writers achieve tone or mood brings into play other elements of voice like diction and syntax.

A poet’s sensitivity to a word’s shades of meaning affect diction. For example it will dictate what synonym for “run” he will use in a certain poem, knowing that gallop, jog and flee each indicate, besides a different speed, a different mood.

The order of words (syntax) will be influenced not only by rules of grammar and which word sounds best at the end of the line, but also by the weight of the idea or thought that the end word conveys.

The length of lines, rhythmic proclivities of the writing, and the punctuation —in the way they imply pauses, places of emphasis, places to speed up, slow down, and stop—give us a glimpse into how the poet wants the piece to sound when read aloud. The use of meter and rhyme, and their way of satisfying us at a deep level, may leave us with the feeling that the poet sees things in an orderly, tidy-ending way, as opposed to the more random, loose-end feeling conveyed by some free verse poetry.

Other things that are achieved with these choices is writing that contains nuance and attitude. All the elements work together to become the writer’s voice or personality behind the words on the page.

Listening for and describing voice

One of the first things we can do to become aware of voice—our own and others—is to listen for it. To give you some practice, try the exercise below. Read each poem segment, then choose a word or words to describe how that poet’s voice sounds to you. My responses follow the poems—but of course, there are no right or wrong answers.

1.

Just try it. If you dare,
I will hang you
from the highest tree
–on display
for the frail eyes
of this earth
You created.
(Read all of "Cursed.”)

2.

Those months of infatuation
are over.
Our honeymoon is in pictures
boxed away somewhere.
It’s been rocky:
anger, a separation or two.
(Read all of “The Relationship.”)

3.

O God, Your righteous judgments give the king
Who shall with justice judge the waiting poor;
And lofty peaks and tiny hills will bring
Peace, and by righteousness the calm restore.
(Read all of “The Reign of Messiah.”)

4.

Sobs crack air
eyes, tumid map of veins
pulse a widow’s elegy
scan horizon flat as hope
(Read all of “Naomi.”)

5.

This evening
I picked ripe
red, raspberries
In a gentle summer rain.
(Read all of “This Evening.”)

6.

I can’t help myself, caught up in your love. On my tip
toes dancing, side to side, round and round, dip,
swerve. Got to have a lot of nerve to dance so wild
No, not really, caught up in His love, seeing Him with
eyes like a child. All my senses absorb all they can.
(Read all of “Caught Up.”)

7.

Wire-strung words transmit requests for prayer.
The assassin returns, aims, strikes vulnerability,
recalls your mother caught in the crosshairs.,
Sights daughter pain across soft milk flesh
targets an inheritance the size of a plum.
(Read entire poem “April Winter.”)

Here are my responses. Were they anything like yours?

1. taunting, disdainful
2. resigned, intimate, honest
3. dignified, elevated
4. hopeless, doleful
5. simple, direct
6. energetic, excited, joyful
7. intelligent, alert, violated

Do you want to sharpen your ear some more? Try this: Find a writer’s voice that you like a lot and a writer’s voice that you don’t like at all. Study them closely. How are they different? Similar? Try to find the ingredients that make one voice appealing and the other unappealing.

Copyright © 2009 by Violet Nesdoly
First published in January 2009 at Utmost Christian Writers in the Poet's Classroom series.

Taming the poetry beast

2011-06-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

I am in the curious space in my poetry-writing 'career' where I feel the need to do something other than write more poems and that is review and organize the poems I've already written. (It's almost as if this part of the creativity process - a sort of clearing blocked plumbing, if you will, so that new words can flow...)

In an attempt to do that I've pulled sheets from binders and the pockets of clipboards, sorted them into piles according to the things I write about — faith, nature, family, objects etc. — but it's still a mess. However, I think I may have discovered the perfect tool for gaining some control over my all-over-the-place efforts. It's Scrivener.

I first came across Scrivener some months ago when a fellow writer recommended it as good software for working on projects where you need one place to collect the research, develop the concepts, do the drafts etc. I downloaded the 30-day free trial and used it for working on a long fiction piece. Eventually I purchased it.

Now, after mulling over how to best use it, I'm beginning to enter my poems into it. I'm hoping to collect and organize them so that I can see at a glance what I've written on various themes, what's worth working on or not, what's been published and where etc.

What I love about Scrivener for working on poetry is:

its keyword function (which is also searchable). You can keyword each document as to form, subject, published status, contest status, blogged etc.

its camera function: You can take a shot of each document before and after tweaking, which keeps all the versions attached to the poem and visible in the Inspector with a click of the mouse.

its linkability: You can easily post links in the Inspector, good for when the poem was inspired by an online prompt, for example, or you are planning to link it on a meme site (like One Shot Wednesdays).

I'm hoping to spend some time this summer taming the untidy poetry beast that lives in my office. For that, Scrivener will be my whip and stool.

"Fresh, Sharp, Witty, Unpretentious*" - Canadian Poet Marianne Jones

2011-06-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

I just discovered that Marianne Jones' book of poems Here, On the Ground won The World Guild 2011 Writing Award in the Special Books category. Congratulations, Marianne!

In February 2011 I did an email interview of Marianne for FellowScript. Today seems like a good time to republish that here to give readers some insight into Marianne and her prize-winning book.

"Fresh, Sharp, Witty, Unpretentious" - Canadian Poet Marianne Jones

Marianne Jones of Thunder Bay, Ontario was named Utmost Christian Writers International Christian Poet Laureate in March of 2010. The position of Poet Laureate is not the first recognition this Canadian poet has received for her poetry-writing skill. I interviewed her recently via email.

Violet: When did you first become interested in writing poetry?

Marianne: I remember working seriously on poems when I was ten or eleven. But when I was younger I remember looking at things—rooftops, trees—and feeling an urgency to find the right words to describe them so that others would feel and see what I was experiencing.

Violet: What were some of the milestones along the path to becoming Utmost's International Christian Poet Laureate?

Marianne: The first time one of my poems was accepted by a literary magazine was a definite milestone for me. And when I won first place in the Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop competition it was a real acknowledgement from my peers. Stephen Heighton’s praise of my work was an honour. Also, my chapbook, Highway 17, was used as part of the creative writing curriculum at Confederation College in Thunder Bay for several years. That was pretty special, as was receiving a grant from the Ontario Arts Council toward my collection, Here, on the Ground.

Violet: Some people claim they can't write poetry unless they are "inspired." Others write regularly whether they feel specific inspiration or not. How does the process of conceiving and writing poems work for you?

Marianne: Both are part of the process. There are days when my brain feels like sludge and produces nothing interesting. However, I have learned to carry a journal with me at all times and jot down descriptions and images. My poem “Canadian Tire” was written in the car as I sat in the parking lot outside the Canadian Tire store while my husband was shopping. I was bored, but decided to write about the experience. You never know from what unlikely place a poem will come!

Violet: Once you've written something, do you leave it the way it comes out, or edit it? If you edit, could you tell us about your process?

Marianne: My poems go through numerous edits. The first draft captures something—the essence of what I’m trying to say, or an image I like. But I need to sleep on it and revisit it later. Usually the first draft is a mess, which I don’t recognize at first blush. The editing process is the fun part for me, where I experiment with cleaning up sloppy phrases or deleting things that don’t add anything to the poem. The final draft often bears only a slight resemblance to the final product. This process is where I look for more muscular verbs and sharper images, a more graceful flow.

Violet: Your latest book Here, On the Ground (FriesenPress, May, 2010), has poems on a range of topics from Bible characters to life in northern Ontario. What was your concept for the book and what ties these poems together?

Marianne: These poems articulate a lot of my life experiences and thought processes. Tying them together into one theme was challenging, so I grouped them into sections. The Shadowlands section is about Biblical stories that resonate with me, and some of my own experiences in my journey. The red shoes section is about folk tales that speak to me, as well as a few playful poems added. How Canadians Survive Winter speaks to our love-hate relationship with the geography and climate of this country. I’d say that this is a very personal collection, that shows the range of my musings, from the mundane to the sublime.

Violet: This is your second published collection. Tell us about your first book and the process of publishing poetry collections in general.

Marianne: Highway 17 was an experiment and an act of faith. My daughter had been studying creative writing at Concordia University in Montreal. She told me that self-publishing chapbooks was the norm for poets in Canada, where very few publishing houses handled poetry. A friend helped me to sort and organize my poems, and I self-published a small number of chapbooks. I really didn’t expect much response, so I was pleasantly surprised when the first printing sold out. The second printing is almost sold out now. I did all the work on Here, on the Ground myself, except for the cover photo, which my husband did.

Violet: What activities have you found useful in publicizing and marketing your books?

Marianne: Marketing is the part that every writer hates, but it’s a necessary evil nowadays. I use Facebook, sell at local book tables, do readings and workshops. There is no easy or magic way. You have to realize that there are a million other writers out there also marketing their work.

You have to keep thinking of ways to promote, and enlisting the help of others. I’m not the best marketer in the world, but I plug away at it.

Violet: What advice would you give poets interested in publishing collections of their poems?

Marianne: I didn’t attempt it until I had already published a reasonable amount in a variety of magazines. That was what gave me the confidence that there were people out there willing to pay for my work. It’s great to have supportive family and friends who praise your work, but they may be responding more to you than to the work. The real test is whether editors will pay to publish your poems. After I had done that, and won some poetry competitions, I decided that self-publishing a chapbook was a logical next step.

Violet: What other poetry-inspired activities or organizations are you involved with? How are they helpful?

Marianne: I am a member of a local professional writers group. I am the only poet in the group, but we enjoy each other and support and celebrate each other’s work. I am also a member of the League of Canadian Poets. I do readings whenever I get the opportunity.

Violet: What advice would you give someone who has newly discovered they enjoy writing poetry?

Marianne: Read a lot of good poetry. That will teach you more about how to write than anything. I cut my teeth as a child on Walter de la Mare and Rudyard Kipling, and continued on to Stephen Crane, Wilfred Owen, Robert Frost. Soak yourself in the poetry portions of the Bible—Isaiah, the Psalms, The Song of Songs.

And take your time! Poetry is an activity that requires slowing down, meditating, observing quietly—things that are counter-cultural in the West. What we write in a hurry is likely to be superficial. Stretch yourself to find the unusual metaphor, the original phrase.

Violet: Can we find more of your work online? Where can we purchase your books?

Marianne: People can order Here, on the Ground from Chapters, FriesenPress or Amazon.com. Or they can email me directly: mjones@tbaytel.net

Visit Marianne Jones on the web.

Three of Jones’ poems are linked on this page:

Read Nathan Harms' review of Here, On the Ground.

My review of Marianne's book is here.

*Words from the cover blurb of Here, On the Ground, by poet, editor & publisher of Penumbra Press, John Flood.

The internet - a great place to cultivate poetry

2011-06-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Writer-poet Marcus Goodyear doesn't believe that all the tweeting and hopping, the bit to bit and the clip to clip we experience when we surf the internet is making us stupid or shallow. He sees fragmentary communication not as dehumanizing but as poetry! He calls the sharing of our work for free via Creative Commons not laziness or thievery but stewardship and sees poetry as an effective way to steward ideas using internet technology to efficiently whiz them around the universe.

In that context, The Books and Culture arm of Christianity Today challenges poets with a prompt. Here it is verbatim:

Write a poem about cultivation. When I talk about cultivation, I mean agriculture but also creativity and culture itself. I am talking about the little place in your world where you have been given a small plot to grow new things and add to the beauty of God's world. Your deadline is July 1.

Read the whole article here.

So we have 14 days to write a poem and post it on our blogs and then link them in the comments of Marcus's article. Are we up for it?

Research: dietary supplement for your poems

2011-06-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

If your poems are weak they may need to be fortified with research. Poems subjected to "studious inquiry, diligent, protracted, systematic investigation" are bound to be stronger and more successful than their unresearched counterparts. Let me explain.

1. Research benefits poems that rely on images

An author's in-depth understanding strengthens poems which include image-symbol, metaphor or simile. If you're a specialist you'll be able to write poems using comparisons in your area of expertise without a trip to the library or an hour spent online with Google.

Poems like "Genealogies"[1] (where Nathan Harms rewrites the story of Cain and Abel using car imagery), "Embryology" (where physician Darlene Moore Berg recounts the in utero physiologically accurate development of God made flesh), and "Surgery"[2] (where veterinarian David Waltner Toews compares the act of discovering a cow's inner secrets to writing poems) give delight because of their precise language and knowledge of specific processes.

However, if you're a novice without a specialist's background you will need the understanding and vocabulary that research yields. It's nearly impossible to write convincing poems based on metaphors outside your knowledge.

To research the subjects of nature and culture, go to places like the library or online to consult encyclopedias and other specialty writings.

2. Research benefits poems based on character and literary allusion

Poets often write about historical characters. For Christians, Bible characters are frequently the inspiration of such poems. Research is part of making this kind of writing convincing.

An example of one such poem done well is Marcia Lee Laycock's "Jacob." Though Laycock enters Jacob's thoughts immediately after he has wrestled with God, flashbacks throughout the poem allude to various events in his life. He remembers his reputation as a deceiver, recounts the reaction of his brother to the theft of his inheritance, and relives the events of the journey just before this encounter. These things make for a rich poem-reading experience. They reassure you that you are in the hands of someone who has researched Jacob thoroughly, is able to tell his story with accuracy and interpret it with orthodoxy.

Christian poetry also often alludes to other biblical material by referring to imagery, quotes, and theological concepts. You need handle these elements as carefully as you do character. Check the context from which your material comes to ensure you're using it accurately. If you use a Bible verse, make sure you quote it word-perfect.

Besides using the Bible to do this kind of research, Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, and commentaries (in book form or online) are useful to explore Bible characters, customs, settings, and interpretations.

You can research other historical characters by consulting encyclopedias, works of history, biography, and autobiography (also in book form or online). When using literary allusion—from Greek legend to Shakespeare —again try to locate the original source so you can check the context and quote accurately.

3. Research benefits occasional poems

Poems written to celebrate or commemorate a special occasion are not the sole territory of the poet laureate. If you need an excuse to write a poem, you have it when your parents celebrate an anniversary, your co-worker retires or your church has its 50-year celebration. Aside from creating a compliment to the celebrant, these writings become especially significant if they include references to, say, events of your parents' life together, memories of the workplace, and highlights of your church's history.

An example of an occasional poem that does these things is Linda Siebenga's "Dance to the Music of Prophets Mending the World"—a 40th anniversary tribute to the organization Citizens for Public Justice. In her poem Siebenga refers to what the organization stands for and specific things its members have attempted and accomplished during its existence.

The method of researching for this type of poem depends on the occasion. If it's a family event you may need to talk to other family members, look through photo albums, and read old diaries. If you're roasting someone from the office you'll want to talk to people they've worked with over the years. A poem commemorating a church or community event will benefit from conversations with old timers or a visit to the local museum. Of course the library and the internet have a wealth of information about national holidays and historic events.

4. Research benefits personal poems

Research done for personal poems—those writings born out of the elements of your life—is research of a different kind.

Sheila Bender says: “In writing personal poetry we must ask ourselves questions: ‘What is this feeling? Where did it come from?’ We search for the answer not through logic but through words, sounds, and rhythms that arise when we engage language in making tangible our sensory and emotional experience” - Writing Personal Poetry - page 6

She says, quoting Jacques Maritain: “There is no question that the language of ‘felt thought’ must be quarried from our personal depths. Like the best gold, it does not lie on the surface” - page 19.

She speaks of persistence: “To write the poem, to find the shape and form of the experience that haunts you, you must keep rappelling into the abyss” - page 20.

There are many poems that do this well. “I Chased My Healing” by Mary Lou Cornish is particularly poignant. In it Cornish describes how she pleaded with God to heal her body. She uses scripture fragments as part of her prayer, and describes physical responses in language both passionate yet restrained:

"My healing rests in God’s great hand
His fingers curled over it. I try
To pry them open
With anger, tears and pleas – Oh! Please!..."

Doing research for such poems may include reading if you have written journals about the feeling or experience you plan to write about. But it will mostly involve dredging up memories, details, and specifics like the names of emotions, places, sounds, smells, tastes, colors, plants, animals, and products. This is research done by writing lists, word webs, and free-writes about the incident to bring it into focus and discern its meaning.

5. Research benefits communication

Just like artists choose between water color or acrylic paints to depict a particular subject and musicians choose between piano and guitar for a song they compose, so poets need to choose the poetic form that best suits their message. You would probably not write a poem about a subtle insight into nature as a ballade or rondeau. Rather, you'd write it as a haiku or tanka. If your poem ends with a surprise, you might consider writing it as a sonnet. A poem about a nagging or recurring thought might make a good villanelle. A pantoum could be the perfect form if you're writing about extreme states of mind like mania, paranoia, or delusion.

The best way to learn about forms and their respective strengths is to read lots of poetry. As well most poetry how-to books will discuss the characteristics of common forms. Glossaries of poetic terms (such as this poetic glossary from the University of Toronto) also define forms.

Some common forms are haiku, tanka, cinquain, sonnet, ballade, rondeau, sestina, villanelle, pantoum and free verse. If you're not sure which suits your poem, try writing it several ways and then decide which is most effective.

6. Research improves your poem’s chances of publication

Finally you'll want to research where to get your poem published. You'll look for this information in market guides—online or in print.

This online guide from Utmost Writer's Markets focuses on poetry markets that buy poems about faith.

This online guide lists literary magazines that publish poems (as well as other kinds of writing).

Poets Market is the most popular print market guide for publishing all kinds of poetry.

When you find a possible market, check the publication's web site to see if there are past-published poems in archives. This will help you decide whether your poem fits their publication. Before you submit, find and follow the submission guidelines (also often posted online or available on request by surface mail).

Then send your poem out. Because after all the hard work you've put into it, it would be a shame not to share your meaty and vigorous creation with the world.

Copyright ©2008 by Violet Nesdoly - First published in October 2008 as a Poet's Classroom Column at Utmost Christian Writers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Endnotes:

[1] Nathan Harms, "Genealogies." Midnight in the Garden, (Edmonton AB, New Leaf Works, 2000) 20.
[2] David Walter Toews, "Surgery," The Impossible Uprooting, (Toronto, ON, McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1995) 26–28.

Accessible poetry and poets

2011-05-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

In a previous post I tried to make a case for writing accessible poems-—poems that the ordinary, non-poetry-reader in your life would understand. Not everyone may agree this is desirable. In fact some may insist that "accessible poetry" is an oxymoron and the attempt to write too accessibly is a violation of what poetry is all about.

I am not unsympathetic. And because I fear I may have left the impression that you need to dumb-down your poems in every way to connect with readers, I want to start this month's column by admitting that poetry has some innate characteristics that make it hard to understand.

Poetry's inaccessibility

Poetry's essence implies some things that make it inaccessible. As a poet, you don't want to compromise on what makes your writing a poem as opposed to a greeting card verse, or anecdote, essay or joke with line breaks. There are at least five attributes of poetry you'll want to retain in your work. Unfortunately these are also obstacles to accessibility.

Poetry's essential nature

Look at some definitions of poetry:
"Poetry is the literature of depths." Robert Hirsch [1]
"Poetry is a dream dreamed in the presence of reason." Tomasco Ceva (Baroque Jesuit poet) [2]
"Poetry is the human wish to reach into the sea of common language and extract from it the rich, dark, beautiful words that could be arranged in such a way that the unsayable might be said." Carol Shields. [3]

What is accessible about the literature of depths, dreams in the presence of reason, saying the unsayable? It's enough to scare off even the keen, let alone reluctant reader.

Compressed language

In her book, How to Write a Poem, Mary Ryan tells writers: "When you distill a poem you purify it, extracting the essence of your experience. The challenge is always to capture that essence in the fewest possible words."[4]

The poem that has gone through this distillation process may be harder to understand than one with more words. The poet may have left out details about the setting, back-story and characters. Punctuation and connecting words (articles and conjunctions) may be missing. A story served up as a shot of poetry may not be as accessible as a ten-ounce glass of fiction.

Appearance

Poetry looks different from prose. Lines don't necessarily start at the left margin and often end before the right one. Sometimes poems are centered. At other times the poem's shape on the page itself becomes a metaphor (as when a poet writes a poem about the crucifixion in the shape of a cross).

The reader unfamiliar with poetry may find this baffling. How is a poem presented as two parallel columns down the page meant to be read? Down? Across? If a poem's shape looks too intimidating, readers may give up before they read a single word.

Oral qualities

Those of us who memorized poems as children know the spell a rhythmic poem casts when recited aloud. Even though the everyday-speech rhythms in free verse are a lot more subtle, it still has rhythms.

Sometimes those rhythms—the stops and starts that add to understanding—are lost when we read poetry silently. Would the casual reader bother to read a poem aloud to discover them? Probably not.

Reader effort

Robert Frost says the chief thing about poetry is "…it is metaphor, saying one thing and meaning another, saying one thing in terms of another." [5] In order for readers to enjoy the poem, they must join the poet in thinking through the relation of unlike things. When they do this, they achieve a kind of intimacy with the poet.

Conversely when readers don't understand the metaphors in the poem or the metaphorical meaning of the poem as a whole, they'll feel alienated and probably determine not to put themselves into that frustrating situation again.

Combine all the things we've mentioned and the likelihood unmotivated readers will read your poems is small indeed.

Accessible Poets

There are poets whose works are popular despite all of poetry's innate inaccessibilities. Let's take a look at three of them to discover why they're popular and what makes their poems accessible.

• Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver worked for years as an instructor at various colleges in the U.S. She has published numerous books of poetry and prose and presently has four books in the top six of the Nielsen BookScan contemporary poetry best seller list.6 Her readings have become so popular that on a recent tour she sold out the 2500-seat Benaroya Hall in Seattle as well as a 2700-seat auditorium in Portland Oregon. What's her appeal?

Oliver is first and foremost a nature poet, and known for her unadorned language and accessible themes. She writes as if talking to us, asking questions and inviting us into the awe of her discoveries. In the poem "Peonies," for example, after describing these gorgeous flowers she asks,

Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
(Read all of "Peonies.")

She helps us shift our focus from our hurry-world, to nature and its saner, more peaceful pace. In "The Summer Day," after describing how she spent a day outdoors contemplating natural things she asks,

"Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
(Read all of "The Summer Day.")

Oliver's poems also contain many allusions to spiritual subjects—the soul, prayer, and worship. These, however, are framed subtly so that the reader comes away with lessons about the divine from nature, rather than an invitation to worship it per se. See, for example "Landscape."

• Ted Kooser

For most of his working life this Midwesterner worked as an insurance executive, while he wrote and published poems on the side. In 2004 he was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States and served till 2006. In 2005 his book, Delights and Shadows, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Though his appearances don't create the stampede for tickets that Mary Oliver's do, his readings have charmed thousands around the U.S.

For him accessibility is intentional. He would often take a newly written poem to work to show his non-poetry-reading secretary (he got up at 4 a.m., worked at his poetry for several hours and then left for the office). If she couldn't understand it, he'd rewrite. In his own words, "I'm always revising away from difficulty toward clarity." [7]

Kooser's poems are usually short and capture the illuminated moment. They typically look uncomplicated on the page with regular punctuation and capitalization, and no puzzling shapes.

Called the "people's poet," he writes in ordinary language about ordinary things and people—but in a way that helps us see them in a new light. In "A Birthday Poem," he compares the rising sun to a cow waiting to be milked and extends the farm metaphor into the whole day. He captures moments of grace—one on the ice with a figure skater ("Skater") and another in the waiting room of a cancer clinic ("At the Cancer Clinic"). You can also find sly humor in his poems. "Father" begins:

Today you would be ninety-seven
if you had lived, and we would all be
miserable, you and your children,
driving from clinic to clinic
an ancient fearful hypochondriac
and his fretful son and daughter…"
(Read all of "Father.")

"Abandoned Farmhouse" is an example of another strength of his—attention to detail:

He was a big man, says the size of his shoes
on a pile of broken dishes by the house;
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,
says the Bible with a broken back…
(Read all of "Abandoned Farmhouse.")

• Billy Collins

Billy Collins held the title of U.S. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003. He has spent over 30 years as a professor of English at Lehman College in the Bronx but his poetry isn't at all academic. A 2003 CBS news article called Collins the most popular American poet since Robert Frost. He draws bigger crowds (standing-room-only audiences, people of all ages and backgrounds), gets larger advances and sells more books than any other contemporary American poet. [8]

Like Kooser, Collins is reader-conscious: "I have one reader in mind, someone who is in the room with me, and whom I am talking to, and I want to make sure that I don't talk too fast or too glibly. Usually I try to create a hospitable tone at the beginning of a poem. Stepping from the title to the first lines is like stepping into a canoe. A lot of things can go wrong." [9]

Perhaps that is why his poetry is known for drawing the reader in. "The Revenant" begins:

I am the dog you put to sleep
as you like to call the needle of oblivion,
come back to tell you this simple thing
I never liked you—not one bit.
(Read all of "The Revenant.")

Like Kooser's, Collins' poetry is known for its ordinary subject matter. His 2005 book, The Trouble with Poetry, includes poems about Monday, coffee shop waitresses, a blown-apart building, glasses, a gift he made his mother at camp (read it), and so on.

Collins' poetry is full of humor (he's been compared to Bob Newhart and Charles Schultz). Especially amusing are the poems he writes about poets, poking fun at how seriously they take themselves:

The trouble with poetry is
that it encourages the writing of more poetry
more guppies crowding the fish tank,
more baby rabbits
hopping out of their mothers into the dewy grass.
(Read all of "The Trouble with Poetry.")

But Collins calls his use of humor "a door to the serious"—and that's where many of his poems end up, contemplating insignificance and isolation, giving in to the tug of love, ever aware of the inevitability of death.

What we learn from Oliver, Kooser, and Collins

Write about ordinary subjects. All three of these accessible poets write about common, ordinary things. Oliver's love for nature is especially fortunate in this time when so many people are attuned to natural things and welcome a peaceful, interlude, even if it's only through a poem.

Use ordinary language. All three of these poets are known for poems stripped of showoffy words yet written with efficiency, clarity of meaning and an ear for sound.

But don't avoid deep subjects. Oliver's poetry is popular for its spiritual themes. Kooser and Collins take us to some surprisingly somber destinations.

Don't get too innovative or clever with the shape of your poem on the page or use/non-use of capitals, punctuation etc. All three of these poets write poems that look like we'd expect poems to look.

Write first lines with care. Entice the reader into your poem with things like Collins' intriguing settings or Oliver's camaraderie and enthusiasm.

Include lots of detail, such as we find in Kooser and Oliver. Details give your poems sensual interest as well as honesty and authenticity.

Humor is always welcome. Being able to laugh at yourself like Collins does is especially appealing.

Be reader-conscious. Both Kooser and Collins mention reader consciousness when speaking about their writing process.

I hope this brief look at these popular and accessible poets will inspire you to analyze your poems for accessibility. Then I encourage you to enhance the poetic magic that is already in them by editing for clarity and reader understanding. Let Oliver, Kooser and Collins light your way.

Additional listening and reading resources!

©2008 by Violet Nesdoly. This article was first published at Utmost Christian Writers in September 2008.

Endnotes:

[1] Robert Hirsch, How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love With Poetry. (Durham, North Carolina: DoubleTake Books,1999), 9.
[2] Tomasco Ceva, quoted in Hirsch, 27.
[3] Carol Shields, quoted (from the novel Swann) in Mary Ryan, How to Write a Poem. (Danbury Connecticut: Franklin Watts, 1996), 22.
[4] Ryan, 154,5
[5] Hirsch, 13.
[6] (As of August 14, 2008) Contemporary Best Sellers
[7] Ted Kooser interviewed by Jeffrey Brown. "Pulitzer Winner Ted Kooser" Online NewsHour —PBS on April 4, 2005
[8] Charlie Rose, "Billy Collins: America's Poet," CBS News, July 2, 2003
[9] Billy Collins (1941 - ) Archive—Poetry Foundation

The Haggard Road - just out

2011-05-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

I am so pleased that one of my poetry buddies, Shelley Haggard, has just published The Haggard Road — a total of about 60 poems along with some of her photos.

Steven R. Duncan (free-lance writer, mentor, producer, publicist, art promoter and poet) says of Shelley's work:

"Shelley Haggard’s poetry has a fresh, jaunty quality that at first belies a deeper, darker, complex and sometimes sardonic voice. She uses sharp metaphor and deceptively simple rhyme to catch the reader, much in the manner that a flytrap uses nectar or a siren lures ships. There is no escaping the inevitable sucker punch to the sternum waiting for the reader, leaving them breathless."

Shelley has made several videos of her reading pieces. One of my favourites is "Depressionville Hotel"

Find more readings here.

Congratulations, Shelley! I can't wait to get my hands on your baby.

A case for finishing

2011-05-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

"When work is sustained, the mental 'frequency' for related thought stays tuned and ready to accept signals. The sustained activity gathers momentum, producing more thought, deeper discovery, a created object, or an accomplished project.

In contrast, when work is intermittent, related thought loses a connection that is difficult to resume. Like a seed planted but not looked after, thought and work already invested — however promising and wonderful — aren't given the opportunity to yield any result. Progress is at risk whenever a schedule of sustained work is discarded for any length of time.

I find that inattention to a project causes it to slip so far back in my mind that it seems impossible to find it all again. It's as if it slipped off an imaginary cranial back ledge. Can I reach back in my mind far enough to find it?....

If the project is disregarded long enough, the memory of its content gradually vanishes. What takes its place is an alien voice telling me how impossible and ridiculous my endeavor was in the first place. Without a mind full of content, I find it difficult to battle that accusing voiced. The ignored project is then apt to be ignored even longer, if not abandoned." - Nancy Nordenson in Just Think: Nourish Your Mind to Feed Your Soul (Kindle Location 1988).

I'm really enjoying Nancy Nordenson's book Just Think, which I've been reading off and on for a few weeks now. It's a book on various aspects of thought. The above passage resonated with me in a special way, perhaps because I've experienced it several times.

In fact right now I'm spending time on a project that I have "disregarded" numerous times and have found that exactly what Nancy describes has happened — that alien voice takes over and tells me how impossible the whole thing is. Since I've been giving it regular attention (100 minutes a day using a timer) I am making progress along with gaining a sense of confidence and self-respect. (For me there is nothing that erodes self-respect like a project not seen through to the finish.)

Nancy's blogs at Just Thinking

Share a pocket poem

2011-04-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

Today is Poem In Your Pocket Day.

Thank you to Jim, who gave me permission to pull this one of his out of my pocket a few years ago. I'm reposting it today because it's still a favourite:

************

Pocket Poem

soiled by sweaty fingers
creased and creased again
opened up a thousand times
to view the words I'd penned

it records a life of hiding
with nothing grand to offer
just the words, "I trust you"
on this paper's humble altar

a crumpled composition by a
carefree crowd unseen,
thanksgiving penned in words...
and when you find it in your pocket,
it'll still be warm from me

here it is Lord.

- Jim Cox (Inspirational Poetry © 2004 - used with permission)

*************

Jim writes from his home in California. Here's another poem by him: "Mute." And some more poems and and videos.

Who'd Want to Read Your Poems?

2011-04-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the first poem that put a spell on you? For me it was “Silver” by Walter de la Mare. That was back in Grade 3 or 4 and I can still quote parts of it from memory:

Slowly, silently now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon
This way and that she peers and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees….

The teacher probably had to explain what “shoon” meant but otherwise, in my little girl way, I pretty much understood what the poem was about.

Chances are somewhere in your past are poems that touched you just as deeply—so deeply, you now write or want to write poems yourself.

Chances are also good that in your relationship with poetry you’ve experienced what I did years later. In about 1998 after I had been away from reading and writing poetry for years, I felt a tug to get back to it. So one day I went off to the local library and signed out one of The Best of American Poetry series.

Back home, I snuggled into my reading chair, opened the substantial hardback with anticipation—and hit a brick wall. Poem after poem was indecipherable to me. These poems were obscure and difficult, like riddles with few clues. Instead of feeling welcomed back to poetry, I felt excluded, snubbed and stupid.

Poetry is communication

Ted Kooser, American Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006, says this disconnect between modern poetry and reader doesn’t have to exist. He says:

“Poetry is communication. Poetry’s purpose is to reach other people and to touch their hearts. If a poem doesn’t make sense to anybody but its author, nobody but its author will care a whit about it” - The Poetry Home Repair Manual, p. xi.

However, even a little sleuthing on the Internet shows us that in Canada today, few people do care about poetry. The first two books listed as bestsellers in the Amazon.ca Poetry category of Literature and Fiction are not even poetry (#1 Michael Ondaatje’s Divisadero is a novel, #2 Walter Benjamin’s Illuminations: Essays and Reflections is a book of studies on contemporary art and culture). The third place book, Poems to Live By in Troubling Times, was published in 2006, ranks only 1,678 in the Amazon.ca list of all book sales, and does not have a single review to its credit (rankings checked July 22, 2008).

(Rankings checked today, April 9, 2011:
#1 - "Letter to My Daughter" by Maya Angelous - ranked #16,483 in Amazon Bestsellers.
#2 - "The Odyssey" by Homer - ranked #12,432 in Amazon Bestsellers.)

Who’s to blame for this state of affairs? Mostly it’s us, the people who write these hard discouraging poems. I include myself here. For though I determined when I started writing poems again to not write difficult ones, on occasion people have also said to me, “I don’t get it.”

Why do we do it? I think it has a lot to do with our idea of our audience.

In The Poetry Home Repair Manual, Kooser writes about the things in a poem that can spoil a reader’s enjoyment of it. He takes a close look at the poem “The Windhover” by Gerard Manley Hopkins and comes to the conclusion that though the poem is musical and energetic, the way it’s written (with “richly modeled embossing” he calls it, p. 71) may be a barrier to just anyone understanding it. Kooser ends his discussion with this telling statement: “Hopkins has done what all poets must do to some degree; he’s selected a kind of audience by the manner in which he’s written" p. 72.

Who is our audience?

What kind of audience do we envision when we write our difficult poems? Isn’t it often ourselves, our fellow poets, the critics, the professional interpreters, the editors of the literary journals, and the contest judges?

It’s fine to write for these people. Actually it’s practical. With poetry’s small audience, who will read our verses if these people don’t? However, not everyone believes that poets should pander solely to themselves and each other. Seamus Heaney, Irish poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, says, “The aim of the poet and the poetry is finally to be of service, to ply the effort of the individual work into the larger work of the community as a whole" - Kooser, p. 6. As Christians, we have an even greater motivation to be understood as we use our poems to tell the best news on earth.

Thus if our goal is to expand our audience and once again bring poetry out of the rarified atmosphere of poetic elitism and back down to earth, we need to change our focus. We need to take our attention away from our needs as poets and focus it on the needs of our readers (or potential readers).

To get us on the road to doing this, let’s look at four published poems (portions are quoted below with links to the complete poem) with a view to discovering the audience of each. To help us, we’ll answer the following question after reading each poem: Who would appreciate this poem?

children.
unsophisticated adults who don’t normally read poetry.
unsophisticated adults who read and enjoy poetry.
sophisticated readers of poetry.
people familiar with the Bible and Christian culture.

I’ll follow the poems with my thoughts and end with some ideas of how we can use what we’ve observed to make our own poems more accessible to more people.

Example 1:

Daffodils

Watch the daffodils
see the sweet gold voices lifted toward the sky
laughter embodied in delicate petals
gather them up in bunches
breathe the scent of their summer-dust and sunlight
spilling from sweet, yellow cups
gather the daffodils until your hands are full
until they spill from your arms in smiling drifts . . . .

(Read the rest of “Daffodils” ©2004 by Stephanie Adjemian)

Example 2:

Lipstick Sestina

Revlon and Jesus saved me from death.
Stubborn cowardice, to punish the poor flesh,
as if you, illiterate beloved,
could read me if only I inscribed the page with blood.
Hair in weeds, loose body a burden of fat.
A mess. God save me.

Happiness isn't for me
too necessary. You hid me from death
so long in your arms I grew fat
with suppressed desire to spend my allowance of flesh,
a naive romance of oblivion in the blood.
A raping god from the sky. O beloved . . . .

(Read the rest of “Lipstick Sestina” ©1999 by Jendi Reiter)

Example 3:

A Shortcut to Happiness

Walking to the pier head,
Where the dirty pontoons
Grated on their moorings
And the river flowed fast and furiously,
enough to kill the unwary.

He thought of Uncle Charlie.

Charlie, told them all each year,
(With the help of drambuie)
powerful memories of him and Gladys
dancing their way across the river
On the "Daffodil"* with, sisters, brothers, soldiers
In the swirl of VE Day celebrations . . . .

(Read the rest of “A Shortcut to Happiness” ©2004 by Dick Hayes)

Example 4:

Naomi

"I went out full and the LORD hath brought me home again empty... Ruth 1:21a"

Sobs crack air
eyes, tumid map of veins
pulse a widow's elegy
scan horizon flat as hope

Her mouth blisters with unspoken words
sucked mute by the vacuum of loss

Muscles tear from the force
of holding back desire
for the anointing of his embrace . . . .

(Read the rest of “Naomi” ©2003 by Bonnie Flaman)

Thoughts on audience

Example 1: “Daffodils”:

If you followed the link and read the entire poem, you will know that “Daffodils” was written by a 13-year-old. I’m sure you’ll agree that even children could read and enjoy this lyric piece, along with other types of readers. Though the poet uses little punctuation, the line divisions feel natural and make sense. The images are easy to understand yet fresh. This poem puts few barriers in the reader’s way.

Example 2: “Lipstick Sestina”

I chose sophisticated readers of poetry as the audience for this poem for several reasons. For one, “Sestina” is mentioned in the title. The reader unschooled in poetry probably won’t have a clue what a sestina is and thus may feel excluded from the outset.

I also find the poem difficult in the “what’s it about” department. I think it’s about body image, guilt, and the poet’s relationship to “you”—though I’m not sure who “you” is. While I enjoy the references to common things: “Revlon,” “Hair in weeds,” “burden of fat” etc., I’m not sure I get the poem’s meaning as a whole.

On the other hand, I can see how the veiled message delivered in this technically demanding form could be an enjoyable challenge to an experienced interpreter. If you write poems like this, congratulations! Though your poetically unsophisticated family, friends and neighbors may not always understand or appreciate your poems, poetry editors and contest judges may welcome them.

Example 3: “A Shortcut to Happiness”

Any adult who likes to read—poetry or not—could get a lot out of this vignette. The language is simple and natural, the people recognizable. The poet aids our understanding by how he places the lines on the page—the setting and conclusion are on the left margin while the speaker’s memory of Uncle Charlie is indented. The poet even footnotes the name of the boat, “Daffodil,” to keep us in the know. The situation he describes—a young man thinking of entering a relationship but proceeding with great caution because of other relationships he has observed— is interesting and easy to relate to.

Example 4: “Naomi”

The audience I selected for this poem is people familiar with the Bible. A poem about a biblical character is a great subject if your target audience is familiar with such things. If not, you run the risk of making them feel as left out as you feel when poets write about characters from Greek or Norse myths, or any world you’re unfamiliar with.

The lack of punctuation in this poem may confuse some readers, though the arrangement of lines and the capital letters that begin some lines signal the beginning of a new thought/sentence. The word “tumid” stopped me. The poet could have substituted “swollen” to make that line more immediately understandable.

For poets to consider

1. The look of your poem on the page—lines of various lengths, ignoring rules of punctuation and capitalization—may be barriers to some readers, but you can compensate by making your ideas flow logically and arranging the length and placement of lines on the page for a sentence-like flow and pause in the reading.

2. Words that are part of the in-vocabulary of poets—like the names of forms (villanelle, rondeau, sonnet, etc.)—can make a reader feel left out. You don’t need to stop writing in these forms. Simply avoid mentioning them.

3. Writing poems about subjects that involve specialized information (like biblical characters) is appropriate when your audience is knowledgeable. But be aware that such poems may turn off people who don’t have your expertise or background. Similarly, avoid using obscure words when more common ones will do.

In conclusion, writing accessibly and for a wider audience will remain an inexact science involving imagination and empathy on the poet’s part, and continuing desire and effort on the reader’s. Let’s make it our goal to write poems that are so interesting, rewarding, and touching our readers will be glad they expended that effort.

For you to do:

• Look at your poems. Who is your usual audience?

• Choose one of your poems and rewrite it for a different audience.

Poem-a-day April!

2011-03-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the first day of April, which is National Poetry Month in Canada (as well as the U.S.). I'm excited because I'm again planning to go on a poetry binge and write a poem a day. I've done that for the last two years and know that it's doable, though as the month wears on it can be a challenge.

In 2009 and 2010 I used the daily prompts from Poetic Asides (and Robert is posting those again this year, with a chance to choose your five best poems for possible inclusion in a published book at the end of the exercise). But I've decided to use different prompts this year.

I have, within the last few weeks, discovered The Music In It - the blog of poet Adele Kenny. She posts the most interesting prompts with, often, a teaching component, samples to read, and variations on the main prompt. Last night I sat down and pasted the links to her first 30 prompts into an email which I then mailed to myself. I now have 30 ideas at my fingertips.

Let the poeming begin!!

(I will not be publishing these raw creations online anywhere. However, if it's unusually quiet here at the blog, just know that I'm probably trying to keep my April resolution.)

Processing the unthinkable

2011-03-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

How does one handle traumatic events like the death of someone close, or the crashing of planes into skyscrapers, or earthquakes and tsunamis? Why, with poetry, of course.

Since the Japan earthquake I have come across several poems that talked about this natural disaster — each in a different way.

The first one I saw was by L. L. Barkat. She couldn't bear to tell her daughters (11 and 13) about the earthquake and waited for a few days. Then, fearful that they would hear it from someone else she decided to take Emily Dickinson's advice and tell it slant. She wrote "The News, March 2011" which begins:

I found a button,
mother of pearl
It was sitting like the last star
in a mangled universe...

Read all of "The News, March 2011."

Glynn Young in "Cherry Blossoms" found hope in "the story of one Japanese mother, who was running with her daughter to escape the tsunami when the force of the water tore her child from her grasp. The mother survived; her hope is that her child did as well and is being sheltered."

Maureen Doallas described her poem "The Roster" as writing that "conflates some of the details found in news accounts..."

It reminded me of photographs I had viewed the day before I read it, on Boston.com's news photoblog The Big Picture,* where the juxtaposition of confused, sad, terrorized, weeping people with wrecked-by-water ordinary things in the wrong places brought the immensity of the tragedy home to me.

Each poem is beautiful, poignant and healing in its own way, illustrating the power of words to help us process such an unthinkable event where the subject could just as easily have been you or me.

*Some of the photo sets of Japan on The Big Picture

March 11 - Massive earthquake hits Japan

March 14 - Japan: Vast Devastation

March 15 - Japan: New fears as the tragedy deepens

Book Review: A Path to Publishing by Ed Cyzewski

2011-03-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Title: A Path to Publishing: What I Learned by Publishing a Nonfiction Book

Author: Ed Cyzewski

Publisher: CreateSpace, paperback, 186 pages, April 2010

ISBN-10: 1451580584

ISBN-13: 978-1451580587

If you’ve been going from author blogs to agent blogs, from publisher sites to editor articles, from archives to comments trying to figure out what you need to do to get a non-fiction book published, your quest is over. Ed Cyzewski has put it all together in one useful volume. In A Path to Publishing he guides readers from choosing a book idea to marketing the finished product. Along the way he discusses today’s hot issues like building a network, crafting the proposal, working with editors, publishing options, and more.

The book includes lots of instruction on how to use the internet and social media (blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc.) to build a platform and market a book. It also explains traditional marketing methods (press releases, radio interviews, bookstore signings etc.).

Cyzewski’s suggestions are fortified with case studies including his experience with writing, publishing, and marketing his book Coffeehouse Theology (NavPress, 2008). Cyzewski ends each chapter with “Action Steps” that suggest things the reader can do to begin to implement what was just read.

The book is practical, well-organized, and easy to read. It comes highly recommended with endorsements from a variety of editors, agents and publishers.

However, it had one disappointment for me. God is nowhere to be found in the process. In fact, I was surprised that someone with expertise in theology would advise the reader to “Pray for luck….You can’t underestimate the importance of timing and luck in the writing business” (pp. 24-25).

So don’t look to this book for a spiritual perspective on your book-publishing endeavour. But do read it for timely, realistic guidance on how to take the non-fiction book in your imagination or on your hard drive from dream to reality.

Preview the book.

Order from the book’s website

or from Amazon.com

Ed Cyzewski’s website/author blog
Ed Cyzewski’s theology blog

© 2011 by Violet Nesdoly

(This review was first published in the February 2011 issue of FellowScript. The book was provided as a gift by the author for the purpose of writing a review.)

"Thoughts from a Decaying Planet" - a critique

2011-03-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

Today is critique day on One Stop Poetry.com. Pete Marshall has posted "Thoughts from a Decaying Planet" and asks for reader response.

Here, for starters, is the poem as it was posted.

Thoughts From A Decaying Age
by Pete Marshall

Let life live on a desolate shore 
untouched by man and free of law 
where all who live are but creature & flower
on a paradise island these dreams are our 
fantasies that wont come true 
for Man destroys anything who 
stands in his way to accomplish a dream 
with Science, War, Religion & we 
who all just sit back and watch
do not try to stop as the world destructs.

Let their blood flow on through the valley
covering the land raped by the tyranny 
scorching the Earth so dry & disfigured
where once stood trees & flowers & people. 
hard to believe there once was life here 
this barren land savaged by the years 
but no river runs cold when you fight for existence
to live & breathe & laugh is resistance.

********

Here are my thoughts:

The title is vivid and sets the tone for this essentially pessimistic poem about the state of the earth. It does end on an optimistic and welcome note of empowerment.

You're tackling a big subject here. I'm struggling somewhat with your generalization that science, war and religion are the root of the planet's problems. However, you've taken a passionate poetic stand, and your poem will certainly get people thinking.

Technically, I find the use of the ampersands distracting. I am also not fond of the inconsistent end rhymes. But I like the last two lines rhyming. It gives your conclusion a nail-down or punch line effect.

I'm going to make a few more comments within the poem.

Thoughts From A Decaying Age 
by Pete Marshall

Let life live on a desolate (is "desolate" the right word? It has a negative connotation which you may not want here. You could use sheltered, remote, secluded, faraway, far-flung) shore
untouched by man and free of law
where all who live are but creature & flower
on a paradise island these dreams are our 
fantasies that wont (won't) come true 
for Man destroys anything who (suggest "anything which" or "anyone who") 
stands in his way to accomplish a dream 
with Science, War, Religion & we
who all just sit back and watch 
do not try to stop (stop what or who?) as the world destructs.

Let their blood (whose blood - those who sit inactive watching the world destruct, or those who are destroyed, or ...?) flow on through the valley
covering the land raped by the tyranny 
scorching the Earth so dry & disfigured
where once stood trees & flowers & people.
hard (You've begun other sentences with a capital; is this small case 'h' intentional or a typo?) to believe there once was life here 
this barren land savaged by the years (interesting that you are introducing another element here - are you saying that the desolation here is also the result of the wear and tear of time? If so, man wouldn't be to blame for that. Or are you saying that the "savaged...years" are an accumulation of years' worth of tyranny?) 
but no river runs cold when you fight for existence
to live & breathe & laugh is resistance. (I really like your last line. Though you haven't solved the problems of the world for it, you've come to a place of lighthearted passive resistance re its problems for yourself.)

For other critiques of this poem, check out the list at the bottom of this post.

Advice for readings

2011-03-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

Though the advice is for students reciting the poems of others, the judges speaking on this National Endowment for the Arts (U.S.) video give reading/presentation hints that are useful for all poetry readers and reciters.

Watch this video to improve your next poetry reading!

Ten ways to court inspiration

2011-03-08T14:54:00.000-08:00

I have, since 2005, written a quarterly poetry column (called "Line Upon Line" — same name as this blog) for FellowScript — the newsletter for members of Inscribe Christian Writers Fellowship. Then for almost two years (August '08 - June '10) I wrote the monthly "Poets Classroom" for Utmost Christian Writers.

I've decided to dust off some of these once-published pieces, and republish them here on my Line Upon Line blog. They will be a bit longer than my usual blog posts. But hopefully they'll help us all get on with the delightful avocation of writing more, and better, poems.

Let's begin with my first Line Upon Line column from November 2005 — "Courting Inspiration." It's a piece about how to find inspiration on your own, instead of waiting for it to sweep you off your feet.

Courting Inspiration

Interviewer: How long do you carry the “seed” of a poem before you begin to write?

Poet: The process begins with a moment of strong imaginative excitement and out of this ideas flow one upon another – often in complete verses until the inspiration passes. I rarely plan ahead. The least effective of my work (in my view) are those that are consciously and carefully developed; they easily become wooden and predictable.

I read poet Richard Hayes’ response to Nathan Harms’ online interview a few years ago and felt empathy – and disappointment. As a fledgling poet, I too had experienced the “moment of strong imaginative excitement” he described. It was a good feeling. Pity it visited me so seldom.

Was it true, as this fine poet implied, that writing effective poetry depended on the rare occasions inspiration decided to drop in? If that were so I’d probably write only a few dozen poems in my whole life. But I wanted to write more.

I determined that day I would try to prove it needn’t be so. In the intervening time I’ve discovered that, indeed, I do not need to wait for inspiration to show up before I start a poetry-writing session. Instead, writing poems has become a regular part of my life. Here are ten ways I’ve found to court inspiration and come up with poems on even the most unpromising of days.

1. Show up
Like any other kind of writing, to write poems you have to go to your desk, or your window chair, or your hot bath, or wherever you go to write. Poet Mary Oliver describes it this way in her book, A Poetry Handbook:

If Romeo and Juliet had made appointments to meet, in the moonlight-swept orchard, in all the peril and sweetness of conspiracy, and then more often than not failed to meet – one or the other lagging, or afraid, or busy elsewhere – there would have been no romance, no passion, none of the drama for which we remember and celebrate them.

Writing a poem is not so different – it is a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart... and the learned skills of the conscious mind....

The part of the psyche that works in concert with consciousness and supplies a necessary part of the poem ... learns quickly what sort of courtship it is going to be. Say you promise to be at your desk in the evening, from seven to nine. It waits, it watches. If you are reliably there, it begins to show itself – soon it begins to arrive when you do. But if you are only there sometimes, and are frequently late or inattentive, it will appear fleetingly, or it will not appear at all. (1)

So, you’ve showed up. Now what? Here are some things you can try, to get yourself primed and writing.

2. Read a little poetry to get into a poetic space.
On any given day, whom you read will depend on what kind of poem you’d like to write. Ken Nesbitt writes silly kids’ poems. Jane Kenyon’s poetry is thoughtful. Nathan Harms and David Waltner Toews use great metaphors. Have poetry books handy and poetry web sites bookmarked so you can nibble on favorite poems to get those creative juices primed for the writing main course.

3. Use poetry prompts.
Prompts may get you to think about things in ways you wouldn’t on your own. There are a multitude of these online and in books. Creating Poetry by John Drury is good. Poets Online is a favorite web site for prompts but you can find many more by typing ‘poetry prompts’ into the search line at www.google.com.

4. Start writing with lists, clustering and free writes.

Lists. List all the ideas that occur to you from the prompt you’ve chosen. Or simply generate a list from any word or idea – a color, an emotion, a memory.

Cluster. Begin a cluster by writing a word or phrase in the center of a sheet of paper and circling it. As an idea comes to you about that word, write that idea, put a circle around it and join the circles. Spend a few minutes noting all your ideas. In the process, what surfaces may surprise you, and hopefully what you want to say will become clear. The queen of clustering, Gabriele Rico, explains the method in her book Writing the Natural Way, and on her web site.

Free write. Free writing is writing continuously for a set amount of time, say ten minutes. In her book Ms. Rico suggests free writing on the subject you’ve just clustered. Free writing works best if you keep the words flowing, so if you momentarily run out of things to say, simply write the same word over and over until the next idea comes to you. Poems can be developed out of free writing by isolating ideas and refining lines from them.

5. Take a course.
There’s nothing like a little accountability to scare inspiration out of hiding. The challenge of learning new skills isn’t a bad thing either. Determination to keep up with poetry writing assignments the winter I took a course showed me I could write poetry regularly and to a deadline.

6. Enter contests.
As a variation of writing poetry for course assignments, set yourself a goal to enter contests. These have deadlines and sometimes a theme and prescribed length. Inscribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship has a poetry category in their spring and fall contests, and Utmost Christian Writers sponsors several poetry contests every year. The deadline for their big annual contest just passed on March 1.

7. Join an on-line poetry memes, discussions or critique groups.
Reading and commenting on the work of others often sparks ideas and may well give you the desire to write new poems to have something to share. A site I've recently discovered that has lots of opportunity to post your own poems and read those of others is One Stop Poetry.

8. Find poems in your journal.
Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down the Bones says:

"Sometimes I discover poems in my notebook that I did not know I had written....As you reread, circle whole sections that are good in your notebooks. They can be used as beginning points for future writing or they might be complete poems right there. Try typing them up...(2)

9. Go in search of poems.
Visit likely and unlikely places – the beach, the mall, the playground – with a sponge-like attitude, and a notebook and pencil in hand. Note everything you see, hear, smell, feel, remember etc. Later use that raw material in a poem.

10. Write when inspiration does visit.
Recognize that times of stress, bereavement, emotional conflict, tragedy or blessing typically evoke strong emotions. Don’t waste these inspirational freebies. Write in the heat of the battle, through the sleepless night, in the warm afterglow of love.

And there you have it – ten ways to make inspiration your servant, not your master. Or, said another way:

I’ve waited too long

for Inspiration to catch my eye

wink, grab me by the arm

lead me into a poem.

The dynamics in this relationship

will change.

Now it’s my turn

to flirt, beckon

woo, pursue.

© 2005 by V. Nesdoly

***************

Endnotes:

(1) Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook. (Harcourt, Brace & Co., Orlando Fl. 1994) 7,8.

(2) Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones (Shambhala, 1986 ) chapter “Rereading and Rewriting”

Public speaking

2011-03-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

I don't do much public speaking but have been asked to give a half-hour presentation at our church's next women's encounter in early April. Because I was once a classroom teacher, standing in front of an audience doesn't scare me witless, but neither am I comfortable with talking to people in this formal sort of way. (I tend to over plan and then find myself note-bound.)

Thus when I saw the list of public speaking hints Michael Hyatt's speaking coach gave him after a recent presentation of his (he posted about it on his blog), I perked up and bookmarked it.

The five points his coach gave him are:

1. State the benefit clearly.
2. Cut down a long introduction.
3. Use lots of personal stories.
4. Engage the audience.
5. Craft the ending carefully.

Read the entire article: "Notes from my Speech Coach."

Poems that strike a chord

2011-02-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

I have, in the last few weeks, stumbled across another community of poets. I found them through paying attention to a blog network (The High Calling.org) on which, some months ago, I listed a devotional blog I write.

Last week on the blog of L. L. Barkat (HighCalling.org's editor and an accomplished poet in her own right) I saw the book trailer of Neruda's Memoirs. It was irresistible bait for a debut collection of poems by Maureen Doallas (whose name I had started noticing in comments on various HC blogs).

I bought the book — in a Kindle version.

The book is divided into four sections: Enter, Listen, Exit and Remember. Doallas introduces each section with a short essay. Here's a little of what she says to preface the "Listen" poems:

"I could acknowledge that I was a writer. I made my living by my writing and my editorial skills. I relinquished the notion that I could be a poet.

Until one late November afternoon in 2007, when my brother, just two years older than I, called to tell me he had cancer and was given a timeline of weeks. I was a thousand miles away. I wanted to make matter what I wanted to say, and I wanted to hear what he had never said before" - Kindle Location 598.

And so she began writing — and it came out in poetry. As she puts it:

"...poem after poem I shared with an online cancer support group...Sharing the words that illuminated my experience became the group's experience too. The words came to be more than good enough. I learned how my voice could speak for more than me alone..." - KL 605

I understand the connection between death and needing to write. I experienced that in 2006 when, within a matter of three months, both my mother-in-law and my mom died.

The brother thing resonated too. Just this July we were told my brother with cancer had weeks to live. He proved the doctors wrong, for he had months. But his January 25, 2011 death still feels raw.

And so it is not surprising that Doallas's poems like "Nothing is Ever the Same" speak for me. They feel like my own words:

"...Nothing is ever the same
or could be the same

After you left

After you left
dust on your collections
hats, books, scraps,
of half-thought dreams unbound —

Piled on

As time piled on
to keep me busy unforgetting

The nothing that is never the same
when your name no longer gets called."
(KL: 1625)

- Thank you, Maureen!

Let me close with some more lines from the book that strike a chord:

"Neruda said the closest thing to poetry
is a loaf of bread
or a ceramic dish
or a piece of wood lovingly carved."
(KL: 1489)

Percolation and taking breaks (Beyond the Words - 4)

2011-02-15T05:00:00.000-08:00

Continuing on in the series from the book Beyond the Words by Bonni Goldberg, Chapter 4 is "Don't Write Every Day." Some interesting quotes from that chapter:

"Self-care is abut balance....a fair amount of people's unhappiness or dissatisfaction with their writing life develops from imbalances." p. 31

"Not writing allows time for percolation to take place, gives your creativity time to replenish, and gives you the distance from your writing to gain perspective on it." p. 32.

Goldberg suggests people rest each of the five sense by doing something special for each one. Examples
- float around in a swimming pool (touch)
- eating a cheese-and-cracker snack using a different mustard for each one (taste).
- inhaling the scent of tea while you drink it — etc.

"Another type of rest from daily writing is simply doing the other work you normally do: gardening, parenting, programming, plumbing.." p. 33

"Writing is supposed to give you pleasure. That doesn't preclude its being hard work or temporarily frustrating, or tapping into a reservoir of difficult emotions and memories.... because of the challenges or writing, at some level you want to feel connected to a sense of excitement, anticipation, urgency, wonder, gratitude, reverence, or downright playfulness and genuine joy as you go along. If you don't, you probably need to walk away from putting words down on paper or screen for a while...just long enough to reestablish your connection to the spirit of writing.." p. 35.

My thoughts:

Percolation that happens with time away from writing reminds me of water that comes up to fill a hole you've dug at the beach. There really is a mysterious and magical quality about it.

On the other hand, I have found my banner quote by Madeline L'Engle: "Inspiration usually comes during work rather than before it," to be true more often than not. Ideas and resolution come as I work. The juices start flowing as words hit the page. Writing is part of my process of figuring out what I think. Sometimes, in fact often, I feel much better after I've just done it, rather than giving in to my negative self-messages that I'm too tired or uninspired.

Of course a regular one-in-seven day of rest (sabbath) is a Bible principle that is not some arbitrary rule that God thought up, but there to help us function in the way we're designed to work best. I'm sure rest helps to clear those clogged channels so that ideas can again bubble into consciousness.

Congrats!

2011-02-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

I was so pleased to find out yesterday that one of my poetry buddies (four of us meet about six times a year to share and critique each other's poems in a group we call Volta) won first prize in the 2010 Surrey International Writers' Conference Writing Contest - Poetry division.

Congratulations Del!! You and your poem "The Going" -- Wow!

poetic opportunities...

2011-02-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

to make yourself vulnerable:

Contests and submissions will do that.

2011 Utmost Christian Writers Poetry Contest

The prizes are cash and substantial as always.
Rules and entry form
Entries must be postmarked by February 28.

Time of Singing Summer Cinquain Contest

Use the cinquain form and a summer theme.
Details here
Deadline May 15, 2011.

Poet Diane Lockward is guest-editing Adanna, a new print poetry journal celebrating womanhood and reflecting women's issues.

The call for submissions is here.

Lockward's Blogalicious site also has a very handy list of print journals that accept online submissions. Check it out here.

A corner of the poetisphere

2011-02-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Lots of sites with original poetry flourish on the web. Today I'm going to introduce you to three of my favourites:

Amy at The Poem Farm writes poems for kids. This week, for example, she is writing about socks, challenging herself to write about them in several ways. I'll bet the kid in you would be very happy if you clicked on over to The Poem Farm.

Mimi's Golightly Cafe features the poetry of Sharon Auberle. I was introduced to her poetry through Your Daily Poem. The black background of her blog sets off the stunning art with which she illustrates her poems. There are feasts for the soul and the eyes at Mimi's Golightly Cafe.

Finally, I'm so pleased that my friend Charlie has opened a new blog and is sharing his poems again. He also illustrates his writing with artwork - beautiful pen and ink drawings of natural features in northwest British Columbia. Enjoy Rainforest Soul!

In danger of dumbing down?

2011-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

"Fear of the world produces crystals in writing. One seeks the faultless, crystallized phrases, perfection, the hard polish of the gems, and then finds that people prefer the sloppy writers, the inchoate, the untidy, the unfocused ones because it is more human. To jewels, they prefer human imperfections, moisture of perspiration, bad smells, stutterings, and all the time I keep this for the diary and give the world only jewels."

- That’s from the journals of Anaïs Nin, Volume II, page 52, at the end of July 1935.

Hat Tip: A. Chee

Percolation and reading (Beyond the Words - 3)

2011-01-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

I've been collecting some ideas from Bonni Goldberg's book Beyond the Words about percolating — all the stuff we do to prepare for writing, as well as the in-between-draft to final draft thinking and working through of our ideas.

Here are some quotes from Chapter 3 on reading and the part it plays in the percolation process:

"Reading... is a time-honoured means of immersing yourself in the receptive state that percolating is all about." - p. 27.

"Learning from the writings of others is a legitimate and necessary form of mentorship." - p. 28.

"Often what ignites our urge to write in the first place is what we read. Many people begin to write because they've been inspired by someone else's writing." p. 28.

*********

My thoughts:

As I see it, there are two kinds of reading. There is reading for fact and mental inspiration. And there is reading for style and creative inspiration.

When I am reading as a non-fiction writer I most often read in the first way — to gather information and facts or to absorb a viewpoint or way of thinking about a problem. When I read for this, I usually need to take notes.

When I read as a creative writer (of poetry or fiction) I am more interested in the author's style, voice, and word usage. This is the kind of reading that ignites my urge to write. It's hard to take notes for this kind of reading. I do tend to mark up the text though, which is a nice thing about e-readers — at least my Kindle. For I can easily highlight parts and when I want to get back to them, they're all in a tidy list which I can even email to myself.

I would say one more thing about reading, especially as it relates to my devotional writing. More times than I can count, I have read something one day and a few days later used an idea or a quote from it in the meditation which I am writing. I feel sometimes like I'm a channel through which God is pouring inspiration, and reading is crucial in this.

I'd love to hear how reading contributes to your writing process.

Other posts in this series.

Digital poetry

2011-01-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

Sydney's Siberia - Mosaic Poetry

Is it the future of poetry on the web. Jason Nelson of Australia thinks so.

I first heard of Jason Nelson's digital poetry projects through Maureen's article "Wednesday Wonder: Poetry Goes Geek "(via the High Calling Blogs December newsletter).

Here's how Jason describes his projects:

"In the simplest terms Digital Poems are born from the combination of technology and poetry, with writers using all multi-media elements as critical texts. Sounds, images, movement, video, interface/interactivity and words are combined to create new poetic forms and experiences. And when a piece like “game, game…” attracts millions of readers while a “successful” print poem might attract a hundred, I think the digital truly is the future of poetry. …..

Heliozoa.com is designed as a stable of sorts, for the these poetic digital horses to sleep. Readers can play within the possibilities of the electronic poem, to inspire and frighten, to allure and repel. An introduction to what poetry has become, and the imaginary lands I build to keep them in hay and away from the rain."

Here, have a look yourself.

I spent a good (really it was bad) 20 minutes playing "game game" - a project the Wall Street Journal dubbed "as alienating as art can get" (hint: the instructions of how to move reveal when you click on the top right where it says "instructions").

As per Maureen's article, there are many other types of poems such as:

Mosaics
Cubes
Videographs
Combination various
Slot machine
Deep Menu
Circular
Speech to text
3D Depth
Mouse Followers

I'm thinking playing this kind of poetry could be addictive. But it feels somewhat nihilistic. Interesting but...

Percolate (Beyond the Words - 2)

2011-01-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

Percolate. The word raises memories of our stove top coffee percolator with its transparent glass knob that gave us a glimpse of the action within. I loved the rhythmic chunk...chunk... sound of coffee bubbling into that knob, and the fabulous smell that told us mom would soon call us to Sunday lunch of zwieback, cheese, jam, peanut butter, pickles and matrimonial cake. Percolated coffee was a treat, pretty much reserved for company or Sunday Faspah* (the rest of the time we drank instant).

Which is why Bonni Goldberg's choice of the word "percolate" for one of the activities we writers engage in seems entirely fitting. For It holds within it for writing, as for coffee, the promise of good things to come.

Goldberg talks about percolation in Chapter 2 of Beyond the Words. Here's her definition:

"Percolation is the process writers go through before actually writing. It's a particular way of paying attention that begins the moment you're inspired. You continue to percolate as you spend time with your inspiration and allow it to develop. This includes everything you do that leads up to a first draft, the time between any two writing sessions, even the time during the breaks you take in a single writing session. Percolation tapers off as you solidify your first inklings in words, but it doesn't end until you're entirely finished with a piece" p. 15.

Here are some other things she says about percolation (the first quote within the quote is from Edna O'Brien):

"'Writing is like carrying a fetus.' Just as a fetus first grows amphibian-like gills and a tail before it takes its final human form, so a piece of writing first needs to develop into a pre-written state in the world of the psyche. Percolation is the incubation time, but there's no standard gestation period..." p. 17.

"The truth is, most writing ideas have been gathering momentum within us for a long time. They surface as inspiration when they grow urgent. In a sense, percolation is the period of time you give to your emotions, intellect, intuition, and imagination to recognize that your idea is now a priority" p. 18.

Here are some ways to percolate:

1. Consciously keep company with your idea by repeating it to yourself and noticing the effect...be aware of the range of emotions it brings out, or the character who is speaking.

2. Percolate about the opposite of your idea to see how it plays off the original.

3. Look for connections between your idea and people, places, and situations that are part of your life.

4. Notice how your idea suggests something to try in your life.

5. Take time to experience fully the curiosity, excitement and wonder about your idea. (Paraphrased from p. 16.)

Finally, here is my favourite percolation quote:

"Percolation isn't procrastination. We need the energy percolating supplies to our ideas. The psyche is at work. Our senses are attuned inward. We're feeding our idea" p. 20.

*************

My thoughts:

Isn't it good to know that we don't have to be parked in front of the computer to be working? No guilt that we're shopping or baking cookies — we're percolating!

We need to be patient not to force the process, to let percolation take its course so that we come up with the richest brew.

We also need to be prepared with notebook and pen because percolation happens anytime — when we're on a walk, driving, or standing in line at the store — and we need to be ready to write down those great ideas.

One thing I've done to start the percolation process is to give my brain an assignment. If I have a column due, for example, I'll think of some topic options and then tell my brain to get to work on them. It's surprising how that helps me choose which idea is best and put the elements into place in the finished piece.

*Faspah: a low German word for a light lunch, similar to an English tea.

Poetry chapbooks = poems +

2011-01-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas I discovered Blogalicious, the blog of poet Diane Lockward. What a delight!

In a recent post she talks back to an article by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) in which he describes his poetry-reading habits. They are to nibble at poetry when he has just a little time, read three or four poems from a collection and then he's had enough.

Her response:

"It seems, then, that Handler prefers to dip in and out of a single collection rather than take it in all at once. I think that's too bad. I think he's missing something."

She goes on tell us some of the things he might be missing because of all that a poet considers when putting together a collection of poems: what kind of collection this is, should it be divided into sections, how are they related to each other, is there a pattern, what is the connection from one poem to the next, and more. Her article ends with this bit of sage advice — to Daniel Handler and to us:

"Robert Frost said something to the effect that if a book has twenty-five poems in it, the collection itself must be the twenty-sixth. Please, Mr. Handler, find the twenty-sixth poem."

Altogether it's a great little piece about what - besides strong poems - goes into a poetry collection.

Read "The Twenty-Sixth Poem"

A writing life triumvirate (Beyond the Words - 1)

2011-01-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

It's a new year and I've been scanning the writing how-to books on my shelves for a shot of inspiration. I am drawn, as I have been at other times, to Beyond the Words: The Three Untapped Sources of Creative Fulfillment for Writers by Bonni Goldberg. I've read this book before and reread parts of it, so I know it's good. It's the one I'm choosing for these early days of 2011. I'm going to read it slowly and use the blog as a place to make notes and think out loud about what it says to me about my writing life.

I'd be delighted if you read along. Of course I'd love your input too: comments are always open.

Bonni's thesis is that there are three things that are often overlooked but end up being essential to a fulfilling writing life.

"1. Percolation — the process that takes place before a first draft takes shape
2. Revision — the writer's role after the initial draft.
3. Going Public — a writer's mission once the writing is done" p. 3.

She goes on to expand on why those things are important. Here are some bits that I've highlighted from Chapter 1:

"The reason to cultivate percolation, revision, and going public is really to support your relationship with your writing so that it's dynamic rather than frustrating or depleting" p. 6.

"When aspects of our Writing Self are out of alignment, our relationship to writing gets clogged up by our doubts, fears, frustrations, complaints, and confession. Until we develop our personal set of tools for restoring flow to the creative process, all these issues diminish not only our respect for our writing but our ability to do it" p. 8.

She talks about how these three things can help writers get unblocked and move onward in their work:

"We don't get stuck in our obstacles because we're stupid or clumsy or bad writers. We get stuck because our focus has narrowed. Having lost sight of the whole writing process, we neglect crucial aspects of it — percolation, revision and going public. ....What I notice is that much of what people perceive as obstacles and stoppages is due to being out of alignment with either the percolation, rewriting, or the public aspects of their Writing Self. If you give too much or not enough energy to one or more of them, then the flow of the writing process is disturbed and a blockage occurs.

....Every time I experience the onset of a blockage, if I look at my relationship with percolation, rewriting and going public, I usually find one of them is out of sync, causing my Writing Self grief" p. 8-9.

My thoughts:

I probably need to be more aware of these three aspects of my writing life. If they're equally important, as Bonni suggests, then they're like three legs of a stool which will totter and fall if one or more legs isn't there or strong. When I'm feeling blocked or blah writing-wise, one of the things I'm going to start looking for is imbalance in these three.

I wonder how the internet has impacted this trio. For example, it's easy to get hooked on the adrenaline spikes of internet immediacy — comments, blog traffic stats, facebooking, twitter are all so stimulating I, at least, have to be very strict in limiting myself with these things for my mind to settle into a relaxed and receptive percolate mode.

Going public is now easy — too easy? Do I do it as thoughtfully and deliberately as I used to? Does it carry the same weight as it did before online life, when in order to go public I had to actually tuck something into an envelope and send it off with a stamp?

I'll be blogging more quotes and thoughts from this book in the days ahead.

Book covers - do they matter?

2011-01-05T16:48:00.000-08:00

In a writer's forum of which I am a member, our discussion moderator recently posed the question, "How crucial is the cover of a book to you?"

Brian Austin worked in a Christian book store (Hanover Bible Book Music & Video Store in Hanover, Ont) for twelve years as a "Frontliner." That means he dealt directly with customers and processed sales, along with other chores around the store (he retired in 2009). His response to the question about covers was so insightful, I asked his permission to quote what he said. Here's the lowdown about covers from a bookstore "Frontliner":

"Covers make an incredible difference. Twelve years in a Bible Book Store showed me mediocre books with great covers outselling great books with mediocre covers almost without exception. Enough publicity could tip the balance the other way. An attractive cover gets the book picked up. Then the back cover copy becomes critical. But you have to get it picked up first.

Something else to be aware of in any bookstore: Many of their titles will be spine out, so that may be all you get to catch people's attention except during special promotions. Unless your are one of the few universally known authors, your title has to grab attention. If you are fortunate enough to have your book displayed face out, be aware that many face-out shelves stagger books, with the bottom 1/3 covered by the title below it. I see many very attractive book covers designed by professionals with all the critical information in that bottom 1/3. In many stores in their premium display place, that critical information becomes invisible. Those can be stunning covers, but still fail in moving your book if the critical information is hidden.

Good cover design is pretty time sensitive. Many excellent book covers from 10 years ago look old today on our church library shelves. If you can find something that captures some key element of your story, but that won't become dated (good luck) you will have something extra going for you.

Be aware also of an aging population. I personally like the appearance of many of the fancy fonts and of some colours of text. But more and more often I give up on a book before completing the back cover, even when the appearance pleases me, because it's too difficult for me to read. I don't think I'm the only one getting older.

Can I also point out a couple other factors? If your book finds its way to a library shelf, the spine label will most likely be about one inch from the bottom of the book, in most cases covering part or all of the author's name. You should be dreaming of having your book on library shelves, so think about how the spine-label is gong to look on it. The date-due stamp and barcode will usually be on the right-hand leaf when you flip the cover open or on the inside back cover. Many books use that right-hand leaf to place "what readers are saying about this book." As a librarian, I value those tributes, but I cover them with the date-due slip if that's where they come. It is a higher priority to be able to quickly process a sign-out than to preserve what others have said about the book.

One cover design bothered me--until after I had read the book. Then it made perfect sense. "Red Letters: Living a Faith that Bleeds" by Tom Davis is a cover design that made me very hesitant to pick up the book, yet the book itself is outstanding and the cover fits it exceptionally well. Does it help market the book? I doubt it. You can see it on Amazon.ca and I highly recommend it." - Brian C. Austin

I'm wondering:

Does the cover of a book affect your book buying decision?

Which books, in your opinion, have effective covers?

Which covers turn you off?

A foot test - and a template

2010-12-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

This light way to review poetic feet whilst making poems comes via the Poetry Foundation on Twitter.

Jincy Willett › The Agony of the Feet: A Refined Way to Waste Time

...a nice post-Christmas activity, don't you think?

11 Best Articles of the Year

2010-12-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

As per Writer's Digest, via Kristi Holl at Writer's First Aid

Writers First Aid » 11 Best Articles of the Year

"Caring" poems up at Poets Online

2010-12-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

Poets Online now has the poems for its latest prompt "Caring" online. This was an interesting prompt and, judging from the number of poems posted, struck a responsive chord. Almost everyone can relate to caring for or watching someone else care for the old, sick or dying.

After you've read the prompt and the poems written in response to it, consider writing a poem for the newest prompt — to involve the winter solstice and the moon (with no cliches allowed!).

Sunday, January 9, 2011 is the last day you can submit poems to have them considered for publication.

Unlikely poet

2010-12-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

Not only can Roberto Luongo stop pucks
but he'd best stick with that to keep making the bucks!

Actually, his rhymes are fun and clever, in a hockey kind of way. Enjoy.

Surprise in the mail...

2010-12-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's mail drop brought with it a surprise -- Good Times accepted and published another poem!

Read it here: 2010 News « violetnesdoly.com

Included in the package with my contributor's copies of the magazine was a back-issue of Fiddlehead. Thanks Good Times!

Living More with Less: An Idea Whose Time Has Come Again

2010-11-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

What do you know - Living More With Less, a little book with lots of simple Mennonite advice, has come out in a new edition.

So I dug out my 1980 edition. It's a book of grassroots ideas on how to live simply (a bazillion with the contributor and hometown noted). It's interesting reading if you have the patience to wade through over-the-top suggestions like:

We switched from our automatic washer and dryer to a wringer washer, laundry tubs, and clothesline. I do six loads of wash once a week in an hour and a half with one washer full of hot water. I rinse in cold water." p. 152.

Um... no thanks on that one. But, as the article says, the book should do well with the modern emphasis on living simply and interest in things Amish and Mennonite.

A call to poets on Remembrance Day

2010-11-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

Here's your poetry prompt for the day, Canadian poets!

The Province is calling on all readers and budding poets, slam or otherwise, to share their words here on Remembrance Day, as Harbord Harbord did many years ago...

Read: A call to arms for B.C. poets on Remembrance Day:

New poetry stuff

2010-11-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

I've just from come poking around on one of my favourite poetry sites, Utmost Christian Writers.

You'll want to read Sue Plett's latest article in the Poet's Classroom Series: "Add to the Beauty." (Also check out the Poet's Classroom index to see if you've missed any others of these helpful instructional articles.)

At Utmost I also found a link to the YouTube of Marianne Jones, reading from Here, on the Ground. I've embedded it below... enjoy!

Poetry podcasts

2010-10-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

The English Department of St. Columba's College, Whitechurch, Dublin, Ireland is putting together a series called Patterns of Poetry - mini-lectures useful for poets - as short podcasts about elements of poetry. The first eight have been combined into one of almost 35 minutes (though they are under 5 minutes each).

Topics:
- Introduction
- Titles
- Alliteration
- Personification
- Symbols
- Onomatopoeia
- Cliche
- Simile

SCC ENGLISH: First 8 Patterns of Poetry talks

Find them by-the-each here: www.sccenglish.ie

Review of: Here, on the Ground by Marianne Jones

2010-10-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Title: Here, on the Ground
Author: Marianne Jones
Publisher: Friesen Press, May 2010
ISBN-10: 1770670319
ISBN-13: 978-1770670310

If you are aware of the tension between what is and what could be, the contrast between the real and the ideal, the distance between earth and heaven, the poems in Here, on the Ground will resonate with you. This collection of 58 poems is Canadian award-winning poet Marianne Jones' second (her first book Highway 17 was published in 1997).

Through her poems Jones addresses a variety of subjects: relationships, women's issues, the allure of a simple life, personal pain and growth, Bible characters, writing, and what it feels like to live through a Canadian winter. I thoroughly enjoyed the variety. But no matter what the subject, Jones always manages to twist the knife of new awareness in some way.

Sometimes she does it through allusion. That is the effect of the word "alabaster" in these opening lines of "The Jar" that takes us back to the story of the woman who broke her jar of perfume to anoint Jesus:

"You split my heart open
that was calm and contained as alabaster..." — "The Jar" p. 32.

Sometimes she does it with images, as in this poem that speaks of leaving a toxic relationship:

"You were always uneasy about having me around anyway
like an old grenade in your house." — "grenade" p. 33.

At other times her intertwining of old and new captures our attention. A poem that's titled "sleep disorder" speaks of modern Christianity's lethargy in language that reminds us of the sleepy disciples in Gethsemane:

"We mean well;
it's our eyes that are heavy..." "sleep disorder" p. 41.

At still others she uses extended metaphor with a telling and humorous effect, as in the poem titled "Canadian Tire":

"At the temple of function over form
navy clad worshippers in sober boots and parkas
file through sliding jaws
of Entrance and Exit, leaving offerings..." — "Canadian Tire" p. 63.

Whatever the subject or device, we sense the tension between the ideal and the real. It comes out in her poems about the environment:

"One drop of beauty shames a library of tomes.
One loon's call speaks better things
than all their interviews" — "noise pollution" p. 6.

We hear it in the tone of voice as she speaks through the persona of a Bible character:

"before god walked away
and this long night began
i felt grass under my feet;
i saw sky blue and everlasting

i have almost forgotten how blue" — "job speaks" p. 25.

Most of all this dichotomy comes out in her poems about relationships. Of these a poem about forgiveness speaks with candid power:

"Forgiving is being forced to squeeze through a dark tunnel,
I panic, thinking I will stop breathing
or be unable to endure the knife cuts
But then I come to the openness and light at the end
and laugh, or weep for sheer relief..." — "upon opening my prison door" p. 36.

Of course there are fun poems in the collection as well. The section titled "red shoes" contains several whimsical poems that speak from the viewpoints of fairy tale characters. The book ends with a tongue-in-cheek section titled "How Canadians Survive Winter" (Jones, who lives in Thunder Bay Ontario, knows whereof she speaks).

Though some of Jones' poems touch on the subject of her Christian faith, they never confront the reader in a preachy way. Throughout we feel like we are in the company of someone idealistic, who, when she takes a close look at her inner self often finds she doesn't quite measure up. Her honesty helps us identify the issues she grapples with in ourselves, empathize with her disappointments, and celebrate her insights.

This is a rich and accessible collection that will reward readers in many ways.

...from the back cover

Read snippets from Google Books.

Article first published as Book review: Here, on the Ground by Marianne Jones on Blogcritics.

Typo fix - $160,000 later...

2010-10-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

Who says typos don't matter?!

CBC News - Books - Franzen's Freedom recalled in U.K. for fixes

Creativity fitness

2010-09-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start the fall off right with a bit of creativity fitness. In other words, I plan to simply get to work:

"Creativity is a bit like fitness training – the more you do it, the stronger, faster and fitter you get...

...Treat your writing like a job of work. A meaningful job, that can be enjoyable and even exciting. But just like any other job, it can be boring, frustrating and disappointing at times. Many writers in particular find that a regular daily routine is the best way to approach their work. See if it works for you...

…waiting for inspiration is a form of Resistance – the invisible, insidious force inside us that tries to make us avoid tackling the difficult challenges we set ourselves."

- Mark McGuinness at Lateral Action Blog: "What to do when you run out of inspiration."

Here's another interesting article on how writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days. (H/T: Lateral Action)

Greater Vancouver Writers' Day

2010-08-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

One week ago today I attended the Greater Vancouver Writers' Day, an initiative of The Word Guild along with Les and N.J. Lindquist. It was a profitable event which even brought with it a personal triumph (I managed to get to and from the venue in Vancouver from Langley using public transportation — gotta love Skytrain and the Translink website's trip planner!).

NJ ,relaxing with a cup of tea

after her presentation was done

NJ took the first half of the day. After we introduced ourselves around the circle of 17 she launched into an informative presentation covering all the basics for a Christian writer: Art, Craft, Ministry and Business. She managed to include something of interest to all attendees, from those who are still thinking about taking the plunge into writing, to multi-published authors.

Along with her informative lecture, she gave a wad of handouts. Just this afternoon I filled out her helpful "Action Plan" sheet with its main headings:
- My long-term goal: ___
- Intermediate steps I can take: ___
- I will write: when___; how___; where___.
- I will give myself ___ to work at becoming a writer.
- My first goal is to___
- My accountability partner will be: ___
- My support team will be: ____

One of the things she emphasized was the fact that publishing a book is not the best way to reach a lot of people. In Canada a book that sells 5000 copies is considered a best-seller. Compare that to many magazines which have circulations in the tens of thousands and papers like the monthly B.C. Christian News which has an estimated readership of 100,000. So if you want to be read widely, write magazine articles, newspaper features, even letters to the editor!

Her handout "Kinds of Writing" was eye-opening. Of course I've heard of most of these kinds of writing before, but to see them all listed on one sheet — there really are many possibilities! The good news is that many of them are a lot less stressful than completing a book manuscript, getting it published (one way or another), then doing all the marketing, promotion and selling. (Or course, your relatives and friends won't be as impressed as if you have a real live tome of yours to show them. Oh well...)

"Editing" is a Multifaceted Word" was another great handout. I'm going to use the list (Concept editing; Substantive editing; Fact-checking; Line editing also called Copy editing; and Proofreading) as a reminder the next time I have a big project in the editing stage.

After lunch of wraps, veggies, fruit and cookies, Les gave his presentation. His information on publishing and distribution was invaluable. I didn't know, for example, that distributors get a 60%, sellers a 40% discount on the cover price of the book. But it makes sense, because everyone needs to make a margin in order to stay in business.

Another tidbit I picked up is that the various book outlets (Chapters, vs. Christian stores, vs. Amazon, vs. Walmart) use different distributors. So having your book available through a variety of distributors is key to its distribution and in turn its success. Cross-border distribution is also tricky.

Les, enlightening us about the
somewhat dour state of the book industry.

Not surprisingly, the distribution part of the equation is more difficult for self-published authors, than for authors published through royalty publishers (who mainly take care of distribution through their established channels).

And then there are the returns. Les told us that in the Canadian book industry, 40% of the books shipped to the various retail outlets come back (which means that the monies these stores paid for the books must be returned to them). The publisher eats that cost... so guess who that is if the book is self-pub'd?

I came away from the day realizing, more than ever, that writing is a business as well as a ministry.The more I realize this, the better equipped I'll be to approach it realistically.

The artist as salesperson

2010-07-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

"A sturdy self esteem will do more for your financial success and artistic success than a college degree.

Learn to Sell – It’s an Art
Don’t buy a new guitar, don’t attend another writer’s workshop, and don’t buy another camera lens. You’re not failing as a business because your work isn’t good enough. You’re failing because you’re not selling it the right way to the right people.

You need to learn how to sell. Selling is an art and a necessary skill in life…for everyone. It’s as important as knowing how to balance a checkbook or fill your car with gas."

-- Carlos Velez in "The Artist as a Brand, a Company, a Salesman" | Conscious Me by Carlos Velez

Improve Your Writing Overnight With The Rule of 24 – Guaranteed | Copyblogger

2010-07-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

There is good, true advice in the little piece below. Whenever I've used it, my writing is better. (In fact, there's a book review sitting on my desk right now that I wrote yesterday. I purposely held back on posting it because I knew I'd want to make changes. I have about a dozen marked to make. I'm thinking maybe I should give it another 24!)

Improve Your Writing Overnight With The Rule of 24 – Guaranteed | Copyblogger

A winner... sort of

2010-07-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a little happy dance for the last few days, since I discovered that my poem "Trinkets" got a thumbs-up in the latest Canadian poetry contest at Utmost Christian Writers.

No, it didn't win, but it did in a way -- in that it was awarded one of two Judges' Favorite awards. I'm so pleased.

You can see the list of winners here. All winning poems are also linked there.

What's up in my writing world

2010-06-21T21:01:00.000-07:00

A reason to celebrate: Last Thursday I got the good news that an article of mine won The Word Guild Award in the Children/Young Adult Article category. (The list of results is here.)

And on Tuesday - tomorrow, June 22nd - I'll be part of our MSA Poets Potpourri Blue Moon Reading series. (Alvin Ens - the frequent prize-winning Abbotsford poet and I are the featured readers.) There will also an open mic. Anyone interested can come. It's at the:

Clearbrook Library

32320 George Ferguson Way, Abbotsford, BC

6:30-8:30 p.m.,

Admission is free

(They even wrote us up in the local Abby paper.)

R.I.P. poet coach

2010-06-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

John Wooden died last Friday, only four months short of being a centenarian. According to an article by Christianity Today, this "greatest coach who ever lived," wrote a love letter to his wife on the 21st of every month after she died on March 21, 1985.

"A teacher never knows what stays with those he or she is teaching. You do your best using the tools at your disposal. Poetry was one of my many tools," Wooden says in an article he just wrote for Poetry Magazine. Part of the article is excerpted here, the entire will be available on July 1st.

Is too picky possible?

2010-05-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

Conductor Michael Bohnert-Wheatley talks about pickiness in conducting an orchestra.

Being too picky? Not possible! | DSCH

Are these principles transferable to writing? Methinks pickiness and poetry-writing (as in editing, tweaking, moving a comma, a dash, a space) certainly go hand in hand.

furthering your aspirations

2010-05-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

... thanks to Lemon Hound (aka Sina Queyras) a Canadian poet who was recently voted co-Poet Laureate of the blogosphere.

Post online - are you con? pro?

2010-04-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

The last few days have seen a flurry of posts on whether or not to post writing online. There are cons - and pros:

con:

"Be (Slightly) Afraid of Posting Your Work Online" says Chuck Sambuchino on the Guide to Literary Agents Editor's blog.

Kristine Princevalle agrees. She advises:
"Posting Your Prose Online -- Don't!"

pro:

Jane Friedman (blogmeister at the Writer's Digest blog There Are No Rules) feels Chuck and Kristine are wrong. She says (at Writer Unboxed): "Stop Being Afraid of Posting Your Work Online."

And to give us another perspective on whether we need to be so protective of those "high concept ideas" Chuck Sambuchino says we should be guarding with our lives: Howard Taylor says, "Don't ask Me Where I Get My Ideas."

So what do you think? Do you post your writing online?

For Christian poets writing traditional rhyme

2010-04-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is the perfect contest for you if you enjoy writing traditional rhyming poetry on Christian themes.

Deadline is May 31st!

Christian Poetry Contest Rules

Poetry Contest Winners at Utmost

2010-04-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Winners of the annual Utmost Christian Writers Poetry Contest have been announced and the poems are posted. Find out who the winners are and read the winning poems at Poetry Contest Winners at Utmost Christian Writers.

And CONGRATULATIONS to all winners!!

5 things I love, 5 things I hate about the iPad | TechBlog | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

2010-04-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

Will you get an iPad when it comes out in Canada (late April is the prediction I heard this morning)? This short analysis may help you decide.

5 things I love, 5 things I hate about the iPad | TechBlog | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Personally, I'd love one for whenever I'm away from home. But reading books on a 1.5 lb. gizmo? Sounds heavy.

I'm really enjoying reading on my iPod touch, though. I downloaded a free app with 100 classic books which has a built in reader. It's not as smooth as the Kindle, but has worked through the whole of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Of course the (free) iPhone/iPod Kindle app provides a beautiful reading environment.

11 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month With The New York Times - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com

2010-04-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

Just in case you need more ideas...

11 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month With The New York Times - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com

Animating the inanimate

2010-03-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I've done one of Miss Rumphius Effect's weekly Poetry Stretches. (I often go and check them out - think, that sounds like fun, and then go about my merry way, not doing a thing about it). But April, poetry month, is coming, I'm again planning to do the Poem A Day challenge at Poetic Asides, and so I thought I'd better get my poetry-writing muscle back in shape.

The Miss Rumphius Effect Poetry Stretch for this week is (in brief): "Write a poem in which you animate an inanimate object."

Here's my poem - along with an illustration.

V is for …

Wide mouth perpetually agape
I lie here in the dark and wait
for drawer to open
your warm fingers, thumb
to take me up, align my four incisors
with the soft and toothsome zinc
then squeeze…

Oh ecstasy! The sweet surrender
of malleable metal to my mouth
More – I want more
fangs famished to have at the staples
of every paper in that drawer!

© 2010 by Violet Nesdoly

Re-inventing books

2010-03-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

First Look: How Penguin Will Reinvent Books With iPad | paidContent:UK

I think I want one of these!

Ten rules for writing fiction x a whole bunch of authors

2010-02-25T12:07:00.000-08:00

Ten rules for writing fiction by Elmore Leonard and a whole bunch of other authors:
Ten rules for writing fiction | Books | guardian.co.uk

Of course after reading that, you'll want to read "A reader's advice to writers."

Heads-up on these...

2010-02-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Our latest The Word Guild Bulletin contains links to a lot of fine resources.

Here are some poetry-publishing (and other genres too) opportunities:

The Geist Jackpine Sonnet Contest | GEIST Magazine | Canadian Literary Publishing Non-Fiction Poetry

The Prairie Fire 2010 Writing Contest (submission deadline November 30, 2010)

Bread 'n' Molasses magazine - Submission guidelines.

Cadet Quest for Boys Magazine - needs fiction and non-fiction.

Broken City - Submission Guidelines

Here are a few articles on craft.

An article on Writer's Digest site by Lin Enger called "Take Your Novel to the Finish Line" (do I need that for my NaNo project!)

Also FYI: a couple of rants about punctuation from Taddle Creed Mag

"The Period" - about no extra spaces after punctuation

"Apostrophes 'n' Quote Marks" about proper apostrophe use when it designates missing letters.

Good to know if you review historicals

2010-02-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

This great little article helped me understand a special type of historical novel - the Regency. Apparently there are two kinds, the Regency and the Regency Historical. I looked for info while reviewing Julie Klassen's The Silent Governess, which, according to Mary Jo Putney's definition, is a bona fide Regency:

"The Regency vs. the Regency Historical: A Regency Expert Explains the Difference.

D. W. Smith on Literary Agents

2010-02-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

Interesting piece putting the boot to the popular notion that as a writer you're doomed without an agent. If we're to take Mr. Smith at face value, we might be more doomed with one.

Dean Wesley Smith » Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Agents Know Markets

h/t: N. J. Lindquist

open-pore writing

2010-01-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

"...I do believe when you are in a continuous practice and drafting stage (I was scribbling on receipts, napkins, and my hand when I wasn’t in front of my desk), and your pores are just open and alive to the possibilities of language and wordplay all around us, then nine times out of ten, the writing does come out the way I want it to come out—a nice mix of deliberation, supposition, utter surprise, and a dash of hocus-pocus ‘Where-did-THAT-image-come-from?"’

- Aimee Nezhukumatathil

From the blog How A Poem Happens, in conversation with Aimee about her poem "Small Murders".

Before you query...

2010-01-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

Very helpful - and concise

Janet Reid, Literary Agent: What you need before you query

Start 2010 unblocked

2010-01-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

A blog which I've been reading lately is Lateral Action. Its author Mark McGuinness (poet and creativity coach) talks a lot about creativity. Right now he's running a series called "Break Through Your Creative Blocks."

In article one - "Creative Block #1 - I'm not creative" - he debunks a lot of the theories about creativity and settles on the simplest definition: "A creative person is a person who creates things." Then he lends readers a hand by giving them a four-step process for every project they start. They can:
1. Set a goal
2. Determine options: "What is the next action I can take, that I think is likely to get me a step nearer my goal?"
3. Actions - Do it.
4. Review - Ask, "Have I reached my goal?" If yes, congratulations. If not, recycle through steps 1-3.

In article two - "Creative Block #2 - Fear of getting it wrong" he speaks to people who have had creative success in the past and now feel blocked because they know their current efforts will never measure up to past successes. His RX:
1. Write with your body.
2. Stop worrying.
3. Start getting things wrong.
4. Stick two fingers up at the critics.
5. Get good feedback.
6. Grant yourself poetic license.

If you are feeling stuck, stodgy and non-creative, this series might just be a good one to follow. I'm not sure when the next installment will be posted. However, it is possible to subscribe by email or RSS feed so as not to miss a single one.

2010 road map

2010-01-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to believe we’re already into the second week of January!

I must admit I’ve begun this year in a semi-preoccupied state. I think that’s because I started writing a daily devotional blog in January and several hours each morning are taken up with that. It’s gone well so far, though I’ve missed my annual beginning of January stock-taking – the type of thing I do in morning hours when I’m now focused on other things.

Last week this post on agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog reminded me of my oversight. She references a piece on “How to Make New Year’s Resolutions Stick” by Michael Hyatt. It’s excellent and I’ll be praying over and working through that in the next little while. Hopefully I’ll get some destinations entered on my 2010 road map (both the personal and writing versions) before January 2010 is history.

What about you - do you feel the need to make resolutions or do some kind of past analysis, forward visioning at the beginning of the year?

Write short poems - enter contests!

2010-01-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

If one of your resolutions this January is to write more poetry, don’t let the task overwhelm you. Remember poems don’t have to be long!

My latest Poets Classroom article, “Shorter, Shortest” is a delve into some very short forms, the Clerihew (four lines), Haiku (three lines), Haiga (three lines) and Bantu (two lines). It follows the December article, “Short” which talks about three forms of five-line poetry: Tanka, Cinquain and Limerick.

And while you’re on the Utmost site, check out the annual Utmost Christian Poetry Contest. Contest-meister Nathan Harms tells us only a handful of poems have been received to date. This contest awards $3000 in cash prizes, so with less entries than usual this may be your year to cash in! Due date for entries is February 28, 2010.

It's almost 2010...

2009-12-31T16:42:00.000-08:00

The peace and quiet on this blog during December reflects my relationship with writing during this past month. I've basically taken a hiatus. But I'll be back - hopefully posting more regularly in 2010.

Right now I'm clearing the deck for January projects. I found out this morning that I won a free critique for my NaNo project from editor Andy Meisenheimer. He assures me I have till forever to collect on that, which is a good thing. Getting back to revision and rewrite that project is at the top of my to-do list for the new year. That certainly has to happen before alien (especially editor) eyes get a peek.

Yesterday I did a little introspective writing prompted by the excellent blog post "Seven Questions to Ask About Last Year" by Michael Hyatt. It's a good way to put the old year to bed.

If you're needing more to read, I'd recommend the "Best of Copyblogger 2009" post. Bookmark it and dip into it whenever you have a minute. (Copyblogger is so consistently worthwhile I've actually done something I rarely do and subscribed to the posts by email.)

I've launched another 2010 writing project too. It's a daily devotional blog. Other Food is a blog I opened years ago to write about faith matters. I posted regularly for a while, but then put it in mothballs. For the last while I've felt I'd like to document the things I'm learning every day in my quiet time. Whenever I go back to reread my quiet time journals, I get so blessed. And it's like God says to me - why don't you share the things I teach you?

I argued for a while. Because for me something like that - both the writing and the reading - needs to be a daily thing that you fit into a regular time slot so that it becomes a habit. Committing to writing a daily post is no small matter.

While I was struggling over this, I bumped into several instances of daily provision, one being the Israelites gathering their daily supply of manna during the wilderness wanderings. I had my answer.

And so tomorrow Other Food: daily devo's gets off the ground for 2010. It follows the daily readings suggested by the Canadian Bible Society. (I've feedburnered the feed. If you read and find you like it, you can get the posts delivered daily via email - just sign up using the form in the sidebar.)

Now I wish you a

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Thanks so much for reading.

Poetry anyone?

2009-12-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

On the advice of D. S. Martin (and moi) get yourself a copy of Barbara Colebrook Peace's Duet for Wings and Earth. Wonderful Christmas poems!! (see The Word Guild Blog for reviews).

I write a monthly Poet's Classroom column at Utmost. December's column, "Short" is on writing poems of five lines. (Covers tanka, cinquain and limericks). All P.C. columns are linked here.

I'm putting up a Christmas poem each Tuesday in Dec. on my poetry portfolio blog.

Am also doing a little happy dance today because my poem "Forest Usurper" won an Honorable Mention in Utmost's Canadian contest (topic prompter - a picture of a forest fire). The winning poems are all linked here (1st and 2nd place poems are so good - don't know how I squeaked into the winner's circle).

Happy poetry writing in December. Try your hand at two Twitter poetry contests.

What I learned from NaNoWriMo

2009-11-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

As you can see in the sidebar, I've completed the 50,000 word NaNoWriMo challenge - and even before the deadline of November 30th. The reason I got it done - and early - was that little nagging fearful voice that kept whispering, This is too hard. You won't really get to the end, or at least not on time. What you're writing is garbage and a huge waste of time....etc. Completing this project became more about conquering that bit of negative self-talk than anything.

This month I have learned:.

1. Actually writing a novel is a lot harder than it looks. It's easy to armchair quarterback someone else's tale. But when you're creating it yourself - whole different ball game (to extend the metaphor).

2. A fast way of writing a first draft. I normally write, edit, rewrite, edit. It's push-pull all the way. This time I wrote the first draft like I've read of others writing it - FAST. No looking back. No editing along the way. I was afraid that if I started reviewing yesterday's work, my editor would get all excited and eager and I'd get distracted with that - OR, I'd be so discouraged about the dreck I was writing I wouldn't finish the project. (I still haven't read what I wrote.)

3. About the various elements of a novel - characters, scenes, mini-scenes, dialogue, transition stuff. I tend to be one of those people who feels like I've conquered something after I've read about it (thus my collection of feel-good writing how-to). But following that advice when writing an actual story is as different from reading about it as walking across a stream on a slippery log is different from seeing it on film.

4. Writing a novel-length story can be full of surprises.

For example, I was surprised by how my plot took different directions than I thought it would. What I tried to do with each scene was turn the characters loose and see what they would do. Often they didn't end up where I had thought they would.

Also, some of the things that felt arbitrary when they first happened ended up advancing the plot later in ways I had never envisioned. It was really quite amazing.

Another surprise - how I composed best. Writing longhand, though I put up more words when I composed at the keyboard. For some reason keyboard composing felt like making something with gloves on.

5. My story is far from done. Even as I was writing, I realized I was leaving out so much that had seemed important during the imagination stage. Now I need to look back to see if some of those things have a place. This initial writing has been a way of simply pinning the thing down, or as Stephen King describes it, uncovering the fossil. I take comfort in the chorus of voices that reassures me the brilliance of a piece of fiction comes from the author's ability to rework that clumsy first draft into a readable story. In that department I have my work cut out for me!

6. NaNo is a great way to get at the bones of a first draft because:

You're not alone in this craziness. NaNo emails, your NaNo buddies and regional events (should you choose to participate) alleviate the solitariness of the task.

Those NaNo emails, in particular, are something else! As one of my buddies said, someone should invent such an encouragement service for writers all year long.

Have you ever committed to NaNoWriMo? What was your experience?

River of Words - Anthology - official launch

2009-11-17T15:50:00.000-08:00

THE MSA POETS POTPOURRI SOCIETY OF ABBOTSFORD

IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THEIR 2009 ANTHOLOGY River of Words.

This anthology showcases the talents of over twenty Valley writers including the winners of our River of Words Poetry Contest.

Bound in a spiral spine and wrapped with a cover that features a panoramic view of the Fraser Valley, this book is a delight from cover to cover.

We would like to extend an invitation to all of you to join us for this event.

Thursday November 26

7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

The Reach - Gallery and Museum,
32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford, BC

(on the same grounds as the Clearbrook Library).

Maps and more information at www.thereach.ca

The evening will include a reading time and refreshments.

The event will also support the Abbotsford Food Bank. Participants are asked to bring an item of nonperishable food. Please note that $2.00 from the sale of every book will be donated to the Abbotsford Food Bank!

NaNo update

2009-11-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

Just a little update on the last week. I've written. A lot. If you check the NaNo widget to the right, you'll see my word count is 16,110. My goal was to reach 16,000 before I quit for the weekend. Now the story gets a rest till Monday morning.

I'm learning so much!

I can write for long stretches at a time.

I don't work like I thought I would. I envisioned myself working for hours at the keyboard. However, I've discovered my best way of composing is longhand, with pencil. This is about the speed my brain works (I know, I'm slow). Then I read what I've written onto a minicassette tape and type it out as if it were dictation (good thing I kept my transcription tools) making wee changes along the way but of course never officially editing. I've sworn off that for the month!

(For your interest, check out this piece about the variety of ways 'real' writers work - sent to my by one of my NaNo buddies)

This story has been brewing inside me for years (I first had the idea and did some work on it in 2002). It feels very good to get it out of my head and onto a document - I was going to say 'paper' but I haven't even printed the thing out yet.

I'm celebrating the end my first week of NaNo with hubby, and friends. We're going to see and hear Adrian Plass and Glen Soderholm in the Story and Song Tour - Delta BC. Woot!

My NaNo adventure

2009-11-03T20:29:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted much about writing in the last few weeks - but I have been doing it! Maybe that's even better than writing about it.

Around mid-October I started to seriously consider registering for NaNoWriMo. That's short for National Novel Writing Month and it happens every November.

The NaNo movement started small a few years ago but has blossomed to thousands of writers getting on the NaNo bandwagon, each with the goal of writing 50,000 words of the first draft of a novel from Nov 1-30 (or at least that's what one must do to 'win').

I was persuaded to dive in by some of the things Chris Baty wrote on the NaNo web site. I was even happier I had registered when I got my welcome email on October 27th. In it Baty makes three main points:

1. It's okay to not know what you're doing.
2. Do not edit as you go.
3. Tell everyone you know that you're writing a novel in November (basically so it's impossible to quit without losing a lot of face).

I especially perked up at point number 2. Because editing as I go is my modus operandi. But it makes for painfully slow writing. Here is an expansion of the "Do not edit point:

"...Editing is for December. Think of November as an experiment in pure output. Even if it's hard at first, leave ugly prose and poorly written passages on the page to be cleaned up later. Your inner editor will be very grumpy about this, but your inner editor is a nitpicky jerk who foolishly believes that it is possible to write a brilliant first draft if you write it slowly enough. It isn't. Every book you've ever loved started out as a beautifully flawed first draft. In November, embrace imperfection and see where it takes you."

So, having sent my inner editor on a much-needed holiday, I've actually been free to write fairly quickly - for me. As of this afternoon, I've logged 6534 words of the aforesaid"beautifully flawed first draft." I'm simply not allowing myself to edit. Case closed.

I'm trying different ways of spinning this tale.

On Sunday I plunked it out at the keyboard.

On Monday I thought of using my old transcription tools and tried telling my story to my little Pearlcorder microcasette recorder and typing it from that (I have the playback machine with the foot pedal). That works fairly well if you can get into a smooth telling mode.

Today I tried writing in longhand with pencil, reading what I'd written back to the recorder and typing it as dictation. That may work the best, as my thoughts flow about longhand writing speed, and typing from dictation is a lot faster and easier on the neck than typing from copy.

My daily goal is 2000 words. If I reach that six days a week, I'll be able to take Sundays off, which is my intention (although I did write on the 1st).

If you're interested in checking on my progress, my NaNo profile page is here.

Book review: Leaving Yesterday by Kathryn Cushman

2009-10-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Title: Leaving Yesterday
Author: Kathryn Cushman
Publisher: Bethany House, October 1, 2009, paperback, 320 pages.
ISBN-10: 0764203827
ISBN-13: 978-0764203824

What business could a police officer have with her except to bear the bad news that her son Kurt has been found dead, Alisa Stewart wonders as Detective Thompson’s car turns into her driveway. But a few minutes later she is saddled with an even greater burden as she discovers her 21-year-old drug addicted son is wanted for questioning about a murder. When he calls home a few days later with the news that he’s been in rehab – and for a while – she reasons it couldn’t be him, could it?

In Leaving Home Kathryn Cushman combines what Alisa finds in a box of Kurt’s things with old frictions between Alisa and her estranged husband, the need to keep up appearances at her church and, above all, the determination that her son will have the new start he deserves to give us the tug-of-war tale of a mother’s love.

The story, told in first person by Alisa, has a rapidly thickening plot. Pressure on her to look good in her position of women’s ministry leader mounts even as her relationship with her husband Rick deteriorates and questions about Kurt multiply. She finds she can be most herself with her neighbor Lacey, a retired lawyer who is canny, pragmatic and a mistress of rationalization. Cushman takes Alisa and the whole family through some tough situations and decisions in a book that is hard to put down.

Character-wise I found myself with mixed feelings about Alisa. Though I sympathized with her as a mom and understood her mother bear impulses, there was something Barbie-dollish and plastic about her too. She came off as shallow in her role as wife and women’s pastor, and smug as a public speaker. My favorite character was her 10-year-old daughter Caroline who was completely believable with her bouncy ways and excitable, dramatic clinginess. Alisa’s husband Rick rang true as well – even though he was a bit of a downer. Jodi and Monte were recognizable and fun as aging hippies. I wasn’t sure what to make of Kurt. He was sweet and genuine on the surface but showed just enough deviousness to keep me wondering, through most of the book, just how genuine his reformation really was.

Cushman does a good job of bringing up some weighty themes even as she weaves this entertaining story. No mother will be able to read this book without asking herself if she would she go to the lengths Alisa did if she were in the same shoes. The story touches on other issues of parenting as well, like permissiveness, tough love and the possibility that parents drive their kids to self-destructive behaviors with dysfunctional parenting. Cushman introduces God the Father as the greatest example of a parent. The story also makes us think a lot about guilt.

For a hard-to-put-down read that will prompt you to take a thoughtful look at your role as a parent and as a child, Leaving Yesterday is a good choice.

Read the first chapter.

Reading Group Guide for this book.

(I received this book from Bethany House for the purpose of writing a review.)

Book review: Things Worth Remembering by Jackina Stark

2009-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Title: Things Worth Remembering
Author: Jackina Stark
Publisher: Bethany House, October 2009, paperback, 320 pages

ISBN-10: 0764207113
ISBN-13: 978-0764207112

Kendy Laswell can’t wait for her daughter Maisey and fiancé Marcus to get home this third Monday in July. It’s a mere six days till Maisey’s wedding and there must be a thousand things to do – though Masey hasn’t told her much.

But when the kids arrive, Maisey says she’s tired and goes straight to bed. Kendy hides her disappointment but inside asks, for the thousandth time, what is at the root of her daughter’s avoidance? The only thing she can think of is the months-long depression she suffered when Maisey was 13. Things have never been right between them since that dreadful summer nine years ago. Now, though, they still have the rest of the week to patch things up.

In Things Worth Remembering, Jackina Stark takes us through the week before Maisey’s wedding. Through the first-person voices of Kendy and Maisey we live those memorable six days, but much more, as incidents trigger memories. These, plus Maisey’s surprising outburst on Wednesday and a health crisis on Thursday work together to create a heart-wrenching story about mothers and daughters, marriage and marital unfaithfulness, family, love, and forgiveness.

In Kendy and Maisey, Stark has created two flawed but sympathetic main characters. The supporting cast of Luke (Kendy’s husband), Marcus, Jackie and others also feel real and convincing. Stark’s style of writing current happenings in present tense with the back story in past tense helps dispel any confusion about now and then. Her contemporary American setting feels absolutely believable and authentic.

The story is seen through the lens of a Christian worldview. Stark works the faith of her characters into the story seamlessly and in a way that feels organic to its plot and characters. To underline how integral faith is to the story, we find that even the title hearkens back to a discussion of it:

Luke (to Maisey): “’Children of dust, Maisey, children of dust. That’s not an insult to the human race; it’s just a fact. Making mistakes is unavoidable; we are the created not the Creator. But it is also a fact that God loves us despite our frailty. And it’s a fact that life is good when we choose love and forgiveness.’

I close my eyes against his words.

Dad puts his hands over mine and I dare to look at him.

‘These things are worth remembering, Maisey – they really are.’” 248-9

Being a daughter myself and the mother of a daughter (with whom I planned a wedding a few years ago) I related to Kendy at a gut level. Maisey’s rudeness to her mother and the way she shut her out of all her wedding plans and activities made me wish I could take Kendy aside and tell her she’d better stop acting so passive and make an effort to get to the bottom of their rift. Yet Kendy downplays her hurt to the extent that at times she seems almost stoic when one would expect her to be falling apart. However, this downplaying is probably safer than over emotionalizing, as Stark has created an emotional minefield of a situation, and the tone of Kendy’s telling could easily have degenerated into sentimentality and self-pity.

Altogether the book flew by far too fast for me. The way it explores the mother-daughter relationship and forgiveness would make it an excellent choice for individuals or reading groups. Discussion questions are here. Read an excerpt here.

(I received this book from Bethany House for the purpose of writing a review.)

November is coming!

2009-10-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

And what is there to get excited about in November, you ask.

It's the month of two ambitious writing challenges that, should you decide to accept them, will have you swimming in words.

November Chapbook Challenge at Poetic Asides:
Write one poem a day in November (Robert Brewer will post daily prompts), use December to preen those poems, then submit your best 10-20 pages - 1 poem/page - to Robert by January 2/2010 to enter the chapbook challenge.

NaNo WriMo (National Novel-writing month)
Write a short novel (50,000 words) during the month of November (quantity, not quality is the watchword here). Read all the details at the NaNo WriMo web site.

What is NaNo WriMo?

How does it work?

FAQs

Are you up for either - or both?

Does your poem pass the sound check?

2009-10-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Of all the things I find difficult about writing poetry, choosing words that flow over the tongue and sound musical may be my biggest challenge. It seems I naturally gravitate towards alliteration, ending up with all kinds of harsh and tongue-twisty bits. That's one of the reasons I chose to write about the sound of poetry in my latest Poet's Classroom column.

In researching the article, I found out lots of good stuff about the texture of words, onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme, repetition and more. Check out "The Sound of a Poem" here.

Top Ten Blogs for Writers

2009-10-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Want to add the best writing blogs to your reading list? Michael Stelzner of the Writing White Papers runs a yearly top blogs for writers competition. On September 22nd he announced the top ten writer blogs for 2008/2009. Here they are. (I can personally vouch for number 1. I follow Copyblogger on twitter and his articles are excellent.)

1. Copyblogger (Brian Clark)

2. Men with Pens (James Chartrand and Harry McLeod)

3. Freelance Writing Jobs (Deb Ng founder)

4. Write to Done (Leo Babauta)

5. Confident Writing (Joanna Young)

6. The Renegade Writer (Linda Formichelli and Diana Burell)

7. Remarkable Communication (Sonia Simone)

8. Writing Journey (Bob Younce)

9. Freelance Parent (Lorna Doone Brewer and Tamara Berry)

10. Urban Muse (Susan Johnston)

Hat-tip: @JanalynVoigt

A "God quote" doesn't make a story Christian

2009-09-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

"...whether you are writing for the main stream or one of the niche markets, the religion must be an integrated, fundamental part of your story. A secular story with random Bible quotes dropped in doth not a Christian Fiction story make. If you have an extremely devout character, then their religion should permeate every aspect of their life. On the other hand, a character that only attends temple on the high holy days every other year probably is not going to be quoting the Torah or Talmud on a regular basis. You want the religious aspect of your story to seamlessly integrate with the rest of the work, not pop out at random places."

So writes Editor/Publisher and writer of the Buried In the Slush Pile blog in the post "Holy Writing Batman." Last week she wrote several posts on writing fiction for the religious market for kids. You'll also want to check out:

Redefining good Christian historical midgrade novels

Tip of the week

Review of the week - Religious Fiction Topic

Review of Everyday Greatness by Steven R. Covey

2009-09-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Title: Everyday Greatness: Inspiration for a Meaningful Life

Author: Steven R. Covey, compiled by David K. Hatch

Publisher: Thomas Nelson, 2006

ISBN-10: 140160241X

ISBN-13: 978-1401602413

Sixty three of the best stories from the Reader’s Digest archives, organized into twenty one chapters which address essential components of character are what’s inside Everyday Greatness.

What was the point of resurrecting and reprinting these stories? For David K. Hatch, who pulled the collection together, it began as a search for stories and anecdotes he could use in public speaking. For Stephen R. Covey, who introduces each chapter and links the stories with insights and observations, the book’s purpose is to help the reader understand what makes a person great – not only in public but also in private life.

Chapters titled Charity, Courage, Humility, Gratitude, Perseverance, etc. (21 in all) explore the topic subject with three stories, a few questions (called “Reflections”), and a section of quotes, all stitched together with commentary by Covey.

The stories themselves are by a variety of authors, new and old, from Henry David Thoreau to Reba McEntire. They’re short, easy to read, interesting, and illustrate the subject under discussion more efficiently than a lecture twice their length would.

If there’s one criticism, it would be that this everyday greatness is achieved by self-effort. Any mention of God or a new life in Christ or the transforming work of the Holy Spirit is absent. And so the book presents only a partial picture of how this everyday greatness is achieved, at least for the Christian. However, each quality discussed is something the Bible and Jesus emphasized as well. The difference is in how and to what end you achieve them.

Despite that quibble, the book offers a lot to think about. There’s enough good stuff here to overwhelm. The “Afterword” section at the end of the book helps dispel the overload by listing ways the reader can begin putting the principles explored into practice.

For a book that will encourage and inspire in literally hundreds of ways (there are around 600 quotes), Everyday Greatness is recommended.

Poetry Contest Almanac

2009-09-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

Notice the Poetry Contest Almanac widget in the sidebar? It's new! Each item is a link to a poetry contest. The date is the last day entries can be postmarked or emailed to be accepted. I did this for myself - to keep track of upcoming poetry contests. You're welcome to use it too.

You'll need to read the rules for each one. Some only accept entries from Canadian citizens. Both of the Utmost contests are for entrants whose beliefs conform to a statement of Christian faith.

If you know of contests I've missed, please email me and I'll add them. If you decide to enter any of them - ALL THE BEST!!

It's all about pleasuring the reader

2009-09-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

I've been spending some time looking through my old journals to see if there's anything salvageable in them - poem seeds, ideas for articles or devotions. Here's something from Feb. 08 that I marked to put on this blog:

When you get too flowery, you sound show-offy, or like you're getting carried away -- emptying all your spice bottles into the soup. Flowery stuff is a garnish. Over use it and you sound silly or pompous. When you show off, you serve yourself. Being a writer is being a servant, not of yourself but of your reader.

Maybe I was reading one of my favorite how-to books on writing at the time. Stein on Writing by Sol Stein says the same thing only better (from Chapter 1 "The Writer's Job May Be Different Than You Think"):

"...many writers have inappropriate intentions The four most common I've heard are "I am expressing myself,: I have something to say," "I want to be loved by readers, and I need money." Those are all occasional outcomes of the correct intention which is to provide the reader with an experience that is superior to the experiences the reader encounters in everyday life." - p. 3

"...key to writing both fiction and nonfiction - it has to be a good experience for both partners, the writer and the reader, and it is a source of distress to me to observe how frequently writers ignore the pleasure of their partners.

The pleasures of writer and reader are interwoven. The seasoned writer of both nonfiction and fiction, confident in his craft, derives increasing pleasure from his work. The reader in the hands of a writer who has mastered his craft enjoys a richer experience." p. 7

for poet keeners

2009-09-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

My September Poet's Classroom article, "Assigned Reading For Poets" is up at Utmost. If your poetry writing needs a booster shot of inspiration or how-to, it offers mini-reviews of ten poetry writing books that might help.

While you're there, take a look at the What's New page to keep you up on Utmost's latest contests, articles and gallery poems.