Back to Writing … at Last!

After the long wedding-induced haitus, I am SO GLAD to be back to writing at last. A lot has happened in my “writing life” even though very little of it was actually writing. But hey, the writing world didn’t stop spinning because I neglected my desk. Imagine that!

1. My favorite piece of news is that Katya Gordon’s sailing memoir, Big Waves, Small Boat, Two Kids just came out. I had the pleasure of working as an editor on this book, and it’s one of my favorite pieces that I’ve ever worked on. It’s one of those stories that I find myself thinking about, and drawing inspiration from, often. For example: when I was stressed about not having enough room in the 600-sq-foot house I now share with my husband, I thought about how Katya spent a year living in a much smaller boat with her husband and two kids, no less. And when I was in Florida for my honeymoon, I found myself wondering about the lives of the cruisers we saw docked out there. If you like memoir, or nature adventures, or stories about individuals and families figuring out just where they belong in this world, definitely consider checking out this book.
2. The cover for Hungering and Thirsting for Justice came in. How magical it is to have stuff “just happen” on your book without you after a couple years of squeezing work on said book in at every opportunity? I like this “it’s with the publisher” business.
3. I got an email from the editor of the anthology Unruly Catholic Women Writers, in which I have a piece, telling us that she has “good news” about the book … but, I haven’t heard what that is yet. Looking forward to it!

My attempt at doing NaPoWriMo was a bit of a failure. I kept it up diligently and doggedly, writing mostly very bad poems, until about three days before the wedding. Then after the wedding, rather than pick up where I left off … I totally forgot that I was supposed to be writing poetry at all. Well, there’s always next year!

My husband devotes his Fridays to working on his own business, and I’m thinking that I would like to try something similar — to dedicate that same time to my writing. Not tomorrow, though, because I have a big pile of freelance work to catch up on. I’ll be working from a desk (downgraded from an office) in the living room because the basement office isn’t finished yet. Ivan still works on his computer down there, but I cannot abide the cold concrete and dimness. One must have some standards!

It’s good to be back!

Put Those Poems to Good Use

I just entered three of my poems from National Poetry Writing Month into WEbook‘s poetry contest. WEbook calls themselves the “American Idol” of creative writing. Essentially, it’s a vast web community of writers and readers who write, upload, read, and critique the user-generated content on the site. From time to time, WEbook publishes the projects that receive the best reviews.

I signed up for my WEbook account months ago, but I’ve only started poking around there recently.  Submissions for the poetry project opened on June 15 and will close on August 1, when the voting will begin. That means I submitted my poems relatively early — yet, they still were plopped at the end of a LONG line (23 pages) of already-submitted poetry. My hunch is that the earlier you submit, the better, because there are going to be LOTS of poems to peruse, and probably many voters who won’t keep reading till the end. But there’s still plenty of time for you to throw your own poetry into the ring!

Even if the poetry contest isn’t your thing, WEbook seems like a useful place to get diverse feedback on your work, which could be especially helpful for writers without writers groups. It also seems like a place that could swallow you up and take hours of your precious writing or working time . . . which is why I’ve resisted the urge to go there often. But it may be just what the doctor ordered for anyone with a boring sit-at-the-computer-jobs that allow for daily, web-surfing.

NaPoWriMo: Did She Make It?

Yes, I did manage to write my three remaining poems last night, much to my own surprise. I had to read them again this morning to see what they said because I was so tired when I wrote them. This is the good thing about a writing practice: at a certain point, you can do it in your sleep! However, I do give those poor three poems a “get out of the worst poem contest free” card. So, here’s the most cringe-worthy poem of the month:

Good Friday

Crucifixes and Roman drums

Sister angry with her fiance

Hospitals

Ice Cream

Make me smile

Working too late

Kitty on my lap

Hoping you’re still alive

The problem with this poem, of course, is that it’s really just a list. But I was at my parents’ place for Easter, where the poems got progressively worse for each night I was there. Writing poetry is not easy when you’ve got your bed set up in the middle of the living room and people are watching Jay Leno and Futurama and anything else that may be on at all hours of the night.

NaPoWriMo: Observations

There are only two days (counting today) of NaPoWriMo left, and I have just a handful of poems to finish. A few of the things I noticed during the month:

• When it comes to poetry, I do far better with structure than with free-verse. With free-verse, there are just too many possibilities, and I can’t seem to reign them in to something cohesive. Despite that, most of my NaPoWriMo poems were free-verse musings that I wrote obligatorily before bed. In theory, it seems like I might be good at free verse poetry because I’m a prose writer, and people have told me that my prose is “poetic.” However, I think the difference is that, with prose, I do have the structure of the story I’m meaning to tell. Perhaps I should attempt more story-like poetry.
• Some structured poems that work well for me are Pantoums, songs, and poems using “pre-provided” words, such as Fortune Cookie poems and magnetic poems. Finding that I’m better at structured poems should have spurred me to explore writing more different types, but I don’t actually like the sound of some of the more common poetry structures, such as haikus or limericks. The forms also intimidate me, which I should have used this month to get over!
• Doing a month-long writing project makes the month feel LONG. I’ve noticed this during NaNoWriMo, too. You’d think the effect would be the opposite, since any time there’s a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time, time seems to go too quickly. But instead, I look at some of the issues/subjects I was dealing with at the beginning of April, and those issues seem so far removed that it’s hard to believe it’s been less than a month. Likewise, during NaNoWriMo, it’s hard to believe at the end that, only 30 days ago, you were writing your first words of a then-complete or nearly complete novel.

I also discovered last night that Tarot serves as a good writing prompt because of its imagery, which is the most important element in poetry. Making poetry out of readings probably enriches the reading experience as well — a win-win.

National Poetry Writing Month: Magnetic Poetry

Not feeling very intrinsically inspired to write poetry last night, I finally whipped out the magnetic poetry for some help:

National Poetry Writing Month Magnetic Poetry, April 26, 2009

Poems always look more fun as magnets, but in case that image is too blurry, this is the poem:

This storm is

hard music

to face:

A metal rain hurricane.

Water kisses fire;

naked smoke sizzles,

only teasing

the velvet wildflower

beneath your microscope.

I was up way too late doing this last night; I always forget how LONG it takes to make magnetic poetry, especially since I have a fairly large set. In addition to the official MagPo artist, romance, rock&roll, and erotic sets, I also have a set that came with my magnetic poetry journal and various sets not manufactured by MagPo, including a “faith” set, lots of Valentine’s Day sets, and, my personal favorite, some biology-themed set from my former room-mate. I love having words like “genome” and “DNA” in my repertoire even though it’s hard to find uses for them (you can thank that set for the “microscope” used above). Suffice it to say, these sets can make for some rather . . . interesting magnetic poetry combinations.

If you’re feeling inspired, you can now play with magnetic poetry online. If you make a poem, leave it in the comments!

April Writing Challenges

It’s the last day of March, and if you find yourself a sucker for writing challenges, roll up your sleeves for April. April is the month for Script Frenzy, a challenge to write a 100-page script in 30 days, and it’s also National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) with the challenge to write one poem a day throughout the month.

If you’re a veteran of NaNoWriMo, your credentials will log you into the Script Frenzy site as well. AND you can participate by converting an existing novel into a script. I’m not participating this year, but maybe someday .  . .

I AM participating in NaPoWriMo, though, and may post some of my creations here. Last year, I only made it halfway through April writing a poem-a-day, but that was far enough to produce “Angry Catholic Woman,” which was published by Girl Child Press.  Hopefully this year will produce something submission-worthy as well.