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Posts from the ‘Poetry’ Category

Mar 8

Craft your writing mantra with these six tips

In Carly’s post “Boost your writing ambitions with a personal writing mantra,” she writes about the benefits of developing your own writing mantra. At the beginning of this year, when I set my writing goals for 2012, I decided to give this a try.

My main goal was to build up my publishing credits by submitting my work to literary journals and contests. I have plenty of work ready to submit but over the last few years, my life got ultra busy, and I just wasn’t taking that extra step to get my work out there. So I decided on the phrase, “Progress on Purpose,” because it reminded me that any progress I make is because I am consciously and purposely making it happen.

It was a nice idea but I found that I could never remember the mantra! Maybe my brain stuttered over the alliteration or maybe they were just words that I wouldn’t normally use (being the laid-back-country-girl that I am). Just this week, during one of author Bob Mayer’s online courses, I discovered a new writing mantra that I can easily remember and that has more meaning for me: “The more I do something, the easier it becomes.”

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Mar 6

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My favorite writing journals

I have a confession to make. I’m a journal-a-holic. It’s serious. It’s bad. I should be ashamed. I don’t always write longhand–often I use my laptop–but when I do write in a notebook or journal I want it to be special.

I’ve always liked bright, shiny things. They make me feel happy. So, naturally, I want a sparkly writing journal. And, because I have several journals going at once for various projects, I use my label machine to make a label for the front cover. (It satisfies my O.C.D).

Below are a few of my favorite journals:

The Spirit of Flight Journal. I have two of these — one for poetry and one for my fantasy book. I like the picture on the outside cover. It reminds me of the protagonist of my next book. Read more

Feb 27

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How to use writing contests to reach your goals

I’ve been on a contest kick lately. In my post about using a calendar to keep track of upcoming contests, I mentioned that part of my overall writing plan for 2012 is to submit to more contests and send my work out to be published in literary journals and magazines.

What I’m discovering as I do this is that the mini-deadlines are giving me just what I need to reach my larger goals. For example, I’ve been wanting to compile my first poetry manuscript for the last couple of years, but I just “never got around to it.” So, when my writing partner, Carly, emailed me a contest that she thought I might want to enter, I chose that contest deadline as the deadline to finally compile my manuscript. And I did it. And through that process, I learned so much and became motivated to think about what themes I want to explore in my next book of poetry. Read more

Feb 16

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Use this technique to create a poem from your subconscious writing fragments

In my last post, I wrote about a writing practice that I was using to try to generate material for poems, essays, and even memoir. If you joined me in my quest to write from the subconscious, you may be accumulating some wild pages of words by now. So I’m going to give you the next step in the practice.

When you have about 10 or 12 pages, pull them out of the drawer and read them. Highlight, underline, or circle anything that looks interesting, tugs at your chest, pings your brain, or just seems downright weird. You’ll find some material that is boring, odd, and exciting. You’ll likely not even remember writing it. Read more

Feb 14

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Try this practice to get into a subconscious writing groove

Do you ever write something, put it away, find it later, and think, “I wrote that?” I sometimes wonder where some of my sentences came from. I’ve decided it has something to do with getting into a groove and writing from my subconscious.

I ran across some pages like these recently, and I thought of a stream of consciousness writing exercise I learned years ago at a workshop. It’s a good way to create pages of writing from  your subconscious and collect bits and pieces you can use to create poems, inspiration for an essay, or even fodder for a memoir. You can do this writing practice regularly or whenever you’re feeling knocked out of your groove. I’m committing to do it for 12 days just because I want a good collection of material. Read more

Feb 13

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Three types of writing groups, part 1

Joining a writing group was one of the ways in which I honed my skill as an artist and craftsman. Over the years, I’ve joined three different types of writing groups. Throughout the week, I’ll describe the benefits I received from each one.

Critique-Focused Group:  I’ve been a participant in a writing critique group on Bainbridge Island, Washington on and off for over 20 years.

The rules: everyone brings a poem or prose piece (up to 5 or 6 pages, or more if there’s less people). We bring enough copies for everyone in the group. We read the piece out loud and then remain quiet while the group silently reads through our pages again and marks them up. After 5 to 10 minutes (an excruciating period of time to listen to your pages being scratched up by various pens and pencils) the group begins to make comments–noting what they like and why they like it, along with any suggestions or questions they might have.

If questions are asked, the reader cannot answer–the group tries to puzzle out the author’s meaning together. When the discussion ends (anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes), the author may speak if they chose to. Sometimes, I may clarify something that’s been misunderstood or puzzling to the group. Most often, I just say, “Thank you.” It’s a great way to see what cold readers say about your work. Read more

Feb 9

Three steps to free up your words and ideas

Writing is a lot like life. Some days, it flows like the Rio Grande—the words rush and tumble from our pen and we feel as if we can hardly keep up. Other days, we wonder where the ten-foot beavers came from that overnight built the dam that not only blocks our proficiency but our very ability to form syllables, put words in the right order.

I had one of these days recently. I felt as if my synapses were asleep, as if I just couldn’t find the words. Any words. They were gone. But I really needed to write the last poem for my poetry manuscript. And I had a deadline. So, what did I do? Three things.

1. Mind-map.  First, I drew a mind-map. With a mind-map, you only need to come up with one word at a time. It’s a great tool to use after you’ve had a visit from the ten-foot beavers. First, you draw a circle in the center of your paper and then lines or branches out from that in all directions.

I wrote the word “Sorrento” in the circle because I knew the poem was going to be about my trip there a few years ago. I knew the poem had something to do with language so I wrote that word on one of my branches. I drew three branches from the main branch of “language” and named them English, Spanish, and Italian. Then, I drew a branch and called it “sightseeing.” I drew a line off that branch for every statue, piazza, or shop that made an impression on me (meaning ones that I still remember five years later). Read more

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