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Feb 3

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How getting organized can help you be a better writer

I set big writing goals last year, but somehow the year got away from me. I did accomplish many of my goals but not some of the most important ones. Why? Life happened. Tragedies small and large. More happened last year to pull me off track then the previous several years combined. But I learned from those experiences–“grist for the mill” as they say. One of the things I learned was that I need help staying on track.

This year, I’m investigating and implementing different ways to keep my writing projects organized and keep me heading toward my goals. Don’t worry–I’m not one of those people who’s constantly rearranging paper clips to the detriment of actually writing. But I do find that planning to be successful helps me become more successful. Between my business and my various writing projects (poetry manuscript, memoir, and fantasy book) things slip by. I can go for days getting bogged down in one area while losing track of the big picture. Read more

Feb 2

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Craft a Valentine’s Day poem for your beloved

Valentine’s Day is coming up, and it’s a perfect occasion to craft a love letter or poem for your beloved. Ted Kooser, U.S. poet laureate from 2004 to 2006, began a tradition in 1986 of sending a Valentine’s Day poem on a postcard to 50 women (with his wife’s understanding).

When he stopped in 2007, he was mailing postcards to 2,600 women, including actress Debra Winger and author Louise Erdrich. He closed with a final poem dedicated to his wife Kathleen.

His book Valentinesfeatures all the poems. Here’s the first one he wrote: Read more

Feb 1

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How to create a beginning to hook your readers, agent, and publisher

Writing a novel, memoir, screenplay, or even a poetry manuscript can be a long, arduous journey. Getting off to a good start is important, and good beginnings are an art that can be mastered. Below are a few posts with tips on how to create a beginning to hook your reader, agent, and/or publisher. Read these posts and tell us in the comments below if you have any additional tips. Thanks!

Ground your readers and they will follow you anywhere: “Give the readers a place to stand, and then you can take them anywhere.” Poet and professor Nelson Bentley’s advice holds true whether you’re writing a poem, a book, or a screenplay. Read more

Jan 31

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Try these tools and techniques to keep your 2012 writing plan on track

The older I get the faster time seems to fly by and this year is no exception. The first month of the year ends today, and it’s made me stop and think about how much progress I’ve made on my writing goals.

I’m on a good track so far, but I know I need to focus on what I can do every day if I’m going to accomplish my plan.

Several tools and practices are helping me maintain a daily writing practice. I’ve listed them below:

Making better use of Stickies and to-do lists. I always feel more in control of what I have to do and how I’ll remember all the bits and pieces of tasks and ideas floating around in my brain if I write everything down. I use the Stickies app that comes with the Mac to collect ideas and notes. If you use a Windows-based computer, you can use a freeware Stickies app from Zhorn Software. Read more

Jan 30

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How to put together a poetry manuscript, part 2

Unlike visual artists or sculptors, poets don’t often talk about the way individual pieces fit into the whole of their work.  Maybe the reason some poets hesitate to talk about this process is because, like writing a poem, they are following the instincts of their inner voice. Maybe their process is too close to them to place into words.

Fortunately, in Ordering the Storm: How to Put Together a Book of Poems (Imagination, No. 11), edited by Susan Grimm, there now exists a collection of essays by poets who’ve done just that–put together their own books of poetry and survived.

All of the essays were invaluable in helping me order my own storm. I liked Liz Rosenberg’s advice, “I try to start a book with what I think of as a beautiful poem, and to end with a powerful philosophical poem. I think we do begin with beauty and end with wisdom….” I also liked Jeff Gundy’s idea of ending a collection of poetry with a poem that offers some “intimation of hope, some glimpse of shelter and safety in this dangerous world.” He includes the poem that ends his most recent book of poems, Deerflies, as an example. Read more

Jan 27

The secret weapon to writing better stories: Make mistakes

I’ve concluded that to be a better writer, I need to make more mistakes. The more uptight and worried I am about, “getting it right,” the stiffer and less creative my writing is.

I’ve been working on revisions and I’ve found I wrote better pages when I was half awake and less tense about the sentences. Or when I worked fast and furiously as I wrote 750 words for the day. Or when I wrote with the abandon of a 5-year-old.

It’s just not effective or efficient to edit and create at the same time. If you edit while you’re creating, your brain can get a little too judgmental and suck the creative mojo right out of your story.

So here are a few ideas if you want to make more mistakes in your writing and open the door for more creativity. Read more

Jan 26

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How to put together a poetry manuscript, part 1

I’m putting together my first poetry manuscript: gathering and editing poems, organizing and reorganizing them into some kind of order. Since I’ve never done this before, I wanted a little help.

I found an excellent article by Jeffrey Levine, an award-winning poet, and Founder, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Tupelo Press. In Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Poetry Manuscript: Some Ideas on Creation and Order, Levine gives an overview of the entire process from what font to use to how to find an effective title to tips on ordering the poems.

For me, ordering the poems was the biggest challenge. What seems as if it should be so simple, is not.

Levine advises: “Spread all of your poems out on the floor, a floor that does not need to be disturbed, and look at them. Read them. Live with them. See what relationships seem to be developing between the poems. Which poem wants to talk to that poem?” Read more

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