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Posts tagged ‘poetry’

Apr 26

Discover the power of word choice

Whether you’re writing prose or poetry, word choice is paramount. The words you choose determine where the emphasis is placed in your line or sentence and, thus, where you draw your reader’s attention.

In honor of National Poetry Month I’ll use a few of my poems as examples of the difference a word can make.

From my poem “Suppose someday I say hot springs:”

 

Original:

will I remember our hike up Sol Duc,
how we riffed fingers over silk moss,
how we stepped stone to stone
over the creek that crossed our path,
how we posed for a photo on the rickety
footbridge dwarfed by fir and red cedar?

Revision:

will I remember our hike up Sol Duc,
how we riffed fingers over silk moss,
how we stepped stone to stone
over the creek that crossed our path,
how we posed for a photo on the rickety
footbridge under fir and red cedar?

As you can see, I changed the bolded word “dwarfed” to a simpler word “under” in the revision. Why? Dwarfed is a more unusual and striking word but, because of this, it draws more attention to itself—attention that I don’t want in that particular place.

My first choice draws my reader’s attention to the footbridge while the revision places the emphasis more on the “we” of the stanza and the trees—which is where I want it. Read more

Aug 9

How a goal + writing prompts led to a first-place poetry award

Have you ever wanted to elevate the quality of your writing or increase your creative production? Try giving yourself an assignment. It worked for my blogging partner Carol.

Earlier this year, I gave Carol a poetry writing book, The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop, by Diane Lockward. It happened to coincide with her goal to write two or three poems a week for the month of January.

She ended up writing 18 poems. Fast forward to July, and Carol won first place for poetry in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association contest. See the complete list of winners.

For more insight on Carol’s poetry writing practice, read her post Writing advice from a Tasmanian cave spider, or how to get your creative juices flowing, which includes one of her poems, Advice from a Male Tasmanian Cave Spider.

Try writing a poem of your own based on one of these prompts:

  1. Think about a defining moment or incident in your life and write about it.
  2. Write a love letter in the form of a poem.
  3. Write a poem about a common object.
  4. Find a memento or object that has sentimental value to you and write a poem that reveals the reason and emotion it carries.
  5. Write a poem about moving from one place to another. It could be literal or metaphorical.

Congratulations Carol!

 

Jan 26

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Writing advice from a Tasmanian cave spider, or how to get your creative juices flowing

Ok, I lied. This post isn’t really about writing advice from a Tasmanian cave spider—more like life advice.

Hang with me for a moment. You’ll see what I mean.

After taking nearly a year off from writing poetry, I had an idea to kick start 2015 with the goal of writing two to three new poems a week for the month of January. But I wasn’t feeling very inspired. Some pretty heavy stuff was going on in my life, and I felt drained.

Then, a gift arrived in the mail.

My blogging partner Carly sent me The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop, by Diane Lockward (I hadn’t even mentioned my goal to her…scary how we think alike, isn’t it?)

Now, I’m normally NOT a “prompt” person but being the good friend that I am, I felt I should at least flip through the book so I could extend my sincere gratitude to her. (Wink. Wink). Late one night, I dragged the book to bed with me and the strangest thing happened—the pages reached out and grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.

Hands down, best poetry craft and prompt book. Ever. Nine of the ten poems I’ve written so far this month were inspired by the book.

But what does this have to do with a Tasmanian cave spider? Read more

Jan 7

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Four tips for setting 2015 writing goals

In the process of setting my goals for 2015, I realized how much magic there is in writing them down—and I don’t mean just randomly choosing goals and then giving ourselves a due date. That doesn’t work. The magic comes when we dig deep.

Here’s my process in case it helps you:

Tip # 1: Brainstorm and write it down

First, I grab a legal pad and have one page for each of the following areas of my life: business, writing, health, and hobbies. For each category, I write down the goals I want to have accomplished by the end of 2015. And, if necessary, I break the goals down into different categories.

For example, in my writing life, I have prose goals and poetry goals. My prose goals for 2015 are to finish and publish my fantasy novel and then edit and finish my memoir. And then to be writing down ideas for my next book. All great goals. But I need to chunk them down and make them doable.

For my fantasy manuscript, my first goal is to finish my first draft. How many words per day/per week/per month can I realistically do while I work fulltime? Figure it out and set a date. Once my first draft is done, what’s next? Implement my marketing plan while I take time to revise and edit. I continue writing down the next action step in my plan until I can see all the parts to the whole.

Tip # 2: Look forward to events

Look forward to events that can be used as goal dates. For example, the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Conference is in July this year. What would happen if I had my book ready and published in order to market at that event? The idea excites me! It feels good. Can I realistically meet this goal? With hard work and focus, I think it’s doable. Now, I work backwards from this date and plan accordingly.  Read more

Apr 30

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Test your poetry skill with this quiz

I admire people who can recite poetry from memory. I’ve never been able to do it. An 80+-year-old friend and poet can recite poetry all day and night and week long. Yes, I’m jealous!

But there are other ways to test our poetry dexterity. Try this poetry quiz put together by Jessie Strasbaugh: Poetry Quiz

For more ways to experience poetry, read my earlier post “The yoga of poetry.”

And, to enjoy movies about poets or poetry, check out Carly’s post Celebrate National Poetry Month with a movie night.

How did you celebrate National Poetry month this year? Please share in the comments below.

Apr 28

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The passion of poetry on the Garden Island of Kauai

Aloha from the beautiful Garden Island of Kauai. Wherever I travel, I try to check out the local writing or art scene. The other night, I traveled from our hotel in Kapaa to the town of Hanapepe on the southwest side of the island to attend a poetry reading in honor of National Poetry Month.

At the home of Storybook Theater, 10 or so local poets read and treated the audience to song, guitar music and a cacophony of Kauain frogs that at times drowned out the speakers with their deep, bass voices. (When one croaked right behind me, I nearly skyrocketed out of my chair because it sounded like some kind of jungle monster, not a frog). Competing with the frog choir was a baby chicken that sent out little peeps like sonar throughout the night. Talk about local flavor! All we needed were a few feral cats to complete the scene. (Kauai has a huge feral cat population—and we always participate in their nightly feedings when we’re here. Yes, just call me Cat Lady).

But I digress. Back to poetry. The theme of the reading was planting seeds. Seeds are a big thing on the Garden Island where food and plants can be grown year round in the rich soil. Read more

Apr 2

Add a spark to your writing: Three posts to celebrate National Poetry Month

Here at One Wild Word, we love poetry. To celebrate National Poetry Month, we’re sharing three poetry posts that we hope will inspire you to read and write poetry.

In How to draw from life to write poetry, you’ll find ideas for creative inspiration that could lead to a poem and more.

Do you want to go deep into an idea as you write a novel or essay? Even if you don’t think of yourself as a “poet,” consider writing a poem to get at the emotional core of your manuscript. Learn more in Using poetry to enrich your prose.

Learn from your poetry writing efforts by documenting your process. See more in Two reasons to keep a poetry or writing journal.

Watch for more ways in upcoming posts to celebrate poetry.

Learn more about National Poetry Month at Poets.org.

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