A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Thousand-And-Fifteen

 I did some work on the story from last night, but have not started a new one today, at least not yet.  It is possible I will get an idea after this and go to work on it, but at present, I don't have anything in mind.  In addition, today has been a rather brutal day on a personal level, and I am not really feeling all that energized at the moment.  I did my poetry, and I am glad to have been able to do a bit of revision on that story, but I did not have the will to get to work on a new story.  With poetry, I can begin with following the language, and I am sure there is a way to do that, or something similar, with a story as well, but I haven't found it for myself yet.  If I sit down to write a poem, I can just do it, because I know I will find something if I just play with words for a few minutes, but I need an idea for the story first, and that makes it very different.  I've got to find a way to put together an idea for a story on the fly, or know how to just write the story to find the idea.  I am sure that latter is the answer, but it is not clear to me how to do it, or even what it would really mean.  It is probably more about the fact that I am much more experienced, trained even, with writing poems.  So, the answer to learning how to write more stories is to practice by writing more stories.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poem: Neighborhood Inhabitants

Neighborhood Inhabitants There was a fox once, and another time, otters, and now a peacock that we think got lost during one of the storms. She stays down on the other end of the street, though, does not visit us. We have a racoon family that stays in our tree some nights, and there is a baby lizard, a brown basilisk, who we have seen several times. It is not supposed to be here, is invasive and troublesome to the local ecosystem, as are the duck.  I hear there are giant snails now who eat stucco or concrete or something of that sort. I have not seen one, though, I just heard they are here and big as my fist.
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, One-Thousand-Eight-Hundred-And-Seventy-Three

I am still finding it difficult to get back to a more productive work schedule at the moment.  In part, I am sure it is that I gave myself permission to slack off a bit, and it is difficult to walk that back, especially because I am still writing and being productive, even if not to the same degree. I know it would be good to get back to doing more writing, but I also know that I am still meeting my core obligations, even if at a more minimal level.  Really, I just need to make the choice and force myself to stick to it.  To that end, I am planning to at least get back to work on my longer projects again tomorrow, even if I don't increase the poetry output right away.
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Thousand-One-Hundred-And-Thirty-Three

I received my acceptance to attend workshop at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival next year and am very excited to be working with Matthew Olzmann, a poet whose work I have admired for some time.  He has a rare capacity for being simultaneously absurd and serious in ways that are hysterical, but with devastating insights underneath.  I feel quite fortunate to have the PBPF, and can say, honestly, that each workshop I have attended there has been incredible.  As a person who has taken many workshops in my life, and who often finds them wanting, I am always astounded at the caliber of the classes at the festival, both in the instruction and in the community of poets I have encountered.  I only wish it could be more than just one week out of the year.
Read more