A Writer's notebook, Day One-Hundred-Thirty-Four

I am having difficulty being productive these days.  I don't really want to get into a new project of any real substance until after the reading next week.  It seems worth-while to keep my energy focused in that direction, and so I am somewhat hesitant about getting serious about another project at this point. 

There is something more, though, or I think there may be.  In part it is my current hesitancy to write a poem.  I am just not entering that mind space at this moment, somehow, and I cannot seem to get myself there.  In some ways, I am not even sure where that place is any longer, but I know I can get back there again.  I have felt this before, and have gotten through it then.  The thing is that I want to get through it now without the kind of guidance and support that I often had before in such circumstances.

I want to get a few pieces written, though, in preparation for the class I'll be attending next month, so i am going to get myself working on that as much as I can in the next few days.  I can commit myself to writing a poem of some sort tomorrow.  If it need be, I can sit down and do something that is more or less a word game, and use that to at least get my mind going in the right direction.  For example, I can do a double acrostic with a name or word.  I did this often when I was in college.  To demonstrate, I will use the word table:

TABLE

There are books lying everywhere
about, big long, endless
books.  Learn every
line.  Embrace
experiences.



I am not saying that is undying verse, but it is a way in for me, and I feel actually good at the work.  doing it is like fitting together a puzzle, and the meaning arrives with that formulation.  In this case, the language had the primary slot, but I may try to do a whole bunch of these for things tomorrow and see what happens.  If I can develop a way to do it that works and allows me to do more directed and expressive work, I can see it as becoming something more than just an exercise, and that is a matter of doing it enough to see how it works.  It may well be worth doing that and I don't have anything else in mind for myself at present, so that makes it a good choice.  Even if it does not lead to anything directly, it is going to get my brain functioning in the right way, and that is what matters most.

That is really the beauty of having this blog, for me.  I came on here feeling a bit off about where to go and now I know what I want to focus on next.  It is amazing how just having a place to jot down thoughts and a dedication to doing it regularly can really have an impact.

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