A Writer's notebook, Day One-Hundred-Fifty-Four
Well, it was bound to happen, and it did, and I am sorry to have missed posting yesterday. In truth, I was at a fundraising event last night that had very little food but quite a bit of alcohol. I try not to drink so much these days, but I must admit that, by the time the party ended, I was past the point I should have been. I should have found time to work earlier in the day, and I did do some other work, but the event was actually out of town, so most of the day was spent packing up and driving for an overnight trip.
Honestly, I have stated before that I expected this might occur, and I am not going to beat myself up about it. At the same time, I am certainly not going to make a habit of it. Falling short is not a reason to quit, or even a reason, at the moment, to alter my intentions. I find writing this blog is useful for me, even if no one else was reading it or found it of value, though, of course, I hope it does offer something of interest, and I think that I am learning, more and more, how to use this forum, though I am still, admittedly, at the very start of that journey.
In terms of writing, I haven't written a new poem, but I did work on editing some poems I've been working on. I have a meeting tomorrow morning with Nickole Brown as part of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, and spent some time going through notes she had sent me in advance, as well as just reviewing the poems and working on some revisions.
I want, of course, to keep at the goal of writing poetry daily, and to get back to work on other pursuits as well. I have quite a bit to do in order to send out W/R, and I am intending to make that my priority after the PBPF ends. Even so, I still know that I need to keep poetry a priority. I am more and more certain that reconnecting with that aspect of my creativity is integral. What is wonderful, though, is knowing that the PBPF workshop will provide me a real opportunity to put myself back into that space. I know that I have always found myself revitalized in some sense by the exposure to a community of writers, and particularly have found that with poetry. In previous years, the majority of the poetry I've written has been during or around the festival, and my goal this year is to just keep it going.
I don't really know what it is that I am hoping I will gain from being back into the habit of writing poetry, but it feels very important for me, in some way that is largely intangible. Part of this is, of course, that poetry was the thing that first turned me into a serious writer, and that has been true more than once, really. Beyond my first experiences with poetry, which I've described previously, I also recognize that it was my experiences with poetry in college that shaped me into a writer as an adult, and while I know that I did love poetry and writing in general, I also recall wanting to be a scientist for many years in my youth. I did want to be a writer by the time I was in high school, though, which is for the best as my dreams of studying science would have been dashed when I was told that the school did not feel I was proficient enough in math to take physics.
Poetry has been something integral to me, and I don't know what I am missing by not keeping it in that central place; still, I am sure that it is something significant and worth regaining. In truth, I am not even sure how or when that shrank from me, but I know that it didn't happen all at once, and I am so it is natural that this would be a process too, and that it may take a bit of time to get back what I once took for granted.
Honestly, I have stated before that I expected this might occur, and I am not going to beat myself up about it. At the same time, I am certainly not going to make a habit of it. Falling short is not a reason to quit, or even a reason, at the moment, to alter my intentions. I find writing this blog is useful for me, even if no one else was reading it or found it of value, though, of course, I hope it does offer something of interest, and I think that I am learning, more and more, how to use this forum, though I am still, admittedly, at the very start of that journey.
In terms of writing, I haven't written a new poem, but I did work on editing some poems I've been working on. I have a meeting tomorrow morning with Nickole Brown as part of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, and spent some time going through notes she had sent me in advance, as well as just reviewing the poems and working on some revisions.
I want, of course, to keep at the goal of writing poetry daily, and to get back to work on other pursuits as well. I have quite a bit to do in order to send out W/R, and I am intending to make that my priority after the PBPF ends. Even so, I still know that I need to keep poetry a priority. I am more and more certain that reconnecting with that aspect of my creativity is integral. What is wonderful, though, is knowing that the PBPF workshop will provide me a real opportunity to put myself back into that space. I know that I have always found myself revitalized in some sense by the exposure to a community of writers, and particularly have found that with poetry. In previous years, the majority of the poetry I've written has been during or around the festival, and my goal this year is to just keep it going.
I don't really know what it is that I am hoping I will gain from being back into the habit of writing poetry, but it feels very important for me, in some way that is largely intangible. Part of this is, of course, that poetry was the thing that first turned me into a serious writer, and that has been true more than once, really. Beyond my first experiences with poetry, which I've described previously, I also recognize that it was my experiences with poetry in college that shaped me into a writer as an adult, and while I know that I did love poetry and writing in general, I also recall wanting to be a scientist for many years in my youth. I did want to be a writer by the time I was in high school, though, which is for the best as my dreams of studying science would have been dashed when I was told that the school did not feel I was proficient enough in math to take physics.
Poetry has been something integral to me, and I don't know what I am missing by not keeping it in that central place; still, I am sure that it is something significant and worth regaining. In truth, I am not even sure how or when that shrank from me, but I know that it didn't happen all at once, and I am so it is natural that this would be a process too, and that it may take a bit of time to get back what I once took for granted.
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