A Writer's notebook, Day One-Hundred-Forty-Four
Several things have struck me today, ideas that seem worth pursuing. One is the start of a drama, though I've little sense of it beyond a small scene, and am still learning what it is actually dealing with. I'm going to allow it to come out as it develops, I think, and see. It may be the way to do it for this, and it takes certain pressure off. Once I have a basic idea, I can go in again and take it in a direction, but I want to just see what happens.
The scene in question is simple enough, but I have a good bit of the dialogue, and a fairly clear concept of where I want to take the scene, in a general sense. I am not farther than a few minutes in, at least in my head, but it is clear to me that their is a lot more potential, and the other characters in the scene will also have things to do and say. I've a pretty clear sense, at least, even if not many details.
In other areas, I began working on some poetry, and wound up looking through files to find some previous work that I want to play with. I've an idea of a poem that I wrote which I can't find right now, but I want to locate it so that I'll be able to work on it. I think it may be in a notepad, written by hand, which is rare for me, but I think it is something about poetry that I can draw a poem. In some ways, that is how it feels, more like sketching the words than writing, and that may well be why I can, when necessary, write poetry by hand. It is strange, and it is still not an easy thing to do, but it is far less painful than most actual writing, for some reason.
I am going to an event tomorrow at the Morikami Japanese Gardens And Museum which is run by the Palm Beach Poetry Festival and is focused on haiku. I am sure that I'll be writing some haiku in that class, and am eager to see if that can help jump start my writing, as it is bound to give me some access. Even if I wind up writing a bunch of haiku to start with, that is a valid portal for entering my own poetic imagination again.
It is, I think, a common thing for poets to lose that knack a bit, and I have even heard some question if they are still poets. To me, the question of whether one is a poet or not isn't an issue, it is a matter of involvement in the activity of poetry. Basically, I can't stop being a poet, but I can stop doing poetry, and I can even find myself becoming distant from that capacity, in a way. In other words, I don't doubt myself, but I do recognize that poetry is an active skill, a discipline that requires my involvement, and that it can be hard to get back into it. Many skills have that quality, but also, it is worth realizing, that once the spark is ignited, it can all come back, and from that point it is only a matter of keeping the flame. In that spirit, I am hoping that once I start, now, I will keep myself sharp by writing poetry daily, and involving myself in other writing as well. A poem may take me only minutes, at least to draft, and I can set aside a time for that apart from other work. It is important work, and I must do it, for myself, if not for any other reason.
The scene in question is simple enough, but I have a good bit of the dialogue, and a fairly clear concept of where I want to take the scene, in a general sense. I am not farther than a few minutes in, at least in my head, but it is clear to me that their is a lot more potential, and the other characters in the scene will also have things to do and say. I've a pretty clear sense, at least, even if not many details.
In other areas, I began working on some poetry, and wound up looking through files to find some previous work that I want to play with. I've an idea of a poem that I wrote which I can't find right now, but I want to locate it so that I'll be able to work on it. I think it may be in a notepad, written by hand, which is rare for me, but I think it is something about poetry that I can draw a poem. In some ways, that is how it feels, more like sketching the words than writing, and that may well be why I can, when necessary, write poetry by hand. It is strange, and it is still not an easy thing to do, but it is far less painful than most actual writing, for some reason.
I am going to an event tomorrow at the Morikami Japanese Gardens And Museum which is run by the Palm Beach Poetry Festival and is focused on haiku. I am sure that I'll be writing some haiku in that class, and am eager to see if that can help jump start my writing, as it is bound to give me some access. Even if I wind up writing a bunch of haiku to start with, that is a valid portal for entering my own poetic imagination again.
It is, I think, a common thing for poets to lose that knack a bit, and I have even heard some question if they are still poets. To me, the question of whether one is a poet or not isn't an issue, it is a matter of involvement in the activity of poetry. Basically, I can't stop being a poet, but I can stop doing poetry, and I can even find myself becoming distant from that capacity, in a way. In other words, I don't doubt myself, but I do recognize that poetry is an active skill, a discipline that requires my involvement, and that it can be hard to get back into it. Many skills have that quality, but also, it is worth realizing, that once the spark is ignited, it can all come back, and from that point it is only a matter of keeping the flame. In that spirit, I am hoping that once I start, now, I will keep myself sharp by writing poetry daily, and involving myself in other writing as well. A poem may take me only minutes, at least to draft, and I can set aside a time for that apart from other work. It is important work, and I must do it, for myself, if not for any other reason.
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