A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Hundred-And-Ninety-Eight

So, I received back the poems and comments that I was waiting on and am digging in to the revisions.  I started with the one that feels the closest to being completed, or whatever I would call it.  I did a pass on it, but am thinking that I may want to do a bit more on it at the moment, just thinking about it and trying to decide.  I have an idea for it that I might want to try out, and I think I know, if I do it, how, but I am not certain if it is right or if it would be too much.

It is worth mentioning, as I have before, that I came up with some of the solution to how I would write the new ending as I was sitting here writing about the possibility.  It is funny how often my ideas come clear while working here, and I am hoping I can apply that to deeper purposes in the future.

To get back to the main thrust, though, I did that revision and began some preliminary reading of the other poems, in preparation for those revisions.  I don't know which of the poems I plan to work on next, but I feel very close to a lot of this work in a way that feels somewhat vulnerable in a way that I'm not accustomed to.  That is fine, it is just meaning that I need to respect that in doing the revision.  That may turn out to be a better concept than what I started out with, but it needs to begin from understanding and respecting that feeling and my relationship to the work. 

I also wrote a new poem tonight, though ti may not be the best of the ones I've been writing of late.  I have a couple of ideas that are rattling about at present, but I don't know that I want to put the m down just yet.  In general, though, I feel quite good about the work as it is coming these days.  Things seems to be doing well on a lot of fronts, though I still have quite a long ways to go, of course.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Writer's Notebook, Day Two-Hundred-And-Fifty

Each of the three pieces I wrote today was a bit of a struggle to get going, if I am honest.  That happens, as I have mentioned, and my answer is generally to just wait it out, and the results vary.  A lot of the time, if I am really stuck, I might try to force something out, often it winds up being a bit meta, with me writing about being stuck without much in terms of inspiration, and it feels a bit like I am working scales in a way.  All the aesthetic decisions are there, they just don't always have a lot of purpose behind them, and that is fine in that context.  Essentially, I am just forcing myself to do the work, and getting it done, and I am showing myself that I can and will do it even if inspiration never strikes.  This can often take pressure off, and that lack of pressure opens up creative thinking and inspiration. Now, that is a fine thing for me to do, and I am likely to use that approach again many times in the future, but today I felt that I want...
Read more

Le Guin, Steering The Craft, Chapter Five: Adjectives and Adverbs (Exercise Five, Chastity)

A note of apology for my lateness with this.  I had expected to have time earlier in the day, but it was not to be, alas.  Anyhow, I am still a bit nervous about this exercise, though it is clearly of significant import to Le Guin, as she points out that it is the only exercise that she has given to all of her workshops.  That, of course, does not alter my feelings about it, excepting that I am aware of it as something valuable and worth doing, so the fact that it is a bit daunting might well be seen, through that light, as a promise of reward, perhaps.  The more difficult the task, the more one has to gain, at least by some logic... Exercise Five: Chastity Mr. Torino was in charge.  He had his way.  It was the way.  Desktops are clean.  Nothing but work.  No pictures: not your kids; not your girl or wife; not (as Allen recounted) your car.   None of that.  No plants.  No cartoons.  That is for home, this is work....
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, Two-Thousand-And-Fifty-Nine

I have been thinking about how I can discuss certain aspects of my poetry and the choices I make as a writer.  In particular, I tend to write without as much reliance on sensory details and descriptions, instead choosing more abstract depictions.  This is something that I know many writers would call an odd choice, as specificity seems inherently to demand the application of detail, but I tend to be a bit hesitant about relying on depictions that utilize the senses, as I find that approach somewhat problematic.  For one thing, sensory description is always going to be less than universal, and not only because of the reality that there are individuals who lack one or more sense.  In many ways, for me, the deeper problem is one related to language itself.  Our use of language creates our experiences in a very real way, though I can't necessarily offer a full explanation of what I mean by that right here, but using a word for an object bestows qualities on it....
Read more