A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred-And-Twenty-Seven

It can be very hard to start work some days, lately.  Often, when I do, I find it rewarding, but something in getting started is a bit daunting, if that is the right word.  There is certainly a bit of hesitancy that I might not have a good idea.  Earlier today, I read a poem at an open mic, and it went over quite well.  The poem in question is a few months old at this point, and I am rather happy with it, but I feel a need to create work on that level.  The effectiveness of that poem is causing me to feel a bit nervous about work I am currently doing.

That is a result in part of shifts in my work that have been occurring of late, and which I have spent much time discussing here.  In some ways, I have a fear that this new work may not be living up to the quality of previous work.  That is not true, though, and I don't want to buy into the notion that I should find a way back towards that work.  While aspects of the work I was doing are certainly things I want to reintegrate, I am aware that the new work is not a turning away, and is certainly not a lessening of the power in that work.  I can see that it is largely in my mind.

Still, I am interested in finding ways to create poems that I feel fit within certain categories, and I think one that has worked well for me in the past is that narrative form.  The poem I read today falls into that category, and I think it is a kind of work that I want to get more out of.  At the moment, though, I have been finding that particular area of work is less prevalent in my writing, and I think that has me a bit nervous. 

In the end, I am adjusting.  It is probably positive that things seem to be getting harder or more complicated, that the easy ideas are not so present.  I am digging deeper, finding places to go that require more of me, and that is, in the long run, what needs to happen.  I am certain that I will get back into the swing at some point, and I know how great it can feel when I am on that creative high, I need to realize how much work is accomplished in these times.  Right now, I am sorting things, learning what I must, and still creating, building the energy and the understanding to use it.  In the end, it will all come together, I am sure, but even now, I can see that the work I am pushing out has a great deal to it already.

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