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

I feel that I did get some interesting work done today.  First, I wrote a poem this evening that I am feeling is rather interesting, and more connected to some kinds of work I have been keen to return to.  It is not specifically an animal poem, but is instead a poem that comes from thinking about how we use language and building images that exploit those kinds of phrases.  In this case, it was a personification, but other poems of similar types have included imagining places or things that grow out of idiom. 

At the same time as I did write that piece, I also, at one point today, wrote a rather bald poem about not knowing what to write and lacking creative inspiration, so I am not thinking this was a sudden cure to whatever funk is haunting me, but that does not change it being positive.  Even being able to write baldly about my current funk, both in poetry and here on this blog, is a positive thing.  It is a way of recognizing and moving through this without stopping the forward momentum that I have built.

For example, at this point, writing four poems is ingrained in my habits.  It is what I do, and it is not something that I am liable to slip up doing.  In all honesty, I would feel that I was really slacking if I even dared to only write three poems because I would not have lived up to what I feel is a sort of obligation, now.  Of course, it is also extremely rewarding, and I feel quite incredible when I think about the work I am doing, so it is not only an obligation.  Indeed, part of the issue would be feeling I had fouled up my current pace in a way that might stop me.  I am motivated to keep at this pace, and I am glad to do it.

Now, I bring that up because readers of this blog will know that I've only recently jumped myself up to four poems daily, and had a bit of hesitancy at first in ratcheting up to four.  I was writing one poem in the morning, and now I was pushing that to two poems, and at first I was not consistent with that.  However, after a short period, I adjusted, and now it is my normal daily habit. 

Of course, a part of me fears that the lower level of inspiration could be connected to that increase in output, however, I also realize that this is an illusion.  In reality, it is always that more creativity builds upon itself.  That my work now is continuing at the same pace, even when I complain of a certain lack of inspiration, is proof that my words here are largely irrelevant to the actual creative process.  I am still creating poems, and it is clear that, even if I am feeling off my game in some ways, the work I am producing is still improving and going in new and more interesting directions.