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A Writer's Notebook, Two-Thousand-Four-Hundred-And-Sixty-Three

I am in the beginning of working on some writing exercises for a poetry workshop that I want to do in January.  It's going to be a generative workshop, with a focus on some fairly straightforward writing exercises that are designed to be simple and reusable.  For me, a lot of the time I find that when I look into writing exercises, what I find are just prompts, which can help, but are often not very easy to repeat.  I'm thinking about playful things that one can do without even needing to think about what you want to write, but instead focus on simply playing around with language itself in ways that have helped me to get going when I am stuck.  I want it to be fun and accessible, while still providing something truly valuable.  To me, play is often an essential ingredient in the process, even, maybe especially, when the work is most serious in its intent.  That spark of playfulness is often what lets me, and I would expect other writers, explore and discove...

Poem: It will wait

It will wait I do not think it is ready, anyhow, or not quite, though I know the process might take me through to the end, even if I did it a bit earlier than is ideal, or than I think would be ideal, really, because I don't know, couldn't know, couldn't tell the difference between what I did and what I might have done if I had waited longer or not waited so long, or anything else of that sort. It is fine, though.  I am waiting.  For a bit longer, I will just wait with it. Not too much, though. I have made that mistake before.

A Writer's Notebook, Two-Thousand-Four-Hundred-And-Sixty-Two

I feel strange that I returned to this blog and then skipped last night, but it may be, right now, that I let myself have a bit of a looser schedule here.  I started my daily entrees as a way of keeping myself accountable: I would do my other writing and then end with working on my blog.  It felt like a way to keep myself on track, and I think it still serves that purpose, at least in part, but I also know that I kept my writing going during my hiatus from this platform, so maybe writing every day or two and not every single day is fine, so long as I keep up with my other work.

Poem: It is not easy

It is not easy That is not to say I can't do it.  I do it all the time, but I know better than to pretend that is all, that it is just a thing to be done like nothing. Maybe, sometimes. I can admit there are times like that, on occasion. 

A Writer's Notebook, Two-Thousand-Four-Hundred-And-Sixty-One

I do not have a reason for having taking such a long absence from this blog.  To be honest, I am not certain anyone noticed, but if you did, I am here and am hoping to make a return to form.  I don't really have any reason that I stopped.  It was just falling out of the habit, which is a thing I have expressed fear about before.  I did not stop writing.  I wrote at least one new poem (almost) every day, even if I wasn't writing here.  In part, I think it was just a release, maybe, and I know it connects to the publication of Blaze without Burning , to the sense that I am in progress and moving into a new phase in my career.  I suppose I feel a bit less pressed to keep the foot on the accelerator, maybe.  I've written a lot of poems, and part of the reason is connected to that desire to get the work out into the world, and now that I am starting to feel that happening in a significant way, I suppose I am slowing down a little, am focusing on things...

Poem: Not that poem, this one instead

Not that poem, this one instead I know, I could write that, but you expect it, I guess, or I expect it, maybe is what I mean.  I mean I thought of it and it is an idea I would have, I did have, but this is something else, I think, is not what I expected from myself, is what I did when I said "no" to what I expected. It may have been a bad idea, considering it, but it was worth  taking that risk.

A Writer's Notebook, Two-Thousand-Four-Hundred-And-Sixty

I am feeling extremely tired tonight.  The past week or so, my bacck has been hurting, and it has been quite hard to get to sleep, so even though I am often sleep deprived, this seems a bit more than is typicaal for me.  At least I was able to get my work finished before it gets much later.