Post Script

National Poetry month begins tomorrow. There are several ways to get involved. Poetic Asides with Rober Lee Brewer mentions the April PAD Challenge. Check it out. You could win a spot in the poetry e-book.

NaPoWriMo also begins tomorrow. 30 poems in 30 days. Both sites have prompts, too.

If writing poems isn't your thing emmerse yourself in reading or listening to poetry. Read to your kids or find poems you loved as a child and let them read them.

April 30, 2009 is also Poem in Your Pocket Day: Pick a poem you love during National Poerty Month and carry it with you. Share it with your family, friends and co-workers on April 30th. Get your friends and family to do the same. Get your children interested in poetry. Some ideas on poets.org are: e-mail a poem, hang a pocket size verse in public, post a poem on your blog. Check out the website for other great ideas.

Make the most of the month. Just like NaNoWriMo you are not trying to write perfect poems. Just the ideas, the footprint. Later, you can revise, revise, revise.

Give it a try.

Regrets-I Got Them

I read articles about finding time to write. Nearly every one suggests using the time waiting for your kids at sport events, program and doctors offices. Go prepared with notebooks, project files and pen( when my children were young there were no cell phones, PDA’s, or Blackberry’s or laptops so those were not an option) The idea is sound. A lot can be done sitting in a car or on bleachers—an outline started, a character sketch rounded out, ideas listed, first lines grappled with.

Sometimes I feel guilty I didn’t utilize those abundant pockets of time. Maybe I’d be more successful now. Maybe, I’d have a book published or a chapbook in print. A heady thought, and sometimes, I beat myself up with the possibility.

I didn’t though. I spent those moments watching my kids play, or sing, or interact with their friends. I held my sick children on my lap, wiped their noses. I peeled oranges, doled out drinks, entertained the younger kids. Like those parents concentrating on taking video, who ended up missing the best part of the action, missing the cutest things their kids did, if I’d been writing I would have missed a good part of my children’s life. I’m glad I never took advantage of these times.

When I first started writing again, I promised myself I would never forget what was most important. It’s so easy to forget. Easy to get caught up in ambition and success. Everyone knows you must get your butt in the chair, do the work, knuckle down, write. And it’s true, of course. You must write.

But you must remember your life and what is most important there, too.

Did I lose a lot of good ideas? Yes. So often I was rushing from one child’s music lesson or sport event to another. Dinners to fix, treats to provide, neighbor’s children needing a ride. Will I ever retrieve the ideas and words I lost? Nope. Does that haunt me? Oh, yes.

Even now, I care for an elderly parent. I have huge blocks of time as we wait in doctors’ offices or in line. I could get more writing done if I utilized that time, but then, I’d miss my mother’s conversation as she reminisces, tells long ago stories. I’d miss getting to know my mother in a new, wonderful way. She takes my attention much the same way as my children did. Do I resent these moments with her? No, because I know those moments will come to an end, too soon.

And as every writer knows the stories are never silent. They go on whispering in your mind. Nagging to be heard, put down, exposed. I can’t completely ignore them either, but I quiet them as best I can with a promise of later, knowing all along that some stories will never be told.

But regret? No. I saw; really saw my kid’s triumphs, failures. I witnessed their heartbreaks, their joy. I was completely present. With advice, a shoulder, pithy remarks or a smile and a thumbs up. And they saw I was there for them, too. Priceless, I think now. They are adults with children of their own, juggling their own desires, jobs, and dreams. I’m not one bit sorry of the time or example I gave.

I’m not sorry about the time I spend with my mom either, getting to know her as a person, not just a parent, learning about her wishes and dreams and history. Am I losing writing time? Yes. Have I lost some wonderful work? Yes. Does that mean I may never be the writer I dreamed of being? Maybe. But it’s the price I’m willing to pay. I think it’s the price I have to pay to be the writer I’m meant to be, want to be.

I read this poem years and years ago in a writer’s magazine. It says it all, better than I can. It touched my heart so much with the truth. I keep it on a bill spike on my desk. It is a homage written by poet/mother, Laura Apol to another poet and mother, Lucille Clifton:

Tell me again about the poems you lost
and the babies you saved.
Tell me you couldn’t replace the children,
tell me you could replace the poems;
please tell me that lie because I, too,
have poems and children
and some days they play side by side,
tossing back and forth while I listen;
some days they fight to the death.

A Better Writer

March and snow is falling heavily, the only saving grace is that it’s wet. I hanker for spring like I crave chocolate. I just want it. The winter hasn’t been all that bad, but I’m done with it. I get that old low feeling watching my garden turn white. And…the cold…after the warm days we had…well, I’m done with them, too.

I spent yesterday looking for a market for an essay I’ve been working on. I abandoned so much of my work last year. I’m trying to gather, reread and edit those things that had potential. Much of it I already had places to submit in mind.

But…everything’s changed. The market has tightened, many magazines have closed and those that are still taking submissions are paying much less or nothing at all. I could let myself get even lower than the snow brought me if I let myself. I’ll be damned if I’ll let myself. No, I was down last year and realized I am way too blessed to be depressed. I refuse to forget that.

So, what now? What do I do?

I’ll take this opportunity to become a better writer.

How? Well, I’ll:

• Just for today be a different writer. Surprise myself
• Take more chances
• Try something different whether POV, style, or genre
• Find a friend(get support. Join a writer’s group, even if it’s an online group)
• Take a class or workshop
• Submit something—where ever I can. What have I got to lose?
• Find an online site that stirs my juices(WOW! Women on Writing is a website I recently found. It’s great place for all sorts of information and help. Also, if you’re writing poems or reading them or interested in poems or poets check out: Poet.org)
• Read Writer’s Digest or the Writer. The information in just one issue is like going to a conference. More importantly, it reminds me that all writers have the same struggles.
• Look back over my old work. Rethink. Rework. Improve it.
• Read a good book or two
• Be persistent and hang in there.

Writers and Cats

We lost Irene during the worst part of my illness. It devastated me. It devastated her sister, Zoie, too. Watching the changes in Zoie, feeling them myself I wrestled with the idea of getting another cat. For months I debated. I missed Irene’s protective nature and constant companionship—Zoie, though loving, was more reserved and aloof.

I know a loved pet cannot be replaced. Still, the house felt empty. Yet I wondered if it was fair to Zoie to bring in a kitten or good for my husband and me, with the possibility my illness could return. A visit to the animal shelter to give a donation in Irene’s name made all my questions irrelevant. Right or wrong, we adopted a kitten—Maddie Rose.

Cats and writers go together more often than not. Of course, there was Hemmingway, but also, Mark Twain, Ray Bradbury, and Alexander McCall Smith. Those are the ones I remember, not all who mention their cat companions in the ‘about the author’ section of books or articles I’ve read.

It makes sense, too. Cats are independent, can fend for themselves pretty well as long as fresh food and water is available. Simple and doable, even for a writer with his mind too much on his writing, too deep in his story. The writer provides a warm, accessible lap, an occasional pet, plus a convenient outlet for teasing when the mood strikes.

Cats keeps the writer from feeling too lonely, can be a foil for one-sided conversations, (the writer is going to talk to him or herself anyway), and provides a Zen-like purr that taps into the writer’s muse.

Cats and writers have two very important things in common—the ‘what if factor’ and curiosity.

I’ve seen the ‘what if factor’ at work in our new kitten—What if I hit this pen off the table? Will it twirl? Will it bounce? What if I play with this yarn? Will I get yelled at? (I hope so.) What if I jump from the ottoman smack-dab onto the ‘queen cat?’ (I didn’t think ‘the queen,’ Zoie, could get so mad. Think I’ll do it again. I do love it when she hisses at me.) What if I sneak under the dresser? (Never thought I’d get stuck. Oh well…writer will get me out.) What if I spread myself over the keyboard like a puddle? (Can’t see any other good reason for said writer to hunch over the thing.)

What if I use this abandoned road for the setting of my murder? What if love springs between this avid hunter and that gun control lobbyist? What if I use found words for the basis of my poem about fear?

And curiosity. An open door is an invitation, a strange noise, an excuse to investigate. A cat never backs down from finding out. A writer never backs down from a new subject, or a puzzling question.

Cats and writers might just belong together.

March Godsends

The month got away from me and I’m late posting my March Godsends, but here there are:

• The first Mourning Cloak of the year
• Bees working satin petaled crocus
• Dipping fingers into sun-warmed soil after the long winter
• Corn beef(could only have a smidgen but so good) and Cabbage
• Spring snowfall
• Sunshine splashed across the kitchen floor
• House wren building a nest in the old weathered birdhouse again this spring
• Rainy days
• Kites and clouds
• Yellow daffodils in a cobalt vase

Reading

My first memories are tied up with poetry. Poetry was a staple my parents read at bedtime. Walt Whitman was my father’s favorite.

My mother was more diverse, eclectic. Most often she read from our set of Junior Classics; The Young Folks Shelf of Books, Volume Ten, Poems, Guide and Indexes or Heart Throbs. I've mentioned these before: The Duel, Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, The Shut-eye Train by Eugene Field, The Owl and the Pussy-cat by Edward Lear, Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley, The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt were standard fare. And then there was Poe’s, The Raven.

After I married and started my family, my writing and reading changed. Between short stories, essays and novels I still managed to write a little poetry, but rarely read it. Never enough time. Instead, I concentrated on romance novels, my time better spent reading what I wrote. Time was hard won and rare in those days. Still, I finished nine novels, many short stories and essays, even some poetry. I had small successes, too.

Finally and again, I’ve wanted to take a poetry workshop. Scheduling was the first difficulty I ran into. Then money, but eventually I had saved enough for an online workshop. MPGN hit.

Anger and self-pity swamped me. You know the old—why me, mentality. That is until that (sane?) voice (probably the same one that does my editing) whispered—Why not? You think you’re too good to get problems? You think everyone else is supposed to do the suffering? You have had it good, you know. Is this really not your turn?

After a good self scruff-of-the-neck shake and talking to, I stopped feeling sorry for myself (for the most part) and put my energy into getting better. As I began to recover, my desire to write grew. Yet, (as I’ve mentioned before and probably too often) my mind didn’t follow. Whether it was medication or illness, I don’t know. I only kn0w I couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t get my thoughts to make sense. Worse, it seemed I couldn’t get them from my mind to my fingers and onto the screen. I floundered and worried. Grieved and persisted. (Too hard, I think.)

Often, I would wake up hunched over my desk, the whole morning gone, the computer on screen saver and my thoughts lost. Other times I would have dozens of beginning thoughts and no follow through. It wasn’t the time for any kind of writing workshop, much less a poetry workshop.

I fee; poetry takes more concentration and thought than other forms of writing. Also, it takes freer, maybe even, wilder thinking. I just didn’t have it in me. I felt mostly vulnerable, lost and unsure, unable to make the simplest decisions or choices.

My health improved. I worked on a memoir (whether for therapy, or for publication, or just to have a hand in writing something. Who know yet?) using my own knocked together ‘workshop.’ I was afraid my mind wasn’t sharp enough take a class, any class. Certainly, not poetry.

I picked two books for a memoir ‘workshop,’ of sorts: Writing Out the Storm by Barbara Abercrombie and Writing Life Stories by Bill Roorbach. Diligently I worked through both books simultaneously, page by page.

One of the assignments mentioned in both books was to read memoirs. I followed the advice. It helped immensely as I took notes and made rough outlines for my memoir. Reading other memoirs kick started my mind, held out a carrot for my foggy mind. A blind guide, a map for my own terrain. Something I needed. More than I even knew.

It was a way back to my writing. I needed that.

As I try to renew my poetry writing now, I’m using that same assignment for my poetry writing. I’m revisiting the joy of reading poetry again. I’m getting better. The fogginess has left. I can concentrate much better, but as I slowly come off prednisone I’m uncertain how that might affect me. So, I’ve cobbled together my own poetry workshop, using two good poetry instruction books: The Mind’s Eye by Kevin Clark and The Art and Craft of Poetry by Michael Bugeja.

More importantly, I’ve began to read poetry again. What an experience, a joy. I’m finding new poets I love and rediscovering old poets: Mary Oliver, James Applewhite, Jewel, and Taylor Swift (I know she is a lyricist but her songs are poetic. I love her little twists, her slant rhymes, etc. I actually read a lot of lyrics. Try it.)And, of course, Rod McKuen. I subscribe to Poetry Magazine and 32 Poems Poetry magazine so I can read my contemporaries. By the way, visit the Poetry Foundation website, too.

Read. Read what you write. Read something different. Read what inspires you. Read.

Writing Tools

Microsoft Word Readability Statistics:

This feature on Word is a useful tool for improving your writing. I use it when I have finally finished with my rewrites and editing. As with anything it can be overused, and thereby, actually make your writing worse. You must first trust yourself and what is your truth. Trust that only you know exactly what you are trying to say and how.

Your goal is to write clearly, simply and so people can read what you have written easily. (Most people in the U.S. read at a 7th grade level. Keep in mind reading at a computer screen is 25% slower and the grade level is lower, too) (No. This doesn’t mean those who read from the computer are dumber. It means content on the Web is harder to read and comprehend. Did anyone doubt that?)This does not mean you have to dumb down your writing. What it does mean is as a writer you want to make it more conversational, thereby, more palatable.

Here’s what you’re shooting for:

Characters per average word----4.25 %
Word sentence length or lower-17
Sentences per paragraph---------5
Passive voice or less-------------5%
Flesch Reading Ease------------80%
Flesch-Kincaid grade level----5th

If your percentage of passive sentences is high bring that passive voice number down. Make an effort to use active verbs.

The Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Lever are based on the average words per sentence and average number of syllables per word. If your Flesch Reading Ease is below 70, revise. Check sentence length. Use smaller, more specific words. Short words have more power. If the score is below 80, your work still bares looking at one more time.

Here’s how you turn on readability statistics:

• Click on Office Button
• Click Word Options
• Click Proofing
• Check Show Readability Statistics
• Click OK

You can see the readability by pressing F7 to run spell and grammar check. When that is finished running the readability statistics will come up.

To check the readability of a selection simply select text, press F7, then click ‘NO’ when asked if you would like to continue checking the rest of the document. Readability dialog will come up.

Quick solutions to improve scores:

• Cut adjectives and adverbs-one adjective or adverb per sentence is a good basic rule.
• Active sentences say clearly who did what. Make sure most of your writing is active.

Another useful tool on Word is the Find and Replace feature:

• Search for passive words. I keep a list and then employ my Find and Replace feature on Word. It takes time but by using this tool I’m at least aware of what might be weak sentences and I have one more opportunity to improve my work.
• The Find and Replace feature also finds other problem words: which/that, use/used, all forms of to be words, to/too, words you tend to over use. I’ve made up a list and I go through it in the final edit.

What I'm Reading/Watching (February)

On Getting Older for the First Time, by Peg Bracken: Like all Bracken’s other books this not only hits the nail on the head about aging but makes you laugh until you cry. For her wit, honesty, I love her. Always have, but the relevance, even today, I marvel at. Nostalgic, tongue in cheek, perspective.

Writing Out the Storm by Barbara Abercrombie: I loved this book. I bought it as a guide for me in writing a memoir about my illness (MPGN). I was having real difficulty writing at all. When I first got sick I wasn’t in any condition to write and I missed it, grieved it. Worse, my mind churned like a windmill through ideas and thoughts at breakneck speed but wouldn’t slow long enough for me to even think about putting the stuff on paper had I been able. Once I started feeling better, I would sit at my desk anxious to ‘catch’ up only to wake up an hour later with my face on the desk in a pool of drool. (Attractive picture, but honestly I’ve never been so embarrassed and thankful I work alone) This book held my hand.

Abercrombie and the students she writes about had much more serious diseases and they wrote—wonderful words, memoirs, guides for all of us. I saw I wouldn’t lose my writing unless I let it go. I hung on by reading this book and trying to do the exercises. I hung on by gathering faith from this book. More important I think this book could help any writer.

Star Bright by Catherine Anderson: I have always like Anderson’s books. She always finds a way to touch my heart and show the good of people. This is the story about Rainie Hall running from a brutal husband. She takes on a new identity in a new place and finds friendship and love.

The Wild Girl by Jim Fergus: I enjoyed this book. It was a bit different, but well written. This is the story of Ned Giles, who joins the Great Apache Expedition of 1932, in Arizona, searching for a boy who was kidnapped. The Expedition finds a wild Apache girl, jailed in Mexico and decides to use her to trade for the boy.

Jesse Stone: Thin Ice(TV): Rare opportunity to watch a good made for TV show. There just aren't any being made and this was well done. Did Robert Parker's book justice and was the best part of TV that I've watched for a good long time. I was happy to see that according to the Associated Press there was a large audience, too. I wish that would translate in to more of the same, but I doubt it.

Nurture Wildness

I think it’s important to nurture the wild side of yourself. This helps you write vivid, fresh work, whether poetry, short story, novels or essays. Being too controlled, being too aware of what is acceptable, worrying about what your mother, friend, husband might think about what you write will cut off the best of yourself and your writing. Your work will be stilted, ordinary and worse, not really yours.

How can you nurture your creative wildness?

Be:

• Inquisitive
• Honest
• Intelligent
• Joyful
• Spontaneous
• Instinctive
• Passionate
• Stubborn
• Free

And while you're at it:

• Hold what is thought normal up to scrutiny
• Ponder the big questions
• Set high goals
• Accept your own goals, no matter how unique
• Be independent
• Do Not Conform
• Demand originality from yourself
• Rebel
• Cultivate a strong self-image
• Take risks

Let your voice free. Fly. That is what poets and writers do.

Writing Practice

I read an article in Byline magazine a few years ago about a method of learning to write publishable material in just three days. Three days. Worth trying, right?

It wasn’t a new concept. I’ve heard it mentioned in several writing books, even in workshops I’ve taken, but the idea was only touched on, never emphasized. I never took it too seriously. It even sounded a bit wrong, a bit like plagiarism until I read the article, “The Handy Method” by Don Lowry. Then, I gave it a real try.

The method not only helped the quality of my work but inspired my determination and inspired me. The method wasdeveloped by a woman named Lowney Handy. She believed in perseverance, self-discipline and imagination. More important was her belief that a successful writer should rub shoulders with other successful writers. For most writers, that isn’t always possible. Lowney developed a way to do it no matter the writer’s circumstance.

First step: Read the work of good writers, in the genre that interests you. Read every day. Buy books similar to the ones you want to write. Read them. Study them. I do what I call ‘work’ my books. Take notes in the margins, underline, study plot and wording. Make a note on everything I notice.

Second step: Out of the books, short stories, poems, lyrics or articles you read pick four you like best, the ones most like what you want to write. Type all four pieces onto a document on your computer, word for word. Use the correct margins, double-spacing, etc.

This sounds strange. It did to me, but as I copied the work I began to see structure, dialogue, plot, even punctuation in a new way. The process illustrated things I learned in other classes, cementing it in my mind in a much stronger way. I don’t know why it works, but it does.

You might think/fear that when you move on to your own work this would make you a fraud. That your work would be just a copy of the writing you had typed, but it doesn’t. Your individuality rises to the top. Only the gem of knowledge you've gained remains of the work you copy.

The physical act of typing cemented the things I knew and clarified the things I had a hard time learning. It made analyzing the genre easier, too for some reason. It works equally well for any work. If you’re working on a novel instead of something shorter, copy pages from the beginning, middle and end of several of your best reads.

Does this really work or is it just busy work? I asked the same questions before I tried this. My answer—the benefits for me have been numerous. Soon after I did this I got a short story published in a national magazine. More than that though was the improvement of the weak areas of my writing. I’ve always struggled with grammar, but this exercise reinforced much of the concepts I struggled to learn. My punctuation improved immensely, especially with dialogue.

I begin each day typing from the genre I’m working on that day. As a side benefit this seems to get my fingers and brain working faster than usual and I rarely stare at a blank screen. This method is a wonderful tool for any writer, on any level. Give it a try for a few days.