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An update on the write-cation

I’m still working a few thing out so my writing vacation will continue for another month.  But I wanted to give you folks an update on what I’m working on now.

  1. I will be writing blog posts in addition to my poetry.  I may keep them topical to current events, or they may be musings on things in my life.  I have a few written already, and I’m sending them out to beta readers for feedback.  (Let me know if you’d like to beta read anything)
  2. My update schedule will go back to a minimum of twice a week.  I’m thinking a Tuesday/Thursday schedule with a blog post one day and a poem on the other.  I will post more frequently if I write more.
  3. I cleared things with the publisher of my first book and confirmed that I have the rights to reprint it if I chose to do so.  I will probably republish that book sometime soon so it’s available through CreateSpace and Amazon like my other books.
  4. I have also not published a book containing my work from 2014 yet, but that is not a priority right now.  We’ll see how the year pans out – I may produce it by the end of the year.  (I’m certainly thinking about it)
  5. I am currently teaching myself The Chicago Manual of Style in hopes of both improving my writing and doing some freelance proofreading and editing.  If any fellow writers would be interested in having a proofreader/editor look at their work, please contact me.

And that’s what I’ve been up to in January.  That and getting a week-long cold that knocked me out for a few days 😛  I’ll keep working hard in February, and see you again in March with new updates.

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Poem titles

I was writing a poem earlier today and having a hard time thinking of a good title for it.  I started thinking about the way I name poems and when and why I sometimes leave them nameless.  So here are my thoughts, delayed by a few hours.

“Sometimes I do not name poems.  I typically do this for one of two reasons:  either I cannot find a name that suits it, or I believe that naming it would diminish the poem.

Naming something defines something; it gives it boundaries.  It’s like cutting down trees in a forest and planting a sign that says, ‘This is the road to Abenforth,’ or, ‘This is the road to Tristal Downs.’

But somethings I can’t find the right words.  And sometimes, it’s like staring at trees glimmering in the moonlight.  And I just can’t do it.  I can’t cut down the forest; I can’t plant the sign.  Sometimes I try, but I just can’t do it.

Some forests do not deserve to be cleared.  Some lines should not be drawn.  Sometimes there is more wisdom in the mystery than there is in the revelation.  An unnamed poem is like a question:  it makes us think; makes us ponder.  A well-named poem will do the same, but that’s a different kind of thinking.  A name sends us wandering down a road; the unnamed leave us in the middle of a field.  The path is unknown, and in the end, we make our own journey.

And that is why I like my few unnamed poems.  Because they aren’t unnamed, not really.  Every person who reads it will try to name it in their hearts.  Others will perhaps be like me and be at a loss for a name, but some may find names they like.  So instead of a single name, that poem is gifted with a multitude.

And I rather like that.”

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Epiphany

I saw him coming – which meant another argument. One more pointless rant about whatever pithy piece of drivel drove him into a frenzy today.  I did not want this.  I wanted to be anywhere other than here.  Confronting him would solve nothing though and I absolved myself to quiet meekness in hopes that it would make this confrontation brief. Continue reading → Epiphany

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Chimera

As promised, I am now going to explain in detail the style which I have been trying to create this month.

First, the form I was used changed over this month as I tried different things.  The first few poems were single or four-verse rhyming Quatrains.  Following that I experimented with free-styles.  I ended the month writing something which was a cross between a multi-verse Quatrain and a Sonnet.  The one thing that persisted through the month is the number four:  four lines to most stanzas or four stanzas to many poems.

Next, the rhyme scheme, which also changed over the month.  The earliest poems rhymed every other line, the free-styles rarely rhymed, and the the last form rhymed on the second and fourth lines of the Quatrain stanzas.

Finally, the meter.  I didn’t adhere to a typical meter of stressed syllable units but instead focused on keeping the same number of syllables for each line or repeating different line syllables in patterns.  Near the beginning of the month, I wrote 6 syllables per line with some lines having one more or fewer syllables and by the end of the month I tired to adhere to 8 syllables per line.

And so, my personal style prefers 4 lines and/or stanzas, doesn’t focus on a rhyming pattern (though it can rhyme), and has 8 syllables per line with deviations done for effect (and are expected to be repeated through the stanzas).  I shall call it “Chimera” because it’s a monster made of monsters.