Poetry Writing 101 – Writersfest Part II

I need about one hundred fifty drafts of a poem to get it right, and fifty more to make it sound spontaneous.
― James Dickey

What makes you a poet is a gift for language, an ability to see into the heart of things, and an ability to deal with important unconscious material. When all these things come together, you’re a poet. But there isn’t one little gimmick that makes you a poet. There isn’t any formula for it.
— Erica Jong

A poet’s work … to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it from going to sleep.
— Salman Rushdie

The second workshop I attended at Writersfest was Poetry Writing 101, facilitated by Sarah Tsiang.

Get ready to get your creative juices flowing in this welcoming introduction to writing in verse. Join award-winning poet Sarah Tsiang through a series of writing exercises designed to help you find your spark. Through explorations of imagery, language, structure and flow, you’ll play with ways to make writing that feels authentically you.

We began by playing with opposites. If we take a quote from Emily Dickenson, “My life had stood a loaded gun” and make it opposite, we might get: Your death will sit some empty – and here’s where she turned to the participants and asked for suggestions for the opposite of gun. We gave her: flower, dove, hug, marshmallow, peace, pen, suture, birth, whisper, hammer, forceps, uterus, welcome, feather, love, embrace.

We can all be trying to say the same thing, but it all comes down to distilling it down to the right words, making sure you don’t have a wasted word. Density is made through grounding writing in the senses. The specific will lead you to the universal.

For the next exercise we were divided into groups. Half of the groups were asked to provide five interesting nouns, the other half were asked to provide five interesting adjectives. Then we were asked (as individuals) to pick a random noun and adjective and use them in a sentence:

The wildflowers clung with serpentine tenacity to the fence.
The reeds were a verdant shade of green.
The windmill was a whimsical reminder of the life of Don Quixote.

Next we were given a hand-out. There were five poems on it and we were aske to write the opposite of whichever poem we picked.

The poem I picked was Maya Angelou’s:

Awaking in New York

Curtains forcing their will
against the wind,
children sleep,
exchanging dreams with
seraphim. The city
drags itself awake on
subway straps; and
I, an alarm, awake as a
rumor of war
lie stretching into dawn
unasked and unheeded.

My version, turning it into the opposite:

Falling Asleep in Old York

Openness volunteering our won’t
for the calm,
adults awake,
hoarding reality without
demons. The country
pushes you asleep under
uppers unrestrained; and
you, a calm, sleep as a
fact of peace
stands compacting out of dusk
asked and heeded.

The most important thing about poetry is ambivalence – trying to understand things on a different level.

For our next exercise we were asked to think of two important relationships in our lives. We were to describe all of the emotions and feelings associated with them. Then we were to think of an incident, image, or situation that holds two of these emotions. Next we were asked to write a short piece about one of these relationships and then turn it into a poem.

The relationship I chose to write about was with my father.

When I was twenty, my father was diagnosed with colon cancer. Back then there weren’t the advances there are today for early detection, so it was quite advanced when it was discovered. Our relationship was just getting back on track from a past rockiness, but when he needed to go to Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto for treatment, my new husband and I took the day off work to take him up there. Perhaps I was very naïve, but I did not fear losing him at that time. But as we left him in the waiting room, I looked back and saw him sitting there looking alone and afraid. I will always regret not going back and sitting with him.

Love and Regret

The sun should not be shining today
It is too happy for a day of saying goodbye
There’s a hole in my heart where you once were
No matter how many disagreements we had
Underneath it all was the ever present love
Now you are gone, ripped away from me
No more arguing, no more recriminations
I left you sitting in that waiting room
Looking lost and scared, hands clasped in your lap
I was selfish, and left you alone
And now I stand watching as they lower your coffin
Filled with regret for not turning back to sit with you
And telling you one last time, I love you.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The word for last week is . . . frustration.

Apparently I’m stuck in a traffic jam on that road of good intentions that leads to you-know-where.

You’d think, what with getting our Thanksgiving dinner out of the way on Sunday that I’d have the rest of the week to do all that stuff I said I was going to do in last week’s blog post, but it didn’t quite work out that way.

I spent the better part of Monday re-arranging the kitchen cupboards to make room for the stuff we kept on top of the fridge, then cleaned out the fridge freezer in preparation for the new fridge that was being delivered on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning I had a stitchery meeting, which worked out okay because the fridge was being delivered in the early afternoon and our meetings only go until noon. We were supposed to start a woven fabric basket at the meeting, which did not go as planned. Then I get home and they delivered our fridge early, with no warning. They were supposed to call ahead!

We got the old fridge cleared out as quickly as we could, no finesse about it, and the delivery guys took it away. Hubby had to cut away at part of the alcove that was built around it because the plug from the new fridge was in a different spot than the one in the old one and the plug wouldn’t reach the outlet otherwise.

New fridge gets plugged in, and pushed back – fits perfectly. Delivery guys leave. I go to start filling it and discover a new problem. My beautiful new fridge has French doors, and the left side won’t open because it’s right up against the wall. *sigh*

More farcical angst trying to get a hold of the furniture place, and then we have to go over and pick out a new new fridge and arrange for them to pick up the old new one. Fortunately they were able to give us a loaner.

My week did not improve after that, but at least I got all my blog posts up.

NEW WORDS:
2847+615+295+986=4,753
UP: 54 – words

Pretty consistent, wasn’t I? And while I may not have got any extra writing in, at least I didn’t have to burn the midnight oil getting my blog posts done.

One more installment and Winter’s Child is done. It would have been better if I could have dragged it out until November, then I could just post excerpts from my WIP for my Fiction Fridays, but there really isn’t any more story to tell.

I might give serializing stories a rest for a while, maybe until the new year. I was thinking about getting back into some timed writing using a one word prompt every day, and then picking the best exercise piece and turning it into a flash story for Fridays, we’ll have to wait and see how I feel after NaNo.

Meanwhile, for the last Friday in October I’ll probably post an excerpt from my first NaNo. I might post one from my second one on the first Friday in November, just because I won’t be very far along yet with my new NaNo

Goals For Next Week:
Keep up the good work with the blogs; find an idea for NaNoWriMo

EDITING:
1.5 Hours

Yeah, not a lot, but it’s better than nothing, right? I may have been a little distracted last week. Aside from all the crap going on, the holiday kind of threw me off. Plus, as I knew would happen eventually, the weather turned on me. I enjoy the cool evenings, but the dark is getting really dark, especially when it’s overcast.

Goal For Next Week:
Try and get into a routine with the editing.

POETRY:
I had the blog post part of a more complicated form done, but the example was tripping me up. I was running out of time so I switched to a far less complicated form and actually, I kind of liked it.

I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise that I did not make any progress printing out poems for indexing. One of these days . . . I swear!

Goal For Next Week:
Find a new form to share; work on the extra forms. Print poems to update big book o’ poems.

CRAFTING:
One of the ladies in my stitchery group volunteered to show us how to make a woven, fabric basket. There were only a handful of us who took her up on the offer. Well, we were sent the instructions and apparently I only skimmed over them or something, because I came with uncut material and the others had theirs cut into strips and some even had them pressed. *sigh*

So, by the end of the meeting, while others had their first row of strips ready to be sewn on the base of the baskets, I had the five long strips pressed, stuffed, and sewn, and fourteen others that are pressed. So I have stitchery homework, due in two weeks time.

But believe it or not, I did get some work done on my stitchery kit. I pulled it out on Wednesday night and worked on it during Masked Singer. :-D

Goal For Next Week:
Work on my zentangle; work on the kit I started; do my stitchery homework.

WHAT I’M READING:
I’m gonna be honest here. I was only a little way into Never, Never, by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher and I read several unfavorable reviews about it and paused, not knowing if I wanted to keep going. I liked what I read so far, so I finally sucked it up and kept going. I’m glad I did, because I really enjoyed it.

I kept going on the box set on the Kindle and read High Noon, by S.E. Biblow. I liked this one much better than the last one – it was a fun little mystery. Next up on the Kindle is Mystic Pieces, by Ada Bell.

Goal For Next Week:
Find a new tree book to read; continue with the box set on the Kindle.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

That new leaf isn’t exactly thriving, but neither is it dying. I’d say it’s more like it’s in a dormant stage. Hopefully the week ahead will see it starting to grow again.

This week will be a little busier than last week, but at least it’s expected busyness, not like the fiasco with the fridge. And I also had an unexpected coffee date on Friday, and while taking a walk along the waterfront was nice, it turned into three hours, which was a little long for coffee.

Tuesday I’ll be joining the stitchery guild for a one day, all day, retreat at a local spa. This is the first time we’ve held a retreat and a surprising number signed up. We get to stitch all day at a local spa, and in the afternoon we’ll be treated to high tea.

One more installment for Winter’s Child, and it’s done. It’s always a little sad when a story ends, and I think I’m going to take a break from serials for a while.

I really need to come up with an idea for NaNoWriMo. Time to break out the old idea file – the paper files that is. I keep remembering that An Elemental Wind started out as a rejected idea. How many other ideas might I have that could work for NaNo? Time to find out.

Even if I’m able to come up with an office routine that includes editing, I’ve only got a couple of weeks until NaNo, and I’m wondering if I’ll be able to stick to it. On the other hand, who knows how much I’ll be able to accomplish in that two and a half weeks, so I should at least give it a try, right?

Ideally, I’d also like to have a couple of poetry posts done before NaNo, just to take some of the pressure off, but that means picking out some more forms. I may have to resort to forms I’ve already done. In any case, I’d like to do at least two forms this week – one for the blog and one for reserve.

I may need to go back to knitting or crocheting if I’m going to do crafts at night. The lighting really sucks in this house, and you need good light to stitch. So I think if I’m going to do any stitching it’ll have to be during the day. But that’s okay. I wouldn’t mind knitting myself a sweater or two, and there’s this afghan I’d like to do for a present . . . Of course that’ll be a moot point if I can’t get the writing taken care of during the day. And again, whatever routine I come up with is probably not going to last more than two weeks.

I did a moderate amount of reading last week and now I need to pick a new tree book. I don’t know what I’m in the mood to read next – maybe I’ll just close my eyes and point to my to-be-read bookcase.

I’m thinking the best way to overcome this non-productive mood I’ve been in lately is to keep busy. Just get up and do things without thinking about them. I need to go back to my lists too, to give my day some structure.

It’s worth a try.

Winter's Child - Part 17

We had lost much in the way of knowledge and science over the ages. There were of course drastic measures we could have taken, but these would have left the world a barren desert, devoid of all but the most rudimentary life forms. This we could not bring ourselves to do.

Some chose to leave well enough alone, these withdrew from the world altogether. Ask me not how it was accomplished, just know that it was done. Those of us who remained watched, and we waited and we learned. Your weapons were an anathema to us and we had none of our own. Instead we relied on stealth and cunning and your insatiable curiosity.

The Clans lost contact with one another. My Clan settled on this mountain and called it ours. And ours it remained, until the first human settlers came.

Direct confrontation with you brought only our own death, so we were forced to find a different method of dealing with you. I do not know how other colonies dealt with you – communication between colonies, by this time, was limited. Our way was to lead you astray.

You have only yourselves to blame really. You are such a curious race, and we found that curiosity was a tool we could use to great effect. All we needed to do was to allow one of you a glimpse or two of one of us. It would fire up that curiosity of yours and you would follow as we lured you to your death—a fall from a height, drowning, or just far enough from shelter that you would succumb to the cold, which was apparently an anathema to you. It never failed.

But we were limited to picking you off one at a time. It was never enough. No matter how many of you died, there were always more to take your place. Our numbers began to dwindle, and yours continued to grow.

So many humans, so few of us. We fled further and further up the mountain seeking refuge in places inhospitable to your kind, away from you and your technology. We grew older and more tired, but still we preyed upon you. It became a matter of old hatred and pride; habit, if you will.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

“Did you find him?” Maggie called from the back deck.

James turned at the sound of Maggie’s voice and started back towards her. He’d followed the tracks as far as he could. “There’s no sign of him. These tracks just peter out.”

“Where could he have gone?”

“I don’t know, Mags. But I think we need to call Frank Jensen.” Frank Jensen, his friend who volunteered with Search and Rescue.

“No, we need to keep looking.” Maggie tried to push past him.

“Maggie,” James said, taking hold of her by her shoulders. “There’s a lot of woods out there. We can’t do this on our own.”

“But he’s so little.” She collapsed against him.

“I know Mags,” he said gently. “But he’s a tough little guy. We’ll find him, but first we need to get some help.”

“I’ll start making some calls,” Frank said when James called him. “We’ve still got maps of the area with a grid laid out over them from when the hikers got lost last fall. Try not to worry, Jim. We’ll be at your place before you know it.”

Frank was as good as his word, and in a short time cars began pulling into the Preston’s driveway. Word had begun to spread; some of the cars belonged to friends and neighbors coming to lend their support.

Snow was just beginning to fall again as they set out in groups of two, one of each pair carrying a lantern. There was still a couple of hours of daylight left, but better to be safe than sorry. No one said it, but it was on everyone's mind. The longer the boy was out there, the smaller the chance of finding him alive.

One neighbor brought his hunting dogs, but so far they proved to be ineffective. The light was beginning to dim and the temperature was beginning to drop. Hope was fading.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Missed an installment? Catch up here:
Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,  Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11,  Part 12 Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16

Hay(na)koo Verse Form

For such a simple form there’s certainly an abundance of information about it. Think the Haiku is easy? Let me introduce to the Filipino Haiku, the Hay(na)ku. And yes, the parentheses are a required part of the name.

The Hay(na)ku was created by Filipino-American poet Eileen R. Tabios. It was first called the “Pinoy Haiku” and was released in 2003 on June 12, Philippine Independence Day. The name “hay(na)ku” (pronounced ai-na-koo) was coined by Vince Gotera.

The form consists of a single tercet with lines of one, two, and three words, in that order. Syllables are not counted which means the word “cold” and the word “temperature” carry the same weight. There are no other restrictions to this form.

Some of the variations of this form include the reverse Hay(na)koo, which starts with three words in the first line, two in the second, and one in the third. Other poets have also linked several Hay(na)koo together to make a chain.

If you’d like to learn more about this form, check the History of the Hay(na)koo in the author’s own words. I warn you though, once you start writing them, it’s hard to stop.


Cold
sets in –
winter has come.


Leaves
scuttle across
cold, barren ground.


Bees
buzz busily
flower to flower.


Cats
play chase
and then sleep.


Coffee—
dark magic
for waking up.

The Truth About Bodies in Motion – Writersfest Part I

A fool can always find another fool to admire him.
― Tanis MacDonald

When you traffic in falsehoods, rev the engines. Leave shoes all over the house for fast escapes.
― Tanis MacDonald

But if there were two of me, who would you ignore first?
― Tanis MacDonald

I was very happy that I got to Kingston in time for my first workshop (for the first time since I’ve been going to these retreats!). The workshop was The Truth About Bodies in Motion, facilitated by Tanis MacDonald, writer, poet, reviewer, and professor. Here’s the blurb for the workshop:

In this workshop, we will work with the pleasures and the problems of being a body in motion, and shift towards writing about our bodies in all their beauties and oddities as nature writing. What is the beauty of a hawk in flight seen through the lens of a panic attack? How does foot pain change the act of urban foraging? Bring your breathing, grousing, observant bodies.

Tanis MacDonald always has an interesting take on whatever topic she’s presenting in her workshops. She began by having us think about our bodily changes and experiences, and how we write about them. Sometimes we suffer from chronic conditions that make it seem like we’re living as an under the radar disabled person – we cannot function normally, but we don’t suffer from a recognized disability.

There is a temptation to think about the person as their condition, and once we do we are unable to see beyond it. You know your truth – the changes in your body, the aging of your body. One day you can do something, another day you cannot.

The simple act of going for a walk can bring great pleasure, but for someone with a chronic illness it can also present physical problems and these two things clash up against each other. What is it like to write about it? Many readers won’t want to read about it; many others will.

We are used to writing about bodies outside of nature. There is room for all of ourselves – changing bodies, rebellious bodies. Agism, sizism, sexism, racism – these are all things we deal with on a daily basis, and yet they’re seldom written about.

Think about all the things you love to do and how your body’s changed, so you no longer have access to the way you used to do things. You’re having to shift who you are. Think about reading about it.

Consider the body with a perceived difference – the disobedient and rebellious body. Think about rebelling against a cultural norm, where you have to look or act a certain way to be accepted. Getting all of your body experience onto the page – the joys, inclusion, love – is as important as the pain. It isn’t always like that.

When writing about the truth about your body, find a metaphor to commit to and come back to it as much as you can. Use something fresh, not cliché Fresh, natural and a surprise to the readers gives them that “Aha!” moment.

What else is going on in your life besides the pain and struggle? Use details so that it’s not something that happens in isolation, the reader is a part of it. Use old stories, hidden metaphors.

Pain is a private language.
– Roy Lichtenstein

How can we make our private pain public on the page so it’s believable? The moment you write it down you make it public. Read how others express pain on the written page. Check out Falling for Myself, by Dorothy Ellen Palmer or Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, by Sonya Huber

Exercise: We were given 5 different prompts and then told to pick our favorite and write a short piece about it. The prompt I chose was, “What is it like to occupy a “disobedient” or “rebellious” body: disobeying what? Rebelling against whom?”

My body is no longer the same. It was already becoming disobedient – aging when I wasn’t looking, growing soft and slowing down. And then it grew cancer cells that needed to be excised. How dare my body do this to me? I was supposed to be young and healthy forever! But instead I woke up in the recovery room in the hospital, a bag attached to my abdomen to collect my waste, and my whole world was changed. Simple movements that I always took for granted – sitting up, rising from my bed – now felt like Sisyphus pushing that rock up the hill. I’d try, and try, but things didn’t work the same, and I’d have to try again. The relief of the surgery doing what it was supposed to was overshadowed by the reality that bag on my abdomen.

Next we were asked to pick our least favorite prompt. This time, the one I chose was, “What are your experiences of beauty, grace, and/or power in your body?”

This is my least favorite because I’ve never felt myself to be beautiful or graceful. So I can’t write to those. I have, however, felt power, as any fertile woman can. We hold the power of life within us, whether we choose to exercise that power or not. I grew my daughter under my heart for nine months, making me powerful with the act of creation. Her birth was by caesarean section, they had to cut me open to release her, but there was a kind of power in that as well as we both emerged from the experience triumphant. They laid her on my chest for her first meal while I was still in recovery and all the pain was forgotten. I was more powerful in that moment than I’d ever been in my life. The power of motherhood extends beyond childbirth. A mother will do things she never thought possible for her child. She will take risks and use her power to ensure her child thrives. She will sacrifice her power for her child.

There is a linkage through the body, One thing changes and everything changes. What if you’re in an accident, and you survive, but your body has changed irreparably? What do you have to live without doing? The temptation to think you are cured is strong, but it’s not true.

When a milkweed pod splits open, is it empty, or has it fulfilled its purpose? It’s all contained and then explodes open, scattering the seeds. Consider how you might want to change your way of writing.

Tanis was very up front about her own bodily changes, describing how it’s impacted both her writing and her life. She does not shy about writing about uncomfortable subjects. Her book Straggle contains essays on such things as what it’s like to take a walk when you have chronic pain, or having a panic attack when you’re alone in the woods.

I don’t know that I’ll be writing about chronic pain or disabilities on a regular basis, but should one of my characters be facing physical limitations, I feel like I’ll be better equipped to write about it.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The word for last week is . . . quiet.

There was only one workshop Sunday morning (well, there was a second one but it was on writing about food, which is not my thing, but it would have been kind of fun to take the ferry over to the island where the workshop was being held) so after that was over I packed up my bags and headed for home.

I arrived about lunch time, and after unpacking there was laundry to do and the hubby and father-in-law nicely left the grocery shopping for me to do as well (normally I do this Friday mornings). LOL

Kingston was filled with people, and people tend to deplete my energy, so the first part of last week was spent re-charging my batteries. But I hope you noticed I got all of my blog posts up on time, and I didn’t have to stay up late to do it. So I guess that new leaf that’s starting to sprout didn’t wither completely away after all.

NEW WORDS:
2847+615+295+986=4,753
UP: 856– words

Gee, there’s a surprise. I’m up about as many words as my installment for Winter’s Child. Go figure, eh?

I think there’s only two more episodes to go in Winter’s Child before it’s done. I’d like to make it longer, but there’s only so much I can do to drag it out. Joey can’t last forever when it’s so cold out. LOL

And NaNoWriMo is coming up fast. In September you think you have all the time in the world, then suddenly it’s October and NaNo begins at the end of the month. And no, I have no idea what I’ll be working on this year. I have two different ideas for flash stories like I did a couple of years ago, but one of them requires a lot more research and I just don’t know if I’ll have time for it. Or, I may just go for something completely different. Maybe a brand new story that has nothing to do with any of my other books.

Yeah, that’s just what I need. Another unfinished book to add to the pile. *sigh* But I’ve got a NaNo hoodie and a tee-shirt on their way for inspiration, so whether I get an idea or not, I’m doing it. Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time I started without a clue as to what I’d be writing. :-D

Goals For Next Week:
Keep up the good work with the blogs; find an idea for NaNoWriMo

EDITING:
0 Hours

Oopsie! I knew I was forgetting something. Yeah, I think I’m going to have to go back to list making and keep putting “editing” at the top of my list. I have a bunch of other stuff that needs to be done as well, but I really have to do Elemental Spirit first. It’s the last book in the series, and then I can feel free to move on and start editing other stuff.

Although . . . maybe if I tried editing something else as well it might spur me on to take a whack at Elemental Spirit. Work a bit on E.S., then something else, then back to E.S. If nothing else, it might get me going.

Goal For Next Week:
Just stop talking about it and do it for crying out loud!

POETRY:
Last week’s form required a bit of a longer example than I’ve been doing lately, but it was still a fairly simple one to write. Maybe I should try for something a little more challenging this week, eh?

Believe it or not, I actually did start printing some of the poems I need to add to my big book o’ poems. Okay, so maybe it was only half a dozen or so, but it’s a start. And I’ve been adding dates to them, as best I can. I really need to start doing that as I write them.

The problem is, then I go back and re-write them and then that date’s not quite current. I suppose I could always add a revised date though. It just seems like a lot of work. But it would be nice to know whether a poem is a current one or an old one, and just how old a one it is. I mean, I’ve got poems dating back to high school.

Goal For Next Week:
Find a new form to share; work on the extra forms. Print poems to update big book o’ poems.

CRAFTING:
There was a stitch-in at the library last week, and I actually got some stitching in while I was there. Sadly, that’s the only stitching I did last week.

I keep saying that I’d like to get my writing taken care of during the day, leaving my evenings free to work on my stitchery, but this hasn’t happened yet. One of the reasons for this is that while I often have the time to stitch, by evening my eyes are too tired to do this. I might have to set aside a time during the morning or afternoon for this instead.

Goal For Next Week:
Work on my zentangle; work on the kit I started.

WHAT I’M READING:
I finished Trashlands, by Alison Stine. And then I read Bad Luck Vampire, by Lynsay Sands in one day. Now I’ve started reading Never, Never, by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher.

I haven’t read anything on the Kindle since finishing Lattes and Levitation, by Christine Pope. It was part of a boxed set and it was so disappointing that I guess I’m a little leery of reading anything else from that box.

But maybe the rest of the books in the set won’t be disappointing at all. And if the next one is, then I can just delete the rest of the set. You know, as soon as I figure out how to delete stuff off my Kindle. :-D

Goal For Next Week:
Keep up the non-binging of books.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

Well, that new leaf survived, but just barely, I’d say. Time to start nurturing it into growing again.

Once again, the week ahead has only Tuesday with anything going on. In the morning is a regular stitchery meeting – I think it’s project day, the first of two meetings where we learn to make a woven basket. And in the afternoon our new fridge is going to be delivered. Woot! Can’t wait.

Winter’s Child is almost done. There’s only one, maybe two more installments to go. It’s both longer, and not as long as I’d hoped to make it. But overall, I’m really happy with it. I just hope the ending lives up to the rest of it. Guess we’ll see.

Then it’s time to look forward to NaNoWriMo. I have absolutely no clue what I’m going to write about this year. Another story a day deal? I had pretty good luck with that a couple of years ago. Or maybe I could delve deep into my vault of abandoned ideas. After all, Winter’s Child was once a story I’d abandoned, so obviously I’ve grown as a writer.

Or I could go with a second or third book of a series I did the first book for in previous NaNos. Of course, that just means more editing down the road. Or maybe, and here’s a radically idea, I could go for something completely new. *sigh* Obviously I have a decision to make.

I really need to get back on track with the editing this week. I did so well working on the hard copy, and now it’s all fallen apart again. Hopefully, but getting back into an office routine this week I’ll be able to get back into an editing routine. Even an hour a day would move things forward.

The poetry has been moving along at a steady pace, although the last few weeks I’ve been showcasing rather simple forms. Time for something a little more complicated I think, but it’ll depend on the amount of time I have available. I seem to be less distracted when I’m working in my office though.

I did get a handful of poems printed off last week, but I have a lot more to go. And then even when I finish printing them I still have to file them in my book, and then I have the monumental task of double checking to make sure I have them all. This is not going to be a fun job.

I believe I was filing poems in the book in alphabetical order, but I’m thinking it would make better sense to do it by date instead. That way, going forward I can just add poems as I write them to the back of the book instead of shuffling through it. Something to think about, anyway.

Again, the goal for this week is to get my writing out of the way during the day so that I can go back to crafting at night, but as I said, usually by the time I get to sit and relax after supper I’m starting to tire, and you usually need fresh eyes to stitch.

I’m still working on the satin stitch portion of my kit, but once I’m done that the rest should go quite quickly. There are two more in the series, but seeing as I have no idea what I’m going to do with them, I’m going to wait until after my zentangle sampler is finished to do start them. And I’d still like to get the sampler done in time to use it for my November stitchery retreat, so I’d better shake my needles.

I can’t believe I didn’t open my Kindle once last week. And I made myself waiting until I finished Trashlands before starting Bad Luck Vampire, which I read in one day. What can I say? I read fast and it was a really, really good book.

I am 11 books past my Goodreads goal of reading 50 books this year, so I think it wouldn’t hurt to slow down my reading a bit this week. We’ll have to see how it goes. I read a bunch of reviews of the tree book I started, Never, Never, and they weren’t good, but I like it so far.

Lots to do this week, but I’ll have plenty of time, barring Tuesday, to do it in. The big issue will be the weather. As you know, I’m solar powered. The last few weeks have been mostly sunny, but according to Environment Canada, the week ahead is supposed to be mostly overcast and raining. So I guess we’ll see how big a factor that is on regaining my momentum.

Wish me luck!

Winter's Child - Part 16

We had seen many different species develop, but you were the first bearing a resemblance to our own. When you first began to stand upon two legs, we took a great interest in your beginnings. Had we known what you would become, perhaps we would have done things differently.

It was we who gifted the first cave man with fire. A whim, just to see what he would do with it. We remained apart, watching, guiding when we deemed it necessary. Such crude creatures you began as. But really, has evolution changed you for the better?

It seemed like only a few years – a few hundred, a few thousand? What are years to a race as long lived as we? We grew bored with watching you stumble about. You were no longer entertaining and we moved on to other things. When next we noticed you, you’d already spread across the face of the earth.

Civilizations rose and fell with alarming swiftness. Your barbarism was appalling. You preyed not only on other species but each other as well. Your population was ever expanding, and there were some who were concerned. But the world was large. We foolishly believed there would be room for all.

We were not a prolific race, we had only a handful of colonies scattered across the globe. Our tolerance for the heat of the sun was beginning to wane, and those of us living in this region took to the high mountains, coming down only when the cold would support us. There were still many who believed co-existence was possible.

Peaceful by nature we were ill-prepared to meet the violence of your dealings with us. In a few short centuries we had gone from gods to creatures to be hated and feared. And what you feared you destroyed.

Some, among us, could not let go of the belief we could be friends. You were so much like us. They tried to make peace, to make you believe we meant no harm, that we had much to share. They were the first to die.

In the end we did the only thing left to us, we fought back.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

His new friend was quite nice, Joey later decided.

“I think Grandpa would have liked you,” he told her. “You’re not at all scary. I think he got his stories wrong.”

The creature didn’t answer, but he no longer minded.

“I really wish you could talk,” he continued. “I want to ask you about being a winter’s child. Like, what’s it like to be in the cold all the time? And does it hurt when you have to be in the sunlight?”

The creature cocked her head to one side but didn’t seem to understand what he was saying.

“That’s okay,” Joey said. “But I bet you could tell stories even better than Grandpa.”

She didn’t seem to know where he lived, any more than he did, but that was okay with Joey, as long as they were together. He had no idea she was leading him further into the woods, not closer to home. In his mind, there was no reason not to trust her. Never mind Grandpa’s warnings about how winter’s children always led people astray to freeze to death in the snow.

Having her for company made Joey forget how cold it was. He was having way too much fun for that. Snow began to fall again but they laughed, running and jumping through the swirls. Joey fell over backwards trying to catch a snow flake on his tongue and while he lay there he made a snow angel. She looked at him curiously before laying down and copying him, making an angel of her own.

There seemed to be no end of the things his friend could do. She held out her hand to let snow collect, then swirled it around to make a tiny snow whirlwind. She showed him how to build castles, just like the ones he built of sand in the summer, but there would be no tide to wash these away.

When they came to the small clearing with the pond, she reached up and broke an icicle off a maple tree branch and gave it to him to suck on. It was just like candy. Then they took a running start and slid across the pond, landing with a puff of snow at the other side.

Neither of them seemed to notice how the light was fading. Nor did they notice the way the fresh snow blanketed their tracks. Joey’s friend breathed on a clear patch of ice and showed him pictures in the frost. Joey laughed with delight.

She stood up, giving herself a shake that sent the snow swirling. Joey’s eyes were getting heavy but he watched as she broke off some of the reeds sticking up out of the ice on the pond. Then she dug a cosy nest out of the snow for him. Joey curled up, dowsily listening to the lullaby she played on the reeds. It made him forget how cold he was; soon he was fast asleep.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Missed an installment? Catch up here:
Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,  Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11,  Part 12 Part 13, Part 14, Part 15

Verset Verse Form

The Verset, also known as the Triversen, was created by American poet, writer, and physician William Carlos Williams. It’s a six stanza poem, but each stanza is composed of a single sentence that has been broken into three lines. It has no rhyme and no syllable count.

You start by writing a single complete statement or observation on whatever subject you wish. Then you break the sentence into three lines, breaking where you might pause naturally to take a breath or reflect. Each line is a separate phrase in the sentence – line one is a statement of fact or observation, lines two and three should set the tone, indicate a situation or associated idea, or continue a metaphor for the original statement.

Continue writing in this way until you have six stanzas of three lines each. The poem should be written to the rhythm of normal speech as if you were speaking them aloud.



Just six sentences,
that’s all I have to write
to make this into a poem.

How hard could it be
to write a sentence
that could be broken into three lines?

I have two down
and one more to go
before I’m done

This seems kind of silly
but I guess it’s necessary
if I want to make an example

I’ve nothing to complain about,
this form is fairly simple
there’s no rhyme or syllable count

The words are elusive tonight
and I’m forced to dig down deep,
unearthing them like buried like treasure.

Journaling Journey – Part II

I journal about anything and everything I can in my life – minutiae, dreams, important mailed papers, receipts, etc. There is literally nothing that I won’t put in my assorted journaling.
— Margot Olson

Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.
— Natalie Goldberg

Journal what you love, what you hate, what’s in your head, what’s important. Journaling organizes your thoughts; allows you to see things in a concrete way that otherwise you might not see.
— Kay Walkingstick

You’ve decided to start a journal. That’s awesome! There’s only one problem – you don’t know what to fill it with, what kind of journal you want to make. Lucky for you, I’m here to help with a description of some of the different kinds of journals you can have.

Stream of Consciousness.
If you do morning pages (as laid out in the book, The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron), then you’re already doing this. It’s where you write in a continuous stream of whatever pops into your head, without censoring yourself. You don’t need to make sense, just write about whatever’s on your mind. You can time yourself, limit yourself to a set number of pages, or simply write until you run out of words.

Dream Journal
Some people say they don’t dream, but more likely they just don’t remember their dreams. You forget half of what you dream about within 2 - 5 minutes of waking up, and within 10 minutes you’ll have forgotten 90%. The best way to keep your dreams fresh is to have a pen and notebook beside your bed and then record your dreams as soon as you wake up.

Women tend to recall their dreams more easily than men. If you’re having trouble recalling your dreams, try telling your subconscious you want to remember them before going to sleep. Create a bedtime routine, maybe try meditating, and wake up naturally instead of with an alarm. Recording your dreams is a fascinating way of keeping in touch with your subconscious.

Food Journal
This one is especially good if you’re struggling with health or weight issues. You can take note of what you’re eating each day to become more mindful about the foods you’re choosing. This can lead to making better choices on your weight-loss journey. You can also write down recipes you want to try, or old favorites you don’t want to lose track of.

Fitness Journal
Maybe you’d like to get into better shape, or just want to document your fitness journey. Here is where you can keep track of your work-outs so you can stay committed to an active lifestyle. Record what exercises work best for you, and what ones don’t. You can see your progress, and also see where you may need to streamline your routine.

Blessings Journal
Take a few minutes every day to reflect on the good things you have going on in your life. It might be a call from a friend, a gift of produce from a neighbor’s garden, or finally making friends with the cat next door. These are all things to be grateful for, and you can write them down in your journal. You have a permanent record that life isn’t always bad, and when things aren’t going so well, you can go back and see that there’s always hope for something better. The more you look for the good things in life, the more you’ll find.

Sketch Journal
Do you have an artistic side? You can express your feelings, thoughts, and ideas through illustrations, doodles, or sketches. Don’t be afraid to use colour, either paints or pencil crayons, or even wax crayons. You can write about ideas you have for larger projects, inspirational ideas, or methods you’d like to try. For that matter, you could use the pages of your journal to try out different techniques to see if they’d work for you.

Writing Journal
Here’s the place to jot down your thoughts and ideas and document your journey as a writer. You can develop ideas, plot a story, even outline a novel. You can include character sketches, maps, interesting names, whatever strikes your fancy. It’s a place for inspirational quotes and helpful tips on moving forward.

Daily Life Journal
Here you can keep track of your life’s journey. It can be a day-to-day record, or it can be full of conversations you’ve overheard, sad or happy occasions, or even new experiences that made an impact on you. You can make it as personal as you like, or maybe you’d like an account for future generations. It’s up to you.

Whatever journal you decide to keep, set aside a few minutes each day to make an entry. Write or draw whatever feels right to you, or paste in movie stubs or tickets from events you’ve gone to. Just remember that there’s no right or wrong way to keep a journal.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The word for last week is . . . BUSY!

I don’t know what lit a fire in me last week, but I hope it continues going forward. I established my morning routine for most mornings – Tuesdays I have stitchery duties, and Fridays I have grocery shopping, but when I’m done with those things I’ve been landing back in my office.

I had a nice balance between mundane things (cleaning, laundry, etc.) and office-y things (writing, filing, etc.). I even got the dreaded shredding finished! I had a list of things I wanted to get done before I left for Kingston, and I managed to knock off the list.

And all this in spite of the fact that Monday I had an appointment in the morning and Costco in the afternoon. Tuesday I had a stitchery guild meeting followed by an appointment with a new dietician. And Wednesday I had a poetry group meeting in the park, which was pretty darn dark (we all had flashlights).

And then my productivity came to a halt when I left for Kingston for Writersfest Thursday morning. Which is where I am now, as I type this. I got a lot of writing done during my workshops, not so much outside of the workshops though. And I did not get an installment done for Winter’s Child – I don’t even have a beginning for it.

NEW WORDS:
2852+677+258+110=3,897
DOWN: 284– words

Believe it or not, despite missing the installment for Winter’s Child, I’m not down by as many words as I was the week before. And I probably would have been crazily up in words had I written that post.

Here’s the thing. All the other posts came really easily, if not quickly to me last week. But I didn’t get Winter’s Child done ahead of time. I’m not sure if it would have made a difference if I’d stayed home from the poetry group to get a start on it or not, but I guess it’s a moot point because I didn’t.

I was planning on doing it Thursday night, except . . . after dinner (after my last workshop) I went up to my room and started getting things organized for the next day – you know, procrastinating before writing – and I couldn’t find my medication for the morning. With a sinking heart, I called the hubby, and sure enough – my pill box was sitting on the counter.

It seemed the quickest and easiest solution was for us to meet at the halfway point, which was Belleville. Which happens to have a Walmart close to the highway. We could meet at the Walmart MacDonalds and have a coffee before we parted again.

By this time it was dark out, and I don’t see well in the dark, which is why I no longer care to drive in it. Now, there is a horrific story of a string of little bad lucks that lead to me getting hopelessly lost trying to leave Kingston, but I’ll spare you the nitty gritty details. Suffice it to say, I eventually found my way to the highway, and to Belleville.

As a bonus, and I suspect to make me feel better, the hubby included the new Lynsay Sands book that I’d received in the mail that day. I gassed up the car (another bad luck story) and made it back to Kingston. I had no trouble getting back to the hotel, but I was tired and did not have the energy to do the blog post.

I did NOT get a good night’s sleep, which meant I was really dragging my butt on Friday, and by the time I’d made it through all three workshops and dinner, I had absolutely nothing left for writing, so I made the executive decision of skipping this week’s installment.

Goals For Next Week:
Try to get the blog posts done a little earlier; find some other writing to work on.

EDITING:
0 Hours

Okay, I knew there was something I was forgetting in my oh-so-productive week. Oops! Although at one point, when I was cleaning up my office, I did look for the notes I’d printed off about the Illezie. But I had no idea where they disappeared to. Guess I’ll just have to print them again. *sigh*

But it occurs to me that the Illezie prophecy and records are almost a separate part to the story as a whole, so there’s no reason I can’t work on the “story” part at the same time. It might even make joining them together a little easier. Sounds good in theory, anyway.

Goal For Next Week:
Use my notes about the Illezie as a guide to digging down on the editing.

POETRY:
Last week’s form was a kind of simple one, but it was better than no form at all, right? And I did write two examples, so that should count for something.

AND after I had my poetry post scheduled on both blogs, I wrote my poemwork poem for the poetry gathering on Wednesday. I even had the copies all printed out. Go me! LOL

A few years ago I ran a blog that was dedicated to poetry forms. The blog has been defunct for a long time now, but I’m wondering if there were forms I did there that I haven’t offered here yet. I need to make a master list of the forms I’ve done to double check.

Goal For Next Week:
Find a new form to share; work on the extra forms. Print poems to update big book o’ poems.

CRAFTING:
The stitchery guild had a guest speaker on Tuesday, a lady who talked about her journey of learning beadwork. She had some seriously beautiful pieces to show off. And yes, it did give me the urge to do some beadwork of my own. I especially liked her three dimensional betta fish (although I’d much rather do a dragon).

There was still a little time after to do some actual stitching, so I worked on the kit some more. Wouldn’t you know, it was more satin stitching though.

At first I kind of wished I’d brought some stitchery to Kingston with me, but I haven’t had the time or energy to write, so it probably would have been just one more thing to make me feel guilty for not doing. On the other hand, stitching is relaxing. Maybe getting a few stitches in would have relaxed me enough to get some writing in. You never know.

Goal For Next Week:
Work on my zentangle; work on the kit I started.

WHAT I’M READING:
I’m just about finished Trashlands by Alison Stine. And even though I have the latest Lynsay Sands book waiting for me, I’m not going to read it until I’m done with Trashlands. How responsible of me? LOL

On the Kindle I finished A Midlife Shifter’s Dream, by Ruby Raine, and then loaded it up with a couple of books for Kingston, rather than bringing a bunch of tree books with me. One of these was a boxed set. I finished reading Lattes and Levitation, by Christine Pope, but I’m going to have another look at the blurb for the set to see if I want to continue. While the murder central to the plot was solved, the ending read like it should have just said “to be continued on the next book.” I’m usually pretty good about weeding these out before I start reading them because I find it very disappointing when I’m forced to buy several books to get the complete story.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep up the non-binging of books.

THE WEEK AHEAD:

I really hope that new leaf survives being neglected while I’ve been in Kingston. I’d really hate to see that little sprout whither and die again. I guess all it takes is a little determination, right?

For the most part, I’d have to say my time here in Kingston has been well spent. That being said, not one of the workshops I’ve attended has been what I thought it would be from the description. And I will admit to being a little disappointed in a couple of them. But that’ll be a post for next week. :-D

Tomorrow the proof will be in the pudding. It’ll be my first full day back and I’m really hoping I’ll be able to slide back into the routine I was starting to establish last week. The only thing I have in my day planner for the week is the stitch-in at the library, but will all that free time inspire me, or hinder me?

You know I work better under pressure, and there won’t be any pressure next week. My time is pretty much my own. I can’t help feeling that I got so much done last week because I had so little time to do it in.

I’ll have to come up with a really good installment for Winter’s Child to make up for skipping it last week. And that, to me, means I need to start working on it earlier. But it’s getting a little tricky, now that the creature’s getting a say in things. But honestly, I think we’re really close to the end. A couple more scenes with Joey, and then one with James.

I need to find my Illezie notes and get back to working on Elemental Spirit. Or maybe there’s a reason I can’t seem to find them. Maybe it’s a sign I should be starting over with them. I really think I need to start with the prophecy, because everything else revolves around that. Then maybe the rest will fall into place.

The poetry has actually been going fairly well lately, except for me dragging my heels about updating my poetry book. I think it’s even more important for me to do that now, because the workshop on poetry has got me all fired up about getting a poetry book out there.

Ideally, I’d like to get the writing stuff done during the day so I can go back to crafting at night. I want to finish the kit I’m working on so I can get back to my zentangle sampler. I will try not to think about beading, because that way leads to another project to work on. LOL

I was doing well with my exercise, then I came to Kingston. I’ve been getting some walking in, but I forgot my weights. So first thing on my list for next week is to get back on the exercise wagon. And the dietician said that walking every day after breakfast will help with my blood sugar, so I’m going to start doing that too. Lord knows that after Writersfest I’ll need to!

It’s been a long few days. I haven’t done any site seeing this time around, but I’ve done a LOT of shopping on Princess Street. And the writing I’ve done has pretty much been limited to the workshops. But the good news is, that starting next week I won’t have any problem figuring out what to write about on my Sunday blogs for a while.

I’m actually eager to get back home and see if I can nurse that new leaf into growing again. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be here holding a workshop.

Stranger things have happened.