The Flowers of Early Spring

Snowdrop Flower, Plainfield, Vermont

"The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size."
Gertrude S. Waster




I know spring is two months away but with our mild winter it seems like it's right around the corner... Because we were visiting the East coast, we missed the couple of snowstorms Colorado Springs had in December. I look at my photos from last January and it seems unreal that we missed out on so much snow this year. I see drought conditions ahead of us if it doesn't change.


Today I am working on organizing my poetry, cleaning up the clutter to see if I have new work in me or if I need to work on revision. I think I have a chapbook in me this year, it feels like a good year to write one. I have a title and maybe already the poems. Although I haven't written a poem in so long there is a little resistance to new work. This morning I spent a long time reading poetry I couldn't sleep so from 2:30-4:00 I read and listened to the poems of Irish poet, Michael Hartnett. 

Just a Photo

Farmers Market Bouquet 

The Fiddlehead Blog: 10 Rules for Submitting

The Fiddlehead Blog: 10 Rules for Submitting: If you missed the deadline for The Fiddlehead’s 21st Annual Literary Contest , fret not! The Fiddlehead accepts submissions year-round so i...

Carry Your Burden

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.  Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.  Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down.  And this is all life really means.

 Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a lot of work to do this week and I woke up this morning feeling really crummy...maybe it's lack of sleep or lack of enthusiasm for my full plate. I'm taking a walk with the dogs in hopes that that will get me going. I just started reading Writer With a Day Job: Inspiration & Exercises to Help You Craft a Writing Life Alongside Your Career by Áine Greaney. How do you get going when you feel like getting back into bed? 

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

the power of words

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Hzgzim5m7oU&vq=medium

Using Software to Track Submissions: Part 4 — Online Submission Trackers

Using Software to Track Submissions: Part 4 — Online Submission Trackers

How to start a poem

Poets are good listeners. They find moments, experiences and images and write poems from what others might perceive as silence. Often poetry exposes the ugliness and the beauty of our world reminding us what we might have forgotten or what we never would have noticed. Poetry can spark political discussion, protest a wrong, affect change, be mindful of the natural world, expose the horrors of war, invite someone into a personal space or it can be a quiet voice that invokes a spiritual presence or a connection to a higher power. With all that poetry is and can be it’s easy to get overwhelmed with just starting a poem.

Places to start a poem

A line of one of your finished poems

A line or phrase from another poet

A list of your favorite words

American sentence: a sentence with seventeen syllables 

Encyclopedia
Foreign language dictionary

Google searches

I Remember i.e. based on Joe Brainard’s book length poem I Remember

Journal entries (yours or historical texts)

Letters or emails

Notes from a class or lecture

Old newspaper or magazine clippings (try a black-out poem)

Poem Sketching (Sandford Lyne’s book below)

Quotes

Receipts

With a title

With a collaborator

Suggested Reading

A Natural History of the Senses

Diane Ackerman

In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop

Steve Kowit

Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within

Kim Addonizio

Poem Crazy: Falling in Love with Words

Susan Wooldridge

The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide

Robert Pinsky

The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing

Richard Hugo

Writing Poetry from the Inside Out: Finding Your Voice Through the Craft of Poetry

Sandford Lyne

Whereof the Gift Is Small by Maxine W. Kumin : Poetry Magazine

Whereof the Gift Is Small by Maxine W. Kumin : Poetry Magazine

The postman's knock

How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude! 

Emily Dickinson, letter to Mrs. J.S. Cooper, 1880

And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
W.H. Auden

I miss writing and getting letters...although I'm a huge technology geek it seems like the only mail I get is credit card offers, catalogs and charities asking for funds. At Christmas there are a few handwritten cards but most recently email and e-cards are the way to go. I joined Postcrossing in the fall but only recently started sending out postcards. Since I collect vintage postcards I thought this might be a fun hobby and something to look forward to in the mail. So far I've sent out approximately eight and I'm sure any day now I'll be getting some mail from someone in another part of the world. I also like thinking that sending out postcards is keeping the USPS in business! By the way Postcrossing is free; the only cost postage, postcards and your time. 

Today, think about spending a little time and money and jotting off a postcard to a friend. I found some lovely art cards in a local shop that didn't cost very much money. Cheaper than a greeting card and for most people much more fun to receive than an email. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

More Resolutions

Painted Fire

"Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself."

Mark Twain

It's already January 5th, my first blog post of the year. I've been thinking a lot about my blog and what direction I'd like to take this year. Originally I started this blog as a warm up exercise to get me ready for my daily writing...writing exercises and prompts have always inspired me and I hope you've found some good here as well. In a recent interview, I was asked where I'd like to take my blog and I didn't have a good answer. Maybe on the horizon an e-book or a children's book...definitely a poetry chapbook is on my list for 2012. Where do you see your writing growing in 2012?

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag