Secondhand Inspiration
“More time to write can be just as daunting as no time to write.” Christi Craig contemplates on her blog how the rare anomaly of having too much time set aside for writing can actually impede progress. She also provides some key suggestion of how to overcome this phenomenon. Worth the read.
http://christicraig.com/2015/05/20/ive-got-all-day-to-write-um-now-what/
The L Magazine provides some timely suggestions for spring and summer reading lists with the article “Read Me: 50 Books You’ll Want to Read This Spring and Summer.”
http://www.thelmagazine.com/2015/04/read-50-books-youll-want-read-spring-summer/
March 29th’s New York Times Magazine included an awesome profile of poet Terrance Hayes. A must read.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/galaxies-inside-his-head-poet-terrance-hayes.html?_r=1
Sarah Seltzer’s article on Flavorwire called “20 Great Writers on Motivating Yourself To Write, No Matter What” can provide some insight on how other creative types push themselves to create when procrastination and self-doubt looms.
http://flavorwire.com/512781/20-great-writers-on-motivating-yourself-to-write-no-matter-what
Piggybacking on my previous post with resources and prompts… C.A. LaRue is doing writers a huge favor by tracking the prompts being shared all over the Internet for National Poetry Month.
April is almost here. Which means it's time for National Poetry Month. Below are several sites/resources for those always-helpful prompts to write poetry. Since I’ve been creatively constipated lately, I'm looking forward to using these offerings to help kick-start my poetry practice in April.
2015 Poetic Asides PAD (Poem-A-Day) Challenge
http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/2015-april-pad-challenge-guidelines
Poetry Super Highway Prompt-A-Day for National Poetry Month
http://poetrysuperhighway.com/psh/a-poetry-writing-prompt-a-day/
NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month)
The well-written piece by C. Hope Clark linked below talks about the pitfalls of writers not following submission guidelines or familiarizing themselves with a publication before sending their work in. When you think about it, doing these two things can reduce wasted energy by both writers and editors.
http://www.fundsforwriters.com/follow-the-guidelines-is-not-a-cliche/
In his book Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:
Occasioned by February being Black History Month, but worth reading at any time: Kevin Young on Langston Hughes’s The Weary Blues.
Langston Hughes became one of my favorite poets when I first got serious about writing. After reading Kevin Young’s splendid essay about the context in which The Weary Blues was published (as well as background on the jazz aesthetic and blues form), I want to revisit some of Hughes work, both for muse and pleasure. Add that to my reading list.
Happy Corporate Sponsored Synthetic Romance for Profit Day. Believe me…I'm not anti-love, but I am against the systematic pimping of love to spike revenues for no truly logical reason during mid-February.
On this Valentine’s Day, here are some keen observations on how we write about love, from Daniel Jones, who edits the “Modern Love” column for The New York Times. Enjoy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/style/how-we-write-about-love.html?_r=1
"Talent is a wonderful thing, but it won't carry a quitter." - Stephen King, from Duma Key
I’m not one to normally quote Stephen King, but he’s spot on with this statement – both in writing and everyday life.
Think about how many people you’ve known with immense talent or a knack for success. Then think about how many of those folks sustained that success. Proves one thing – there’s just no substitute for hard work.
…here are some insightful action items listed for you in Sara Eckel's well-written post (link below). Read, bookmark, internalize, then make them happen.
"What I Learned from My Relentless Year of Book Promotion"
http://saraeckel.com/uncategorized/what-i-learned-from-my-year-of-relentless-book-promotion
I present to other aspiring fiction authors this revealing article from Nina Badzin: “Your Cover Letter Does Not Matter, and Other Insights from a Contest Judge.”
Read it with an open mind and you’ll get something out of this piece. The keen thoughts Ms. Badzin has on carefully using the f-bomb in flash fiction is well worth the read.
Passed along to me by several other writer friends – here’s a wonderfully revealing and thought provoking piece by Curtis Sittenfeld on “24 Things No One Tells You About Book Publishing.”
For those who need a sharp kick to the seat of their pants to write, I present a motherlode of golden prompts to re-up your creative juices.
The list found at the links below touches on categories ranging from sports to travel, education, gender roles, video games, fashion, family, pop culture, social media and more. May you find the right prompt amongst these to spark you towards your next great story or essay.
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/500-prompts-for-narrative-and-personal-writing/?_r=2
I don’t think I’m often guilty of committing the top offense cited within the NPR Grammar Hall of Shame. But that doesn’t mean that I’m completely innocent when it comes to violations. How about you?
http://www.npr.org/2014/12/30/372495062/the-npr-grammar-hall-of-shame-opens-with-i-and-me
“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential” – Bruce Lee.
A valid statement in life, and also in writing.
“In fact, it feels strangely simple: I have used up my material, the stuff from which I craft stories. I don’t have anything now. Maybe I will have more soon. Or not soon. Or not.” - from Robin Black’s resonant essay “On Being Empty: When a Writer Isn’t Writing.”
Sometimes you run into an article that describes something you’ve been going through eloquently. See the link below.
Ms. Black’s essay loosely describes some of my writing-related struggles over the past two years. I believe all writers/artists/singers/etc. struggle with these feelings at some point. It is a good read for all you creative types out there. Her words give me some hope of getting over the hump with my writing.
http://beyondthemargins.com/2014/12/on-being-empty-when-a-writer-isnt-writing/
…they feel redundant, superfluous, and somewhat synthetic. Pretty much the same rigamarole every year, and some years I’m a bit more successful with orchestrating the charade than others. Resolutions are for losers, work is for winners.
Nonetheless, I’d like to blog more, read more books, take more pictures, keep up with my ambitious workout plan. Drink more water (in excess). Drink more good wine and beer (in moderation, of course). Write more, as always. Go on more walks. Streamline and organize my life.
I say let’s clear out 2014, and may 2015 be more of the good stuff and far less of the bad. Do you agree?
…is the sound of me working. Seriously. The lack of posts on this blog is not an indication of a lack of writing activity, for sure.
I will have upcoming work in publications that I failed to previously mention on here, in print in burntdistrict and online in the Bare Root Review.
In addition, I earned third place finishes in both the Art Affair Poetry Contest and the Burning the Midnight Oil Poetry Contest – no publication, but a little cash always soothes the soul.
I wrestled my inner procrastination demons in a cage match. I won and am now back on pace with a decent writing work rate in the past month. This has been partially sponsored by a new manuscript idea that I hope will lead to the promised land of publication and not another dead end.
I also have big plans to revamp this blog.
All I need to do is execute. Which means not more hiatuses, no more wandering focus.
That’s all for now. Be good.