47 posts tagged “writing”

I am not dead, although that might make me more famous, or infamous!

No I have been busy, having spent a week at a writers workshop and on vacation with the family. I have also been taking a blog vacation, considering my options and where I want to take my poetry and writing.

The freelance side of things has been a challenge of late also and I think I have resolved some issues in my mind there also.

So look for some new material to appear soon and rest assured, I am still alive and kicking.

So I have come full circle. Two years after writing my first story after at least 8 years of putting the pens and paper away, I have submitted another story to the Washington Post Magazine's annual love story contest. This time around - the story is 10 times better.

I have revised it - with the help of a number of gentle readers. I am blessed to have readers who will be honest with me ;)

I really like this story. It is a departure for me. I pushed myself with this one. I read it for those who attended the Naked SunFish read-a-loud and frankly that was the idea I have had to date. To ready stories out loud. I could hear it and because of that experience, I made some changes, to verbiage and the like.

So now - I do what I have learned to do best. Let it go. It is in the hands of the editors and the committee who will read the submissions and they will either like or not. Or they will like it, but they will like someone's work better. The important thing to me is - I wrote a solid story and I am pleased with the advances I have made in my craft and I am determined to continue writing and improving day after day.

After all, a writer writes.

I know I have been posting sporadically at best. Busy, Busy, Busy... I am focused on my full length novel and other bits of short fiction. The Naked SunFish is proving a great place to feature some of my shorter pieces.

The poems come to me as they do. I do not try to force them and I am playing with some different styles and forms and I have been reading some modern and poets of old - to learn about style and form and generally improve my craft.

I have also been freelancing or trolling for more projects.

In addition to all of that... I have schedule a poetry reading and will be participating with other contributors to the Sunfish in a read- aloud!

The biggest announcement - I have been accepted to the Kenyon Review's Summer Poetry Workshop! I am very excited about the workshop! I applied on a whim, after seeing it in the Poets & Writers magazine.

Write On!

It is a big celebration over at the Naked SunFish. Seven years! Seven Years of great writing and great pictures and just all around greatness.

I contributed a great little story! I hope you enjoy it. I loved this issue! I love them all, but this one is special!

Happy Reading!

It has been awhile since I have commented on my status as a working writer. I have maintained my one most loyal client. I love writing for her. I also wrote two pieces which appeared in the pilot issue of an new local magazine. If they get funding and I think they will - I will have a by-line - yipee!

I also took on a project to write marketing/sales descriptions for a new e-commerce site. It is challenging and actually a fun project and once I developed a system and a formatting template it was smooth sailing.

I sat National Novel month out - but I am still writing on my 2 when I can and I am feeling a creative bubble building so who knows what will happen there.

As you can see poetry is still happening here too.

So in a year I have gone from waiting to actually working and well I am excited and very proud of that. Being a working writer has always been a dream and I am slowly but surely making it happen.

So the next few poems are my variations on a Limerick. I bought a book recently and I have been reading up on styles and verse and playing around with some mechanics. I have no formal training as a poet. In fact I have no formal training in writing other than a desire to express myself, a liberal arts degree and years worth of writing under my belt.

A very nice man and critic of sorts compared my style to that of Ogden Nash and I take that to be high praise.

Sometimes my work is very very serious - almost always so, but sometimes it is more about playing with the pictures in my head. Sharing with my readers what I see behind my eyes, what I feel in soul and sometimes it is snap shots and sometimes it is a motion picture.

It is also about playing with language and tone and diction and sound. I am trying to step up my game and push myself to new levels of expression. Like mental jumping jacks I suppose...

I cannot believe I have not posted here in over a month. Needless to say my LIFE has gotten really busy and well stress eats away at my MUSE like nothing else. It can be physically painful to be uncreative for such a long time.

I am back now. Life has settled down for me and I have begun writing again and more importantly I feel more centered and balanced.

Watch for a link soon to the 50th issue of NakedSunfish - I have something very special in this edition. I am going to post some pictures I took today and the poem to go with them. I spent the afternoon in the park with a very special someone and got some outstanding photos and inspiration. All in all a good day.

I have begun trying some new poetry styles and trying out some new ideas. Please let me know what you think...

It is out again and I have a nice bit of non-fiction in my Hopscotch section. The next issue is the 50th and I want to write something special. I am currently brain storming ideas and I have a few - but will gladly entertain suggestions from my readers.

Enjoy!

This is a true story - I hope that my observations are useful. I might revise my opinion a bit. Someone I love very much says that with a long enough time horizon that life is fair. I am not sure at this moment in my life that I am inclined to agree. I think over time it is balanced and without the sweet we cannot have heat or sour. Without sadness we cannot know true gladness. But I am not sure LIFE IS FAIR.

I just hit the 20,000 word mark in my Work in Progress. Yipee! This is my serious novel, not a sexy fun story, but a serious work of fiction! Even better - I hit this milestone on my birthday!

For those of you wondering 20,000 is about 40 pages single spaced and 88 pages in manuscript format. By the time the book is finished I should have between 80,000 and 90,000 words. Maybe a bit less, so I am 1/4 of the way there!

Another issue of Naked SunFish is out. I have my own column now - Hopscotch. This month I wrote a fictional story. Next time around who knows.

Swim on over there and check it out and then if the mood strikes - stop back and let me know what you think...