Expand Your Horizons
Topic: Expand Your Horizons
The internet makes it so much easier to find information. Since we recommend writing about what you know, expanding your world is very important. In this case, the term "world? is used very loosely. We could mean the geographic world, the literary world, the poetry world, or simply our personal worlds. We could, of course, mean all of these worlds rolled up into one.

The best way to find out who and what make up these worlds is to read about them. Get your hands dirty and do some searches. I?ve recently done some searches to find submission guidelines for poetry. These guidelines exist for most types of writing. This is a good way to find out what new markets are available and what they expect. By reading some of the past issues of previously published works, you begin to learn what works and who knows how to make it work.

If you find the same names appearing in several magazines, maybe those authors deserve more study. What is it about their style, voice, or subject matter that makes them appealing to several magazines at once? How do we compare to these authors? We might then do searches for those authors we need to look at more closely. Do they have web sites or blogs that might help us in our own endeavors?

The internet puts your worlds at your fingertips. Get to know your worlds. Expand what you know. In doing so, we often find out there?s much we don?t know. The race is on to bridge the gap. It is only when we no longer care that we fail in our tasks.

Blog Update
Topic: Blog Update
Every day I?ve posted something in this blog. Most have been ideas that simply came to me and forced me to write. A handful of pieces were previously posted in the Wired Poet Newsletter. I started out with the idea of writing about writing. It seems no matter how we approach the subject, there?s plenty of overlap and repetition. I?m beginning to wonder if writing is a finite subject.

At least two of the entries I posted are meant for further research. The first one being whether poetry fits into both the art and science categories. The other is the conversation I posted about fairy tales. Both of these have so much further to go. So, in that sense, this blog has become a catchall for bits and pieces that can be tied into something much larger.

Since April 1, one entry per day from this blog has been posted on Moontowncafe.com. While most of my entries do not deal directly with poetry, I explained early on that many of the general principles could be applied to all kinds of writing. My reads and responses have been very disheartening. Does that mean that I chose the wrong train of thought to follow? Probably not; I still consider the thought processes to be valuable.

I do think that the audience selection was poor. After April, the only audience I need to worry about will be the one that seeks out my work. Yes, I am deluding myself into thinking there will be seekers, but it is a more comforting idea than where I am now.

Getting Your Poetry Read
Topic: Getting Read
The Importance of a Title
Your title is your advertisement of your poem. A title can make or break the decision of whether your poem gets read at all. Use the title to suck the audience in. Make the title appealing, but still tie it to the poem. If you can get your reader to at least say ?yes, I?m going to read this poem,? you?ve won half of the battle. Be extra careful to avoid typos in the title. This can be a huge turnoff.

The Opening Lines
Once you get the conscious decision to be read, you need to pull your reader into the poem. The first four lines of your poem will determine whether the rest gets read. Make sure you use these four lines wisely. Use active, descriptive language to lure your reader into your message. Be sure, though, that you save some punch for the last four lines as well. We don?t want a strong beginning only to be left flat at the end.

Errors and Cliche
Typos and grammar errors will hinder the progress of the reader no matter where they appear. Check your poem after you?ve written it to see if there?s anything that needs to be fixed. An occasional spelling error is forgivable, but a piece filled with errors will stop a reader flat. It will not matter what you have in your last four lines if the reader never gets there. Cliches should be avoided at all costs (almost as much as -ing). Find a new way of saying the same old thing.

Awkwardness
Read your poem out loud. See how it sounds. You wrote the poem; did you stumble upon your own words? If so, you need to consider rewording the parts that made you stumble. If you stumbled, others will too.

Slow Down
There is no race in getting your poems posted. Take the time to read what others are saying. Respond to others as you would hope to have them respond to you. Take the time to review your own poem one last time. If you?ve just posted a poem, give it time to live and breathe. Often, poems will be ignored when the same author posts too many poems. The one not being read may be your best work. No one will ever know.

Courtesy and A Grain of Salt
If you should receive a suggestion on your poem, thank the user for their suggestion. Even if you may not agree with it, common courtesy applies. Remember, all suggestions represent a point of view. Take each with a grain of salt and make it more palatable. Suggestions from your readers can be invaluable tools. Use them wisely and be grateful for receiving them.

Fairy Tales
Topic: Fairy Tales
I'm going to do something with this...

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The damsel in distress who is saved by the handsome knight on the beautiful white horse only happens in fairy tales. It is in these tales that the sexist stereotypes of women are exploited to the maximum. We need the man to remove us from danger. We need the man to validate our own happiness and self-worth.

I don?t care how much danger I find myself in, I will not have a man climb up my hair in order to be a hero. I would be scalpless or in the moat long before that happens. At the very least, I?d have a broken neck. This is not for me.

Today?s woman might very well take care of seven little men and bite into a bad apple. Instead of being revived by the kiss of the handsome prince, she?d be kissing a stomach pump in the local emergency room.

Fantasies such as these just don?t exist any more. The harsh reality and complexity of life would make it very difficult for the fairy tale to gain any acceptance in the adult world. Things used to be so much simpler. There weren?t so many choices. What used to be deemed as make believe is now so far removed from reality as to make it almost absurd. Only the innocence of the child allows the fairy tale to exist. The perception of the adult makes them laughable.

Even so, fairy tales live long after the telling. I, personally, haven?t read a fairy tale since I was a child. Okay, I did write one and I read that. I?m referring to the classic fairy tales that have been around forever. There haven?t been any new Snow Whites or Rapunzels of notary fame in recent years.

Maybe we need to revive the fairy tale. Escape is still very popular. Some escape to their vacation places to remove themselves from reality. Others crawl into the pages of a book to find escape on a more consistent basis.

Do More with Less
Topic: Do More with Less
In business, the new buzz phrase is "do more with less." We're expected to work harder and smarter and use fewer resources to do our jobs. This is also true with our writing. When you're on a roll, write what you can. Just remember, more words is not always good. Let the words come and then once you're done, see if there are smarter ways to say the same thing.

I mentioned before the author who spent pages describing the red room. Sometimes, it is simply more effective to state that the room is red. Unless there are some details within the room that make it imperative to know, the room is red is sufficient. There are times, of course, when it is appropriate to use the extra verbiage. We don't want to pare down our words too much that we produce uninteresting text, but we do want to make sure that we find the best fit of the words with the circumstances. Balance is again a key to keep in mind.

Being smarter in our writing can sometimes mean that we simplify our writing. It is not necessary to proof our mastery of vocabulary when writing. Save the fancy language for when it is needed, say, in your poetry. We want to produce work that drives the reader into reading more. We can, of course, challenge the reader, but we don't want to create a situation where the reader must arm himself with a dictionary to get through our work. If a larger word is the best word, by all means, use it. If your purpose is served just as well with a simpler word, my advice is to use the simpler.

It seems I'm doing a lot of repeating in these posts. I do apologize for that, however, if they weren't important concepts, they would not be repeated. To summarize and repeat just once more, some previous topics touched on in this entry are as follows:

1. Don't interrupt the flow.

2. Try to achieve a balance, don't write too much; don't write too little.

3. Keep It Simple whenever possible.

4. Find the best fit.

Practice Makes Perfect
Topic: Practice/Perfect
When we first learned to walk, we took tentative steps and fell down a lot. As we got more practice and learned the art of balance, our steps improved and the incidence of falling reduced significantly. The same is true for writing. With anything that we do, the more we do it, hopefully, the better we get at doing it.

Consider the act of falling to be the receipt of a rejection. Rejections can help us to grow as writers. Let?s say it is one particular type of writing that keeps getting rejected. Another type of writing has been accepted. Maybe we need to concentrate more on the type of writing that has shown success. What are we doing differently between the two types of writing?

This does not mean we can no longer write both types of pieces. It simply means that we need to evaluate our processes. If one type of writing gets accepted and the other rejected, we want to push that which will be accepted. We can always put the other writing to the back burner and re-evaluate it at a later date. There may just not be a viable market for what you?re offering.

Some advice then, know your market and know your readers. Internet access and email make information much more obtainable. Do some research to find out what works. It might same you some heartache in the end. Once you find a system that works, use that system to your advantage. Be open to new ideas and options in other areas, but when tried and true works best?use it!

Writing is Not Easy
Topic: Writing is Not Easy
Even under the best of circumstances, writing is not always easy. Most of us know that ideal conditions only come around once in a great while. Take advantage of those moments of boredom to think about what you want to do. It is possible to come up with a great many topics or one-liners in those moments. Be sure you have the means of capturing them as well. There?s nothing worse than having paper with no pen or pen with no paper. Make sure you have both with backups. Pens die all the time.

I recently wrote, ?contentment serves only the dreamless.? For those of us who are always thinking ahead about what comes next, this will not be an issue. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with contentment. If, however, we want to make something of ourselves, the periods of contentment will be short because we are forever looking for the next challenge. We can permit ourselves a sense of contentment with the sense of accomplishment. Then, we must move on to the next goal.

Once contentment is allowed to sink its teeth into us, complacency may result. Complacency may make use less aware of our opportunities. We never want to miss an opportunity. Keep looking forward and keep thinking about what you want to accomplish. Then, takes steps to move in the right direction. Some days, it is all we can do to have ourselves positioned in the right direction! That?s enough.

Never lose sight of your dreams and your goals.

The Blank Page
Topic: The Blank Page
Writers find the blank page to be intimidating. There is actually nothing wrong with a blank page. This emptiness gives us time for observation. There are a number of things we can take in while our creative juices begin to simmer. We can observe our own thought process. Why does white space bother us so much? We all know it is a temporary thing. What are others doing? Who wrote the latest best seller and why is it a best seller? What?s new in poetry?

These are all things that we can consider when the blank page stares so fiercely back at us. We should learn to enjoy this time. Perhaps we can think about what it is that we really want to do with our craft. Now, that is something that is totally worthwhile. Some people have dreams of putting together books. What do we need in order to do this? How can I use this time to make that future goal entirely more possible?

Helping others is a good way of helping ourselves. There may be some problem a fellow artist needs to overcome in order to perfect their craft. What do we need to overcome in our own talents? Can we use this time to help both of us? Why not? Any and all of these activities might just be what we need so that the next time we sit in front of a blank screen or page, it doesn?t intimidate us. We have used our uninspired time constructively and can start with that.

Then, again, some people just like crisp, clean paper for itself. I, personally, have an attraction for pens.

Ready for Publication?
Topic: Ready Publication?
Another old one.

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When trying to get work published, online or in print, it is imperative to do your homework. This takes time, but it will increase your chances of success.

Check to see what has been published before. Read the previous issues of an e-zine or magazine to see what kind of work is published. Is your work of the same caliber? The same genre? Obviously, romantic poetry will not find favor in a science fiction publication and rhyming poetry will not be well received in a free verse setting.

Check to see what poetry is winning competitions. The IBPC (interboard poetry competition) selects the best of 17 poetry boards each month. This competition has been around for several years and is quite prestigious. The NPAC (net poetry and arts competition) selects the best of 16 boards each month. This competition is relatively new and favors some of the newer poetry boards. Find out what is considered to be the best from these sources.

One way to get a real dose of humility is to visit other poetry boards on the internet to see what kind of reviews their poets receive. Post some of your own work. Just remember that one unfavorable review does not mean the end of the world. Consider the comments you receive and decide if there is merit in them.

If in doubt, try a workshop! A workshop is a wonderful way to unleash latent potential. It is also a great way to get multiple opinions of your work.

If nothing else, put your work away for a couple of days and then look at it again with a fresh view. This is a good way to catch typos and incorrect wording in your work. If you start with a good word processor, spelling errors should be eliminated but common errors still require a keen eye.

Make sure you follow submission guidelines. Failure to do so could land your work in a trash can even if it would have been published. Are you meeting all the requirements? Do they ask for a bio? Do they accept email submissions? If not, do you need to send an SASE? Do they require the completion of a contract?

Be prepared for rejection. There are many talented poets out in cyberspace (more than you think) and only a limited number of publication pages to fill.

The Balance Beam
Topic: The Balance Beam
Sometimes we have to make decisions between too little and too much. In normal circumstances, balance is the key. We want to provide just enough. In the case where too many questions arise because we have provided the improper balance, decisions must be made. It is a good idea to have someone we trust test our work for us.

Too little can leave our reader unsatisfied and empty. I recently wrote a poem that referred to ?he? a number of times. A couple of my readers were very curious as to who ?he? was. Did I provide too little? Maybe not since the poem was a complete work. Who he is wasn?t important in the grand scheme of the poem. Granted, the poem could have gained some length if I had included clues about him. Instead, I actually gave myself the inspiration to write another poem about him.

Too much can get us mixed reactions in knowing what the point was. In poetry, especially, too much can be a bad thing. Most poems are smaller works; filling them with more stuffing than necessary leads to an overflow in the oven. We all know or can imagine how awful that is to clean up.