The Writing Nag

Just a Photo

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:26:00 +0000

The Fiddlehead Blog: 10 Rules for Submitting

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:37:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:42:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:37:00 +0000

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

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

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:27:00 +0000

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

How to start a poem

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:07:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Coco, The Springs Cupcake Truck) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:27:00 +0000

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

The postman's knock

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:07:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:18:00 +0000

Painted Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:39:00 +0000

"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

Mark Twain to Nantucket

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:36:00 +0000

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

Mark Twain House Hartford, CT

I'm back today after a 11 day trip to the East coast. It's hard to believe all the places we fit in from Mark Twain's house in Hartford, CT to a quick day trip to Nantucket, MA...lots of pictures and blog posts to come. Enjoy the last two days of 2011, I am very ready for a new year and new goals!

ink in my veins

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:11:00 +0000

"The coroner will find ink in my veins and blood on my typewriter keys."

C. Astrid Weber

I'm taking an official vacation from blogging so here is a post from two years ago Christmas...

Another packet of work is due on Monday and then I'm officially halfway through this semester. And Christmas is here in six days! I don't feel as stressed as I usually do since this year Christmas is pretty low-key. We are cooking dinner for family so we don't have to do any traveling and our menu is really simple.

The tree is decorated and I brought my favorite Christmas candle (Frasier Fir) yesterday, so the house really smells like Christmas. This is not an inexpensive candle but the smell of sandalwood, fir needles and cedarwood is so beautiful and since this candle is only available during the holidays I've bought one the last few years. If you don't have a real tree this is the closest scent that I have found to making the house smell like you do.

What smells, sounds and tastes of Christmas or the holiday season would you miss if you didn't have them? Take 15 minutes and brainstorm the holidays...take your list and work those memories into a poem or a short story. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

A Cooking Blog Worth the Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

I can't remember if I ever posted about this blog but every time I visit the site I want to make and eat the recipe immediately. Beautiful blog, food photography, recipes and writing.

Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Poetry Manuscript

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:17:00 +0000

I found this very informative article just as I'm finishing up my manuscript. Hope it helps!

I need new eyeglasses!

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000

This post brought to you by Zenni Optical. All opinions are 100% mine.

I just finished my yearly eye exam and went to look at new eyeglasses. Because I wear contacts its been more than 5 years since I got a new pair. I was a little overwhelmed with the selection and the high prices at the retail stores so I went looking for cheap eyeglasses online. Zenni Optical has FREE Shipping (with any order over $50) and a wonderful selection of eyeglasses with prices low enough I could afford to buy a couple of pairs. The site is easy to navigate; just select gender, type, style, shape and size and you'll have more than enough pairs to choose from.

I was curious about the holiday lenses, take a look! You could show up at your Christmas party in candy cane frames or frames with Christmas trees and Christmas colors!

People are now thinking about eyeglasses as fashion accessories so it makes sense to find a place that has cheap eyeglasses, good service and FREE Shipping.

Visit Zenni Optical and check out the holiday lenses...use Zenni frame fit and you can virtually try them on. What holiday frames would fit your personality? Do you consider eyeglasses to be a fashion accessory? Let me know which frames you'd choose from the holiday collection! With the money you'll save you could buy eyeglasses as stocking stuffers.

The Music of Words

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:13:00 +0000

To me the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make. - Truman Capote

Is your writing musical? Poets understand the importance of the right word. Review just a paragraph of your work today does it sing? is it lyrical? if not what simple changes can be made to make music and read a short by Alice Munro for inspiration.

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

List of Journal Ideas from Bernadette Mayer

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:56:00 +0000

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/library/Mayer-Bernadette_Experiments.html

The Neurotic's Notebook

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:11:00 +0000

What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want.

Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

I want a copy of The Neurotic's Notebook; I don't really know much about it except I seem to quote from it a lot and a lot of other people come to my site because of these quotes. I imagine I'll stumble across a copy at a used bookstore one of these days...because when I've looked online, Amazon was asking $90.00 for a copy. If anyone has this book or can enlighten me on what it's really about I'd appreciate it.

Today has been a melancholy day; there's usually one day during the holiday season that doesn't feel quite right. I'm ready for the holidays but along with it comes the reflection on how the year has gone and how much progress I've made with my goals. Maybe even a little more melancholy because I didn't get a job I really thought I'd be successful in and I'm dealing with feeling rejected. A friend called me yesterday to share the same feeling it was between her and one other person for a job and she didn't get it. Rejection is difficult to deal with whether you're feeling it because you were laid off right before Christmas, or didn't get the job you wanted or didn't get your work picked up. Some days I can be really positive and brush rejection off and just move on. Other days it wears at you and you start thinking everything you do isn't good enough. How do you deal with rejection? Do you share your disappointment with a friend? Do you journal your feelings?

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Top Jobs of Modern Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:57:00 +0000

Great blog post by Robert Lee Brewer for all of my writer friends who are looking for work!

The Art and Heart of Essay Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:18:00 +0000

A good essay must have this permanent quality about it; it must draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in not out.

Virginia Woolf

I am going to put "learn how to write an essay" on my list for 2012 or better yet "write more essays until it doesn't seem so scary." I envy people who can write essays...when I sit and face my computer screen and start to type, I feel almost paralyzed by what I think an essay should include. Where do I start? And how should it end? And yes, it seemed a lot easier when I was in grade school and had no expectations of what an essay should be.

This link promises 10 Easy Steps to Writing an Essay

Today, write an outline for a personal essay or start a folder on your desktop to put in all of your essay ideas. This week look for an essay contest that fits your writing style and add it to your writing calendar.

Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

P.S. I just received a copy of Messages from the Hidden Lake; I had three poems published in it and found out one of them won an Honorable Mention. Good publishing news!

Daily Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:05:00 +0000

Nothing is so often irretrievably missed as a daily opportunity.

Marie von Ebner- Eschenbach

Although my words might not make it to my blog I'm a daily writer...whether it's a couple of lines scribbled on an envelope or a rewrite of an article...I put thoughts to paper or keyboard every day. I've been doing this for about four years and I have to say it has made me a better writer.

Today, I'm working on my writing/publishing goals for 2012. In the middle of the holiday season there hardly seems like there's any room for writing. But if you use it as a centering place you might find you need your daily writing time as much as many people need a cup of coffee right when they wake up. This summer I wrote... "small stones." Especially at this time of year take the time to write a small stone for the rest of the month. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

10 Gifts for a Poet

Robert Frost's Grave

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:20:00 +0000

"Visiting Frost's Grave" by Patricia Fargnoli from ChiefFallingLeaf on Vimeo.

22 Things I Learned From Submitting Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:16:00 +0000

Great post on one of my favorite topics! Submitting Your Writing!

Writing With Emotion

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:35:00 +0000

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.
James Michener

This is another post about flat writing. Why? Because so many writers fail to add depth to their writing, it sits on the page with some nice details, a lot of adjectives, but no feeling. Try to evoke emotion into your poetry,your fiction and your non-fiction pieces.I want the reader to feel what I'm feeling, I want to make them laugh or cry but not just skim the page...and it's not easy. Because I'm also a chef, I equate most of the things in my life with food and/or cooking. With cooking you layer the flavors so you can taste each individual flavor and the final product is well-rounded, it's not flat. It's an art, a good chef can do this effortlessly. I think writing is the same way, you layer your ingredients to give your final piece substance, the reader doesn't know it they just like to read it because it's well-rounded and it makes them feel.

Today, read one of your pieces that isn't working and deconstruct it. Slowly add back the details, the adjectives, the emotion. Find a way to bring the reader into your world. Write a short poem today about losing someone or something. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

The Sound of 36 Pines

noreply@blogger.com (Writing Nag) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:40:00 +0000

"The sound of 36 pines side by side surrounding/the yard and swaying all night like individual hymns is the sound/of water, which is the oldest sounds/the first sound we forgot."

Li-Young Lee, Water

If it's possible to wear out a book of poetry, I have worn out this book. Rose by Li-Young Lee. The beauty and simplicity of language in this poetry collection is something I strive for. How hard it is to write so simply and yet evoke so much emotion.

Read "Early in the Morning" by Li-Young Lee. Another one of my favorites from this collection.

Today, think about sounds you may have forgotten...sounds from your childhood or your first memory. Sounds that trigger a place or a feeling. Set the timer for 10 minutes and freewrite on sounds. Then pick one of your favorite sounds and write a paragraph to a page on why this sound is one you may have forgotten. Now get back to work!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag