My original plan for Chiaroscuro was a 25 page chapbook. But Utah Arts Council has a writing contest with a poetry book category. So this past week I’ve been expanding it to fit the 50 page minimum. I’m at 54 pages now, and am feeling confident about my poems after my fellow Poetic Muselings gave the book a good edit.
What I’m working on now is writing a short introduction. For my high school senior paper, I wrote on Understanding the Starving Artist. I think some of the points apply here, on how tribulation and sorrow give a depth to writing that is crucial to poetry. Tempted to steal a couple paragraphs from that. The alternate is to write something new from scratch. I’ll brainstorm and work on something fresh and current for now, but if I run out of time I know I have a back up.
Contest deadline is June 29 (two days from now!). Wish me luck.
