Poetry News

I was recently interviewed by Margaret Fieland about Chiaroscuro and writing. She asked some great questions about the process behind compiling and publishing Chiaroscuro, as well as how I balance fantasy and poetry. Go leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my book.

The Poetic Muselings are having a summer poetry challenge. We challenged each other to see who could write (and post) the most new poems between July 15 and Sept 1. Come join in the fun.

Today I wrote my first poem for the challenge. (I am behind!) Since my son was sitting nearby, I asked him for a topic. He chose dinosaurs, as that’s our theme for this week. We’ve picked out themes for each week of summer, to help with activity ideas. So, in honor of dinosaur week and my son, I wrote the following poem. This poem/song also got us up and moving to do the Stego Stomp. So I’d call it a success: a new poem, collaboration with my son, and exercise! Stomp along.

Stego Stomp

Come into the stomping ground
Best party to be found

DJ Rex will never fail
Every dino shake your tail

Through the valley we will romp
Time for the Stego Stomp

Clap your plates to the beat
Move all four of your feet

Stomp left, then stomp right
Jump up with all your might

Nose to the ground, tail in the air,
Wave that thing like you don't care

Spin around, then grab a snack
(Making sure to watch your back)

Blast out a mighty roar
You are a dinosaur!

As a bonus for you, I took a picture of part of my rough draft notes and doodles. When I mentioned DJ Rex, my son pointed out that due to his short arms a t-rex would spin with his nose.

A Poem and a Prompt

Whether just starting as a poet, or well-experienced, you can learn by imitation. Choose a poem by another poet, classic or modern, and write a poem in the same style. There's a few ways you could approach this:

• Write a poem as a direct response to the subject.
• Write your own poem inspired by the topic.
• Follow the poetry form only.

Here's an example of one of my early poems. I personalized Emily Dickinson's "This is My Letter to the World." I kept it in a similar style, and thought: What would I say to the world?

My Letter to the World

What do I have to say to the world
That all but deserted me?
Would anyone listen to a single soul
Through the unheard art of poetry?

Although surrounded by others,
Wanting my voice to be heard,
I’m often isolated
For no one will hear my words.

Can I make a difference in someone’s life,
As others did in mine?
Will anyone read the simple words
That I wrote in my spare time?

I may be a shy, quiet person
But I have a message of my own;
Won’t someone come and discover
The soul within my poems.

The message of my poem remains true today. I want my voice, my poems, to be heard. Which is why I am giving away a free copy of my new poetry book, Chiaroscuro. One week left to enter. Go here to the blog post with the Rafflecopter giveaway.

I'd love it if you shared your own poem based on the prompt.

Chiaroscuro Book Give-a-Way!

This is your chance to win a copy of Chiaroscuro.

CHIAROSCURO is a poetry book about the contrast and balance between light and dark. It’s a journey through a crumbling world that leaves a gritty taste. It shines light on the edge of awareness where dark magic wars with childish innocence.

These poems range from internal conflict to worldwide war to creatures of myth, but all follow the themes of finding havens of light in dark days, persisting despite the odds. The light is only brighter for the darkness that surrounds it. 

Winner will receive a PDF copy of Chiaroscuro. This is my first Rafflecopter giveaway. If it goes well, I'll do another! Enter below. Ask if you have any questions.

If you happen to already have a copy (thank you!), you can still enter and gift it to a friend. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It’s a Brand New May

April is over. I challenged myself to write one new poem a day, and 26 blog posts for the AtoZ challenge. I’m happy to say that now only did I succeed, I blew it out of the water. This was my most successful poetry month. Last year I had the same poetry goal. My numbers:

Blog posts: 26

poems written: 41 (last year 19)

words of poetry written: 2512 (last year 1332)

What would I do different?

I didn’t spend much time visiting other bloggers doing the A to Z challenge. Next year I’ll interact more. I did find a few new blogs to follow, and hopefully got a few friends in return.

My own favorite posts:

C is for Chiaroscuro
F is for Fairies and Fudge
I is for Imagination
Q is for Quotes
R is for Rain
U is for Unique

Fellow bloggers who participated:

Sylvia Van Bruggen: Writer, Artist, Play Instigator
Writing Off the Edge
Untethered Realms
Writing in Wonderland

Thank you to everyone who visited, left comments, and gave support. I couldn’t have done this on my own.

Now What?

My goal is to transfer that productivity to my fiction. I’m going to keep it quite doable this month, and match my poetry. So 2500 words added to my novels.

As for blogging, I’m going to blog once a week, with updates on my poetry and fiction, as well as life in general. I hope you stay with me.

April was also a great month, as my first ever poetry book was published April 23. Chiaroscuro is available directly from SynergEbooks, and on Amazon.com and B&N.com.

U is for Unique

I came across this again in my notes. It’s something I wrote a few years ago, but still applies today.

I was going through the same phase of: any other writer could tell this story better. Then I remembered my conclusion when I put myself down as a bad parent.

Even though I'm not the best mom, I don't want anyone else raising my kid, because I know him best.

As a writer, my characters deserve the same. I may not be the best writer, but I know my story and characters and no one can tell their story the way I can.

One of my favorite fantasy authors, Patrick Rothfuss, responded to a commenter who wished they could write like him. I wrote this verbatim into my bliss book so I’d always have a reminder when I start comparing myself to other authors.

“I’ll never be able to write a book like The Last Unicorn. I wish I could, but I know I can’t.

You can’t write the sort of story I write. Only I can.

We all have our own style. Our own way. Our own something we need to say.

If you want to write like me, you’re bound to fail. What you want to do is write your story, but do it brilliantly. Do it so well that it shines.

But it takes time. And revision. And depression. And work. And then more work…

I’ve been there. I know what you’re talking about.”

We are all unique. We each have a story to tell. Whether we tell that through our blogs, or poetry, or fiction, or in a different medium such as film or art. We can all contribute to the world. When we stop contributing, we do the world a disservice.

Keep on Going on

You are you.
No one can replace you;
No one can love
the way you do.

You're not just one star
in the universe;
You are someone's sun--
They would be adrift
if your light went out.

Don't give up your dreams—
your success, your creations, your journey,
may change someone else's life.

Keep on going on.

There is darkness in my background, but I have embraced this. I didn’t give up on myself, or my dream. I am happy to announce that the book shaped from that darkness, Chiaroscuro, is now published. It is available for purchase as a digital book from SynergEbooks, my wonderful publisher. And will soon be available for Kindle and Nook.

This is my first published collection of my own poetry. So I am very excited to release it to the world.

C is for Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro (kee-ar-uh-SKYOOR-o): The contrast and balance between light and dark.

Chiaroscuro is the title of my upcoming poetry book being published by SynergEbooks. Today I’m going to share how the collection came to be.

Back in 2008, I took a course at the Muse Online Writers Conference called “How to Turn Your Poetry Into a Saleable Chapbook.” I had a lot of poems under my belt and wanted to create a cohesive collection.

I looked over all of my poems, and sorted them into themes. I found a lot of them were on the darker side: death, pain, abuse. Of course, a lot of those were from my teenage days. You know how teenage angst can get. But I still use poetry to deal with the darkness.

With encouragement, I went ahead with the dark theme. Chose my title, Chiaroscuro. My initial tag line was: Exploring the darkness, bringing the monsters of death and abuse into the light.

What was initially a 25 poem chapbook, later expanded to a book length collection so I could enter it into a local writing competition. I didn’t win, but I did get valued feedback from my peers, and wrote what is now the introduction.

Within us resides a tapestry of darkness and light. It is woven into our hopes, fears, dreams, and secrets. To understand the tapestry leads to knowing ourselves. Follow these threads of dark and light. You may be surprised at what lies hidden, lost, or wandering.

Last year during April Poetry Month I wrote some promising poems that fit the theme, so I polished those to fill out the content some more.

And now it’s on its way to becoming a digital book. Here’s a glimpse inside:

Anniversary

The door lifts to the bleak garage--
flashbacks barrage,
emotions show,
eyes overflow.

One year has passed since he's been gone;
my heart's withdrawn.
His red race car
sits like a scar.

My finger traces through the dust
as thick as lust;
I draw a heart
and then depart.

News about Chiaroscuro

One of my goals for this year was to publish my poetry collection Chiaroscuro. Last year I researched publishers, and compared their sites and stats.
I made a list of what I most wanted in a publisher. It wasn't about the royalty. It was:

• clear information
• print options
• listed response time
• ease of submitting (email)

I know self-publishing is an option, especially for poetry, but I’d prefer to go through a publisher for the formatting, marketing, cover book, all those things that intimidate me. It’s a process I’d rather not go through alone.
One of my top choice was SynergEbooks. I am very impressed by their website, and how much information they give in the process and what to expect, and what they expect of their authors.
I didn’t have to wait long after querying SynergEbooks to get a response. They were impressed with my sample poems. They were very upfront to answer the few questions I had, and less than a week later I was signing an Author Contract.
I am very happy to be working with SynergEbooks to publish my poetry book. No release date yet. It will be published digitally and available through the publisher website, as well as on Amazon.com and B&N.com. If it does well enough, there is a possibility for a print version.
In preparation for publication, I have created a site dedicated to my Chiaroscuro poetry book. I will be creating individual sites for each of my major projects, where you can learn more, read excerpts, and get news on their status.

Stepping Stones to Being More Than an Extra

English: Stepping stones. Stepping stones in Deepdale Beck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Been making more of an effort to put myself and my work out there. Reviving my blog is one part of that. I have a poetry book I've begun submitting to publishers. And today I signed up for Writers Village University.

I need to step out of my shell. Writing doesn't have to be so lonely. There's a big community of writers out there. I merely need to put down my walls and step outside my comfort zone.

If you've been wondering some of the things I've been up to in my absence, I have been blogging over at Poetic-Muselings.net on a more regular basis.

Darkness and Light: part 2

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.

Darkness and Light

When I first started looking for themes in my poetry, I found a lot of them were on the darker side: death, pain, abuse. Of course, a lot of those were from my teenage days. You know how teenage angst can get. But I still use poetry to deal with the darkness.

So a few years ago, I decided to put these poems in a collection. At the time, I didn’t have any publishing credits, so I hesitated sending it out. It’s been sitting on the virtual shelf. Now I’m ready to take a look again, and I believe my newest poem will be a strong addition.

I’m using Scrivener to organize the poems. My title is Chiaroscuro. Focusing on the contrast between dark and light. Exploring the darkness, bringing the monsters of death and abuse into the light.

And now I have a book publication, the Lifelines anthology with the Poetic Muselings. Time to step up and try getting my own collection published.