How do you go about your craft?
Rosemary at Poets and Storytellers United asks us how we go about crafting our poems or stories.
photo by dsnake1
How do you go about your craft?
A fellow blogger once asked these questions in her post:
I think she has some very valid questions here. And it is not easy to self-examine ourselves.
I do not earn my living from writing, and I think writing emails, excuses and threats doesn't count. But writing, especially poetry, has always been a part of me, like breathing and eating, ever since I won a book prize during my primary school days.
I remembered Bukowski writing about him banging out his poems on a typewriter in rented rooms, smoke and a glass of wine in hand. I do not have a writing desk where each morning, after a coffee, I sit down to write. I have a very cluttered table with books, toys and a computer where I edit my work. So no, I guess I do not have a writing practice. Yet.
What I do is quite spontaneous, I write what I fancy, whatever the flavour of the moment is. Politics, nature, crime, people. Or a prompt catches my interest. I keep a notebook and pencil handy so that whenever some magical lines or a wild idea hits me, I am able to record it down. When I was a correspondent for my company's newsletter some time back, I did take writing more seriously, probably because there are deadlines and editors chasing you for the copy.
I am probably not a disciplined writer. Nor a very organised one. If I set out to write something and walk into a wall, I will put it aside and do something else, like button mashing some video games console.
There may be chaos in method, but there will always be a poem.
written : March 2010
Revised : 13/08/2022
*****************
316 words
"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."
- Oscar Wilde
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2022
How do you go about your craft?
A fellow blogger once asked these questions in her post:
"Do you have a writing practice? What’s it like? How has it helped you become a better writer? If you’re thinking about starting a writing practice, how do you envision it? What would work for you?"
I think she has some very valid questions here. And it is not easy to self-examine ourselves.
I do not earn my living from writing, and I think writing emails, excuses and threats doesn't count. But writing, especially poetry, has always been a part of me, like breathing and eating, ever since I won a book prize during my primary school days.
I remembered Bukowski writing about him banging out his poems on a typewriter in rented rooms, smoke and a glass of wine in hand. I do not have a writing desk where each morning, after a coffee, I sit down to write. I have a very cluttered table with books, toys and a computer where I edit my work. So no, I guess I do not have a writing practice. Yet.
What I do is quite spontaneous, I write what I fancy, whatever the flavour of the moment is. Politics, nature, crime, people. Or a prompt catches my interest. I keep a notebook and pencil handy so that whenever some magical lines or a wild idea hits me, I am able to record it down. When I was a correspondent for my company's newsletter some time back, I did take writing more seriously, probably because there are deadlines and editors chasing you for the copy.
I am probably not a disciplined writer. Nor a very organised one. If I set out to write something and walk into a wall, I will put it aside and do something else, like button mashing some video games console.
There may be chaos in method, but there will always be a poem.
written : March 2010
Revised : 13/08/2022
*****************
316 words
"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."
- Oscar Wilde
© cheong lee san ( dsnake1 ) 2022
posted by dsnake1 at 12:39 AM
10 Comments:
I think the spontaneous, suits me best as well
Have a nice day
Much💖love
Thank you, Gillena!
Spontaneous is best. :)
I like writing to prompts. They help give me direction - sometimes the direction takes rabbit trails but that's OK, too. I don't keep journals and I am not disciplined to write every day. Maybe that makes me not a serious writer, but I do enjoy poetry and will keep trudging along.
Thank you, Debi.
Yes, writing to prompts gives the writer some direction. I do not do so many prompts because i so many unfinished poems lying around. I will revisit them occasionally, some will be tossed away, some will end up as finished poems. :)
You are "my kind of writer." 'What I do is quite spontaneous, I write what I fancy.' Me too.
Thank you, Helen.
I guess most of us are. :)
I'm not the most discipline of writers either. I do have a spot where I write, but it's mostly because my bad back and hip can't bear any other place without screaming. I miss the days when my notebook and pencil and I could write anywhere the fancy snatched us.
Thank you, Magaly!
I think most of us write when we feel the urge to. I used to write late at night but now no longer. And the times when i need to use the notebook and pencil are now few and far in between. :)
I don't have a standard practice for writing. I write whenever I feel the urge to on my mobile now, earlier it used to be on any scrap of paper at hand.
Thank you, magiceye!
making full use of technology eh? :)
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