61–70 of 116 posts
Sitting outside with a notebook and writing poetry or ideas or just stream of consciousness is a pretty great way to soothe this desire for achievement and forward progress while being outside and away from the computer.
Wish I "got" poetry. Spent 4 years studying literature and got a degree in writing, and throughout it all poetry just annoyed me. I think I made a genuine effort but I couldn't get over feelings of "get to the point" or "so what?" Everything from Byron to Billy Collins. Doesn't do anything for me.
I recall memorizing and composing poems with my mother on long car trips growing up. Some of which I can still recite. I remember revising a poem for school, sat on the toilet, next to a shower on full hot, because the heater was out and the house was freezing cold. Birds chirping in the morning remind me of the line "And smale fowles maken melodye that slepen al the night with open ye" in the voice of a memorable teacher who predicted the only thing I'd recall from his class was the intro to the Canterbury Tales.
Poetry is a lot like idiomatic code. It looks right. It feels right. There's a thrill when a terse expression efficiently accomplishes exactly what's needed.
I love poetry, but think this advice is slightly off. A better way to get un-stuck is free-writing. Just write whatever comes to mind without stopping. If you hesitate, just write "I don't know what to write" - anything to keep writing. If you can sustain this for twenty minutes, you are now immune to writer's block. You know you can always write. This shifts the question to what to write. You find you can sculpt the…
This is the strategy I follow when posting.
I love poetry, but think this advice is slightly off. A better way to get un-stuck is free-writing. Just write whatever comes to mind without stopping. If you hesitate, just write "I don't know what to write" - anything to keep writing. If you can sustain this for twenty minutes, you are now immune to writer's block. You know you can always write. This shifts the question to what to write. You find you can sculpt the…
>You find you can sculpt these chains of drivel. Eventually you start to generate real ideas again. This is the strategy I follow when posting.
Wish I "got" poetry. Spent 4 years studying literature and got a degree in writing, and throughout it all poetry just annoyed me. I think I made a genuine effort but I couldn't get over feelings of "get to the point" or "so what?" Everything from Byron to Billy Collins. Doesn't do anything for me.
Have you ever been touched by writing outside of poetry?
Working with restrictions is one of the not-so-secret prerequisites to a lot of creative discipline.
I love poetry, but think this advice is slightly off. A better way to get un-stuck is free-writing. Just write whatever comes to mind without stopping. If you hesitate, just write "I don't know what to write" - anything to keep writing. If you can sustain this for twenty minutes, you are now immune to writer's block. You know you can always write. This shifts the question to what to write. You find you can sculpt the…
I think it’s a wonderful technique but it makes me wonder why and if we’re just -not built for this-.
I love poetry, but think this advice is slightly off. A better way to get un-stuck is free-writing. Just write whatever comes to mind without stopping. If you hesitate, just write "I don't know what to write" - anything to keep writing. If you can sustain this for twenty minutes, you are now immune to writer's block. You know you can always write. This shifts the question to what to write. You find you can sculpt the…