The Writing Nag

A Poetry Link

2009-11-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

A link poets might enjoy, on how poets connect with other poets.

How to throw yourself into relaxing on Sunday

2009-11-29T11:17:00.000-08:00

My parents new cat, Kenny, who they rescued.

A Room Where I Want To Go

2009-11-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

"I often think of a poem as a door that opens into a room where I want to go."
Minnie Bruce Pratt

I am so grateful for another day off this week, I have a lot of schoolwork to complete before Monday and just as much editing work due the same day. Thanks to Glynis for posting a video on procrastination which I found when I was procrastinating writing my essay. As part of our senior study we are required to write an essay entitled "Writer in the World," which explains to your writing community who you are as a writer, why you write and how you add to the writing community.

Today, consider the answer to these questions. Why do you write? What do you add to your community and/or the world as a writer? How do you think your writing will influence other people? Who influences your writing? Who is your audience? Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

George Orwell's Essay Why I Write

Black Friday Deals

2009-11-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

I don't go out and attend the Black Friday sales, too many crowds and too many impulse buys. This year the e-retailers have some really great deals online including, Amazon's Black Friday deals.

Black Friday Deals

And I always check Ebates before I buy anything online, just by signing up and clicking through from their site you get cash back from the retailers. Here's a sign up link. I've been using Ebates for two years and I regularly get quarterly checks back for my online purchases. Happy Shopping!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

May You Have a Generous Slice

2009-11-26T08:30:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Comments on Comments

2009-11-25T07:53:00.000-08:00

I'll most likely be back this evening with a writing post. The #1 reason I approve/reject comments SPAM. But just wanted to remind the dear, sweet people who comment saying lovely things like "writing nag is the best blog ever" and "I read writing nag every day" and then includes their link to payday loans, debt reduction plans, weight loss programs and the other links that I won't even mention but I'm sure you can all visualize/imagine. There's not a chance it will ever be published, so why waste your time? Anyways if you have time to waste, I have time to reject your comment.

I'm grateful today for the real people who read, legitimately comment and stop by to visit the writing nag. Thanks!

Lovingly,
The "Loves to Reject SPAM comments" Writing Nag

Thoughts on Thanksgiving...

2009-11-20T07:13:00.001-08:00

"For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Less than a week to Thanksgiving. Once Thanksgiving is over...Black Friday hits and the swift countdown to Christmas and the holiday season begins. And once again I find myself thinking where did this year go? And did I accomplish my goals?

Last Thanksgiving our house was full of friends and family, there was a lot of excitement a year ago this week preparing for their arrival but this year we are celebrating by ourselves. Sunday I will make a big batch of cranberry chutney for Thanksgiving dinner and for Christmas gifts, bake my Nana's raisin bread, pull out the holiday decor and the house will begin to smell and look like the holidays.

Today, consider starting a new tradition in your family, get together and write a collaborative poem to be read on Thanksgiving Day. Brainstorm together on what Thanksgiving means to you, what are you grateful for this year, how is this year different? What hopes do you have for next year that you can express poetically? Now get back to work!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

My new favorite vintage postcard

2009-11-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

Concrete Couch

2009-11-16T10:37:00.001-08:00

Colorado Springs residents learn more about volunteering in a creative way.

Thoughts on being creative

2009-11-16T09:57:00.000-08:00

This is long, almost 20 minutes but very good, interesting words from the author of Eat, Pray, Love. So you might want to clean your office and just listen.

Sunday morning snow

2009-11-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning, view from my screened in office door.

An Early Christmas Gift

2009-11-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

I posted this last season but for those creative artists who missed it, another chance.

Download a FREE copy of the Artella eBook, Stunning and Simple Seasonal Salutations, an eBook featuring 10 beautiful handmade cards, complete with photos and descriptive "how-to" instructions, showcasing a variety of techniques such as rubber stamping, collage, and innovative paper and mixed media arts.Download your copy here!

On Reading

2009-11-16T06:34:00.000-08:00

READING

"My eye frees what the page imprisons:

the white the white and the black the black."

Ibn 'Anmar of Silves

One of the first things every creative writing teacher will tell you is that you must read to be able to write. You must read across genres and eras, read the classics, read your contemporaries, read, read, read... And there are writers that don't heed that advice because they don't want to be influenced by other writers. I don't trust writers that don't read.

During the times I'm at school I read a lot. Sometimes 5-6 books a week, but I still can't wait for the semester downtimes when I can pick up a book to read strictly for pleasure. I don't need to remember any of it, or annotate it, or quote it in a critical essay. Those are the books I treasure. I think the first books we read can be life changing, they can change how you feel about reading and writing. What early books influenced your life? How does reading help you in your writing? Now get back to work!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

Grants for Artist and Writers

2009-11-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd pass this link on, a blog that concentrates on grants, residencies, fellowships etc. for artists, writers and other creative people.

The Poet's Trade

2009-11-14T07:34:00.000-08:00

The Poet's Trade
by Amy Lowell

No one expects a man to make a chair without first learning how, but there is a popular impression that the poet is born, not made, and that his verses burst from his overflowing heart of themselves. As a matter of fact, the poet must learn his trade in the same manner, and with the same painstaking care, as the cabinet-maker. His heart may overflow with high thoughts and sparkling fancies, but if he cannot convey them to his reader by means of written word he has no claim to be considered a poet. A workman may be pardoned, therefore, for spending a few moments to explain and describe the technique of his trade. A work of beauty which cannot stand an intimate examination is a poor and jerry-built thing. In the first place, I wish to state my firm belief that poetry should not try to teach, that it should exist simply because it is a created beauty, even if sometimes the beauty of a gothic grotesque. We do not ask the trees to teach us moral lessons, and only the Salvation Army feels it necessary to pin texts upon them. We know that these texts are ridiculous, but many of us do not yet see that to write an obvious moral all over a work of art, picture, statue, or poem, is not only ridiculous, but timid and vulgar. We distrust a beauty we only half understand, and rush in with our impertinent suggestions. How far are we from "admitting the Universe"! The Universe, which flings down its continents and seas, and leaves them without comment. Art is as much a function of the Universe as an Equinoctial gale, or the Law of Gravitation; and we insist upon considering it merely a little scroll-work, or no great importance unless it be studded with nails from which pretty and uplifting sentiments may be hung!

Paying Attention

2009-11-13T05:22:00.000-08:00

"The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention"

Julia Cameron

This morning on The Writer's Almanac I read a beautiful poem by poet Ted McMahon called "Grapefruit."

An essay by poet Ted McMahon on paying attention. Worth a read.

Today, set the timer for thirty minutes and write about yesterday, any part of it but concentrate on the details as McMahon does in "Grapefruit." If you knew you had to write about your previous day every morning what would you pay attention to? Would you remember your meals or what people were wearing or the conversations you had? Yesterday at a coffee shop, I watched four young people leaving the shop, every single one of them was checking their phones as they walked down the stairs. How much is missed if you aren't paying attention? Now get back to work!

Lovingly,

The Writing Nag

"I Live Now"

2009-11-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

"With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

How would you write it today only mattered? What if you didn't think about past failures or why you were writing or what was in the future for you? There is a lot of information about living in the present but many of us get hung up on our past, our regrets, our should of's and could of's. Last week I sent my friend this poem that illustrates "living in the moment" for poets.

Ars Poetica
By: Blaga Dimitrova

Write each of your poems
as if it were your last.
In this century, saturated with strontium,
charged with terrorism,
flying with supersonic speed,
death comes with terrifying suddenness.
Send each of your words
like a last letter before execution,
a call carved on a prison wall.
You have no right to lie,
no right to play pretty little games.
You simply won't have time
to correct your mistakes.
Write each of your poems,
tersely, mercilessly,
with blood--as if it were your last.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

The Midnight Disease

2009-11-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

"Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things." Robert Frost

I'm reading this book for a paper I'm writing and it is a fascinating read on the creative drive, writer's block, and how and why we write.

Unfortunately all my time this week has been taken up with schoolwork, editing and my full time job so that leaves little time for blogging. I'm hoping that I can schedule my time better next week so that I can write a few posts. Happy Sunday!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Chocolate Gift Baskets

2009-11-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

I feel pretty confident saying that most writers are fueled by chocolate, so when I found these organic chocolate gift baskets from Intentional Chocolate filled with dark chocolate Gogi berries, chocolate truffles and more, (their most popular items), I immediately thought of holiday gifts and one for my desk. Not only are these confections made with pure Hawaiian dark chocolate but they are infused with intention. So not only are you sending a delicious gift but you are sending good positive energy, visit Intentional Chocolate to read more how they are infusing chocolates with good intentions.

I'm willing to test the claims that dark chocolate, infused with intention, decreases stress, brings calmness to your life, enhances focus and increases energy. I'll start with a dark chocolate triangle filled with raspberry.

Content Writing

2009-11-03T06:32:00.000-08:00

I am working on a new post on content writing based on a Writer's Digest article this month, but most likely I won't post it until tomorrow. If you've never considered content writing...it might be something to think about while you are waiting for your responses to query letter's you send out.

Just something to consider... this article on Buying American made Official Inaugural Collectibles took me less than 15 minutes to write and so far I've made since January, based on an hourly rate, $128.00 just on page views alone. While all my articles haven't done that well, I average, based on an hourly rate, $10-$12 per hour.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Scratch Anyway You Can

2009-11-02T07:02:00.000-08:00

When once the itch of literature comes over a man (or woman), nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen. But if you have not a pen, I suppose you must scratch any way you can.
Samuel Lover, Handy Andy, 1842

I have off this morning which is two days off in a row, something I haven't had since I started working in the restaurant. This is my new schedule to accommodate my school work a little better and after the weekend's marathon 16 hours at the computer, my neck and my hands are aching. One thing I accomplished that I started last summer was putting all my poetry together; collecting, grouping and organizing it into separate documents. This has been really helpful in seeing where I am at the present moment and what I need to work on to visualize a collection.
I have also been reading a lot about creativity, the science behind it and techniques to use to develop self-discipline in your creative life. In The Woman's Book of Creativity, Dr. C. Diane Ealy writes, "Self-discipline is the key to coping with procrastination. While spontaneity is important in stimulating creativity, creating is hard work, requiring more self-discipline than any other endeavor."

One of the ways I'm creating self-discipline for the next three weeks is by working with another poet in a collaborative project. We are starting our project by emailing each other every day at least a couple of paragraphs about our creative process and our stumbling blocks and successes. Having this assignment every morning will put me right where I need to be. Ealy continues, "Sometimes we need a strict schedule to control our time and motivate us to work."

How does creating a schedule help your creative process? This week I'm doing an experiment and sticking to a schedule that includes creative time. I'll let you know how it goes.

Today a writing prompt to enrich your vocabulary. Use the following five words from The Words You Should Know by David Olsen. If you don't know them you might need to first do a little research. And then write a paragraph or a page using your new words.

Rankle (verb)
Recalcitrant (adjective)
Amenity (noun)
Purlieus (noun)
Bumptious (adjective)

Now get back to work!

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T16:20:00.001-07:00

Just a couple of vintage Halloween postcard images.
Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Margaret!

2009-10-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

My sister and I have birthdays within one day of each other, mine was yesterday, Margaret's is today, which meant we shared a party and a cake every year!

Happy Birthday Margaret!

The thoughts of the moment

2009-10-29T13:33:00.000-07:00

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable. Francis Bacon

My thoughts today I am knee deep in words, my science paper, my packet work for school and editing. I got an unexpected bonus the snow storm means we are closing the restaurant early so I have more hours to get my work done. No blogging until Monday though...see you then!
Lovingly,
The Writing Nag

Submitting your work to a literary journal

2009-10-26T07:36:00.001-07:00

How to Submit your creative writing to a Literary Journal

A quick reminder list before you send in your creative writing to a literary journal.

For many creative writers submitting to a literary journal and getting published is a writing goal. These reminders will help you reach that goal.