Maybe Moby?

      "Moby Dick can be read as the world's best how-to book." - Robert Pinsky
Interesting posit for a poet to take. What do you think he means by this?

Rules for Writers

     Got a semi-acceptance this week, which I'm only semi-excited about. Will post more about it when all of the details have been worked out. Also made a big decision about one of my children's book projects that I have been trying to move forward for quite awhile, and spent some time reworking that manuscript. I really think it's finished now! Got one press release out. Attended a monthly meeting called Writer's Night Out that I haven't been able to get to for a couple of months, and chatted with a few other writers about the rules that they do and don't live by. These socials are always quite interesting. Every one there always seems to want to know the same thing from the others ~ how do you make this life work for you? I wonder if we aren't looking for some simple rules for success where none really exist?... Also got a little work done promoting the book that is a new little side gig of mine, and a little volunteer work done lining up next year's featured poets for the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program.
     It was Woody Allen who said two interesting things about success that I think are highly applicable to writing;

"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative", and

"Eighty percent of success is showing up."

     Here are a few links that I wanted to share; my latest column about a woman who knows how to get things done, Janet Fitch's rules for writing from the LA Times which I found instructive, and a very interesting site for bibliophiles that a friend shared with me yesterday.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100804-LIFE-8040305

Janet Fitch's 10 rules for writers

http://fivebooks.com/

Prickly Pear Poetry Project

       I've been wanting to post something for awhile about this ~ The Prickly Pear Poetry Project. That is the name of the non-profit I co-founded in 2008 with my friend Kyle Potvin. She and I met at local poetry readings and in time discovered that we both read and wrote a lot of poetry about cancer. Kyle is a breast cancer survivor, and I have lost several people including my husband to cancer. We talked a lot about how helpful this particular poetry had been and continues to be, to both of us, and we agreed that we would like to help other people who have been affected by cancer find the solace in it that we did. So we created a 2 to 3 hour workshop that we offer to anyone interested at hospitals, clinics, cancer centers and churches. These workshops are always powerful testaments to artistic expression as therapeutic for body and soul. We read poems to the attendees and then lead them in writing exercises. Sharing is always optional but most people chose to read their work, and some pretty amazing things happen. Please let anyone you know in the medical community that this workshop is available. We offer it free to anyone who would like to participate, and ask the facility to provide an honorarium to cover our expenses if they are able to pay. You can find us on Face Book too. Here is an example of a poem I wrote in one of the workshops that resulted from a writing prompt.


The Oncology Ward

The hall of oncology
feels like the corridor
to another alien place,
the exit sign so literal.
Tubes and hoses help
to hold you here,
while bells and buzzers beep
over gently asked questions
that doctors deflect
while the taste of regret
takes hold and chokes.

copyrighted material, please don't use without permission.

     Below is a link to the book that got me started on this path shortly after my husband's death nine years ago. I since got to meet Donald Hall. He was nervous about giving a reading so I didn't want to bother him with my Prickly Pear story, but I would like him to know. Maybe I'll get another chance...
     My next post will be about my trip to the Emily Dickinson Museum.