One thing I am working on is grading my composition classes assignment for this week. It was a three part:

1. Try a pre-writing technique (several were in the book but they could be some such as freewriting, brainstorming, outlining, mapping etc) in response to Ken Macrorie’s quote” Good writing is formed partly through plan and partly through accident.”
2. Take that pre-writing and try to write a response to the quote (if you freewrote revise your response)
3. Write a paragraph about your writing process. Maybe think about why you chose the pre-writing technique you did or speak about what you are going to do next with your response

I have finished grading the in class analysis my British Lit class did of “Beowulf” and I’m catching up with my creative writing 2 online class. They are getting the experience of reading submissions to “Referential.” Don’t worry, if you submitted I get the final call on what stays and goes.

While I’m finishing up school work I am also trying to work on my to do list which included trying to get to this blog post and then digging into the printed copy I made of my potential third manuscript.

That manuscript is what I want to talk with you about for a minute. Instead of posting a poem since I really only have one in progress right now and it seems like it might be about ready to sub I’m going to ask you guys for some help as we think more about when we retire and/or keep working on poems.

I’m going to link you to a document filled with poems that I wrote, that were then published, but that I later found myself unsure of. If you want to scan through and then leave comments here (or I think you can actually leave comments on the document . . . this should be fun!) on ones you think should stay retired or ones you think maybe have some merit for revision I think that could be fun. Some of these poems are so old they were published when I was an undergraduate!

As always I want to hear what you guys are working on. Did you send work out? Have something to link or post in comments so we can chat about it? (As always I’ll take it down a week later).

Some fun notes at the bottom for your weekend:

• A copy of my chapbook Fat Girl made it to Germany!
• And here is a kickster opportunity I just had to give a little bit of money to. The filmmaker is someone I met on Twitter and she is such a warm person. If you don’t follow her you should!

I’ve had this book on my to read list for quite a while, but I’m glad I waited to read it on my Kindle Fire. The special full cartoon color (yes the protagonist draws cartoons!) edition available on the Kindle is a bit pricey but worth it. Not only do you have the fantastic voice of Junior Spirit to speak to you, but you get to see the full range of his drawings throughout the book. In addition to the terrific text and art are other great extras including a discussion guide, interview witht the author and interview with the artisit who made Junior’s artwork come alive.

I’d highly recommend this one and I’d love to teach it someday because there is so much to discuss regarding race, poverty, thinking as a creative person, and simply on how to be good to others (and for the pre-teen boys there are some mentions of – well – you know what goes on in bathrooms when no one is home . . . I also mention that for any adults who might easily offended.

This is another great example of a young adult novel that will be a fanststic read for an adult. I won’t be deleting my digital copy anytime soon Heck, this might be one of the few books I’ve bought digitially that I feel the need to also buy in print.

View all my reviews

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. (p. 56, ch. 5)

Unfortunately, I never made it that far into the book. I’ve brought this topic up before but I still feel guilty when I give up on a book, a TV show, a friend . . . (ok that doesn’t happen often and is probably a whole other discusion – ) I thought the first Chapter of the book was quite brilliant and then the second so full of slow dialogue that I flipped ahead to trusty page 77 and still found myself not interested enough to continue. I also stopped “Her Fearful Symmentry” this week after a few chapters so what else did I just stop on?

The TV show: Sister Wives. For some reason i am a complete sucker for certain types of topics and polygamy is just one of them. No, I have no desire to be a polygamist but I think that is where the fascination comes in. I want to know about things I would never do (but apparently I don’t do war books or books about ghosts as well lately . . . hmmm don’t both of those topics have a death quality to them).

I made it through season 1 and season 2 on Netflix but getting through the 2nd season was a chore. I think my spouse put it well when he said – if they weren’t polygamists they’d just be boring white people. Ya know. He was right. I didn’t even consider trying to find the newer seasons. I did a brief google to see if they law ever caught up with them, but I’m done thinking about them.

Maybe each of these items had one bit that seemed to draw me in: Catch-22 as a “classic”, “Her Fearful Symmetry” by an author whose other novel I enjoyed, and “Sister Wives” with their rebellion against modern society in one aspect of marital life but having that one thing that makes you somehow unique or eye catching doesn’t mean the finished product is going to be enough to keep people reading. I often tell writers to either tell me something no one can tell me or tell something anyone could in a unique way. Somehow, for me, these items I mentioned fell in between these two sides and I couldn’t quite pull them out of that valley. Is trying to find that balance, in itself, a Catch – 22?

Well – surprise – surprise – a pantoum I wrote is going to appear in the 2013 Poet’s Market! That was a pleasant surprise and a reminder to have other readers because I was about to give up on that poem.

That – and squeezing in some time in a busy week – helped prompt me to submit one packet of poems although I only drafted on this week – which is below.

–and that poem is gone as well  

My consuming of things (well besides food!) has been limited this week although I did (over several days) finish a really sweet coming of age movie from Canada called Dear Lemon Lima. It reminded me of “Rushmore”  but with a female protagonist.

My composition classes focused on rhetorical situations this week. I asked them to think, write, and discuss the interplay of author, audience, and text. I always say I don’t write for an audience, but what if I am writing for myself. That is at least one audience whose expectations I – usually – know.

In British Lit we did a refresher about research as we prepare to discuss “Beowulf” next week and my online creative writing 2 class is gearing up to help with “Referential” while they start to work on their own writing.

Feel free to talk about what you have been up to this week and to share your writing. As always, I will take down anything posted in comments (well any creative writing – not the general comments) this time next week, including my own work in progress.

Let’s chat

I picked this book up because I heard rave reviews about it on a few different blogs. I will admit there are laugh out loud moments and bittersweet moments which the author weaves together quite well, but I can’t rave about it quite as much as some of the other reviewers. That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it; that isn’t to say I wouldn’t recommend it, but I hate to go in saying – THIS WAS THE FUNNIEST BOOK I EVER READ – because it wasn’t. It was, however, worth a read. There are moments where Ferris’ writing is more like a prose poem and I appreciate her easy to read writing style that is filled with honesty – no matter how painful that can be sometimes.

View all my reviews

• Here is a terrific interview with the poet (and memoir writer) Sandra Beasley
• I have a poem in the new issue of Barely South the online journal from ODU
• There is some publicity out for the Couplet Literary Festival I’ll be presenting at in Wilmington on Feb 4th (SO EXCITED!)
• If you are looking for some things to watch I found P Star Rising, 6 Days to Air and How Beer Saved the World (and I’m not a beer fan, but neat to see how they shaped history/facts to fit their narrative) all pretty interesting on Netflix for very different reasons (warning on 6 days – it is about the makers of SouthPark so you know the language you are gonna be getting!)
• Today was a good week of classes, albeit a short week which meant condensing and unusual prep times. My composition classes were working on critical reading/critical thinking skills and vocabulary fun (via modified Scattegories) while my British Lit students practiced their literary analysis skills using Fairy Tales and my online students were asked to sign up for Submishmash, Worpdress and to look into print and online literary magazines because they will be thinking on the world of publishing this semester.
• I also managed to draft at least one poem this week and I sent out one submission package with some acceptances coming in so not bad on that front. I keep trying to move forward, including the word that Sibling Rivalry Press will publish my 2nd full length poetry collection in the Fall of 2013!

So how do I get to the so what portion of this post? Well, it is this poem below. I believe I may have posted an earlier draft of it here actually. My issue with it – what causes me pause – is the very question: so what? Maybe the poem isn’t terrible, per se, but what is it doing? Why would I bother including it in my submission packets and/or next collection (of course I’m working on what’ll be a 3rd collection or a 5th chapbook – 5? really? whew!). When do you decide the poem was fun to play with, but isn’t something to send out? Let’s discuss!

–by the way – I did decide to retire the poem. It didn’t have enough going for it. Sometimes you have to write stuff that you don’t keep

Looking forward to seeing your work in progress and/or to hear your thoughts on mine. It is time to discuss whatever writing items you want to discuss.

And now I’ll be back to grading

Todd Boss first came to my attention several years back when he was making video poems. At the time, I was editing “Shape of a Box: The First YouTube Literary Magazine.” I never had a chance to feature Todd’s work in my magazine, but his rhythmic style of writing really suited itself well to performance venues such as video. What, therefore, would I think of his work in printed form?

I can now answer that question after reading his newest collection of poems titled “Pitch.” Pitch is a word with many denotations and connotations which (except for baseball) Boss makes good use of throughout this book where there are literal instruments (primarily piano) addressed, but where Boss also tries out different tones, textures within the poems themselves.

Reading this collection made me think of buying my first cassette tape (I know I am dating myself a bit with that reference). I often picked up an album because of one particular song. There were always other tracks on the album that weren’t quite what I was looking for, but I still enjoyed having the collection together as a whole. This is how I felt reading “Pitch.” Not ever poem is one I found myself going back to re-read because maybe they did use a bit too much word play (slant rhymes, repetitions etc) but there were a wealth of poems that kept me coming back for how much fun they had with the sounds of words within a free verse writing style.

One of my favorites is “Blind” where Boss throws out some dark humor as he writes, “One day the doctor tells you that you’re blind / to the truth. . . . Truth is a wave-/ length in the spectrum you’re unable to detect.”

That’s just a taste, or perhaps I should say, a note. You should find a few more samples (chords) and then pick up a copy for yourself to see which track becomes your favorite.

View all my reviews