Poetry Writing Tip #23 - Someone Special is Waiting to Read Your Poems

Today’s tip is my shortest yet.

Perhaps, I would venture to guess, a very important tip as we are in our final weekend before – remember this on October 17 or October 24 or even October 4!

Writing Poetry Tip 22 - Gratitude

Connecting with Divine inspiration to write poetry doesn't have to be hard. Many of the tips so far can help you connect in. It is about allowing the ego to step aside, feeling the love of the source of all creation (whatever you may call it/Him/Her/They), and staying in the present moment to be able to allow the words to flow onto the page.

Gratitude is something that I think helps me stay connected. When I feel grateful I can't help but smile and then loving feelings spread outward from my heart. Ah the words flow in that moment.

Poetry Writing Tip #21: Michelangelo, the Poet & Einstein, the Poetry Teacher?

"The ideas that have lighted my way and, time
after time, have given me new courage to face
life cheerfully have been Kindness,
Beauty, and Truth."
Albert Einstein

Today's tip focuses on writing poetry filled with love, peace and the light which comes as a result of loving peace. Einstein also said, "Creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting points and its rich environment.  But the point from which we started out still exists and can be seen, although it appears smaller and forms a tiny part of our broad view gained by the mastery of the obstacles on our adventurous way up."

Poetry Writing Tip #20 - Making Friends With Time So More Poetry Will Float from Your Pencil

My biggest enemy – well, I don’t exactly like to think of her like that… perhaps frenemy is better – to my creative process is Time. I never seem to have enough of her unless I am very, very conscious with her. It seems on the busiest of days, the most enjoyable moments get swallowed before they begin: poetry, it seems, is one of the first to somersault from my consciousness.

Writing Poetry Tip 19 - Dance to Stir Your Creativity

Not feeling in the mood to write poetry? Movement can increase your creativity exponentially. Put your movement to music and you have a recipe for getting your juices flowing onto the page. Whenever I am feeling stuck in writing poetry I put on fun music and dance out what needs letting go of and dance in the intention for my words to flow onto the page.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

"Cognitive scientists describe creativity as fluid thought. Drawing from findings on gesture and embodied cognition, we hypothesized that the physical experience of fluidity, relative to nonfluidity, would lead to more fluid, creative thought."

Tip Nineteen: Choose one to three pieces of music that create the feelings you want for clearing and setting intentions for your poetry and dance. They can be fast or slow, whatever is needed to set the right tone for you.

When I take the time to begin my day with dance, the ideas for my writing flow like water in a stream, fluidly, smoothly onto the page. When I don't dance or at minimum go for a walk, I feel sluggish and though I can still write it feels more like a struggle to find the words I need to clearly communicate my ideas onto the page.

Your body is meant to move. Not only is it good for your health it is good for your creativity. If you are feeling stuck a great way to get unstuck is to dance. Have fun dancing and writing your poetry.

Only 5 days left until we begin the Poetry Month. Sign up for OctPoWriMo to make sure you are in the Poetry blog hop from the beginning! 

Have you ever used movement to increase your creativity?

Poetry Writing Tip #18: Discovering the Joy of Writing Badly

“Let me live, love and say it well in good sentences.” 

Sylvia Plath

Yes, Sylvia Plath was a wise and tragic figure in literature. She wanted to live. She did and then she didn’t. She wanted to love. She did so until the end. She wanted to say it well in good sentences. She did until she stopped writing sentences when her life ended.

Is it maudlin to say I wonder what the world would have been like if Sylvia (and others) had the courage to write badly every now and then?

Take a moment to hold this question lightly with your mind. Let it float around you, not getting tossed aside, but let it be: “What would my writing life be like if I had the courage to write badly when no decent words are flowing?”

Julia Cameron, when speaking of “writing work” wrote, “In order to write freely, we must be willing to write badly.” 

Write badly. 

Write badly?

Write badly!

TIP #18: Take five minutes out of your “seriously good” writing to create some playfully bad, absolutely awful writing. Imagine yourself a silent screen star writer: you know – way overdoing, huge bulging eyes, organ music so melodramatic the viewer has no doubt something bad is about to happen. Do that with your words.”

Here is a silent from 1917 that is full of images and by today's standards, horrible acting. You might want to mimic the acting with a purposefully bad poem. Check it out:

Even more ideas  from an article I wrote a couple years ago: 

Learn the joy of writing VERY badly on purpose. This may be completely contrary and if so, let’s celebrate. How about writing badly just for fun?  Overwrite, underwrite, write in text language, write in a single run on sentence. Write like a pompous, overinflated egotist. Write in the tiniest letters like a frightened sea-nymph on crack. You may find your best writing ever comes as a result.

Learn and embrace this principle of hitting the page and adding words to the page as a writing practice will allow you to become a far more productive writer. Just write, even gobbledy gook.
You may even give yourself some prompts about gobbledy gook. 

Here are a couple bad writing prompts.:

When I write a page of gobbledy gook, it looks like...

When I devote myself to writing badly - even gobbledy gook - I remember....

When I was a kid and got a paper back with red marks all over it, I got sick to my stomach. What would have happened if I took those red marks and made the supposed "bad writing" into "really bad writing?" Just for fun, I am going to WRITE BADLY about my summer vacation....(or trip to the fair, or afternoon apple picking....)

You may even make art from writing badly. It is possible! 

Then there is always a debate: Is there such a thing as a bad poem?

Read the debate on Yahoo Answers and then comment over here. What do you think?

  

Finally - a college course shows examples of taking bad writing and revising it into respectable writing. Check it out for ideas, perhaps even plucking words and phrases as beginning points for new poems.

Have you added your blog to the linky? This is how we will meet, greet and encourage one another throughout OctPoWriMo. Head over and register now.

OctPoWriMo - 8 Days Until We Begin

We are getting close to the start date for OctPoWriMo: 31 Poems in 31 Days. Are you following along with the tips? Have you discovered something new about writing poetry that you didn't know before?

Are you getting ready for the challenge? I know I'm getting excited to start!

I created a page to make it easier to have the Tips and Links at a glance. 

What has been your favorite tip so far?

I have two favorites, using Magnetic Poetry and using the senses. I guess it would also be to begin noticing things around me or expanding my awareness. I know that I feel more aware than usual, like my very being is preparing for this poetry experience.

We would love to hear how you are getting ready for this poetry challenge and if there is something new you are going to try for this poetry month in October.

Remember to sign up so you can join the blog hop from day one!

Writing Poetry Challenge: Tip 16 ~ Time to Write to Music Like You Never Have Until Now

Before I sat to write this tip – one I firmly believe in – I did a brief perusal of other people’s ideas on the subject. I was pleased to discover the majority of the people I agreed with me regarding the best genre or type of music to listen to while you are writing poetry. 

Even if you read this tip and think it is nuts or you could never do that, I want you to think of two things: there was a time before I became a professional writer that I thought this was hooey also. Secondly, if you don’t give it a go, how will you know?

Tip #16 – Make your poetic musical accompaniment be of the non-lyric variety. No, I am not suggestion muzak, I am suggesting classical music from composers such as Mozart, Chopin,  Brahms, Haydn and many others as well as Celtic Music, Jazz instrumentals, Nature Sounds, music by Igor Stravinsky (if you haven’t heard of him, start listening now… he is so inspiring) etc etc etc.

If you MUST listen to music with lyrics, choose lyrics outside your language. One of my favorite places to find any writing musical accompaniment is RadioSwissClassic. If they have vocals, it is in Italian or German or French. The DJ’s speak… yes, in Italian or German or French.

Remember the Mozart Effect? Well, later researchers have found evidence it isn’t very effective in the long run, but the arousal experienced while listening to a Mozart Sonata increases while listening and up until 15 minutes afterwards.

How can it hurt your poetry to try it?

If you end up trying it (and do so for a significant amount of time) and hate it, then switch it up and listen to music thematically.

Writing love poetry, listen to love songs.

Writing confessional poetry, listen to ballads.

You get the idea.  Now pop on over to these resources to listen to some exceptional music. Then try writing to it. If these classical types aren't for you, Google "Jazz Instrumentals" or "Celtic Instrumentals." You may even surprise yourself with what you come up with while listening to violins and drums. Sometimes it is World Music that does it for me. Experiment, play, write better poetry than you knew you could!

List (and YouTube videos) of the Top 15 Greatest Composersof All Time.

Radio Swiss Classic: Note at the top of the page you may choose what language you want to hear announcements so you can be sure you get a language that isn't your own.

Video of Song (and incredible ballet) of Igor Stravinsky's Rites of Spring.  

Minimize the You Tube videoand listen…. Or watch the images for inspiration and then write and then listen again, without watching video and write…

Now... let's write some darn good poetry!

Have you signed up for OctPoWriMo officially yet? Head over to the Link Up if you haven't yet and join the poets who have decided to commit to writing 31 Poems in 31 Days. Click Here to go the Link Up!