Why Do You Write Poetry?

This year I've decided to share some of my favorite poetry tips from years past during the countdown.  Why do you write poetry?

For some people writing poetry is playful or about love and roses. For me it is about the shadows. It is about diving into what is painful, what is hard.

What is it about poetry, the freedom of writing words onto a page, arranging them, having them flow up

and down,

back and                                                 forth.

filling them with emotions

until they drip with the edges of our sanity. But in writing them down, in allowing them to be, you end up saving yourself. At least that is how I feel sometimes.

I write poetry to decipher my feelings, to understand why I feel the way I do. Why do you write poetry?

 OctPoWiMo Countdown: 21 Days

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OctPoWriMo Link up

Willow Althea a.k.a Morgan Dragonwillow, is a poet, survivor, rebel dancing with words, lover of all things magical, recovering perfectionist, and indie author that (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. She is a word encourager at @StoryDam and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo and #PoetsonthePage. She lives in Acworth, Ga.

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(Hash)Tag It!

Just a few more days! Is your blog as ready as you are? 

So we're doing a good bit of writing here, the next step would be to share it. One of the easiest ways to make sure we're sharing work is to make sure you've got proper tags on your blog posts! 

There's the obvious ones #Poetry #OctPoWriMo 

Then there are some that are popular in a lot of the online writer communities: #SpilledInk (Often accompanying a photo of a handwritten poem) #SpilledWords #SoulKissing #Wordsmith (Usually used for briefer poems) 

You can also go subject specific #LovePoetry #NaturePoetry #WrittenOnAMountaintop, #WordsOnMyHeart, and even more subject specific #PoemAboutHer #WhiskeyedWords 

To connect with other writers and the local community ,the most popular tags are #AmWriting #WordCount #WriterWednesday 

If you've got a strong following and several sites, you can use a personal hashtag such as #BeverlyTanPoetry or a blog name if you don't share with someone. 

There is a note that on different platforms, there is a difference between putting a space between words in a hashtag and not. Instagram has no spaces, Tumblr allows spaces but it's more popular without because of Instagram integration. Blogger and WordPress tend to lean towards the spaces. 

Another thing to keep in mind with hashtags is who else uses. Do a quick search if you're not sure. My favorite story is my friend who grows her own vegetables started using the Instagram hashtag along the lines #FromGardenToPot #Homegrowing and to her surprise, it wasn't about her veggie garden or herb collection, it was actually a cannabis community. 

With all these options, it'll become very trial and error to figure out how to tag your style. I recommend evaluating what is and isn't working every couple months. Choose your tags with style and have some variety between types. 

What's YOUR hashtag? 

Following the Smoke - OctPoWriMo Countdown

“...something was starting to take shape, out of magic and will. Smoke and bone.” ― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone 

We are a third of the way through September. 20 days left until OctPoWriMo: 31 Poems in 31 Days. Can you feel the excitement in the air?  I decided to hop on over to PublicDomainPictures.net to see what would inspire me tonight and I found smoke. Of course, wherever you find smoke, there's fire. Is that cliche or too dated or will that always be a saying?

Photo courtesy of PublicDomainPictures.net
by Paduret Dan Cristian

See how the smoke twists and turns, flowing this way and that way. You don't know where the smoke is going or how it will look in the next moment. Kind of like poetry. But even though you don't know where it is going it is beautiful just as it is, just as it will be as it floats out into the world.

Today's Indie ebook is:



Love and Ink by Kiana Donae


Have you Linked up to join in the OctPoWriMo fun yet? Poet or not, you will find inspiration here.

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. You can find out more about her and how she can help you "move your body, move your words" on her website, Read, Dance, Write.
Yes, she is on Google+ too!

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Top 6 OctPoWriMo Poetry Tips

Over the last six years OctPoWriMo has had some great contributors with fantastic poetry tips. I've decided today to share some of my favorites. The list is in no specific order.

Top 6 OctPoWriMo Poetry Tips:

OctPoWriMo 2012: Poetry Writing Tip #23 - Someone Special is Waiting to Read Your Poems

OctPoWriMo 2012: Writing Poetry Tip 19 - Dance to Stir Your Creativity

OctPoWriMo 2013: What Poetry Tools do You Have - Tip One

OctPoWriMo 2015: Do it like a twosome

OctPoWriMo 2016: Countdown - Writing Dangerously

OctPoWriMo 2015: Ready for Liftoff!

There you have it, 6 of my favorites, at least this year. Yesterday I forgot to add the Indie Ebook for the day so here are two.

Water in a Glass by our very own Beverly Tan

I am Miss Swift

We have all different types of people that join us year after year to write 31 Poems in 31 Days. Are you going to be one of them this year? Sign up and don't miss a single moment of OctPoWriMo!

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo #PoetsonthePage. You can find out more about her and how she can help you "move your body and move your words" on her website, Read, Dance, Write.

Yes, she is on Google+ too!

Make sure you sign up to receive our updates, tips and prompts to share in all the poetry fun!
P.S. This isn't the sign up for the poetry challenge, OctPoWriMo. You can sign up here.

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The Stuff of Dreams

Photo: Dreaming by Toni Blay / CC BY

"To sleep...perchance to dream..." - William Shakespeare 

I've always been fascinated by dreams and dream analysis. I write down the detailed dreams I remember and I keep a dream book on my bedside table to research the meanings of the details 

of the stories that unfold while I've been unconscious. It's interesting to discover the ways in which my subconscious mind has woven together my thoughts, emotions, and often, my anxieties from the previous day's events. I find that this involuntary narrative makes for some of the best poetry and song lyrics. 

Once, I wrote a song based on a very bizarre, detailed dream I had involving a court jester, a bus ride to Europe, and a loaf of bread, of all things! 

But whatever makes up the tales your brain tells you during your REM time, whether they be serious, whimsical, bizarre or poignant, keeping a record of them and utilizing those details to inform your art can be a very powerful form of self-discovery as well as a fascinating form of "confessional" prose to share with one's readers. It's also a wonderful way to keep your work open to interpretation to the reader.

Linda Roy is a writer, singer/songwriter/musician whose humor blog elleroy was here mixes funny with a soundtrack. She is the founder and lead singer of the Indie/Americana band Jehova Waitresses and her writing has been featured at The Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Erma Bombeck Writer's Workshop, Humor Outcasts and In the Powder Room, among others. She is a 2014 BlogHer Voice of the Year recipient and has contributed to several anthologies, including the third book of the New York Times best selling "Pee Alone" series, I Still Just Want To Pee Alone. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

OctPoWriMo 2015 | Free your emotions

One of the most powerful aspects of poetry stems from tapping into your inner self. When you let down your guard and allow yourself be vulnerable, it opens your mind up to so much more. It can give your writing wings and authenticity.

I'm normally a person, who keeps my feelings in. I don't' necessarily share how I'm feeling or what I'm thinking unless I feel close to a person. I keep things at a surface level and I'm not even sure why. It's just the way I deal with the world, I suppose. With poetry, I can expose my inner-workings, my feelings, my thoughts, impressions, and interpretations. I don't feel shy or awkward. Not anymore.

This amount of openness can be a little bit off-putting at first. It might feel conspicuous, slightly uncomfortable. But with poetry as Linda was telling us yesterday, things are open to interpretation. You may be talking about one thing and the reader could see it a totally different way. Her experiences colors what she reads. By honoring your truth, allowing yourself to permission to feel and write about it, you can help your readers find their truths.

 It's emotional freedom at its finest. If you give yourself permission to let go.

.Tamara Woods was raised (fairly happily) in West Virginia where she began penning poems after a boy broke her heart. She shares poetry, short stories and writer interviews on her blog, PenPaperPad. Her writing has been featured in Mamalode, In the Powder Room, and many others. She is the editor for The Reverie Journal, which will be releasing it's first poetry collection early October. She also hosts #writestuff TweetChat where writers talk about writing every Tuesday at 9 pm EST. She is a hillbilly hermit living in Honolulu with her Mathmagician.

Poetry - Your Muse - And Dance

"Dance came first, the words came later. It was dance that freed my words, freed my soul." ~MDragonwillow

You knew that I would be talking about this, I talk about it every year - at least once. My Muse is just happier with music and dance and gets my poetry flowing!

If you have hopped over to my blog recently you know that I have been making a lot of changes. I am finally claiming my dancing self, completely.


I.am.              The Dancing Muse.              

There I said it.

Dance is an integral part of my writing and poetry process. Today I am going to share some of my favorite music mixes on YouTube that I write and dance to. They inspire me. I can't be still when I am listening to them, even when I'm writing I'll stand at my writing station and bounce, bop, tap, and sway to the music.  No it isn't a desk, it's a rolling kitchen island I have in the dining room because I often would rather stand than sit, though I have a bar stool for when my feet say they've had enough.

Even if I am sitting on the couch typing, as I am now, my feet are moving on the footstool while I rock my shoulders back and forth as I type. The music dances in my blood and my body and fingers (typing) get pulled along.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, that you find yourself up and moving to the music, and then pulled to the page to download the words that are hopping to come out. Even if you detest my music, I hope you find yourself either going through your own music or checking out different mixes on YouTube for you to dance and write your poetry to.

Dance, write, repeat! My Muse loves it!


This is "2 Hours of Celtic Music" and no I don't dance for two hours (though there have been days that I have danced more than two hours over the course of a day) but I often have it playing in the background as I type.

 

And this is when I really need to stir things up, James Asher - Tigers of the Raj (full album)




I recently (sometime in the last few months) discovered Epic Music Mixes on Youtube and this is one of my favorites. 2-Hours Epic Music Mix | The Power of Epic Music - Full Mix Vol. 2




Hope you have fun listening, dancing, and writing!

Count Down: 3 Days until OctPoWriMo!

Time is going by quickly, are you ready for this poetry challenge, will you be sharing your poetry on your blog? Make sure if you are on Twitter that you share your poem posts with the hashtag #OctPoWriMo so that other participants can find you. You can also share and chat with us on Facebook in our Writing Poetry Group.

Morgan Dragonwillow: Writing rebel, stress relief explorer, recovering perfectionist, cooking as therapy, poet & author that (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. She is team leader at @StoryDam, creatrix of #OctPoWriMo, and you can find her at, A Poet's Kitchen, cooking up simply delicious meals. She lives in Marietta, Ga. with her loving and patient partner, their dog that thinks she's a princess, and the cat that reminds her that she isn't.
You can find her on Google+

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Finding the Words When They Feel Lost

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don'tgive up.” ― Anne Lamott

Sometimes when the words feel lost, it isn't about having writer's block, doubt, or fear. Sometimes it is about being so closed off, the words can't come through. You can be so locked down that your words can't find a way to the page.

Art by Morgan Dragonwillow

The page isn't the enemy, it is actually the only place that won't talk back, argue with you, or try to make you be something that you aren't.

You can tell the page anything and everything, your deepest secrets, your deepest longings and it will always be there for you, ready to listen.

We are less than two weeks until OctPoWriMo begins, this is a reminder that you can spend the month breathing onto the page your every thought in whatever form you wish, share or not share, just show up at the page.

Three of my favorite tips from last year:

1. What Poetry Tools Do You Have?
2. Why I Was Scared Away From Writing Poetry When I Was Young
3. To Writers Who Don't Think They Can Write Poetry

OctPoWriMo, where the rules are thrown out the window. Show up to the page and let the words flow.

Count Down: 13 Days until OctPoWriMo!

Morgan Dragonwillow: Rebel dancing with words, intuitive cook, recovering perfectionist, poet & author that (mostly) doesn't let her fears get in the way of her passion for writing and creating. She is team leader at @StoryDam, creatrix of #OctPoWriMo, and you can find her at, A Poet's Kitchen, cooking up simply delicious meals. She lives in Marietta, Ga. with her loving and patient partner, their dog that thinks she's a princess, and the cat that reminds her that she isn't.
You can find me at Google+

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OctPoWriMo Count Down!

If this is the first time you have found us, OctPoWriMo is an October Poetry Writing Month. It is a poetry challenge to write a poem a day during the month of October and link up your poetry here for all of us to share and support each others poetry journey. You can find inspiration through our daily poetry prompts or write from your own prompts.

We are so excited about OctPoWriMo this year! Last year we saw over 14,000 visitors during the month of October, that's a lot of visitors! Who knows how many we will have this year.