What an inspiring challenge! I'm in. And since today is my birthday, I gifted myself a subscription to Rattle. (Thanks for the recommendation. It looks like a resource I'll spend time with.)
I do a weekly haiku with my writers' group and have experienced its power with word selection. A little poetry on top of that can only help my prose. 🤸♀️
I've gotten into the habit of gifting myself for my own birthdays and Christmas, and I always truthfully receive 'just what I wanted'. Best wishes to all you birthday people out there who responded to my post.
I have been hearing from readers and friends all my writing life that I should write a memoir about my colorful and certifiably nutso family. When I have attempted this, however, I cannot manage to publish any of what I write. And an attempt at a full-length memoir garnered a stubborn and painful dry spell in poetry. I backed off after that. But maybe one day, I will try again.
Thanks for energizing advice ! This is encouraging esp coming from someone already published in New Yorker ! Thanks for taking the time to push us all on! Good luck with your novel, too.
Thanks for your kind words Julianne! The NYT piece was for their 'Tiny Modern Love Story' section, which I'd recommend as a great prompt in and of itself (stories have to be 100 words or under).
This essay was inspiring to read; what a stimulating way to start the day.
The line "sometimes a piece isn’t working because it wants to wear a different hat" will resonate with a lot of readers.
So too will your anecdote about transforming poems that didn't quite work into micro prose that did.
(When the pandemic first descended, writing long stories seemed to require more energy and focus than I could summon. I don't know if that's when I started writing flash, but it's certainly when I started focusing on it. And the fiction that I write sometimes obliquely, sometimes directly reflects the fact that my degrees are in English literature, not creative writing. But enough about me.)
Your exhortation to try every genre once brought to mind In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado's memoir. It's powerful, bleak, endlessly inventive; it shifts from one genre to another episode by episode.
Time to put that on my to-be-reread list--and time, too, to emulate its daring approach. Or, as you might put it, time to swim in different lanes, time to see if I can teach some foals to walk, gambol, and run.
Several months ago I became active in a local poetry group. It has helped me tremendously in my short stories. I felt, and still do, tremendous joy when a poem was published in Texas Observer. Selected by guest poetry editor Bruce Bond. I’m still over the moon about it months later. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I would write poetry.
I so agree! I learned so much from experimentations. I used to say: I'm not a poet. But then I published a bunch of prose poems. So I stopped limiting myself. Only what I write defines what kind of writer I am and as long as I'm writing, this definition keeps growing.
I found this article spot on. I began writing Sci-Fi short stories and after filling three collections, branched out into Sci-Fi novels and fan fiction. Once eschewing poetry as too difficult to do, I've managed to write a few pieces which I've scattered within my novels. Filling in my KDP collection of 20 books, I've added general short story collections, mystery novels, a fictionalized family history, and historical fiction. I've written three plays, also on KDP. Each genre seems to strengthen the others.
Ah, so true! After being buried for months in working on a book, I find writing short fiction refreshing. It clears the mind and it's good for the "technique" - how to make every word count, get rid of the fluff. Hopping genres also keeps inspiration going. I'll switch crime, horror, SF... and some non-fiction for guest blogs and my substack, every 2 weeks. It's enjoyable and works a different set of muscles.
I'm also preferring to spend my time on shorter work--every muscle in my body revolts against writing a novel. I write poetry, CNF, and short stories. The only thing I haven't done is screenwriting, although I did a TV script as a short story. :)
Good essay, Daniel Seifert! I enjoy writing in different genres because the topics that I want to explore require different structures and formats. Also, when I'm having trouble finding a publisher for my poems, I get an acceptance for one of my creative nonfiction essays, which encourages me to keep trying. Best wishes for your own writing!
Janet Ruth Heller
Author of the poetry books Nature’s Olympics (Wipf and Stock, 2021), Exodus (WordTech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press, 2012) and Traffic Stop (Finishing Line Press, 2011); the scholarly book Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (University of Missouri Press, 1990); the middle-grade chapter book for kids The Passover Surprise (Fictive Press, 2015, 2016); and the award-winning picture book for kids about bullying, How the Moon Regained Her Shape (Arbordale, 2006; seventh edition 2022).
I They dont read- poets or fiction writers. Thus they have slim awareness of revolution in American poetry led by BIOPOC writers, especially The Cave Canem group of Afican Ameican writers, and Kundiman, a group for Asian American writers(and Pacific Islanders.
2 Their content is surprisingly timid; it selddom goes past their own house; sometimes it is in thehouse,but not about family.
3. Some think poetry means sharing your latest therapy session ( and somedont realiz not all of us are In therapy ( even if we truly needed it ASAP)
4. Some are sloppy and have no sense of style.
5. Some "settle" for ideas and lines and dontpush themvsevles to go deeper
6. Some have the imagination of a dead refrigerators- it'ssupposed to be cool or chill or keeping things fresh, but there's only the the waves of faint and thick nauseating gas.
7. Many coulldnt tell a sonnet or a villanelle if it rhmymed on their cheeks ano forehead.
What an inspiring challenge! I'm in. And since today is my birthday, I gifted myself a subscription to Rattle. (Thanks for the recommendation. It looks like a resource I'll spend time with.)
I do a weekly haiku with my writers' group and have experienced its power with word selection. A little poetry on top of that can only help my prose. 🤸♀️
Happy birthday Patricia! A weekly haiku sounds like a great prompt to start/end a week, I might have to borrow that!
Happy Birthday 🎉
Thanks. I've stopped counting the years, but I still enjoy the birthdays.
Happy birthday! Wonderful gift to give yourself. Mine was last week and all celebrating involved writers and writing—it was fun!
🥳🎉🥳
Happy Birthday and what a nice gift to give yourself! Maybe I should do that for my birthday on Sunday!
I've gotten into the habit of gifting myself for my own birthdays and Christmas, and I always truthfully receive 'just what I wanted'. Best wishes to all you birthday people out there who responded to my post.
🎉🥳🎉 My birthday is this coming Wednesday!
Happy birthday!
I have been hearing from readers and friends all my writing life that I should write a memoir about my colorful and certifiably nutso family. When I have attempted this, however, I cannot manage to publish any of what I write. And an attempt at a full-length memoir garnered a stubborn and painful dry spell in poetry. I backed off after that. But maybe one day, I will try again.
Thanks for energizing advice ! This is encouraging esp coming from someone already published in New Yorker ! Thanks for taking the time to push us all on! Good luck with your novel, too.
Thanks for your kind words Julianne! The NYT piece was for their 'Tiny Modern Love Story' section, which I'd recommend as a great prompt in and of itself (stories have to be 100 words or under).
This essay was inspiring to read; what a stimulating way to start the day.
The line "sometimes a piece isn’t working because it wants to wear a different hat" will resonate with a lot of readers.
So too will your anecdote about transforming poems that didn't quite work into micro prose that did.
(When the pandemic first descended, writing long stories seemed to require more energy and focus than I could summon. I don't know if that's when I started writing flash, but it's certainly when I started focusing on it. And the fiction that I write sometimes obliquely, sometimes directly reflects the fact that my degrees are in English literature, not creative writing. But enough about me.)
Your exhortation to try every genre once brought to mind In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado's memoir. It's powerful, bleak, endlessly inventive; it shifts from one genre to another episode by episode.
Time to put that on my to-be-reread list--and time, too, to emulate its daring approach. Or, as you might put it, time to swim in different lanes, time to see if I can teach some foals to walk, gambol, and run.
Thanks for the kind words Peter! Dream House sounds amazing, am adding it to my TBR pile as we speak.
I love In the Dream House! Such a provocative, strangely hypnotic book.
Several months ago I became active in a local poetry group. It has helped me tremendously in my short stories. I felt, and still do, tremendous joy when a poem was published in Texas Observer. Selected by guest poetry editor Bruce Bond. I’m still over the moon about it months later. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I would write poetry.
I so agree! I learned so much from experimentations. I used to say: I'm not a poet. But then I published a bunch of prose poems. So I stopped limiting myself. Only what I write defines what kind of writer I am and as long as I'm writing, this definition keeps growing.
"Only what I write defines what kind of writer I am and as long as I'm writing" -- a wonderful way to put it!
a better way of considering this discussion
This is good encouragement to play, to experiment. "Let me just try something..." Making room for fresh inspiration to strike.
Thanks Kristina! Here's to the 'laboratory' of the keyboard.
I found this article spot on. I began writing Sci-Fi short stories and after filling three collections, branched out into Sci-Fi novels and fan fiction. Once eschewing poetry as too difficult to do, I've managed to write a few pieces which I've scattered within my novels. Filling in my KDP collection of 20 books, I've added general short story collections, mystery novels, a fictionalized family history, and historical fiction. I've written three plays, also on KDP. Each genre seems to strengthen the others.
Sounds like a great evolution and an amazing body of work!
Jumping on the 'I needed to hear this today' bus.
I've been writing since last year and thought I should avoid scifi/ fantasy since that's my go to genre to read, I shouldn't write it.
I'll get there, just takes time.
Poet at heart, however as you’ve suggested
Poems <—-> Prose Poems <—-> Prose
crushes the writer’s block, lessens the sting of Rejection —> Declination —> NOT THIS TIME, NOT THIS SPACE. BUT THERE IS A POEM IN THIS PLACE.
I needed this today. I’ve been creatively lazy lately, resisting the hard work of challenging myself. I’m going to do some stretching.
"Resisting the hard work of challenging myself" really resonates with me too -- a great way to put it!
Ah, so true! After being buried for months in working on a book, I find writing short fiction refreshing. It clears the mind and it's good for the "technique" - how to make every word count, get rid of the fluff. Hopping genres also keeps inspiration going. I'll switch crime, horror, SF... and some non-fiction for guest blogs and my substack, every 2 weeks. It's enjoyable and works a different set of muscles.
I'm also preferring to spend my time on shorter work--every muscle in my body revolts against writing a novel. I write poetry, CNF, and short stories. The only thing I haven't done is screenwriting, although I did a TV script as a short story. :)
Good essay, Daniel Seifert! I enjoy writing in different genres because the topics that I want to explore require different structures and formats. Also, when I'm having trouble finding a publisher for my poems, I get an acceptance for one of my creative nonfiction essays, which encourages me to keep trying. Best wishes for your own writing!
Janet Ruth Heller
Author of the poetry books Nature’s Olympics (Wipf and Stock, 2021), Exodus (WordTech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press, 2012) and Traffic Stop (Finishing Line Press, 2011); the scholarly book Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (University of Missouri Press, 1990); the middle-grade chapter book for kids The Passover Surprise (Fictive Press, 2015, 2016); and the award-winning picture book for kids about bullying, How the Moon Regained Her Shape (Arbordale, 2006; seventh edition 2022).
My website is https://www.janetruthheller.com/
the problem with most poets today
I They dont read- poets or fiction writers. Thus they have slim awareness of revolution in American poetry led by BIOPOC writers, especially The Cave Canem group of Afican Ameican writers, and Kundiman, a group for Asian American writers(and Pacific Islanders.
2 Their content is surprisingly timid; it selddom goes past their own house; sometimes it is in thehouse,but not about family.
3. Some think poetry means sharing your latest therapy session ( and somedont realiz not all of us are In therapy ( even if we truly needed it ASAP)
4. Some are sloppy and have no sense of style.
5. Some "settle" for ideas and lines and dontpush themvsevles to go deeper
6. Some have the imagination of a dead refrigerators- it'ssupposed to be cool or chill or keeping things fresh, but there's only the the waves of faint and thick nauseating gas.
7. Many coulldnt tell a sonnet or a villanelle if it rhmymed on their cheeks ano forehead.
New York Times, I mean