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Falling rain

Member Elite

since 2008-01-31

Posts 2178
Small town, Illinois

0 posted 2009-03-07 11:18 PM

I have been in a writers block in forever.. And Poetry Challenge doesn't have anything to spark my creativity.. But then that got me thinking, Why isn't there any new challenges? Is someone behind the computer screen slacking on their job or did they run off on some vacation? lol.

That's a joke guys, you can laugh. lol I'm just curious.

Please and thanks.

-Zach

When I see your smile, and I know it’s not for me, that’s when I’ll miss you.

Nan

Administrator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-05-20

Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA

1 posted 2009-03-30 07:29 PM

I am running off on vacation, but TO PiPtalk - not away from it. There are no members assigned to open challenges. Anyone can do it. Have you got one?

Bob K
Member Elite

since 2007-11-03

Posts 4208

2 posted 2009-03-31 03:19 AM

     There's a very simple solution to writer's block and it works every time.

     I don't claim the solution is original with me, but since I started using it, I've never really had a problem.

     Thank William Stafford.  The solution is this:  Lower your expectations.  If you're blocked, it's because your expectations are too high.  Write stuff that's so stupid that an amoeba with a head-cold could do it if it was stoned on cough syrup and couldn't find the kleenex.  Once you get a first draft down, it's all revision anyway, no matter how wonderful the first draft is or how bad.

     If you're looking for a challenge, Grinch and I are playing with one right now in the Free Grinch Thread.  He's got a link to the actual text of the challenge, and the two of us are  working with it as a way of helping Grinch get his Free Verse feet wet.  Have fun.

Nan

Administrator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-05-20

Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA

3 posted 2009-03-31 06:53 AM

Watch out for that Grinch - He'll trick ya.. Tell you he can't write... then come up with a goodie!

Ringo

Member Elite

since 2003-02-20

Posts 3684
Saluting with misty eyes

4 posted 2009-03-31 08:01 AM

I have to agree with Bob... just write. It can't be any worse than:

quote:
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Another thing that has helped me in times past when I was working on something and couldn't go any further.... imagine you are on a deadline, and you are being paid to write. If you don't then, you have to pay beack the $10,000 advance.
I guarantee that you'll write SOMETHING.

But this one goes to eleven...
http://www.hubpages.com/profile/RingoShort

Bob K
Member Elite

since 2007-11-03

Posts 4208

5 posted 2009-03-31 10:18 PM

     Do you want an exercise, Falling Rain?

     I think lowering expectations is better, but I'll offer you an exercise if you'd like.

     Find a published modern poem that you like.  Read it over several times until you have some sense of the way it moves, then go back to the beginning of the poem.  Write a poem then that is the word for word complete opposite of this poem.

     For example, this is the first line of a poem by Richard Hugo called "Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg".

"You might come here some day on a whim."

I will go there Wednesday with a tour.

     The second isn't too bad a turnaround, is it?  But you pick your own poem.  Completely reverse the poem, then go back and revise to make sure that there isn't a word of the original left.  Now have a look at it and see if there's anything that you think might be fun to change just for the heck of it, to make it further from the original.  Keep on going till it's as far from the original as you can get, then play with it until it feels like it says something you want it to say.  Add words, subtract words, whatever you want.

     Try that for an exercise, and let me know how that goes for you, Okay?

Best, Bob Kaven

Paul Wilson

Member Elite

since 2002-07-07

Posts 4711
United States

6 posted 2009-09-28 05:13 AM

Falling Rain...You could do what I sometimes do. Listen to music or watch a movie and pick out one or two lines that you connect with and write a poem about it.Build your poetry around that line and give it meaning that you connect with.Remember be patient don't rush or try to force it, cause it doesn't work..Paul

~~To share my poems with you is to share my heart with you~~
Paul

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