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Tag: experience

‘Tis the Season: Spend More Time, Spend Less Money

‘Twas the eve before Christmas and all through downtown, not a single soul resting—no time to slow down! With twinkle lights hung (precarious in the rain) in hopes that next year this won’t happen again. The wish lists were gripped, e’en taken to beds, while visions of bright price tags danced in their heads. Our customs, traditions—how stressors do climb! This season merely asks: “Spend less money; more time.” – Written by J.M. Murdoch (c)2015 – [This imperfect poem is a nod to “The Night Before Christmas,” first published anonymously on December 23rd, 1823 in the Troy Sentinel newspaper in upstate New…

Editing Poetry

AtoZ E logoDay 5 – “E” as in “Editing”

I will do my best to keep these next few posts as brief as possible since I am in dire need of catching up on this challenge. *cheers from the crowd* (You’re welcome.) 😉

As much as I love editing (I know, it’s sick and perverse), I won’t exhaust this topic. It has been discussed time and time again, debated even more so, and I think we can all agree that Editing is the necessary evil to poetry…less evil and more necessary, in my opinion. But let’s be honest–there are so many opinions about editing floating around in the writing community, so, for this blog post, I figured I would keep it relatively simple and outline the three basic types of editing I have personally experienced and witnessed in the poetry-writing process. Of course, I think there are variations of the following examples, and everyone has a preferred editing style, but I think we can all agree that these encompass the universal spirit of what we experience when revising our babies. 🙂

Day Trips & Adventures

DDay 4 – “D” as in “Day Trips & Adventures”

 Confession:   This may be one of my favorite posts for this entire A-to-Z Challenge

Why? Because as a full-time poet/writer/editor, the days when I am able to cut loose from my daily grind (yes, I have one, too, haha) and just GO–creating my own adventure according to the pull of my Wanderlust Muse–those are the days where I feel most alive and full of creative ammunition. On those days I am able to recharge my old, poet-soul and breathe in life, living in the spirit of possibility and, most importantly, inspiration.

Sometimes I plan my Day Trips. And sometimes…Adventure yanks me out of my house before I even know what happened. I don’t think I am the only Creative who is haunted by the siren song of Experience, which dictates our every word placed to page. And experience comes from adventure–from living with a purpose. We draw from our own experiences and knowledge when creating poetry. But how does one gain that kind of experience and knowledge? Not holed up at the writing desk, that’s for sure. You need to get out. Go out. Spread out. Speak out. Reach out. And live out your days to their fullest extent. That’s what Day Trips are for. They get you out of the house, away from reading about life on the screen or in books and actually experiencing it in order to write about it. These adventure days feed our insatiable craving for poetic material, and are crucial to our process. They don’t have to be extravagant or far-reaching…they just have to be fulfilling according to your unique need.

Quote by Frederick Buechner

The Choice (a poem)

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