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The importance of writing-free days in a writing life
A LOVE POEM FOR YOU … AND YOU … AND YOU … Little pumpkins scatter in the backyard, and pumpkin-colored blossoms form big, palmy fronds, a giant’s hands face-up to the sky. Two fat squirrels play tag in the compost, and I hear my host speak to them like a baby. Or maybe he has…
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The not-so-serious side of poetry
A month or two ago, I attended a writing conference where I had the absolute pleasure of sitting in on a session with the poet Kathleen Rooney, who presented about humor in poetry. I ate. It. Up. Poetry can get a bad rap. It can be so dour and heartrending. I mean, that’s part of…
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A poetic attempt at brevity (because CNF is hard)
Of all the types of creative writing out there, I’m perhaps most intimidated by creative nonfiction (often shortened to CNF, for the nonwriters reading). Which may seem unexpected: To me, it’s always seemed to be a marriage of journalism and poetry. One of those, I’m degreed in. The other, I’ve practiced since I was 12.…
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An enthusiasic ode to the pumpkin candle
As I work my way through Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights, I can’t help but compose my own essays on … well, not delight. I have to tweak it to make it me, which would be to call these enthusiasms. At a birthday dinner years back, at a perfectly fine restaurant in Fort Wayne,…
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How I found my literary agent: Thanks, MWW
Note: This is the first of an occasional series about how I signed with my literary agent. Last week, Midwest Writers Workshop (MWW) ran a Q&A with yours truly about how I met my literary agent, Savannah Brooks of KT Literary, through its Agent Fest last year. To say I’m humbled by the write up…
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A Game of Thrones-inspired prompt
A month or so ago, I rewatched the episode of Game of Thrones where Maester Aemon dies. Though I’ve heard them at least twice before, if not more, this time, they chilled me: “I dreamed that I was old.” I’ve read essays and opinions that we all put much too much import on last words,…
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Bringing physical pain to the page
Can we learn to be in pain? Katherine May asked this in her newsletter last week, and I’ve considered the question on and off since. First, if you’re unfamiliar with May, allow me to introduce you. I, along with many others, discovered May during the pandemic when I read her book Wintering. Its subtitle: The…
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On editing poetry, even the *really* old stuff
One bored summer afternoon in the heart of the pandemic, I pulled out two old laptops, crossed my fingers, and plugged them in. To my utter surprise, each powered up. The teal green Apple (why was that designed to look like a purse??) was my late-college/just-graduated machine. And the HP was the laptop I used…
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A search for the little-used words
Why select utilized when used will do? Skip proclaimed, commanded, and announced for the better, meager said. Don’t make your reader search out M-W.com—skip the 50-cent words and save your money. They’re simple and important rules of the journalism world: Use easy-to-understand words to ensure writing is as clear and concise as possible. They also…
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Be kind to the writers you’ve been
There was a 15-year break between the first poem I ever published in a literary magazine and the second. And I never thought I’d see the first one again. Alas, there’s nothing like moving to unearth boxes of stuff you’d long forgotten about. My husband and I moved in April (which means we’ll likely still…
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Jaclyn Youhana Garver 