There once was a man from... OR Fun with Writing

Another blog day.

Indecision? Not this month.

Today I'm prepared.

Read on.

I often write in my head. If it gets serious, I'll stop and search for something to write on. Sometimes I write real words, sometimes I think about the way something will look on the page. Sometimes things pop into my head pretty much fully formed.

If I stop to write on paper, I try to gather these up at the end of the day and put them on my desk. I usually have to clean off my desk more than once a week so I can tell what's important and what isn't. Sometimes what I write during this time is a keeper. Sometimes I look at it and stick it in the shredder because it doesn't quite make sense.

Other times during the day, I'll do a writing exercise. Sometimes I write these on paper or the computer. Sometimes, I just do them in my head. I love to write flash fiction or sometimes just a paragraph or two about a photograph. That's my favorite. My next favorite is writing a story or a stream-of-conscious thingie from a list of words, like "Wednesday Words," sometimes hosted at Elephant Child's blog here.

I also write poetry. I suck at it. Always have, and most likely always will. But a friend who was a real poet encouraged me to keep at it. He passed away a year or so ago, but I honor his memory by continuing my hand at it.

I especially like haiku, like the one at the top of this blog. It's short. It has rules. It's supposed to be about the natural world. I think. But I write it about anything. And I can do that in my head while I'm doing dishes or laundry or whatever.

Now, about that man in the title of this post. I also like to write limericks. I suck at those more than I suck at haiku. Here you go:

                There once was a man from Seattle

                Who once bought a boat he could paddle

                His wife lived in Maine

                His mother in Spain

                And his kids all wanted to tattle.

 Now you know why I write fluffy fiction - like the cotton below :) 

See you next month!



Comments

No way I could write poetry that would make sense.
Rachna Chhabria said…
I envy people who write poetry. Like you I too start writing in my head.
Natalie Aguirre said…
I admire anyone who can write poetry. I can't.
Thank you so much for joining Words for Wednesday again. I do love the very different directions the prompts take people.
It sounds as if writing is integral to who you are. This reader thanks you - and all writers.
L. Diane Wolfe said…
I used to write poetry (or song lyrics as I called them) but it was never structured like a haiku or anything. That's hard to do.
Liza said…
I love using photographs to inspire writing. I also like using a word or two or a list of words. The first real fiction I tried to write came from a list of words in a blog contest. I was shocked what came out of me and decided to keep trying to write fiction. Before that, other than personal essays, I mostly wrote (relatively poor) poetry.

I'm sorry you lost your friend the poet...
H. R. Sinclair said…
It can be fun to write random stuff, just to keep things flowing. But I too have come back to things and have had no idea what they were about. 😂
Carol Kilgore said…
Alex - Mine is nothing to cheer about.

Jemi - I think haiku is fun, even though I don't do it well.

Rachna - A hundred writers, a hundred different ways :)

Natalie - As you read, I don't do it well at all. Totally sticking to fiction except for fun here and there.

EC - I'm sure most writer will agree with me when I say I value readers just as much, if not more.

Diane - I wouldn't attempt to write lyrics or any type of freeform poetry. Scares me just thinking about it.

Liza - Whatever gets you going is what works for you.

H.R. - All part of the process, I think. Most days I don't know what I'm going to write until I sit down. Some days I can figure out where it comes from. Other days I have no idea.





Melissa said…
Your post made me think of all the little scraps and sticky notes I had, cluttering my desk back in the day. Inspiration would hit at the most inopportune times, and I would scribble phrases to paragraphs on anything that stood still long enough. I often chuckled to myself that, if anyone were to pick up those scraps and read them, they would think I'd lost my mind.
I used to do the same, jotting random words, phrases, and snippets onto paper. I should do it more, rather than letting those thoughts vanish into the ether. Who knows what gems will arise if I let them breathe?
Karen Baldwin said…
I'm not the biggest fan of poetry...but sometimes a poem will come pop into my head won't go away so I write it down. It must come from another time when I was a poet because like I said...I not the biggest fan of poetry.
Carol Kilgore said…
Melissa - Usually I jot down more things at the beginning and end of a project. In the middle, things come more when I'm actually at the keyboard.

Lynda - You never know, LOL :)

Karen - I'm not a fan of poetry eithher. If it hadn't been at the urging of my friend, I would never have undertaken any of it at all.

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