Don’t Be Chicken

Well, it’s November.

And you know what that means, don’t you?

It means that summer is far behind us, and the slow march to winter solstice is beginning to take its toll.

Here in the Gray-t Northwest, November means gray and drizzle and gray and showers and gray and rain and more gray and cloudbursts and early nightfalls of a darker shade of ... well, gray.

Here’s the rub — if you’re not careful, all of that gray can start to affect your grey matter. And by mid-month you’re likely to find yourself listlessly sucking down Darjeeling and eating orange marmalade straight from the jar.

I’m speaking from experience here.

But this doesn’t have to be you! Your inner awesomeness and a November stretch goal will save the day... er... month!

Just say NO to listlessness by checking out this list of fabulous possibilities—

Pen a novel! (NaNoWriMo)

Create 30 picture book concepts in 30 days! (PiBoIdMo)

Research and write a nifty nonfiction piece! (WNFIN)

Or get really inventive and create a November challenge of your own...

You could draft a screenplay!

Revise those old manuscripts you’ve got hanging about!

Do daily morning pages à la The Artist Way!

You could even make it a month of poems, jokes, comics, or paintings!

Due to the fact that I write for a living and for fun, I decided to take that last option last year.

I’d never worked with acrylics, and I thought, Well what have I got to lose, but all that orange marmalade belly fat? Then I set aside an hour a day for painting.

In the end, it was great fun. And I particularly enjoyed two of the pieces I did...

 

Ahem...

Well, I guess I was a little chicken after all.

But it didn’t stop me.

PROMPT: Come up with a stretch goal and make your own November to remember...

Chickens are optional.

There’s No Escape

Did you know that June is National Accordion Awareness Month?

Be aware!

You can never tell when one of those accordions will sneak up on you.

Trust me, I would know — I grew up attending weddings in Pennsylvania. 

At those festive events, you could never be sure if somebody was going to bring alcohol for punch bowl spiking, but you could bet the farm and your bottom dollar that someone would smuggle in an accordion.

And the next thing you knew all heck would break loose, and folks would start bustin’ their moves to the (big surprise) Pennsylvania Polka.

Of course, one accordion ditty was never enough, so there was sure to be a Hop-Scotch, Licorice Stick, and Hoop-Dee-Doo jam.

As the night wore on, the Beer Barrel Polka was unavoidable — quickly followed by at least three encores of In Heaven There Is No Beer (that’s why we drink it here).

Yep, I have “enjoyed” them all.

In fact, whenever my sister and I hit the floor, nearly everyone stopped to watch. In truth this had nothing to do with our dance skills, and everything to do with our interpretation of polkas…

as, well…

roller derby without the skates.

Accordions make people crazy like that.

Just ask The Who.

They wrote a song about this phenomenon way back in 1975…

Well, they said it was about accordions.

PROMPT: Ironically, the word “accordion” is derived from the German word “akkord” meaning “agreement or harmony.” Today would be a great day to add a touch of irony to your tale. You could also think about what your main character’s favorite musical instrument might be. Then again, you could just listen to The Who’s Squeeze Box and enjoy.

This is Just to Say…

Yes, we're still celebrating National Poetry Month! And that, my friends, is a wonderful thing.

I love to use poetry to jump-start my writing day. Here’s how you can, too:

Step 1) Pick a poem, any poem.

Step 2) Read and enjoy.

Step 3) Rewrite it — your way.

That’s all there is to it.

Today let’s take a look at William Carlos Williams. Remember him? I love to use his poems for this exercise because he wrote of everyday objects cut down to their bare and beautiful bones.

I also love the fact that he was a busy physician who wrote a lot of his poetry on prescription pads.

One of my favorites is “This is Just to Say”. It’s written as if it were a note left on the refrigerator. As I don't want to infringe a copyright, please take a quick click and read it here.

Now that you've read and enjoyed (Step 2), it is time for the Step 3 rewrite...

This is Just to Say

I have eaten

the chocolate

that was hidden

behind the mason jars

and under the matches

and which

you were probably

saving

for some emotional emergency

Please don’t kill me

it was delicious

so smooth

and so sweet

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to rock and write! But first…

Chocolate!

PROMPT: Try it! 1-2-3 instant poetry! Visual artists can do this, too. Simply paint or sketch whatever your chosen poem brings to mind. Check out Charles Demuth’s
I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold that was inspired by… wait for it… a William Carlos Williams poem! Go figure!

Do You Haiku?

Haiku

Black and white and read

These seventeen syllables

Feed my hungry soul

It’s the 17^th day of National Poetry Month, and that can mean only one thing —

It’s National Haiku Poetry Day!

If you've been dragging your lyrical feet and have yet to put your poetic pen to page, then today is the day to clear your conscience. You, too, can Haiku!

Remember long ago when you first learned to print words with those chubby pencils and fat-lined paper? Well, that was probably around the time you wrote your first Haiku. Haiku has always been one of the stones teachers use to kill two Language Arts birds at the same time — poetry and syllables. 

While you may not have kept the little gem you wrote way back then, it most likely went something like this —

Toad

Rude green hoppy thing

Peeing when children catch it

Talking loud in burps

Okay, maybe your first Haiku wasn't like this, but my classmate Richie Richendifer insisted that it followed our teacher’s recipe.

“Describe something in nature,” Miss Henry said. “And remember the 5-7-5 rule. Use 5 syllables for the first line, 7 syllables for the second line, and 5 syllables for the last line, and you will make a great Haiku.”

“Gesundheit!” said Richie Richendifer… for the 87th time that day.

Even if you haven’t wielded a chubby pencil in years, you can follow Miss Henry’s fabulous recipe for your own Haiku stew. And you don’t really have to stick with the nature part. You’re welcome to use your mind’s elbow to 

bend and stretch that rule the way my son once did with this poetic 

offering —

Bad Haiku

Bad poem this is

It is extremely boring

Wait… was that too long?

Yeah.

Nuts never fall far from the tree.

PROMPT: Haiku! Haiku! It’s what we've got to do! Yep, I’m pretty sure that the 7 Dwarfs sang these work song words every April — now you can, too!

Food For Thought

As you know, it’s National Poetry Month, and we've been celebrating BIG TIME.

But were you aware that April is also…

National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month 

National Pecan Month

Soy Foods Month

Cranberries and Gooseberries Month

Brussels Sprouts and Cabbage Month

and, um…

Emotional Overeating Awareness Month?

So, it should come as no surprise that…

April is  a "celebration" of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Awareness, too.

Yeah.

Old T.S. was right —

April is indeed the cruelest month.

PROMPT:  You can bet your next bellyache there’s a poem somewhere in this April shower of gluttony. So gather up some edible words today and…

Write on!

Bovines and the Bards

Serious poetic potential here — and that’s no bull.

Like everybody else, writers eat up a lot of life experiences — both the sweet clover kind and the nasty weedy ones.

But after all of that experiencing, writers become a lot less like people and a lot more like cows.

Writers love to take their life stuff, wander off to quiet meadows (the places most other folks call offices), and get down to the business of chewing cud. In fact, I'm convinced that the vast majority of writers are introverts simply because no one really wants to chew on regurgitated, partially-digested life experiences in public…

Well, it’s a theory.

Anyway, the awesome result of all this cud chewing is often a product totally unlike the field fodder. And sometimes, if we’re lucky — it can be so wonderfully rich and full of butterfat that it’s basically Häagen-Dazs on the page.

Yep, cows get my vote as the official mascots for Team Writer.

In fact, just hanging around a herd of them can compel even the most unlikely folks to pick up the pen. How else do you explain the entire genre of cowboy poetry?

Clearly those boys are inspired by the moos.

And while we’re celebrating National Poetry Month, you can, too!

So, get on some giddy-up and write yourself a posse of poems about life on the range — even if the only range you've ever known is made by GE.

For a peck of inspiration, ride off to the nearest ranch, or take the city slicker route with this link to Cowboy Bob’s Dictionary.

After you've done the above, here’s a simple test to check whether you’re really ready to pick up the cowpoke pen:

Question: What’s a metaphor?

Answer: Why, fer grazin’ yer cattle, ya greenhorn!

PROMPT: 
Today as yer a-spinnin’
‘round this big ol’ ball o’ mud -
Save yerself a piece o’ time,
Just fer chewin’ up yer cud.

Okay, okay, I’m no poet lariat, but you know what to do.

Poetry Perks

As we launch into week 2 of National Poetry Month, you may be asking what poetry can do for you…

Besides save you from a miserable death, of course.

Well, poetry just so happens to be a terrific cure for writer’s block (I know, I know, a fate far worse than a miserable death for some).

The fabulous J.R.R. Tolkien often used poetry as a block breaker. Whenever he was stuck in the process of creating a story, he’d simply start writing out his thoughts in verse.

Tolkien wrote, “The first version of the song of Strider concerning Luthien originally appeared in the Leeds University magazine, but the whole tale, as sketched by Aragorn, was written in a poem of great length” (from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien edited by Humphrey Carpenter).

Given this technique, it’s not surprising that Tolkien’s prose often reads with such a delicious cadence.

Research also shows that reading and writing poetry can make you more creative.

Poet, writer, and serious business dude Dana Gioia couldn’t agree more. He reports that when he worked in the business world… “I felt I had an enormous advantage over my colleagues because I had a background in imagination, language, and literature.”

And how did this advantage pan out?

Gioia happens to be credited with reversing a long-running decline in gelatin dessert sales when he and his team created the super-sensational…

Jell-O Jiggler.

Clearly, additional proof of the power of poetry is unnecessary…

But I’ll give you another bit anyway.

On the clinical side of things, poetry has actually been found to be a terrific weapon for fighting depression. 

A study in Great Britain found that 7% of depressed and stressed out patients were able to wean themselves off of medication through the simple daily practice of penning poetry.

So, if you want to beat the block, become a mover and shaker (literally) in the business world, or get a great big bunch of happy, now is the time to…

Rhyme on!

PROMPT: Use the Tolkien technique of putting your project in verse first. Try it with your current manuscript or as a way to jump-start your next one. Then shake things up a bit — I’m thinking an ode to the Jell-O Jiggler will do the trick.

Just Write

In all my work, I try to say —

'You may be given a load of sour lemons,

why not try to make a dozen lemon meringue pies?'

—   Maya Angelou

  

Today we’re celebrating Maya Angelou, a writer who had the good sense to be born in National Poetry Month.

When you consider that she’s achieved international success as a poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, historian, and filmmaker — there’s obviously a whole lot there to celebrate!

So, what exactly is her secret?

Well, Ms. Angelou reports that even though she lives in a fine, large home, she rents a hotel room in town. She’s had all of the paintings and decorations removed from the space, so it’s a lot like the blank page all writers must confront each day. In fact, the only items she keeps in the room are a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a Bible.

Every morning she heads off to her hotel writing room at about 6:00 in the morning. There, she uses only ballpoint pens and yellow pads to write for about six or seven hours.

So within those hours, does everything that spills from the pen of this award-winning honorary doctorate recipient effuse perfection?

Of course not.

As Maya puts it:

"What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.’ And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, 'Okay. Okay. I’ll come.'"

She also says:

“I wrote some of the worst poetry west from the Mississippi River, but I wrote. And I finally sometimes got it right.”

And here’s my favorite:

“Of course, there are those critics — New York critics as a rule — who say, ‘Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer.’ Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing… It must look easy, but it takes me forever to get it to look so easy.”

There you have it — Maya Angelou’s recipe for success.

So celebrate her birthday today by whipping up a batch of it for yourself —

Create your own special space, and then…

Just write.

PROMPT: If life has handed you lemons, use them to create a fine meringue pie or pound cake. Remember, it’s ALL material. Then try making this your new daily mantra — just write, just write, just write. And before you know it, those words of yours are bound to sing…

just right.

Kid Stuff

Every child is an artist.

The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

~ Pablo Picasso

So true, Mr. P. So true.

Obviously, immaturity is the answer!

And because we’re celebrating National Poetry Month, I’m thinking a good limerick is just the ticket…

There once was a mustache I knew,

That wiggled with each chomping chew.

This fine facial hair

Caused people to stare

‘Cause it lived on the lip of Aunt Sue.

Yep, that totally worked.

I’m feeling, like, loads more creative…

And I have a strange desire to shake up all the soda cans down at the Quickie-mart.

PROMPT: Save your artist self! Get juvenile for a while and have a limerick do the trick. 

If I Only Had a Brain

Did you know that March has been declared Brain Awareness Month?

I sure didn't.

That is, until an email popped into my inbox on March 22^nd declaring, “March is Brain Awareness Month!”

I repeat… on March 22^nd.

Is anyone else sensing a little irony here?

The email went on to tell me that The Society of Neuroscience has pronounced March 10-16 as “Brain Awareness Week.”

Is anyone “aware” that that was, like, weeks ago?

Here we are rounding the final turn toward April, and NOW they tell us. We could have been celebrating our full brain awareness all month long! Alas... such lost opportunities.

At any rate, let’s take some time out right now to celebrate brains. Don’t you just love ‘em? They’re so dang helpful for things like, well, thinking…creating… breathing…

or having awareness of those important dates on the calendar.

And yet, some of our most memorable characters of film and print are clearly cases of “brains gone rogue.” For example, Dory in Finding Nemo is endearing precisely because her noggin is so defective. And who, besides Dory, could forget Rain Man? Then of course, there’s the scarecrow in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz who claimed to have no brain at all — and yet managed enough “awareness” to notice that his “thinker thingy” had, in fact, gone AWOL.

And while a neuropsychologist could create an entire career out of the cast from Alice in Wonderland, who wouldn't want to have the brains of Hermione Granger for just one day?

Brain, Brains

so wonderfully pink,

the more you use ‘em

the more you think!

Clearly, my brain just had its own rogue moment.

PROMPT: Celebrate your brain today — with awareness! Just think, I could give you an alphabet of only 26 letters, and your brain could use them to write the greatest story ever told. Or, I could hand you just three primary colors, and your brain could mix them to paint a masterpiece. Or…

it could spend the entire day playing Angry Birds. The choice is yours.

What are you and your brain going to do today?

Yep, We’re Raisin Heck!

I hope that you're well on your way to a successful Day 7 in your quest for YESvember awesomeness!

And while you’re pounding away at the keyboard, remember to fuel up with the food of writing champions.

Yes, I am talking about raisin bread.

And it just so happens that November (AKA YESvember) is National Raisin Bread Month.

Now you may be wondering why this fare of fruity goodness is the best fuel for writers. Well, if you choose to believe in the capital “T” Truth of Wikipedia, you’ll learn that Henry David Thoreau was its inventor.

But alas, sometimes Wiki is wrongy.

While Thoreau did indeed bake and “Thoreauly” enjoy raisin bread, recipes from the 1700’s actually mention the use of dried grapes in baked goods.

I’m pretty sure the whole misunderstanding started with this famous and inspiring quote from the man himself —

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Live the life you have imagined.

~Henry David Thoreau

You see, most sources fail to mention that this was indeed the edited version. 

Originally, the quote went like this —

 Go confidently in the direction of your dreams with raisin bread.

Live the life you have imagined with raisin bread.

Yeah.

The guy liked raisin bread.

And I’m pretty sure it was his top-secret, good-writing tool.

Now, it’s yours.

Write on!

PROMPT: Grab a slab of the El Camino of breads (is it a nutritious side or a dessert?), and then make some delicious progress on your YESvember goal.