Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Suggestions?

I've been out of the writing loop for so long now that it almost seems like it never existed at all.

There once was a time when words seemed to simply spill out of my head with little effort. Now, regardless of how hard I try, there's just this dry lakebed of what once was poetry. I barely form coherant thoughts these days.

Sure, there are plenty of excuses... first it was, "I'm pregnant, my hormones are a mess and I can't think straight." Then it became "I'm on bedrest, and I can't write without the computer." and then, of course, there's the "I've got an infant to care for, how the hell am I supposed to find time to write?"

Truth is, I've had the time all along, I've just been avoiding it. It's work to write well, and I'm the definition of lazy when it's not a necessity. That and I seem to have no inspiration. Sure, there's Jonas, but don't I write about him enough without writing a whole bunch of sappy, crappy poetry about him, too? And let's face it, my strong suit has never been the sappy, lovey type of poetry, has it?

So how does one get back into writing after neary two years off? Where do you look to find your muse again? (Doesn't that word irk you, too? Muse, as if some little mythical fairy is going to come and plop herself down in my head and all of a sudden I'm going to be a poet again. Whatthefuckever)

But seriously, I know we all go through periods where writing is more of a chore than a hobby. How do you break it?

4 Comments:

At 8:13 PM, Blogger Erin said...

On two occassions, I put down the pen for a year or more. Sure I had plenty of time - and a huge void in the poetic center of my brain.

Read poetry, good poetry. No, you don't have to get buy a bunch of books, there are plenty of places that have it on the net.

I don't belong there anymore, but the Versifier is one of the highest quality poetry boards I've found yet - good shit there, go read some! (I particularly like Ferragario there... I probably spelled it wrong, and I found that she and I didn't get along well once I became a mod, but her work is usually gorgeous)

Look up some good contemporary poets on the net, like Charles Bukowski or Mark Strand or Pablo Neruda (3 of my present faves) or try a whole new scene - I discovered Arabic poets (Nathalie Handal and Forugh Farrokhzad
are 2 of my faves) a while back, amazing stuff without being overly flowery or gooey with romance.

Only once I read poetry, enough GOOD poetry to convince myself that poetry was worth the effort of rediscovering it could I find any of my own words. Once I did start writing again, not only was it a surprising relief (I had forgotten how much I LOVED to write) but I was also insired and influenced by the styles and voices of the poetry I had read - and found that I wrote much stronger poetry, which is that much more of a reward when you've been away from it for so long...

 
At 8:15 PM, Blogger Erin said...

PS: I'm SUPER happy to hear that the desire has returned!

 
At 8:37 PM, Blogger Laura said...

wow, E, you're loaded with advice.. you rock.


ang, um when you find out what works for you can you let me know? the muse it seems, has run off with my sanity and they're making crazy muselets in the underbrush of my brain...

*sigh*

I do miss your writing.....

 
At 10:45 PM, Blogger Mommyleek said...

Wow E, thanks for all the links and stuff. You totally rock!

I don't know if I'll ever find my voice again, but I think it might be time to start looking at least.

 

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