You may have come to think of writing as a solitary, lonely process. And sometimes it is, especially during the pandemic. But writing is a social exchange. We write, often, to publish and put our writing out into the world. Here other people interact with our words, read it, understand it, and sometimes respond.
As a lifelong writer, I do often write in isolation, but I find my best writing comes from sharing it with other writers, or a mentor, and getting their feedback. How do you use speech to further your writing?
I find myself having writerly thoughts as I am driving, walking, swimming. I pull over and blog on my iPhone if I get a good thought. I used to have a notebook in my car, by my bed stand, but it often disappeared when I needed it. I find I have by IPhone more regularly.
I’ve got a book, Touch My Head Softly, coming out soon from Finishing Line Press. There is always work around a new book, with readings and interviews, but I find myself looking toward my new work eagerly. I haven’t really decided on the next collection, but some new ideas are germinating.
Do you think about your writing as you go through your day? Do you write the thoughts down and write from them later?
Here’s the link to my new book on Finishing Line Press:
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, author of A Coney Island of the Mind, Love in the Days of Rage, and Pictures of the Gone World, died at age 101. He identified as a philosophical anarchist and was part of the beat movement, including Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. He co-founded City Lights Booksellers & Publishers in San Francisco. He was also a fine artist who painted for many years.
He gained notoriety when he published Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” and was indicted for selling obscene material. This led to a famous censorship case, the People v. Ferlinghetti, that forwarded the cause of stopping convictions for selling books. The failed attempt at prosecuting him led him to joke that “the police took over the advertising account and did a much better job.”
He was a rebellious poet, a courageous publisher, and bookseller who would not be intimidated about selling books. He was a major literary figure and force who will be missed.
My new book of poems, Touch My Head Softly, is just out from Finishing Line Press. Check it out:
Have you ever seen a door and wondered what is on the other side?
The idea that you can create by opening a door goes back centuries. A note was found
in a Latin grammar from the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland in approximately 848
that describes an Irish scribe going outside and writing a poem under trees.
You could open a heart door that would enable you to write about things that you love or your favorite things. The door could be an observation door where you record things you carefully observe. A memory door could lead you to memories, good or bad, that you have saved away in the back of your mind. A wonder door could lead you to things you question, or wonder about. A political door could lead you to write about your concerns in the world.
With the pandemic, the world is in lockdown and there are many closed doors.
We all long for the day with those doors will be open again and life will return to normal.
While we are on lockdown, our minds can wander and explore our thoughts, our wants and our imagination.
My new book, Touch My Head Softly, is now out from Finishing Line Press:
Have you ever seen a door and wondered what is on the other side?
The idea that you can create by opening a door goes back centuries. A note was found
in a Latin grammar from the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland in approximately 848
that describes an Irish scribe going outside and writing a poem under trees.
You could open a heart door that would enable you to write about things that you love or your favorite things. The door could be an observation door where you record things you carefully observe. A memory door could lead you to memories, good or bad, that you have saved away in the back of your mind. A wonder door could lead you to things you question, or wonder about. A political door could lead you to write about your concerns in the world.
With the pandemic, the world is in lockdown and there are many closed doors.
We all long for the day with those doors will be open again and life will return to normal.
While we are on lockdown, our minds can wander and explore our thoughts, our wants and our imagination.
My new book, Touch My Head Softly, is now out from Finishing Line Press:
I have been journaling for many years. I used to use pen and a notebook. Now I journal on my Microsoft Word App on my iPhone. I just find that while I may not always have my notebook, I tend to always have my phone. I journal snippets of ideas that I may later develop into a writing piece or poem. Do you journal? When? How?
I have a new collection of poetry out that started with my journal. It will be out soon from Finishing Line Press:
Straw Dog Writers Guild, the largest group of writers in the Pioneer Valley, has featured my new book, Touch My Head Softly, on their Facebook Page. Take a look:
I am a writer and a swimmer and really related to this quote from Mary Oliver, the great Pulitzer-Prize winning poet. During this dark pandemic period, I find both writing and swimming have sustained me. I’m grateful I get to reserve a lane at my gym and swim six days a week (never on Sunday.) I have also been writing through this pandemic and I feel like it has been a lifesaver. It gives me purpose.
I wrote a collection of poems about my experiences with my partner, who died of Alzheimer’s in his sixties. I feel grateful that Finishing Line is publishing this work and it will be out in the world. The work around the publication, particularly, has sustained me during this dark time.
For any of you who have practiced Elbow’s freewriting technique, “speaking onto the page,” is it a useful method? Whenever I get stuck, I do this. I’ve done it in writing groups, speaking into a recorder, or just reading aloud for myself. It seldom fails to produce some piece of writing. The writing may not be my best, or may wind up unused, but it’s a way of getting started and perhaps generating something that eventually will be used.
Elbow also recommends this for editing, for writing that winds up ‘correct.’ You can do this while keeping those virtues of natural speech, and getting rid of what’s not suitable for the genre you’re writing in. This can also add a new infusion to your old writing, by speaking it onto the page, reading it out loud, and hearing what sounds easy. Sometimes when you hear it, it just sounds different than when you read it. I used this technique in developing my new collection of poetry, Touch My Head Softly.
This is the link to my new collection at Finishing Line Press:
By this, I think he meant that we shouldn’t judge our own work, but let it go out in the world. Others will judge it. If you think of it that way, it frees us, as writers, from nagging insecurities. There’s always someone who has one a prize for their work or gotten public recognition, and it’s easy to be envious. But if we just keep our sights on our own work, and trying to make it the best we can, we can gently return to ourselves.
I have a new book coming out soon, a collection of poetry called Touch My Head Softly from Finishing Line Press. It is about my experiences with my partner’s having Alzheimer’s. I try not to think about how other people will judge my very personal poems. I wanted to do it and now the poems are out in the world: abandoned.
Here is the link to my book at Finishing Line Press:
Eileen P. Kennedy Author 