poetry

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IGNITING YOUR SPARK

A mighty flame followeth a tiny spark.
—Dante

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There is a quiet spark of an idea in each writer, especially as winter approaches. You will be aware of this as something that wants to come out.

You may think that you must wait until you have something to say—an idea, an insight, or something known. When I feel this way, I start writing onto the page, whatever is on my mind. I often journal this way, until I have the germ of an idea. Then, I start writing in a more focused way and eventually, it evolves into a poem. For you, it may be an essay, short story, or even a novel.

Much of what you write may be totally unusable, incoherent, but then eventually something important emerges – your unique way of seeing things from your singular and distinctive life.

I was in the state of looking for a new project when I traveled to Costa Rica in winter three years ago. It was there that I met the Norwegian artist, Irene Christensen, who was doing a series of paintings on women at the heart of the environmental movement. I fell in love with these paintings and started writing poem responses to them. The paintings were the spark I needed at that time.

That’s how Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth developed. The dread is what’s happening to the environment. The splendor is the paintings and poems that developed. This book will be published by Shanti Arts Press in January 2026 (www.ShantiArts.com.)

Whatever inspires you, follow your spark a a writer, and you will find your inspiration and next project there. Follow me here monthly as I report about writing, inspiration, and the progress of my new book.

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Starting the Writing Process

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Whether you’ve had six books published or you are a new writer, getting started can be a challenge. Writing is a process, not merely a product. The quality of your writing will be reflected in the thought and time you put into it.

Having a deadline can be helpful. If you have an editor waiting for your final draft or you have an assignment due, this is a motivation. If you don’t, you can set one for yourself. I often do.

Planning ahead is a good place to start. Sn outline is even better. You don’t have to actually write, you can just think about what you want to say and plan ahead. When you do sit down to it, you’re that much ahead. Then schedule a few writing sessions. That way if you’re not feeling like it, or if you want some revising time, you can return to it later. I rarely finish a piece in one sitting.

Topic and audience are often interrelated. Think about what you want to say to your audience and how that informs your topic. Ask yourself who the audience is, Why is your audience interested in this topic and what do they already know, if anything, about it. What of you think your audience would/should gain from your text?

Think about the purpose of your writing. Why are you writing the piece My most recent book, a collaboration with the Norwegian artist, Irene Christensen, was inspired by her paintings about women at the heart of the environmental movement. It’s called Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth. I wanted to respond poetically to Irene’s work, but I also wanted this to raise awareness of the environmental crisis.

My new book will be out in early 2026 from Shanti Arts. I will keep you apprised of the publishing process on it. Follow me here monthly.

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I Will Be Reading from my new book Dread and Splendor at Wordshed, NYC on September 28

Come join us if you are in the area. I will be blogging again monthly about the new book.

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Titles

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Titles of books, short stories, poems, are very important.

Corporations spend millions to find the name of a product. Thought should be put into how you title your creative product.

Let’s discuss book titles. The first thing anyone hears about is the title of your book. It even precedes the cover. Once the artist knows what the title is, he/she can work on the visual concept. Think about what you will call your book. Here are some things to think about:

.It should give an idea of what the book is about.

.It should be easy to say.

.It should be memorable.

.It should grab your attention.

When we were deciding on a title for our manuscript, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth, we tried out a lot of titles. The first one was “Dreadful Splendor” from a W.B. Yeats poem. This was taken by a previous book, so we changed it to “Dread and Splendor.” We thought this encompassed the “splendor” of the art and poems and the “dread” of the environmental crisis. Then we decided this didn’t really tell what the book was about and we added the subtitle “Paintings and Poems.” At first we had “Paintings and Poems for a New Planet.” But then we thought it sounded too much like speculative or science fiction. So it became “Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth.”

The same is true of a short story, poem or play title. Editors look at hundreds of poems and short stories.

If you follow the guidelines above, you’ll draw attention to your piece from the beginning and have less change of being passed over.

Sometimes for titles a phrase can be used from the manuscript can be just the right thing. If you have a concept that is long, write it down and then edit it.

Try discussing your book using the title and seeing if people understand and appreciate what you’re saying. See if they ask questions and are interested in the title and what you have to say.

Choosing the perfect title is mostly about trial and error. If you try out a number of titles, the best one becomes clear.

I will be blogging monthly, taking about the production of Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Planet through publication and beyond. Follow me here.

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Putting Together a Poetry Chapbook

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If you’ve published poems in literary journals, your next step might be a poetry chapbook. A poetry chapbook is a small poetry collection that is significantly shorter than a typical printed poetry collection. Typically running in the range of 20 to 40 pages, a chapbook can be affordably published by small presses and is therefore a more economical option for emerging writers who may be financing their own book of poems. 

Some poets begin with publishing a chapbook before a full-length collection. The chapbook, due to its small size, has to be focused on a theme. Ghost Girl by Laura Madeline Wiseman is a small group of poems about memory loss. Muted: A Short Story in Verse by Jessica Bell is a narrative in poetry about whose vocal cords are brutally cut. I’m working on a manuscript about a drowned future world, Water Journey in the form of a Japanese narrative form called a Haibun. Soul Work: A Chapbook of Poems by Elizabeth Spring is about astrology.

The word chap dates back to sixteenth century England. A written account from Cambridgeshire in 1553 describes “lytle books” sold by pedlars, likely containing lyrics to sung ballads. The price of these books was low—typically a penny or a halfpenny—and they provided cheap entertainment for the masses, although there’s little evidence that the books themselves were mass produced. A “chapman” is an English word for an itinerant pedlar or tradesman.

There are several things to consider in compiling a chapbook. The first is audience. The biggest reason to write a chapbook is to reach dedicated poetry fans, a tiny but devout slice of the general population. So think about who will be reading your chapbook.

Another consideration is theme. Nearly any theme is acceptable, since your poetry chapbook should ultimately reflect your personal taste and style as a poet and showcase your best work. The theme can be almost anything, winter, New York City, nature, a poetry form like haiku.

Another thing to consider is organization. My second book, Touch My Head Softly (Finishing Line Press, 2021) was about my partner’s dying of Alzheimer’s. I organized it into three sections: before, during and after the death.

My latest collection of poetry, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth, is due out from Shanti Arts in early 2026. Follow me here monthly as I blog about writing, the publishing process and my new book.

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From What Perspective Do You Tell Your Story

Voice is a rather abstract concept in writing and fiction generally. But it’s so important that it deserves mention as one of the core aspects of writing. Voice, quite simply, is what the narrator sounds like. Voice includes the narrator’s emotions, attitudes, perspective, and tone.


As you read the piece, you can hear the narrator’s voice in your head, and the voice leaps out in a particular and funny way. This is especially true in pieces where the narrator is some kind of interesting or unusual character.

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Additionally, voice is multi-layered. It includes both the general writing voice of an author, as well as individual voices that are tied to specific pieces of writing. In poetry, you can write a narrative poem in all kinds of voices.

Some writer’s tones are incredibly distinctive, and their sentence structure, length, word choice, and the way the paragraphs flow are original to their writing. In a longer literary work, readers will likely come across different voices as writers create different characters. When considering the difference between the author’s voice and the character’s voice, it’s important to pay attention to when one is used. A character’s voice is specific to a character in a literary work. It is created in order to define them as an individual. Readers should be able to tell the difference between major characters based on their  speaking. One character might be well-educated and prone to using large words, while another might have more basic education and find the former’s use of language elitist.

When using a third-person narrative, the narrator is omniscient or outside and telling about the action. “Half a league, Half a league onward, into the valley of death, rode the six hundred.*” is a famous example of third-person narrative.

First-Person narrative is another way to tell a story. Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “What My Lips Have Kissed and Where and Why” begins “What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain under my head till morning; but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh…” Or this famous line from “The Telltale Heart,” by Edgar Allen Poe It was the beating of the old man’s heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.” The speaker of a first-person narrative does not necessarily have to be the author, but can be totally invented.

However you choose to tell your story, choose your narrator wisely. It will really make a difference in your piece. Follow me here the beginning of the month as I blog about writing, the writing process, and publishing.

*”The Charge of the Light Brigade,” by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

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Reflecting on Your Writing

I like to reflect on my writing, the drafts that did and didn’t make it to finals, publishing, and what’s next. I plan my reading at this time. For some reason, many writers don’t make a habit of reading for their writing. If you plan to write poetry, you need to read poems, for instance.

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I read closely whatever it is I’m in the process of writing. If I want to write haiku, I will read the Haiku Journal or Acorn, as both publish many haiku. If I’m writing fiction, I read novels. And I read with purpose as I want to study how other writers handle the problems I am having. So, I recently read a young adult narrative, The Poet X by ElizabethAcevedo, to study narrative poetry.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33294200-the-poet-x.

I also read for pleasure and sometimes find mentor texts there as well. So, I recently read Kathryn Holzman’s, Real Estate https://www.propertiuspress.com/our-bookstore/Fiction-c18653063 for pleasure. This writer, who set her novel in the beginning of Silicon Valley, writes historical fiction. It helped me figure out how to write a historical poem.

I have a new collection of poetry coming out in early 2026 from Shanti Arts entitled Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth. It’s a collaboration with the Norwegian artist Irene Christensen about women at the heart of the environmental crisis. This collection is largely ekphrastic poetry, or responses to Irene’s paintings.

I am taking the month of March off to travel. I will blog about the writing process and the progress of my new book from Shanti Arts Press when I return in April.

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The Writing Process: Enjoying It

“Art is standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand extended into the world, and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy.”

—Albert Einstein

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Many artists focus on the final product, but the secret is in enjoying the road to creation. The process itself is a reward. The creative journey should interest you far more than reaching the destination.

I am currently working on a manuscript, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth, with the Norwegian artist, Irene Christensen. “The Goddess” painting is part of that manuscript of eco-poetry and paintings. I wrote responses to Irene’s paintings about women at the heart of the environmental movement. It’s a pleasure to just enjoy art and respond to it with writing. I enjoyed the paintings and the friendship we felt and embellished along the way.

We forget to enjoy the journey, and in effect, we lose our desire to even reach the destination.Sylvia Plath said, “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. Creativity holds great significance when it comes to connecting with our soul or authentic self.” Writing is a process of self-discovery of the self, among other things.

We can connect more powerfully with the soul, by tuning into the fire within. For some people, creativity can even be more affective at this than meditation. One reason for our art is to help us with self-discovery.

I remember starting to write just after I put together the alphabet at the age of eight. It was a source of wonderment and joy for me to create the words. I try to revisit that wonder periodically.

When we make room for creativity in our lives and activate our creative muscles, it can be transformative. It can strengthen our intuition, release stagnant energy, and align with our larger project, like writing a book or composing a song.

I will be blogging on Thursdays. Follow me here for the journey of the manuscript, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth which should be published by Shanti Arts in early 2026.

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Keeping a Writer’s Notebook

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Every writer should keep a notebook or journal. A stray piece of paper wouldn’t do. I have always had a notebook, but I have been using my iPhone as a notebook these last few years. I find that I lose my notebook, but always have my phone. You can also use apps, such as My Journal. I was thinking about the long relationship that I’ve had with notebooks, and their centrality to everything I do, the way that they foster my creativity across years and decades.

I’m sure that’s true of most other writers. And yet, whenever I see guides to keeping a journal online, I rarely recognise my own practice in there. I’ve seen so many idealised journals, designed for public display, written in overly neat handwriting using multi-coloured pens, filled with motivational quotes and orderly bullet points. This kind of journal feels wrong to me, reeking of an overly disciplined school: the people-pleasing, self-conscious, high-pressure spaces of my school books. The tyranny of good presentation and legibility.

In my view, a notebook should be unorganized. It should be random thoughts that you want to pick up later. I’ve written many poems from random thoughts I’ve had a movies, while reading, while listening to music, or just going to the supermarket.

Your notebook should be written for nobody’s eyes but your own. It’s a completely private space, where you are the only one writing and reading. You should never show anything directly from its pages, and certainly don’t let anyone have a flick through. This gives you the freedom to write anything in it That might be my darkest thoughts or my fragile feelings; but mostly it’s just terrible writing. Be incoherent, self-pitying, tacky, boring or stupid in this space. It’s nobody else’s business.

A notebook can offer inspiration at points when you’re struggling to find something to write about, when you’ve noted information about what you are writing, or for just exercising your writerly muscle.

My new book, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth (Shanti Arts, 2026) started as a notebook note. Follow me here to read things about the writing process and the progress of my new book.

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Writing an Outline for a Book Manuscript

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Writing a book can be a daunting task, especially for first-time book writers. Where do you even begin? The essential thing in breaking a manuscript down into a doable project is first writing an outline. Some writers fill it in as they go along. These are usually proficient writers who have published many writers. I advise new book authors to plan the manuscript with an outline before they get there. I am a poet and many people don’t see the organization that goes into a collection of poetry.

To start an outline of a collection of poetry, I start with the theme. My last collection of poetry, Touch My Head Softly (Finishing Line Press, 2021) was on the theme of Alzheimer’s Disease. My poems were about my experiences with my partner who died of Early Onset Alzheimer’s. After I decided on the theme, I arranged the poems into three parts: before, during and after the death. This became the outline.

Poets have a singular challenge in developing an outline for a collection of poems. I advise poets to look through the poems they have written and see if a theme emerges. This can come from published and unpublished poems. Poets have a natural penchant for middle, beginning and end, as they need this sense to put a poem together. Also, published poems tend to strengthen a manuscript in the eyes of a publisher as she/he will know that other editors of literary journals and anthologies valued your work enough to publish it.Just make sure most of the poems are new when you submit the manuscript to a publisher.

The organization of my upcoming manuscript Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth (Shanti Arts, 2026) was very different than Touch My Head Softly. I collaborated on this book with the Norwegian artist, Irene Christensen, who did a series of paintings on women at the heart of the environmental crisis. This informed the organization of the manuscript as there was a visual with each poem. We organized the manuscript together, taking into account the content of both the paintings and poems.

Once you have organized your manuscript and perhaps have a trusted colleague or mentor look it over, you may be ready to send out your manuscript. At this point, you need to start developing your query letter to a publisher. I will blog another week on writing a good query letter.

Follow me here on Thursdays as I talk about the development of my new collection, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth and the writing process.