Pushing the Envelope – New Challenge to Remove Writer’s Block

Sometimes we see poets complaining via social media that they want to write but they feel wrung dry.  This is what we refer to as writer’s block.  We feel an irrepressible need to write, and when our muses are silent, we get aggravated.

Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, would be proud of this blog.  Chuck Yeager pushed the envelope of supersonic flight and “pushing the envelope” steadily grew into popular phraseology.  Pushing the envelope does not have anything to do with the postal service, rather, it means pushing a mathematical envelope of normal possibilities.

One way that writers tackle writer’s block is through poetry writing prompts.  Personally, many writers will agree that the best poetry writing prompts are the ones that push the envelope of the traditional iambic pentameter.

Using an alchemy of mathematical structures and writing, you can create a fun poetic masterpiece. Remember back in school when you were given a writing assignment with forced structure?  (Yeah, most of us hated that.)  The type of structure we suggest here is akin to cryptology.  Could you write a poem where the first word of each line rhymes?  Could you write a poem of homonyms?

Check out this fun ABC poem, shared with the permission of poet, Eric Musse:

Crazed Word Smithery

Another banished boy
Courageously creatively
Displaying every facetious facet
Gregariously hilariously
Interpreting indiscriminate implemented juxtaposed jurisdictions

Killing lusty lascivious laminated Mesopotamian mentalities
Neutralizing obvious overt possibilities
Quarantining ridiculous responding superficial Sumerian scleras
Seeking torturous time travel tendencies
Underlying viciously vacuous violent wizard-line youthful Zohar zealots.
-          Eric Musse (c) 2013

Thank you, Eric Musse and Chuck Yeager, for reminding us to continue pushing the envelope.

Keep writing and keep sharing!
Cronin Detzz

ANAGRAM POETRY IN 5 EASY STEPS

Feed me!  Anagram Poetry by Cronin Detzz

Here is a new challenge for your inner poet! Tackle your poetry writing block with an anagram of your name. The longer your name is, the more words you might find, but this is not always the case.

1. Start by choosing the name you'd like to anagram. I recommend starting with your own name. If you'd like to write an anagram for your ma (nice Mother's Day or birthday gift!) And her name is Jane Doe, you might want to also use her maiden name or make an anagram from a short phrase, like:"Jane Doe, the greatest mother ever."

2. Make a list of words. Give yourself extra points if you can create a word without using the same letter twice. For instance, Jane Doe only has one "d," so challenge yourself to use words that require only one "d." "Jane Doe, the greatest mother ever" contains words like an, and, are, as, dart, dear, do, don't, even, emote, gem, go, great, has, hath, heat, meager, mood, more, neat, nod, node, need, never, one, ogre, onto, over, read, remote, rev, she, so, some, son, stand, tart, tear, test, them, there, ton, vest. I'm sure you'll find more, as well.

3. Expand your word list, remembering word prefixes and suffixes. It is similar to playing a game of Scrabble or doing a good old fashioned word search. For example, many words end in "-tion," "-est," and "-ly." Many words begin with "pre-," "in," or "re." Our example contains retest, greater, greatest.

4. Look for short articles such as "in" or "the." You may find different insects or animals as well. This example has a doe, a dog, a deer and a moth. Keep your mind open.

5. Finally, see what you can string together. Don't worry if it doesn't rhyme. If you need a few more words, try rewriting all the letters in a jumbled order and your eyes will pick up new combinations.

Jane, a dear mother, a gem
Great to meet, she is neat
Never a greater heart
Most others never even start
She stands the test
Dare to meet the greatest
A hero, she has the "mostest"

Psychics say that our names have a vibration that is unique to each of us. Guess that makes me "so cozy!"

Keep writing and keep sharing!
- Cronin "Suzy" Detzz

EMANCIPATED FROM RHYMES-WRITER'S BLOCK

EMANCIPATED FROM RHYMES

Here is a great tip for removing writer’s block – try writing a short poem!  When writing short poetry, writers often focus on Haikus or Tankas.  Another fun writing concept is to write in quatrains.  Quatrains, quite simply, are four lines of verse.  A quatrain normally has a rhyming scheme.   Below is an example of AABB, from one of my poems entitled "Red on the Inside."

Bend like the willow trees

Quiet as the summer breeze

Laugh like a gentle stream

Joyful as a baby’s dream

-        Cronin Detzz

A quatrain can also have a rhyming scheme like this familiar verse, where lines 2 and 4 rhyme:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Sugar is sweet,

And so are you

A fantastic writing challenge is to write an impactful quatrain that does not rhyme.  Fellow poet, Teresa E. Gallion, is masterful in this style:

I stared down a wolf

Claiming the edge of the forest

This is not the first time

Courage has dominated my life

Teresa E. Gallion

From these four lines, we can imagine ourselves encountering a wolf in a forest.  A great aspect of this poem is that it can also be looked at in a more metaphorical sense; for instance, staring down “a wolf” could be thought of as staring down a fear.  If someone is afraid of heights, the wolf becomes a symbol of that fear.

Short poems can offer a snapshot of emotion. In this next quatrain, consider the abundant feelings when gazing upon a sleeping loved one:

I lay a prayer on your chest

To soothe your burning sleep

It is selfish to hold back

When love flows in my river

Teresa E. Gallion

A quatrain can also provide a chuckle of irony:

A thought of you so powerful

It breaks my wine glass

I cannot afford such thoughts

Crystal is too expensive

Teresa E. Gallion

Now that you have been emancipated from rhyming schemes, try to remove your writer’s block by penning four lines of poetry.  You can do this!

A special thanks goes out to Teresa E. Gallion for sharing her beautiful quatrains.  Her work can be found at the links below:

http://teresagallion.yolasite.com/my-new-book.php

Note:  Also available at Amazon Kindle store:

http://www.amazon.com/Contemplation-High-Desert-ebook/dp/B007SO8CYC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1336355015&sr=8-2

Keep writing and keep sharing! - Cronin Detzz

SECRETS MAKE YOU SICK

Want to know a secret?  Secrets can make you sick, and you can use your writing skills for better health.

It’s no secret that the body and mind are knotted together in a symbiotic dance.  For instance, if you have a headache, chances are you’ll not be  in a good mood.  Conversely, feeling drained or stressed can give you a headache.  Our moods influence our eating choices, disrupt our sleep, raise our blood pressure, and create digestive problems.  When a deep secret haunts your life, your moods and health will both be affected.  Therapists often uncover secrets because they easily see the signs, such as  anorexia, drug addictions, or anxiety.

Most people have some secrets that are kept tucked away.  Some secrets are generally benign, such as:  “I tell my friends I’m happy being single, but I secretly wish I were married.”  Some secrets are dark and deep and emotionally draining.  Your secrets have helped shape who you have become.

Writing is a cathartic outlet.  Writers often put a piece of themselves into their characters, and in the process, evolve through self-exploration.  As you craft your stories, remember that it can be very helpful to drag those secrets out of the closet and write about the experience.  To help remove your writer’s block, ask yourself the following questions:

·        If the secret is a result of a traumatic event, how did you feel at the time? 

·        What beliefs have encouraged you to keep the secret? 

·        Do you feel judged?   If so, by whom?

·        What is it like to carry around a suitcase full of shame? 

·        Are you trying to numb your mind by forgetting about the secret, or by alcohol or drugs?

·        If you have revealed your secret to a loved one, how did it feel?  What did your loved one say to you?

Recently, I was driving in a run-down part of Chicago with Sandy, an old pal.  As she and as I passed by an alley, a deep-seated memory flashed before my eyes.  I had been raped in that alley when I was a teenager, and I had completely forgotten about the incident.  I had a boyfriend at that time, and because the boyfriend beat the rapist to a bloody pulp, I felt vindicated.  I told Sandy about this, and she was shocked.  She encouraged me to write about the experience in my next book.  I told her that I never thought about the incident, stating that it doesn’t bother me.  She objected, telling me that this is a significant, life-altering event that deserves my attention.  Having her support was a huge relief.  I will be adding the incident to my next book.

I wish sound health to you all, and hope that you find strength and peace through writing.

Keep writing and keep sharing! – Cronin Detzz

MY NAME IS SUE. MARY SUE.

Writer’s Block implies that our creative well has dried up.  When creating an epic hero, be certain to dip into your creative well and create a hero that is relatable.  If main characters have depth and fallacies, readers will more easily connect.  How can we create depth?

Ensure that your hero has fallacies and makes mistakes.  Norwegian author, Jo Nesbo, created an award-winning series of crime fiction novels revolving around a detective named Harry Hole.  Harry Hole asks probing questions, notices clues that others miss, and contains all the desired aspects of a great investigator.  However, Hole is an alcoholic.  He sabotages his own romantic relationships.  He smokes, he makes mistakes, he struggles with depressive thoughts – in short, he is human.  He is a hero, but he has depth. 

Nesbo does not spend a lot of time describing Hole’s physical attributes, other than to say that he is tall and has blue eyes which are frequently bloodshot.  If a writer spends too much time describing a character, the writer will be accused of self-insertion.  Let the reader fill in some of the gaps of physical details, and the reader will subconsciously insert himself and get hooked.

 A “Mary Sue” is a character that is simply too good to be true.  Roger Moore’s portrayal of James Bond is certainly a “Mary Sue.”  He gets the girl, kills the villain, saves the day, and still has fantastic-looking hair.  (He had fantastic hair in the television series “The Saint” as well!)  I am an admitted Bondophile, and own all of the Bond books.  The books are much better than the movies because the author, Ian Flemming, created a hero who often made mistakes.  In the novel Casino Royale, Bond questions whether he himself is the bad guy, realizing that a Russian spy would perceive Bond as an arch enemy.  Bond is unsure of his mission in life and considers leaving the service.  He doesn’t have perfect Roger Moore hair.  His hair is described as dark, forming a “cruel comma” above his brow.  He often gets captured and is a victim of incredible torture, and the author takes us to the dark shadows in Bond’s mind.  It is an interesting journey and a great study into character development.

In short, don’t make characters too perfect, too brilliant, or invincible, unless you’re Roger Moore, who is successful despite his perfect hair.

Keep writing and keep sharing! – Cronin Detzz

FIBONACCI POETRY

FIBONACCI – not your father’s haiku

General Motors tried to inspire a younger demographic with the catchy tagline of “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.”  I’d like to think that a Fibonacci poem is not your father’s haiku!  A Haiku has a mathematically metered number of syllables in three lines, using a count of 5, 7, 5.  Similarly, a Tanka uses the measure of 5-7-5-7-7.  Below is an example, written when I was about sixteen years old:

LONELY TANKA

the wound is so Deep

it will scar your Memory

alone and Empty.

even after she leaves You

her unwanted stench Lingers

The Fibonacci sequence adds each subsequent number as the sum of the previous two numbers: 0 + 1 =1, 1 + 1=2, 1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5, and so on.  This mathematical sequence occurs in nature, music, science, geometry, and art, and has also been applied to poetry.  The Fibonacci poem uses the following number of syllables per line:  1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc.

Below is a great example, used with permission by poet Narendra Rai:

Morn

As

It’s born

Brings with

Itself your aroma

That gives me hope

To hold you in my arms one day

Another mathematical approach to poetry can be found in an etheree, which contains lines of syllables in numerical sequence from 1 to 10.  I tried my hand at a reverse etheree:

BLACK DREAMS

1  In

2  my dream,

3  I reach out

4  Wailing, weeping,

5  the darkness creeping

6  heart beating and bleeding

7  growing numb as senses pale

8  Blackened by burning betrayal,

9  You enjoy my screaming as I drown

10 You even help the demons hold me down

9   But wait, here is the craziest twist

8   you let me live to make it last

7   pulling me into your past

6   you laugh as my blood drips

5   licking fingertips

4   luminous scream

3  ruinous,

2  haunting

1  dream

Writing in this style is more difficult than it looks!  Many poems typically have four to eight syllables per line, and in poetry, each line stands alone to allow the reader to pause.  Challenge yourself and try this art form.  You can share your poetry on this blog or you can share on my Facebook wall, just search “Cronin Detzz.”

Keep writing and keep sharing!  - Cronin Detzz

WRITER'S BLOCK - YELLOW STICKY NOTES

If you have a sudden rush of inspiration, where do you record it?  We often get great ideas while brushing our teeth or while sitting in traffic at a red light.  If you are anything like me, you know that you have to record your inspiration before it flutters away from your brain.

To prevent writer’s block, I make sure that I record inspirations as soon as possible.  A quick inventory shows me where my inspirations are sitting right now:

·        On a yellow sticky note on my car’s dashboard, and two more floating around in the bottom of my purse

·        On a tiny notepad next to my toothbrush

·        In a journal in the back seat of my car, and another journal in the trunk of my car (that journal is full)

·        In a journal next to the easy chair, and another journal on a chair in the dining room

·        In my gratitude journal, located on my nightstand

·        On virtual sticky notes in my smart phone, using an app called Color Note

·        On the backs of recycled envelopes, which have been stuffed inside a manila envelope entitled “Blog Ideas”

I clearly need to simplify!  I try to remember to stuff blog ideas into a manila envelope entitled “Blog Ideas,” but with life moving so fast it is difficult to stay organized.  On days where my eyes are tired from working on the computer for hours and hours, I go through my journals and tear out pages and organize them into categories.  If I already have a book title, the journal notes are stuffed into the back of a folder or manila envelope. 

Once I’ve used my latest delicious idea, I put a large checkmark next to the sections that have been used.  This helps me remember which ideas have already been put to use.

Writers, what systems do you use to capture all of your ideas?  Do you have a special app that you like to use, or do you have other systems?  Let me know!  The more we share, the better we can all become.  Writer’s block can be frustrating, so anything that you can do to stay organized can only help.

Keep writing and keep sharing!  - Cronin Detzz