WORDS OF WISDOM

Against barbarity, poetry can resist only by conforming its attachment to human frailty like a blade of grass growing growing on a wall while armies march by.

~Mahmoud Darwish,  Poet (1941-2008)

SAME CITY, DIFFERENT STATE

ROSEVILLE- California, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio

WESTON- Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont

AGAINST CONVENTIONS

The prevailing conventions of a particular time has maligned some great writers. Their writing was excellent; they didn't follow conventions of their time. 

Beat writer Jack Kerouac wrote in a spontaneous style that went against the 1950s way of writing. Poet Robert Hayden didn't receive the notoriety he should have because he wrote during the rise of black militancy. Other black authors felt that he should do the same, but chose not to. Hayden wanted to be known as a poet, not just a black poet. Herman Melville novels didn't sell but he's acknowledged as one of America's greatest writers. He wrote much about the sea and his adventures but his style of writing was not in vogue.

Thinking about it, some of my favorite authors were ones who were marginalized and criticized. Writing isn't about conventions, it's the author share a part of him/ herself to a greater audience. 

WORDS OF WISDOM

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

~William Strunk, Jr., Writer (1869-1946)

HORACE

Horace (Quintas Horatius Flaccus) (65 BC-8 BC) was a Roman lyric poet during the reign of Augustus. He wrote satires, odes, epodes, and epistles. 

WRITING MOST DIFFICULT

 The most difficult aspect of being a writer is actually writing.

WORDS OF WISDOM

The poetry of the earth is never dead.

~John Keats, Poet (1795-1821)

ODES; OUTLINES

I am almost finished reading Sharon Olds's Odes. I admit I'm not wowed by them save a few. However I have a better understanding of how to write them.

I'm writing outlines with scenes and narration. I like listening to old radio programs from the 1950s. I may record one story where I narrate the scene. 

WORDS OF WISDOM

Well, one thing I'm interested in, when I'm writing, is being accurate.

~Sharon Olds

SAME CITY, DIFFERENT STATE

RICHMOND- California, Texas, Virginia

WHITEVILLE- North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

 

CURRENT READING

 

SAME CITY, DIFFERENT STATE

CHESTERFIELD- Missouri, New Jersey, Virginia

FARMVILLE- Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia