The idea that resonated with me the most came from Hugo. One of his ideas discusses in "The Triggering Town" to get off topic is to "use words for the sake of their sounds" (pg 5). I use this idea in a lot of my poems, through alliteration and rhyme. I find myself often sounding out words out loud when I am looking for a word that rhymes and fits in my poem. When I do find a word that fits the poem, I often find the poem shifting directions.
I also agree with the belief that people learn to write by writing. I actually was surprised that such an obvious fact was to be found in our textbook. Who wrote it? Captain Obvious? I would challenge anyone to argue that people do not learn to write by writing. Writing itself is the best way to get better at writing. Here's a challenging thought, Is it possible to get ANY better at writing without touching a pencil (or keyboard)?
This comic strip from Calvin and Hobbes perfectly describes my writing process. Granted, although I wait to get to my work, I do allow myself plenty of time to write my poems. Oddly enough, I seem to find inspiration easier as I approach my deadlines; I accept the fact that I am a procrastinator and allow myself to operate around these parameters. In fact, nearly all of the poems that I have written for this class were written mere hours before class. The biggest struggle for me so far has been to develop any process other than Nike's famous "Just do it" slogan. I often simply set a few hours before class just to write my poems and I doubt that that process will change.
I believe that I have learned more about writing poems from writing poems, rather than reading about how other writers write about poems. Partially because I write more often than I read textbooks, and partially because I believe that writing is one of the things it is better to just jump into the pool rather than stick one's toe in and slowly wade in. Some things you just do. Also, when I learn what seems to work in a poem and what doesn't I don't actually need to know what it is. If it sounds good, it is good. I think that we learn more from trying things out ourselves than we do from our readings.
I am also a procrastinator and for some reason I get more motivated to write a poem if it's close to the deadline.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I prefer to work on things in advance so that as the due date draws near, I am prepared. That said, I was also surprised that, of all the things he could have said, he stated that you learn to write by writing.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your comic strip! I am going to save that on my phone and keep it forever. It's adorable and it is also very relevant to my writing style also. I can never seem to sit down and just write a poem. It just hits me at the most random times.
ReplyDeleteI agree that learning to write by writing is the best way to learn (and the most obvious). I can feel myself becoming a better writer the more I sit down and give myself the time to write. Your thought made me laugh and I honestly don't think it's possible to get better at writing without touching a pencil or a keyboard besides bettering your thoughts and knowledge of style and inspiration to pick up a pencil. But it all goes to back to picking up that pencil (or touching that keyboard)!