Tag / inspiration

by Carol J Forrester

When The Words Fall Out

The words are out before I can catch them,

dropped like stones in a pond

they create waves the second they land

and sink too deep for me to fish them out.

I cannot return them to my mouth

where they should have stayed,

where my teeth should have acted like prison bars,

keeping the rabble locked away

out of sight and out of mind,

so you wouldn’t see the mess

I’ve been sweeping beneath the carpet

every time you come to visit.

Like every loud and sudden noise,

they inspire silence in their wake.

A look of confusion as you reach for them.

You turn them over in the light

only to find you can’t identify

what it is I’ve let slip of.

Instead you dust off your hands

so the stones turn to petals and crumble.

It is almost like I never said them at all.

Daily Prompt: Messy

 

by Carol J Forrester

Rhyme In Poetry: Discuss

If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you might have noticed that I tend to write in free verse and I don’t use a lot of rhyme. The main reason for this is that I find rhyme can force poets to try and fit words into poems that simply don’t belong. In some cases it even leads to words being created completely out of the blue (which I don’t have a problem with per-say, but if you’re doing it to fit a rhyme scheme, you’re not doing it for the right reasons).

When I sit down to write a poem I try and hammer the first four lines out and then I let the poem take me where it’s going to take me. Then I go back and find the lines I really like, delete the rest and re-write the poem based on those. Each time I make an edit I read the whole poem aloud before moving on to the next amendment. I do this to make sure the poem sounds right.

I still use rhyme from time to time and I have written quite a few fixed form poems where a rhyming scheme has to be followed, but in my mind, rhyming should come last in the list of things you need for a poem. The top of that list should always be ‘what am I trying to say?’

You can of course write a nonsense poem if you want, but I’ve always found the poems that I like the most are the ones with a background to them. They take you on a journey with the poet.

I’m interested to hear what the other poets on wordpress have to say about this so I’m hoping you’ll voice your opinions below and chime in on the comments others have made.

Tell me, where do you fall when it comes to rhyming and poetry?

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by Carol J Forrester

I’ve Broken My Own Writing Rules. Again! #WeekendCoffeeShare

It’s Sunday morning afternoon, and I’m trying to keep a close eye on the weather outside because we’re meant to be having an afternoon of rain and there’s washing on the line. Actually, we’re meant to be having an entire August of rain here in the UK. According to the Independent (I only read the headline), this last week’s saturation of sudden, miserable downpours, is here to stay for the entire thirty-one days. I only mention this because writing this post might get interrupted by me blitzing outside like a made woman to yank in the majority of my wardrobe before it gets soaked.

Besides the weather turning against me this week, things have been going surprisingly well. I started a new job on the 17th August and it feels like I settling in okay, my writing has been on the upturn, and things around the house seem to be on an even keel. There’s just one thing bugging me, and that’s the fact I’m breaking my own rule when it comes to writing. I’ve been tweaking the novel.

Chapter Twenty-Four has been on my to-do list for the past four months and over the weekend I’ve only managed to get the first six hundred words written. The problem is that I keep wanting to redraft it. Those six hundred words are the third attempt at writing that chapter and I try to avoid doing that. If I’m drafting I want to get the whole draft completed before I go back and start tweaking things, otherwise I end up spending too much time dotting ‘i’s and cross ‘t’s. I get disheartened and I don’t finish the chapter. I don’t even know if this version is any better than the others and I’ve stalled again at the six-hundred word mark. This afternoon’s challenge will be to go back and try to get that chapter finished and filed away. If I can do that then I can get on with writing the rest of the book and worry about editing when it comes to it further down the line.

Blog wise, this week has been pretty successful and I’m really happy with the posts that I’ve been putting out. My poem Drawstrings keeps gathering views and it’s lovely to see so many people taking the time to comment. It’s quite a personal poem and it tackles anxiety so there’s always a bit of apprehension for putting up pieces like that, but I think it’s probably one of the best poems that I’ve written.

I’m also trying to set up a weekly writing prompt. On Friday I launched The Friday Fiction Linkup. The challenge for the first week is to take the opening of a story and carry it on in a post on your own blog. If you don’t want to write the full piece then you can comment a paragraph that carries the story on in the comments section below and leave it up to someone else to add the next bit. There don’t seem to have been any takers yet but I’m hoping we’ll get a few people having a go as we get closer to the deadline next Friday.

As well as poems and new link ups, I’ve tried my hand at putting together a post containing seven things I’ve learned in seven years of blogging. Why Am I Even Doing This? – Tips From Seven Years Of Blogging went up last night and stemmed from my own ponderings about whether or not I’ve actually managed to progress or learn anything since I started this blog. I’ve had some lovely comments on it and it would seem that some people have even found my seven tips somewhat useful.

Aside from blogging this week has been one for relaxing and going back to old joys. The pond in the garden is slowly taking shape. The rain is keeping all the plants in the garden lovely and green, and I’ve managed to fill my free time with books and writing rather than housework. I watched Neil Gaiman and Steven Fry’s talk from Hay Festival on Youtube last night and inspired by Chris Riddle’s live drawing even cracked out the paper and pencils to try my hand at a few doodles. Maybe not my best works but I enjoyed drawing them which was something.

Anyway, that’s enough about my week. The Weekend Coffee Share is about the conversation, so how are you all? Anything new going on or is it same old same old? Let me know in the comments below, you know I always love to hear from you. Have you perhaps kicked off something new on your blog? Are you going back to old favourites as well? Did you write something this week that you’re really proud of and want to share with the whole world? Whatever it is, feel free to tell me about it or even leave a link.

Until next week, all the best!

weekendcoffeeshare

 

 

 

by Carol J Forrester

Lost, Found, and Rambling On About Nonsense – Just A Normal Day Then

It we were having coffee, well firstly, let me apologise for my absence. As you have probably realised, I’m not great at maintaining a regular blogging schedule so my attendance at the Weekend Coffee Shares has been somewhat spotty over the last few months. *Ahem* Let me change that to non-existent. I’ve decided to stop saying ‘but I’m back and this time it’s going to be different, I’m going to post on a schedule, build up a reserve of posts to use on the days where I don’t want to write.’ I’ve said it before and it’s never worked so instead I’m going to say this.

I’ve been relatively good this week. Let’s wait until Monday to see about next week.

Apart from my lacking of blogging I’ve had a productive start to 2017. Yesterday I got an email confirming that I’d passed my Accountant Technicians Diploma with distinction, Shadow Dawn is at 61,943 words and growing, and I’ve got some plans lined up for April that I’m feeling pretty excited about. What plans you ask?  Well let me tell you.

As some of you will already know, April is host to two massive writing events. NaPoWriMo [National Poetry Writing Month] and Camp NaNoWriMo [Sister to NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month in November]. This year I’m going to do both.

logo-napowrimoCamp-2017-Participant-Twitter-HeaderYes that’s right. I’m insane enough to think I can write 30 poems in 30 days and do Camp NaNoWriMo.

As the plan stands at the moment, I’m hoping to finish the current draft of Shadow Dawn by the end of March so that I can switch my focus from that story to Solitary Creatures instead. The target is 40,000 words for April, spread over three or four separate stories that all take place around Edwin and Sammy. Doing NaPoWriMo at the same time means that I should also have a daily post for all of April without having to use my Solitary Creatures stuff. That will go up in May instead.

See! Planning. It will all go horribly wrong but the effort is there.

On the plus side, unlike NaNoWriMo, I have completed NaPoWriMo before. You can find all my poems from April 2016 right here on Writing and Works in the drop down beneath poetry. Or you can just click… here. The NaPoWriMo site provides a new prompt everyday and they’re a sign up page where you can find all the participating sites.

It’s a really fun project and a really fun month. If you like poetry then I would highly recommend it.

On another note, I’ve started to notice that when I go back through older posts on this site, (and my older I mean three-six months old), I’m finding bits of flash fiction I’d forgotten I’d wrote. I’m trying to work out a way of bringing some of the older stuff back up to the tip without having to re-blog it constantly. However, I think that might be a conundrum for another day.

On a more exciting turn of events, during the time while I was away from my blog, Writing and Works hit a couple of milestones. We hit 50,000 total views and 20,000 total visitors. I know it doesn’t sound like much compared to the bigger blogs, but it made me happy to see those numbers on my insights screen.

Anywho, enough about me. Let me know how your weeks, years have been going so far. Any plans for April or beyond? Let me know in the comments below. I always love hearing from the people reading my blog, which reminds me! Before I go. About June time I’m thinking about starting up another round of Guest Posts, these ones focusing on writing prompts and creative inspiration. If you think this might be something you’re interested in then give me a shout!

Hope you all enjoyed my little ramble, thanks for reading.

weekendcoffeeshare

by Carol J Forrester

Fake It Till You Make It – Not Letting Nerves Destroy You

When I get nervous I feel physically sick. This weight drops in my stomach, the back of my neck begins to prickle, and I feel like I want to leap out of my own skin. Sometimes I get to the point where I feel like I might start vibrating on the spot there’s so much nervous energy whirling around inside me. That’s how I feel every time I start to think about finishing my book and starting to look for literary agents. When the chance to submit to a poetry competition crosses my desk. When I ask someone to pass an opinion on my writing.

Nerves are just something that I’ve had to learn to live with.

As I’ve got older I’ve managed to reign them in a bit. The first two days of secondary school were hell mostly because of my nerves, and the way that they made me feel like I was about to puke my guts up at any second. These days I’m able to remind myself that it’s okay to be nervous, but it’s not okay to let those things get in the way of what I want to do. It doesn’t always work, but I’m great at pretending I’m confident in situations where I’m actually scared witless. Have you heard of the phrase ‘fake it till you make it?’ Well that is something of a moto for me. Fake like you know it until you do. Fake like you’re a kick-arse, no bullshit taking, cool as chips chick until I am.

I don’t know if it always comes across that way, but I try.

Writing is one of the areas in my life where I’ve learnt that they can be no room for my nerves. If they’re the thing holding me back from hitting publish then I should click that little blue button all the harder. If they’re telling me that I might not be good enough to enter that poetry competition then I should be trying to prove them wrong. If they want to freeze up at the idea I might actually finish this novel within the month then open that laptop and get writing!

If my nerves are holding me back then I’ve got to fight all the harder and go for it because I do not want to be kicking myself fifty years down the line wishing I’d taken more risks when I had the chance.

It doesn’t always work. The first time I went to judo a few months ago I froze in the doorway and almost turned around to head back to the car. That sick feeling, the prickles, I had it all and stepping into the room seemed impossible. I made myself though. It was one of the reasons I decided to take judo up. It was something I’d never done and something I knew I’d find hard to get myself to do at first. It involved new people, a new sport, a new environment. Three things that set off every alarm possible in my head. But once the first session was over and I walked out of there, I felt good about myself. I felt proud that the nerves hadn’t conquered me.

That one incident didn’t cure me. The idea of doing a grading is still enough to bring all those lovely symptoms rushing back, but I’m hoping I’ll get there in the end. The people I do judo with are lovely and supportive, and the coach is such a friendly guy that I don’t worry about looking like an idiot in front of him.

My nerves are something I battle on almost a daily basis, but I’m learning ways to push past the fear and do things that I’m finding I love.

It’s not easy. It’s downright difficult and exhausting at time.

But it’s worth it.

So very, very worth it.