About Poetry

About Poetry

BLOG SESSION

April 23rd, 2018

Welcome Poets and Poetry Lovers!

Today's Session will be about our favorite subject matter for all Writers who have been following along here on the Blog with our Sessions this month.  In addition to taking Journal notes about our writing projects and current Novels that we are working on in Camp NaNoWriMo, we are going to dive into another area that many of the Writers here are focused on, and that is something near and dear to those who have the "gift" of a Poet's Pen.  When it comes to writing many of you zone in on the genre of poetry.

About Poetry:  Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning.

I'd like to mention that many of us here started writing poetry at a young age because we learned about the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, William Wordsworth, Oscar Wilde, and many others who captured our interest with their fascinating poetics.

Young Poet 

As a child, your mind absorbs literary works with a sense of wonder at play.  Visual images come to mind and help the young writer to see exactly what the poet is trying to relay with his or her poetic words.

It is very easy for children to learn to write poetry because they have been indoctrinated with Nursery Rhymes from an infant. 

Everyone of us can identify with the Nursery Rhymes, "Row, row, row your boat...." and "Mary had a little lamb..." and "A Tisket, A Tasket"... and "Baa Baa Black Sheep"..., and the famous "ABC Song".  Nursery Rhymes are in our memory banks.

We must also keep in mind that Music is a rhythmatic vessel awaiting poetic words to be applied ~ also known as Lyrics.

As you grab your Journal today to take notes on our Session . . .

Journal Notes

Please take a moment to think about some of your favorite Lyrics.  If you simply read the lyrics without the music, does a poem appear?  Do you hear the music playing in your head as you read the words to the song?  Do the words (lyrics) inspire you to write poetry?

On the other hand, when you read poetry, does a rhythm form and begin to take motion like wings on a butterfly?  Do you hear the sound of the poem?  Does the beat of the poem become louder or softer as you read?  When reading poetry, does your spirit tap in and meet the poet on the paper and in the air?  Does your spirit "feel" the poet's meaning?  Can you grab a hold of the emotions that are within the poetic words?

What exactly does poetry do for you as far as inspiration and motivation when it comes to the literary world?  Does poetry touch your soul?

Do you consider yourself a Poet?

The Young Poet

(Thinks, feels, expresses)  

Thought-provoking poetry is always inspiring.  Take a Read...

Dream Deferred - Poem by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode? 

By Langston Hughes

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

By Maya Angelou

To all the Poets ~ You too shall rise.

Write your poetry and feel blessed as you do!

OUR NEXT BLOG SESSION:

Making Your Poetry Journal

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved

What is your current word count?

What is your current word count?

BLOG SESSION

April 11th, 2018

Good Morning Friends ~ This is another great Blog Session for all Writers, Authors, Poets, Creative Writers, Fiction Writers, Short Story Writers, Children's Book Writers, Film Writers, Scrip Writers, Journalists, Novelists, and all Friends working on writing projects this month in Camp NaNoWriMo.

If you were here for our last Blog Session then you were informed about how to find your word count in Microsoft Word (just in case you may have been wondering).

Now that many already know about word counters and how to find your wordcount on your writing programs, you will have an indication of just how close you are to the 50,000 word count (which constitutes the making of a Novel).

Today is April 11th.  By April 15th, you should be at the 25,000 word count mark.

So, just what is your word count at this point Writers, Novelists & Authors?

Don't worry if you are a little behind in your word count.  You can easily catch up!

See you back here for our next Blog Session. . .

OUR NEXT BLOG SESSION:

What does being a Writer mean to you?

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved

What about your word count?

What about your word count?

BLOG SESSION

April 10th, 2018

Welcome back Writers, Authors, Novelists, Memoirists, Poets, and all creative writers who are currently working on Writing Projects this month ~ For all new Followers and all Visitors, be sure to Bookmark this Blog by clicking on your bookmark or star symbol at the top of your pageview.  And be sure to sign up to "Follow by Email".  If you sign up over in the far right-hand column under my eyeball with your email address, be sure to also click the "Submit" button once you have entered your email address in full.  You will immediately receive each Blog Session as it is published.

Today's Session is about the word count of your novel and/or writing project for Camp NaNoWriMo this month.  For those of you who already have a word counter ~ great!  For those of you who are typing your Novel in Microsoft Word, you will find the word count by looking at the bottom of your document...

To View Your Word Count in Microsoft Word:

To see the word count in your document, look at the status bar at the bottom of the Word window.  Word can insert the word count into your document and update that information as often as you want.

Microsoft Word counts the number of words in a document while you type.  Word also counts pages, paragraphs, lines, and characters.  (2010, 2007)

(2016, 2013) Word Online

See the word count as you type. . .

Anytime you want to know the total number of words in your document, look at the status bar at the bottom of the Word window:

[As you can see from this example, this document is on page 3 of 6 and has a word count of 951 words.  You can see this information in the bottom status bar.]

Count the number of pages, characters, paragraphs, and lines:  To see the number of characters, lines, paragraphs, and other information, click the word count in the status bar to open the Word Count box.

To include non-body text in the word count, select the Include textboxes, footnotes and endnotes check box at the bottom of the Word Count box.

Count the number of words in a part of a document:  To count the number of words in only part of your document, select the text you want to count, and then on the Review tab, click Word Count.

See the word count as you type

Anytime you want to know the total number of words in your Word document, look at the status bar at the bottom of the Word window.

If you don't see the word count in the status bar, right-click the status bar, then and click Word Count.

Should you have any word count tips, apps to suggest or questions, please leave your tips, suggestions, comments, thoughts, and/questions in our "Comments Section" at the end of this Blog Session.

OUR NEXT BLOG SESSION:

What is your current word count?

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved

Good Evening Writer

Good Evening Writer

BLOG SESSION

April 8th, 2018

Good Evening Writers and all literary creatives who have decided to take the leap and participate in Camp NaNoWriMo during the month of April 2018.

If you are a Writer at heart, then you are always ready to write.  We have been discussing working on our Book Projects and the making of our new novels during our camp experience this month.

If you have not yet signed up to participate in campnanowrimo for the month of April 2018, it is not too late.  Just click on the link and sign up!

Sign up to participate in

Camp NaNoWriMo

Signing up for Spring Writer's Camp is the first step -- Camp NaNoWriMo is an offshoot of National Novel Writing Month, where Writers get online and create their new Novels in 30 days.  For Spring Camp, you are not limited in whatever it is you'd like to create during the month of April.  The idea is to simply sign up and create a writing project of your choice ~ and the best part:  You get to  meet other Writers & Authors (including Poets), you'll receive good advice and writing tips, you'll complete a writing project at the end of the month, and it is Free!

Getting into the swing of

writing your Novel!

Getting into the swing of typing up your Novel is fun, its inspiring, and it is well worth your time and effort.  My advice to everyone who is doing this for the first time is to just get on your computer or laptop and just start typing!

After you have filled out your Profile and other information for Camp NaNoWriMo, you can check out all of the other areas of the Camp Site.  Remember to check your mailbox inside Camp NaNo (which is located under the "CONVERSATION" tab).  You'll find good tips inside your mailbox, and interesting updates.

You can also invite a friend to join you at Camp NaNo, and you may also want your friend to be inside the same Cabin with you.

Choose your Cabin Mates

(Sign up to join others or create your own private Cabin)

For all Writers who have not yet created their book cover and are trying to figure out how to go about making one, you'll want to be here for our next Blog Session entitled "Creating your Book Cover".

Until our next Blog Session dear Writers, spend time online getting familiar with the  Camp NaNoWriMo site, and also take segments of time during your day to write your novel and/or  work on your Writing Project.

Remember, NaNoWriMo is also on Facebook as well as Twitter.

See you in our next Session Writer!

OUR NEXT BLOG SESSION:

"Creating your Book Cover"

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved

Camp NaNoWriMo ~ I started writing!

BLOG SESSION

April 4th, 2018

Good Afternoon Writers, Authors, Poets, Artists, Blog Readers, Followers, New Members to our Blog, and Visitors!

If you have just recently joined us this month to learn more about Camp NaNoWriMo ~ Welcome!  If you are a Writer, Author, emerging author, Poet, or interested in meeting other Writers and learning more about publishing your book, you are in the right place!

For those of you who are working on a writing project, or who have new book ideas that you'd like to get accomplished this year, the month of April is a good time to start working on what you'd like to see come to fruition.  Remember, Spring is the season when everything blooms and the air is fresh...and so is your mind!

"To be a good writer, an honest writer,

and a writer who actually writes,

it's important to reevaluate one's inhibitions."

~ Byran Hutchinson ~

From "Writer's Doubt" the book.

One thing about writing ~ You'll write your first Novel, and you'll wonder why you haven't written more.  You'll also find that writing is constantly on your mind.

Writing comes naturally to the destined Author!

Like those of you here who like to write poetry, you know how you sometimes grab a piece of paper to jot down the lines or thoughts that run through your mind during the day that make for a good poem?  It is the same for Writers, Authors and Novelists that love writing books.  It pays to also have a tape recorder or a smartphone that you can record your writing notes on.  Many a time you think you will not forget the thought that runs through your mind ~ and many a time you've been mistaken.  Be safe ~ write down your thoughts or record them for your next poem, book, play, song, film, documentary, speech, or any other literary work that you are working on.

Some of our friends here who have been following our Blog for a few years are already familiar with Camp NaNoWriMo ~ which is an offspring of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) ~ wherein Writers get together each year during the month of November and write a Novel or a Writing Project in 30 (thirty) days.  To learn more about the site where Writers get online to work on their Novels in 30 days, click on the NaNoWriMo link above.  If you have not yet participated during the month of November, now is a good time to sign up and review the Site for this year's November Writing frenzy online.

Review the Site and be ready when

November 2018 rolls around.

For those who have never written a Novel ~ a Novel constitutes about fifty-thousand (50,000) words or more.  If this seems like a lot to you, (if you have never written that many words before), it really isn't.  Once you do it the first time, it is a breeze to do so again, and again, and again!  You'll never know how it feels to write a Novel if you never try to write one of your own.

Books are exciting reads ~ especially when you are the Author.  

Fear not Author!

For today, just make sure that you sign up to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, and fill out all of the necessary items that we discussed yesterday...

1)  Complete your Profile;

2)  Create your writing project (book title or project title);

3)  Select your Cabin preference;

4)  Review all the areas of the Site; and

5)  Don't forget to check your campnonowrimo mailbox once

      you've signed up!

If you've already starting writing and are working on your Novel or Writing Project ~ Good for you!  Be sure to set a daily goal of how many words you'd like to accomplish.  Check in with your Cabin mates if you are in a Cabin with others.  Also check out the Camp NaNo Forums by clicking on this link.

We'll be back here tomorrow with more information for you, so be sure to check in.  You can also sign up to follow our Blog by email (if you have not done so already), by looking over in the far right-hand column under my eyeball to enter in your email address then click the "Submit" button, and you will receive each of our Blog Sessions as soon as they are published.

Get excited Authors ~ this is going to be a lot of FUN!

Don't be scared ~ you can do it!

Peace, Love & Light

By René Allen

©Copyright - René Allen - 2014-2018 - All Rights Reserved

   

Types of Novellas

Learning More about the Novella

BLOG SESSION

July 2017

"Types of Novellas"

Good Morning Writers, Authors, Novelists & Poets ~

In our last Blog Session, we discussed the Novella.  We took notes in our Journals about the Novella, Novelle, and the Novel.  We made notes about the differences, and why some Readers as well as Writers gravitate to the Novella.

You can  easily view our last Blog Session by scrolling down after reading today's Session, or you may catch up on any missed Blog Sessions by clicking on any of our past Blog Session links in the right-hand column where it says, "Blog Archive".  If you have not yet Bookmarked this Blog, be sure to do so today.  You may also follow by email by typing in your email address over in the right-hand column where it says, "Follow by Email", then click the "Submit" button.  You'll receive all Blog Sessions by email as soon as they are published.

As many of the Readers here on the Blog know, Camp NaNoWriMo is currently going on during the month of July online for those who are writing Novels or working on Writing Projects.  Many of our friends here will also be writing Novels during the month of November when National Novel Writing Month begins.  Camp NaNoWriMo is the best time to get your mind in gear for what is to come during the month of November when thousands of Authors and Writers of all different genres converge online for NaNoWriMo.  You can click on either of the links to check out both Camp NaNoWriMo (happening online now during the month of July) and NaNoWriMo (which takes place in the month of November each year).

Now is the time to grab your Journal and get ready to take notes.  We are all back here today to continue where we left off in our last Blog Session when we were discussing the Novella.  As promised, we will be discussing the various types of Novellas . . .

Novellas are grouped into three (3) broad categories:

1.  THE LITERARY NOVELLA

The Novella is said to be the golden child form for literary experimentation because it allows for more scope than the short story, while still retaining its intensity.  The length of the novella is perfect for dense language that would be much harder to sustain in a novel.  A novella allows for emphasis on character psychology over narrative concerns, and for exploring difficult questions without overworking.

Please Note:  Famous literary novellas include:  The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Chess by Stefan Zweig, and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

2.  THE INSPIRATIONAL NOVELLA

The shorter novella form has also been used by Authors who want to tell inspirational stories that will appeal to all ages.  The novella's length makes it more approachable for younger readers, and also makes it easier for the Writer to deliver concise, expressive, and more immediate advice.  The enduring popularity of The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho, and The Prophet by Khalil Gibran are testaments to how well the novella form is suited for this task.

3.  THE GENRE NOVELLA

Novellas are also a popular choice for the fiction genre.  The novella form has been embraced by the Science Fiction and Fantasy communities.  Because electronic publishing takes the cost of physical printing out of the equation, it is now much easier for novellas to hold their own and be just as profitable as longer Novels.

Reading a Novella

Let's discuss the length of a Novella once again...

Estimates vary, of course, but a Novella is usually anywhere between 10,000 to 50,000 words long.  However, Novels for younger audiences often run shorter, so 50,000 words may be nearer to a full-length novel in certain markets.  Some awards (such as the Hugo and Nebula Awards) also have their own word count criteria for novellas, as well as an additional category between short stories and novellas termed, “novelettes”.

Novellas versus Novels

What's the difference?

Novellas are sometimes compared to films.  If we assume that 15,000 words takes approximately an hour to read, then a 30,000 word novella can be read in about as much time as it takes to watch a film.  Thus, a novella usually covers a similar number of scenes and events.

A Novel is too large a structure to visualize all at once.  However, films and novellas are more manageable, as well as very appealing to readers.

And, you'll definitely have to make a note in your Journal that despite their contracted size, novellas can tell the exact same story as a novel.

Novels include a lot of extra detail that is not necessary to the narrative, but that detail works to build a deeper relationship with the reader (by drawing them in, and convincing them to invest more time, attention and interest).

However, we cannot ignore the fact that the Novella also needs to build the same relationship, and has a harder job because there is less time and space within which to do so.

NEXT BLOG SESSION:

Should YOU Write a Novella?

Writers, Authors, Friends ~

Until our next Blog Session . . .

Peace, Love & Light,

René

© Copyright - René Allen - JULY 2017 - All Rights Reserved