Confession Tuesday
Happy Confession Tuesday! You know the drill.
Last week was the first week, I believe, that I didn't post on a Tuesday. Ugh. I felt bad about that. And then Thursday rolled around but I couldn't bring myself to post a late post. So forgive me, reader. I needed a blog vacation.
But the truth is I missed this blog, which serves as a room of my own, so to speak, when the poems aren’t coming or I’m just feeling empty. If I can’t keep up with the blog, it means that some other part of my life has taken over. Last week, grading Comp 1 papers and Mass Poetry work took over. But this is the week where I pull back and try to get a little more balance.
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Two words: Red Sox. Need I say more?
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When I don't write a post, my mom calls me up and asks, "Is everything OK?
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Have I been writing this week? No, not really. But I just wrote a new poem today which came to me out of the blue. Sometimes writing is a struggle, but this one was a gift.
Strangely enough, I am as connected as I was over the summer. I am locked and loaded (much like David Ortiz from my beloved Red Sox). These days, I know that if I sit down long enough, I will tap into myself and write something. It may be a shitty first draft, but showing up is half the battle.
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That reference to shitty first drafts is reference to the Anne Lamott essay “Shitty First Drafts,” which I share with my creative writing students every semester. It’s from her book Bird by Bird, one of my touchstones. In looking up Anne Lamott online, I found a documentary on her called Bird by Bird. It’s terrific. If you get a chance to see it, it will inspire you to “just show up” and write on those days when you’re rather do anything else but write.
****
Last week was the first week, I believe, that I didn't post on a Tuesday. Ugh. I felt bad about that. And then Thursday rolled around but I couldn't bring myself to post a late post. So forgive me, reader. I needed a blog vacation.
But the truth is I missed this blog, which serves as a room of my own, so to speak, when the poems aren’t coming or I’m just feeling empty. If I can’t keep up with the blog, it means that some other part of my life has taken over. Last week, grading Comp 1 papers and Mass Poetry work took over. But this is the week where I pull back and try to get a little more balance.
****
Two words: Red Sox. Need I say more?
****
When I don't write a post, my mom calls me up and asks, "Is everything OK?
****
Have I been writing this week? No, not really. But I just wrote a new poem today which came to me out of the blue. Sometimes writing is a struggle, but this one was a gift.
Strangely enough, I am as connected as I was over the summer. I am locked and loaded (much like David Ortiz from my beloved Red Sox). These days, I know that if I sit down long enough, I will tap into myself and write something. It may be a shitty first draft, but showing up is half the battle.
****
That reference to shitty first drafts is reference to the Anne Lamott essay “Shitty First Drafts,” which I share with my creative writing students every semester. It’s from her book Bird by Bird, one of my touchstones. In looking up Anne Lamott online, I found a documentary on her called Bird by Bird. It’s terrific. If you get a chance to see it, it will inspire you to “just show up” and write on those days when you’re rather do anything else but write.
****
It’s NaNoWriMo time, which means is NaPoWriMo time for me. Yet again, I will attempt the 30 poems in 30 days challenge in November. This time, I feel I can do it. (All the other times I said I would do it, I know I couldn't finish.) But now I’m in the flow. I want to do it. And it I can’t, or don't, that’s OK. I have stopped forgiving myself for things that do need forgiveness.
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