HighTouchMegaStore and I have entered into a verbal contract to write one poem a day for the month of September. I forgot that yesterday was the first, so I had to write two this morning. The second one, a sonnet entitled "My Sisters Transform into Small Birds," was much better than the first. I invited Otterbutt to join, and she may. I look forward to receiving poems every day via email.
I have also, perhaps somewhat foolishly?, undertaken a new novel, which I unknowingly started this summer when I wrote a story called "Still Life." My dreams of grandeur have already been dashed, however, as I received my email rejection from The New Yorker last week. It's already easier than the unfinished novel in that it's simply chronological, I have a full cast of characters and I just write from another point-of-view when I get bored or stumped. It's also fun because it's set in Idaho and one guy works on a farm, so I get to throw in some farm jokes, personal experiences, etc. I actually already used a line that one of my dad's friends said to Middlebrow when we were helping them load the hay from the field next to my dad's house. And I've also included that the farmer drinks beer at 10 a.m. when he drives his pickup around. And I get to write from the boring husband's pov too. That should be fun. He's a medievalist, but I'm not going to do any research. Maybe I'll just base him on someone I know.
My plan is to use those spare moments to write poems. I wrote a four-page story about a pig ("The Manner in Which the Pig was Obtained") just because the urge hit me. I've been doing a lot of writing in my head as I lay in bed and try to sleep. But now I'm going to try to get out of bed and write a few things down. Or write a few things down before I go to bed.
Monday we are off to the Sheepdog Competition at Soldier Hollow. We went last year and had a great time. Lamb burgers and sheepshearing. What fun!!
6 comments:
Hey I want to read that poem cause I would like to know if I am a hummingbird because if I did become a small bird that would be my choice, just so you know. Have fun running with the dogs.
Erin
Here's my poem for the day Dr. Write: a response to your Idaho medievalist.
An Idaho man who reads Chaucer?
He probably sips tea with a saucer.
In lectures he drones
In nasaly tones
And takes roll from his filligreed roster.
More limericks forthcoming.
I rewarded myself for 90 minutes of diss-writing at B&N today by getting to work on a silly-lesbo-erotic story...the kind that gets collected in Naiad books. Suffice to say it features a UPS driver.
I could never write a poem a day. I think I could barely write a poem a week. Poetry, which I love dearly, kills me to write. Kills me dead.
I had lamb burgers stuffed with feta for dinner last night and they were wonderful. If you get the chance, you should try them that way.
It's good to work on lots of little small projects. It's way too easy to get bogged down in the big stuff, when its the small and unimportant things that wind up being fresh and interesting. I'm jealous that yr writing short fiction these days.
So far so good, Dr. W.
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