Monday, September 24, 2012

Pests

Today at my other blog I posted a series of pictures. To see them, go here. Becca at Everyday Life read it and forwarded a link to me for Monday Haiku. This Monday the topic is pests.

I've always read Becca's haiku on her Monday posts but never took part in it. I also hadn't realized it was a contest. You can submit two for judging. The person who wins the contest gets to be the host for the following week and provide the new prompt. That's pretty cool. So, I figured...why not? Here are my two pest haiku for the day. (oh...and for any of my friends who do haiku, I know that 5-7-5 is not standard anymore but this contest follows the old rule so make sure to count your syllables if you want to participate).



thin circles of silk
spider decorates my car
driving me crazy

Ok. Technically that wouldn't qualify as haiku. There is no season word, unless spider counts. But hey, I was going for something punny.




Now, one with more thought.





dementia crawls in
thoughts weave themselves in circles
like pesty spiders

Yeah, I know. That probably wouldn't qualify either because it uses the word "like" in it and is more of a comparison than an observation, but that's what I've got. Anyway, I think they allow more leeway here. It's just for fun.

I wonder if anyone does a tanka contest like this. That would be cool.

If you want to participate, the blog post is here.

Please note:Work needs to be posted at the hosting blog site today.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Say Hello to the Bun

If you've been following my post lately, you know that during the month of August I took part in the Poetry Postcard project. It forced me to write every day. And I'll be honest. Some days my writing was not up to par. I am a terrible first draft writer. I tend to write. Then revise. Then put in away. Then get it out a while later to revise again. With time I either produce something worthy or it goes in the "probably never amount to anything" file. I have lots of works in that file, and that's okay with me. Sometimes I can pull a good line or even a stanza from the work and use it in another piece. Others are just destined to stay in there forever.

On Monday I sent out my last August poem. Somewhere out there, people are receiving my work in the mail, good ones and not so good ones, on a postcard. I hope some of them sit back and enjoy what they read. And to those who received my not-so-good-day works, I hope they realize that these are rough drafts and that I can produce decent work.

So far, I've only received 8 postcards. The overseas mail must be extremely slow lately. Every morning I run to the mailbox to see if any surprises are waiting for me.

Also, I came across another postcard poetry project. But in this one you don't need to write anything. You just tell the literary journal which poems you like that they've published and they will send you a postcard with some of that poem on it. To anywhere in the world. For free. Just for fun. And they look like beautiful postcards. It is called The Handwritten Project and is from Cha Literary Journal. If you are interested, CLICK HERE for more information.

 
I decided to take a break from writing after the August Postcard Poetry project was completed. After all, school is starting and I have a family and other obligations (and tons of wash and ironing. How that always happens, I just can't understand. You'd think an army lived in our house.) But then Robert Lee Brewer had to go and do this! Say hello (or hai) to the 'bun. Robert is challenging everyone to write a haibun. As always with Robert's poetic form challenges, if your work is picked as the winner or even a runner-up, it might be featured in an upcoming issue of Writer's Digest. Soooooo, I guess I will be writing a haibun this week.

Haibun is a form I've been wanting to try. One of the women in my writer's group is very good at haibun. (Yes, Terri French. I am talking about you and you damn well better enter this, girl!) I could name some others who are excellent are Japanese forms (Cara, Kathy, Josie...) So, depending on who enters, the competition might be fierce. I probably don't have a chance. But I don't care. I really want to try this form. It is like a prose poem with a little haiku hanging on to it. It can be lean or meaty, so to say, depending on who long the prose part is. So I'll probably give it a try and then take a break. Maybe just work on revisions in the meantime.  

If you are interesting in learning more about this form and entering the contest, CLICK HERE to go to the post. And good luck.


   

Monday, September 3, 2012

A New Book

The past week seemed to get away from me. I intended to do a super post with a link to a contest. Now the contest is closed. Sorry, guys. Call me names. Throw a chair. Get a permanent marker out and write FAIL across my forehead.(sigh) But I am going to post anyway. Better late than never, right?


Blood Fugue, Moonsongs Book 1 by E.J. Wesley Cover 
Author E.J. Wesley was throwing a blog party to celebrate the release of his new book cover (with contest that is now closed.) I haven't read the book yet but have seen enough of E.J.'s writing to know he can write well. I am so happy for him and hope he does well with his first book (and those that follow...and there will be more).
Here's what the cover looks like.
 The cover work is by Sketcher Girl, LLC - http://sketchergirlstudios.com/ 

Pretty cool, isn't it? I love the eye in the upper righthand corner. It makes one wonder who or what that eye belongs to. And why is it watching the girl?
So what is this book about?
Some folks treated the past like an old friend. The memories warmed them with fondness for what was, and hope for what was to come. Not me. When I thought of long ago, my insides curdled, and I was left feeling sour and wasted.”

Jenny Schmidt is a young woman with old heartaches. A small town Texas girl with big city attitude, she just doesn’t fit in. Not that she has ever tried. She wears loneliness like a comfy sweatshirt. By the age of twenty-one, she was the last living member of her immediate family. Or so she thought…

“We found my ‘grandfather’ sitting at his dining room table. An entire scorched pot of coffee dangled from his shaky hand. His skin was the ashen gray shade of thunderclouds, not the rich mocha from the photo I’d seen. There were dark blue circles under each swollen red eye. A halo of white hair skirted his bald head, a crown of tangles and mats. Corpses had more life in them.”

Suddenly, instead of burying her history with the dead, Jenny is forced to confront the past. Armed only with an ancient family journal, her rifle, and an Apache tomahawk, she must save her grandfather’s life and embrace her dangerous heritage. Or be devoured by it.

BLOOD FUGUE by E.J. Wesley, is the first of the MOONSONGS books, a series of paranormal-action novelettes. At fewer than 13k words, BLOOD FUGUE is the perfect snack for adventurous readers who aren’t afraid of stories with bite. Available wherever fine eBooks are sold September 2012. 

To find out more about E.J. you can go here.

The Open Vein, E.J.'s blog - http://the-open-vein-ejwesley.blogspot.com/

E.J. Wesley on the Twitter - https://twitter.com/EJWesley