Drew Myron's Blog, page 85
May 2, 2011
Can't you see I'm (not) writing?
A friend recently confided in me.
"I don't write every day," she whispered. "I know you're suppose to."
"I don't either," I replied. Relief washed her face.
For years, I badgered myself into writing regimes. I wrote 500 words a day. I wrote Morning Pages, timed writings, and poems on demand. Like a diet with a strict calorie count, every time I fell short — and I always, eventually, fell short — I felt worse than when I began. Cue the berating. Let the self-degradation begin.
But I've eased up. I have, in part, Billy Collins to thank.
"I have no work habits whatsoever," says the prolific poet. "I don't write every day, so often it would be zero hours per day. I kind of hold onto a romantic view. People say in order to be a writer you have to write all the time. The poem will come along when it arrives. I try to be on the lookout for creative opportunities, something that might trigger a poem, but I don't sit down in the morning and try to commit an act of literature before lunch."
Creative opportunities. Acts of literature.
I like that.
Now, instead of wrangling myself into writing every day, I simply look for creative opportunities to commit acts of literature. And my definition is rather broad. Recent acts include reading (newspapers, books, magazines, blogs, cereal boxes), attending a reading, gathering with literary friends, browsing bookstores, and roosting at libraries.
As a writer-for-hire, I do write everyday. I have clients and deadlines and a love of structure. As a poet, I am consistently battling my "write now" brain with my "write when it feels good" tendency.
Writer Jessica Goodfellow recently provided a much-needed nudge: "Even when you're not writing, you're writing."
"Sometimes I just have to remember that everything I do is writing," she says. "It may not look like it to anyone else (it doesn't even seem like it to me!), but what I am doing when I'm doing nothing is writing. And when I'm doing something other than writing, somehow that is writing too."
Now that's a writing regime I can put to work.
How about you? Are you writing when you are not writing? Are you commiting acts of literature?
April 27, 2011
Free. Here. Now.
Free! Free! Free!
I'm a sucker for giveaways. I especially like contests requiring no skill. You, too? Good.
National Poetry Month is winding down — thank goodness, no more of that poem-a-day nonsense (kidding, please don't send me hate mail) — and that means you've got just a few days to win some swag.
Hurry, hurry, don't delay. Get in on this giveaway:
> The Surprise Package of Good Books
Prepared, packaged & sent especially to you from me (free, hand-written note included!). Win this drawing and I'll send you a delightful medley of books, with the promise of no has-beens, wanna-be's or duds in the bunch.
To win, simply enter your name and email address in the comments section below, or zip me an email at dcm@drewmyron.com, by midnight on Tuesday, May 3. A random drawing will be held and the winner announced on Wednesday, May 4, 2011.
You may wonder: Why is Drew giving away good books, and paying for postage, too? Out of love, of course. Live long & read! When you give a book, you give joy. And spreading joy is rarely this easy. I gotta strike while the giving is good.
