Robin Burrows's Blog, page 12

Blog: Dress the Part: Three Ways To Stop Aspiring and Start Being

Everyone's heard the phrase, "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have." Obviously, it is more than the literal interpretation of the phrase. It means to prepare yourself and be ready for opportunity.

In terms of writing, this means to stop aspiring and start being. Here are 3 ways to do that – whether you goal is writing or scuba diving:

Do it. To quote my sister, "Write-write-write!" Or to quote Yoda from Star Wars, "Do or do not; there is no try." Writers write. Singers sing. Scuba divers dive. Stop aspiring and start doing it. If you write, you are a writer, whether you ever get published or not. Doing the act makes it so. Nothing else.
Start thinking like… a writer? a singer? a scuba diver? When people ask you who you are or what you do, what do you say? For a long time I considered myself an aspiring writer because writing doesn't pay my bills. But I came to realize that I was a writer because I wrote. When you identify yourself as a writer (or whatever your goal is) in your mind, you become more confident in your assessment of yourself. An aspiring person wants to be, but a (writer) is. I am a writer, and when I think of myself as a writer, it helps me act like a writer. Would a writer only aspire to write? No. Would a writer have business cards and a website? Yes. Present yourself as a professional and it will take you further towards your goal. Be the person today that you want to become tomorrow.
Join organizations. This helps show you are serious about your goal. Organizations also are a good source of inspiration, motivation, and resources when your journey gets rough. Others have likely been in a similar situation and may be able to help you out.

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Blog: The Persistence of Music and Poetry Beyond the Oral Tradition

The origins of storytelling are oral. Songs passed from one generation to another. Songs that shared a culture's histories, their beliefs, and the myths at the heart of their world. Yet songs are so much more than simply the words and the stories. There is a beauty to the music, the rhythms, to how the words are spoken.

Even after written language became common, music still remained an essential part of our society. The stories we tell now in our music are different. Instead of the history of a people, songs are often based off the history of one person (the singer/songwriter). Music is still as common in society as it was before the printing press.

To me, music is very much like writing poetry. Do we need poetry? Do we need music? Although neither is required as a means to save our history, both contain layers of elements we need in our everyday lives. Passion. Emotion. Connection to events that we were not a part of, but we share.

Why do you think music (and poetry) persists even though it is no longer necessary to convey a people's history to the next generation?

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Blog: Who Is Your Favorite Villain?

They plot and hound and hunt and scheme, but a few lucky ones also earn a place in our hearts. No, I'm not talking about the heroes/heroines, but the villains.

Recently, I have been enchanted by a tv show called Once Upon A Time. It's about a bunch of fairy tale characters who are sent to the real world with false memories. Only a couple of people know who they really are. One of those people is Mr. Gold, a.k.a. Rumpelstiltskin. He is one of two villains in the series, but a couple of episodes have focus on his background and how he came to be the way he is. These episodes have really pulled at my heart. Even though he is a bad person now, he wasn't always this way and there is a spark of hope that makes him redeemable.

Here are some of my favorite villains. Not all of these characters are true villains, but they are villains from the point of view of at least one other character. Be forewarned, there may be spoilers if you are not already familiar with these characters.

Lando Mollari in Babylon 5 – Lando is the ambassador for a race that was once powerful but is no longer so. His greatest wish is to see his race return to its former glory. The greater villains take advantage of this. They secretly offer Lando small favors in exchange for favors from him in the future. Over time, he gets more and more involved until he realizes he's in too deep. But at that point, he ahs been blamed for all of the bad things that have happened and he's not sure if he'll ever truly escape. I feel sorry for Lando because he never intended to do bad. He only wanted to help his race, but he got in too deep with the wrong people.

Javert in Les Miserables - Javert was the first villain I remember liking. He grew up in an environment where everything was black and white. People were either good or bad. There was no middle ground. So when Jean Valjean steals bread, Javert doesn't care why Jean stole the bread. He sees Jean as a bad person and believes he will never change. When Jean escapes prison and makes a life for himself helping others, Javert makes it his mission to find Jean. But he is looking for a criminal, not a respectable citizen. Of course, Jean Valjean's luck runs out and Javert catches up to him. But in the end, Javert sees that a man can truly change and he has been wrong about Jean Valjean all of those years. I think I liked this character because of the growth. He is so stubborn, but in the end he is redeemed. From the other side, one could say Jean Valjean was the villain, but that's another blog altogether. Maybe what I liked most that all of the characters were grey and human and made mistakes.

Dan Scott in One Tree Hill – I very strongly disliked Dan Scott throughout most of One Tree Hill, but in the last few seasons my opinion of him has changed. In the beginning, Dan was a black and white villain. He abandoned his high school sweetheart when she became pregnant, but his new college girl friend a few months later when she too became pregnant (supposedly her father was rich was also a major factor in the decision). Dan disowned the son from his high school sweetheart and pushed the son from his marriage so hard to fulfill the dreams Dan missed out on, that no one really liked him. Later Dan Scott murders someone important to the plot. For a long time, he is portrayed as the villain and we only really see his story from other people's point of view. But in the last few seasons we've seen how he truly regrets everything he did. He lost everything that mattered before he learned what truly mattered. Now he does his best to try to make up for all of his mistakes, but people only see him as the person he once was.

Tyrion Lancaster in The Song of Ice and Fire Series - Tyrion is a dwarf in one of the most powerful families in the realm. He is blamed for a lot of bad things, most of which he did not do or his intentions were misinterpreted. He does not truly have a place in his family. His father blames him for the death of his mother during his birth, and his beautiful siblings are busy with their own lives. Tyrion takes his father's place as Hand of the King for a brief time while his father is away waging war. Tyrion is responsible for a number of measures to protect the capitol from its enemies, but the public hate him because they do not understand him. He's more misunderstood than a villain, but a number of people in the book consider him a villain.

Jamie Lancaster in The Song of Ice and Fire Series- Jamie Lancaster is Tyrion's beautiful older brother. Half of the people love him for his beauty and strength as a knight and the other half hate him. The "good" people mistrust him because he broke his oath to protect the previous king, but there was more to the story than they know. We don't see Jamie's point of view until several books into the series, but it is actually one of the more interesting point of views because you can see the shift in the character. He really does want to be a good person and it bothers him a great deal to try to be a good person. This is significant because in the first couple of books we only see him as one of the bad guys.

Mr Gold/Rumpelstiltskin in Once Upon A Time - Rumpelstiltskin was a peasant in the world of fairy tales. He lost his wife because of his cowardise. He only had a son who would be drafted to join the war when he came of age, so he schemed to gain the magic of a wizard so he could save his son. He gains the magic, but loses everything else when he becomes infected with the power he now has. Yet we see a spark of hope when a girl named Belle falls in love with him. He loves he too but is afraid she could never truly love a monster like him, and loving her would make him less powerful than the other villain in the story. Belle is killed and he grows colder, but we see him later as Mr Gold in the human world. He is rich and friend-less. But the one possession that he cares about more than anything is a chipped tea cup that Belle accidentally chipped. It's that chance at redemption and the reason behind who he is that makes me like his character.

So those are a few of my favorite villains. Who are your favorite villains and why?

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Short Story: Kristen's Araby (A Captain Codfish Story)

Most writers have many settings. Currently I am writing in my Kaylee / Azinia setting, and I have a space opera setting bubbling around in my head. Before that there was my Landrina setting, which was dominated by an eternal war between magic and science. In the same overarching setting was my Nokar (lost soulmates) and Vampiress Lessa (vampire hunter) plotlines. And before that was my first main setting – my Captain Codfish setting.

It all began with a short story about a ship during a storm and expanded into the treasure hunting adventures of Captain Codfish and his family as they explored exotic places all over the world. This story is about Kristen, the best friend to Captain Codfish's oldest daughter – Anna. In college I took a creative writing class and for one assignment I had to write a realistic short story about a child. What did I know better than my Captain Codfish setting, so I wrote this side story. It has very little to do with the Captain Codfish setting, and realistic fiction isn't really my preferred genre. I'm much more of a fantasy or a scifi girl.

I haven't really done much editing to this story since college, so I'd like to think my writing style has improved a lot since then. Please don't judge the rest of my writing based on this story because most of my writing does not follow this style. I have renamed this story several times. Right now I'm calling it "Kristen's Araby" because my creative writing teacher in college said the story reminded her of James Joyce's  "Araby" with the loss of innocence at the end of the story. I don't intend to publish this story anytime soon, so I thought I would share it here. And now, "Kristen's Araby."

Kristen's Araby

By Robin A. Burrows

Kristen Williams stared out the window gloomily as the school bus bounced down the rough road. Blurs of red and orange filled her vision, but her mind was in turmoil. She took out her pocketbook organizer, which she had been required to carry for note-taking ever since she started middle school, and flipped up its gray display screen. A large yellow box appeared on the screen, noting that Ms. Kelly had added the date of their next test to the schedule.

Kristen sighed as she closed the box on her organizer's screen. The next English test was a week away, on the day of her thirteenth birthday. Turning thirteen was a big deal. Yesterday had been her friend, Lisa's birthday. Lisa had a big birthday party last night at her mother's house in town. Most of the girls in their class had attended the party, and even some of the boys; though they only went to watch the girls splash around in Lisa's pool.

Kristen scrolled through the menus on her organizer until she came to the monthly calendar. She stared at the little box in the middle of the calendar marked the 15th. It had been completely blank before the English test was added to the calendar. She hadn't even bothered to add her birthday to the calendar. Nothing ever happened on it anyway. When you came from a large family, birthdays weren't as important as they were in very small families. Being one of nine children, Kristen knew this fact bitterly well.

Sure, there was always a cake for dessert on the day of someone's birthday, and sometimes she even got a birthday card. But it was a miracle if she ever got anything more than that. Birthdays were afterthoughts in her family – like President's Day. No one ever celebrated President's Day. But at least they got off school for the holiday. She didn't even get that much for her birthday.

Kristen's best friend, Anna, was forgetful and often forgot her birthday, or she was out of town with her father – the the famous ship captain. She couldn't ever count on Anna to remember her. Ms Drew, her teacher from a few years ago had remembered her birthday once, but she was out on maternity leave.

But nothing compared to the birthday parties Lisa had every year. Everyone always remembered Lisa's birthdays.

Kristen snapped closed the organizer and returned her eyes to the window. She wished just once that someone would make a big deal out of her birthday. The bus drove past Lisa's house. Colorful streamers still hung from the balcony and limp balloons littered the front yard from the night before. Lisa had been telling everyone about her birthday for a month before it actually took place. Maybe that was part of the trick, Kristen thought. If I let everyone know when my birthday is, maybe they will remember it.

The bus began slowing and with a little jerk it stopped in the schoolyard. Kristen hurried to get a place in line to get off the bus so she wouldn't have to wait for the end of the line and be the last person off the bus.

A smile tugged at the edges of her mouth as Kristen leap from the last step of the bus and landed on the sidewalk. She knew what she would do. Maybe she would get half as many presents as Lisa if she spread the word about her birthday like Lisa had done. She would make notes letting everyone know that her birthday was in a week.

In her mind, Kristen saw stacks and stacks of presents growing larger and larger. She saw lines and lines of people stopping by the wish her a Happy Birthday. There would be a lot for her to do before this day was over. Kristen cut across the grass on the way to her first class. She hardly noticed when the dew from the wet grass seeped through her shoes and made her socks damp and sticky.

Between classes, Kristen wrote notes informaing everyone that Tuesday, October 15 was her birthday. She tried to make the handwriting look like that of one of her siblings. She didn't want it to appear as if she were begging for birthday presents after all. She just wanted someone to think of her; someone to remember her for once.

At lunch Anna bounced down in the seat next to her as Kristen was working on the notes. She quickly slipped them out of sight in her backpack and took a big bite of her hamburger. "Whatcha doing?" Anna asked. "I'm leaving on another trip with Father tomorrow. Want to come?"

Kristen shook her head. Ker parents would never let her out of school like Anna's did.

That night Kristen finished writing the notes. She made one for each teacher that she had ever liked, one for each of her friends, and a few extras. She convinced a couple of her younger siblings to help her distribute them. If her siblings passed them out, it would look like they were trying to surprise Kristen for her birthday. Maybe someone would think of her.

That day notes were slipped on desks and into folders. One, Kristen hand-deliver herself in person. Right before lunch, Kristen stopped Lisa, gave her the note and then ran on ahead to lunch before Lisa could read it. Kristen wished Anna was there, but she was gone again.

The week passed quickly and Kristen could not sleep the night before her birthday. She was hoping to see Ms. Drew, since she hadn't seen her in a long time.

The next day, six periods rolled by. Kristen had gotten a few well wishes for her birthday, but no one had so much as bothered to get her a card. It was easy to say Happy Birthday. It was harder to actually be thoughtful. Apparently no one thought of her.

Kristen was in her computer class at the end of the day when she thought she heard a familiar voice outside the door. Seconds later, the teacher called her name and Kristen was escorted out into the hall where Ms. Drew and her new baby were waiting.

Kristen had given up on anyone paying any attention to her birthday, so she couldn't believe Ms. Drew was actually there. Ms. Drew gave her a hug and a birthday card and a balloon tied to a big bag of candy. "This is from all of your teachers," Ms. Drew said.

The meeting was brief and Kristen was back in class beaming with happiness before she realized it. Someone had finally remembered her birthday!

It was only later, when Kristen sat on the school bus on the way home that the reality of what she had done began to sink in. She had done it, Kristen thought. She had used Lisa's tactics and someone had remembered her birthday! But it didn't feel the way she thought it would.

Slowly the smile faded from her face, and her stomach knotted. She got what she wanted, but why did she feel so…so guilty? She turned her full face towards the window and a tear ran down her left cheek.

Had it really been worth it, she wondered. She received this beautiful present from Ms. Drew, but it wasn't cheap to receive. Something deep inside of her said she had done something wrong.

She wished they had thought of her on their own, instead of out of pity. She didn't want presents because she begged for them, she wanted them because the people actually cared about her. It wasn't the presents that mattered, it was the thought behind them.

She wondered if Lisa even remembered what it was like to receive a thoughtful gift. Maybe that's why Lisa was so mean to the other girls.

I will never be like Lisa, Kristen decided. Never again.

 

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Blog: The Changing Landscape of Language and the Written Word in Modern Society

Most of us have heard how students these days aren't being taught cursive writing, and we all know how technology has changed so many things so quickly during our lifetimes. But I never quite believed our written language had been affected…until recently.

I work in marketing, and one of my duties includes monitoring public submissions through our website. The spelling and grammar of some of these submissions has been atrocious. The sad part is the submissions looked like the people were really trying to spell correctly, but they just didn't know how to.

I'm not even talking about "tricky" words like "its" or "their" or "you're". I'm talking about your basic spelling. Words like "fight" or "many". And this goes way beyond an occasional misspelling. The submissions like this were completely full of misspelled words.

A lot of the words sounded correct if you pronounced them phonetically, but you couldn't recognize them if you expected the correct spelling. If only a couple of submissions followed this pattern, I would have overlooked it as a few students who did not pay attention in class. But the percentages are slightly higher than I can justify by random coincidence, particularly in the generation that's currently teens and young adults.

I would assume our texting language has a lot to do with the dwindling knowledge of spelling. Or perhaps the increased availability of "spell-check". I'm not sure. Do you have any ideas? Here are a few of the words I have seen misspelled today:

Fight was spelled "fite".
Since was spelled "seens".
Goal was spelled "gole".
Many was spelled "meny".
Lives was spelled "lifes".
Awe was spelled "owee".
And any word ending in E that was conjugated to the ING form, had both E and ING at the end of the word. For example saving was spelled "saveing".

Of these misspelled words, only fight was shortened in the misspelled version. All of the others were as many characters or more than the correct spelling of the word. That part doesn't make sense if these are the texting versions of the words.

I am not a fantastic speller myself. And when I type, sometimes my fingers don't type what my brains says to type. But when you are submitting a story online in a professional setting, wouldn't you want it to look professional?

Do kids these days not know how to spell? Or perhaps they just don't care how they spell as long as they know what they are trying to say? I don't know. But it saddens me to see these changes slowly filtering into our written language. Why do you think these changes are occurring? How do you think our written language will change over the next 50 years?

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Blog: Writing Conferences and Contests in the South Central US

This weekend in the mail I received my registration and contest entry forms for the 2012 Arkansas Writers' Conference. I guess it's that time of year to start planning which conferences to attend.

For writers there are 3 types of conferences:

Those you attend to network with other writers and learn more about the craft of writing through various panels and workshops.
Those you attend to network with your target audience (and sell your books).
And lastly, there are the conferences you attend just for fun that have little or no impact on your career.

I live in Central Arkansas, and until 2006 I didn't know that there were any writing conferences in the Arkansas area. That fall I stumbled across a link to the Ozark Creative Writers" Conference while I was browsing the web for other things. I was so excited that there was actually a writing conference in my area. When I attended the conference that October, I learned that there were actually lots of writing conferences in Arkansas and the nearby states.

So as conference season approaches, I would like to share the links for some upcoming conferences for those who may not be aware of them. All of these conferences are the first type: conferences for writers to network with other writers and hone their writing skills. And they are all in my general area: Arkansas and the nearby states. If you live in another region check Shaw Guides to see if any local conferences are listed for your area. Also, check Google. It is a wonderful resource of information, and will probably bring up a few conferences that are not listed in the Shaw Guide.

Anyway, here are a couple of upcoming conferences that people in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee might be interested in.

OWFI – The Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc – This conference is in early May in Oklahoma City, OK. The deadline to enter contests is February 1. (That's just a couple of days away.) I've only attended this conference once because it's a long drive to Oklahoma City, but it usually has a lot of good speakers, editors and agents in attendance. I think you can still register for the conference after the contest deadline, but they limit the attendance to 4,000 people (I think that's the number), so there may not be many spots available after the contest deadline.
NFSPS – The National Federation of State Poetry Societies – The deadline to enter contests is March 15. This is a national poetry conference. The location of the conference moves each year, but you can enter the contests without attending the conference. As a member of my local poetry group, I am automatically a member of the national organization. However, for certain contests, you must be a member of the state's poetry organization to participate in that particular contest category.
SCBWI – The Arkansas branch of the Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators will be holding their annual conference in late April. The deadline to register is March 16. I have never attended this conference, but hope to this year. As the name implies, this conference caters to writers and illustrators of children's books. The conference is usually held somewhere in Central Arkansas.
AWC – The Arkansas Writers' Conference – The deadline to enter the contests is April 15, but I think you can still register for the conference separately after that date. This is a small annual conference held in Little Rock. Quality and speakers vary from year to year. Last year, the talented Jane Friedman was the keynote speaker. The conference is held the first Friday and Saturday in June. The website has not been updated with the new contest info yet, but since I just received the brochure in the mail, I expect the website will be updated soon.
OWL – Ozark Writers League – This organization handles a contest for their November meeting. The entry deadline is September 1, and the conference is in Branson, MO in November.
OCW – Ozark Creative Writers' Conference – This annual conference is held in early October in Eureka Springs, AR. The contest deadline is usually late August. More information will be available on the website as we get closer to the event. This conference is small and the speaker quality can vary, but there are usually at least one agent and one editor who take pitches at this conference. Also, Eureka Springs is usually gorgeous in early October, so I tend to find the setting very inspirational.
WCCW – The White County Creative Writers Conference is usually Labor Day weekend with the contest deadline in July. It's a small conference in Searcy, AR and I've never attended. I always intend to try to go, but there is always something else I need to do over Labor Day weekend. I've heard the conference is small and friendly.
PRA – The Poets Roundtable of Arkansas usually holds their conference and observance of National Poetry Day in early October. The contest deadline is usually in late August or early September. Poetry Day usually consists of a speaker in the morning and announcing the contest winners after lunch. 

Obviously, this is just a small sampling of conferences in my area. If you would like to find writing conferences in your area, I would suggest you search Shaw Guides and Google for conferences near you. Also, for those looking for more information about the ekphrastic poetry contest hosted by the Arkansas Art Center, please view my previous blog for details.

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Blog: Distractions and Overcoming Them

Life is full of distractions. The more technology evolves to simplify our lives, the more distractions we seem to have. This is especially true for people who seek to accomplish something with their "creative hobbies" (as other may call them, until you find success).

My distractions include:

My husband, cooking for my husband, doing laundry for my husband, entertaining my husband, etc. You get the picture.
Computer Games. Yes, I have a weakness for computer games. They take me away into another world, like books. And I have a lot more control over them than over my real life some days. They are great distractions, but once you get buried inside one, like a book, it's hard to get out again until you've reached the end.
TV and Movies. I don't watch tv on an actual tv anymore. Our tv doesn't even have the receptor to get local broadcast television. And I don't remember the last time I saw a movie in the theater. The last Harry Potter movie, maybe? But Netflix and Hulu are my best friends. Fantasy, scifi, romantic comedies, quirky characters, and almost anything with a plot about a writer – you wrap me in magic. You sing me to sleep at night. You are chocolate with caramel and pecans.
And of course, the obvious, books! The ones where you have to read just one more chapter before sleep because you have to know what happens next. The ones where you feel like you are saying goodbye to a friend when you finish the last book about a certain special character. My book of choice right now is the 4th book in the Song of Fire and Ice Series by George R.R. Martin.

What distractions do you have in your life?

If only we didn't have all of these distractions, we would accomplish so much more. Or so we convince ourselves. I'm sure we would find other ways to procrastinate if we didn't have technology. For example, books have been around a whole lot longer than "modern technology".

So how do we accomplish our creative goals if we work all day and have all of these distractions when we get home? There's no good answer that works for everyone. You have to figure out what works for you.

Do the most important thing(s) first. I have found that my "to do"/"want to do" lists are always much longer than a singe person could ever realistically accomplish. There was a time when I did all of the easy things first, but never got to the more important things. If you rearrange your lists so you do the most important things first, then if your creative projects are important, they will get done. It also, helps to work on your creative projects before anything else because you might be exhausted after doing other things, and that can turn into a reason to procrastinate.
Positive feedback. I have found that I really thrive in settings where I get lots of positive feedback. Of course the hard part is finding those settings for your creative arts. I still haven't found a good setting myself, but I'm sure it would have a positive impact on my writing and my confidence in my writing if I did.
Make small goals. It is easy to be intimidated by large goals. Writing a good novel is a massive undertaking. Instead, break your goals down into small manageable pieces. Setup daily, weekly or monthly goals. These smaller goals will help keep you on track towards your bigger goals. All of those tiny pages will eventually add up into something quite large.
Make it a habit. If you get into the habit of doing something, it is a lot easier to continue doing it. Make it part of your daily routine, part of your ritual. It becomes easier to avoid distractions when your mind is in the habit of thinking about your creative projects daily.

How do you overcome the distractions in your life?

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Blog: Poetry, Publishing and Contests

As I try to do every couple of months, I made myself get out of bed early last Saturday morning to attend the local Poets Roundtable meeting. If you are not familiar with them, they are state-wide poetry organization with local branches all across Arkansas. They are also a member of the national organization NFSPS and being a member of your local group automatically makes you a member of the national organization.

Anyway, this Saturday, I attended a meeting and now I have lots of exciting news to share about poetry, publishing, and contests!

First of all, I now have a poem published in MauMag, the Maumelle Magazine. The poetry editor is a member of the local poetry group and brought my contributor's copy of the magazine to the poetry meeting. The issue came out last week, so check it out if you live in the Maumelle, AR area and haven't read the magazine yet. My poem is on page 31.

Secondly, Bryan Borland, the publisher at Sibling Rivalry Press sat in on our poetry meeting. I was impressed by his passion for writing and publishing. He will be speaking about his publishing company at the next meeting of the River Market Poets. It's at 10am, February 11 at the Main Library in Little Rock. Based on their website, they like to publish writers that aren't afraid to address controversial topics in their works. They re-open for poetry manuscript submissions beginning in March. They also publish fiction and non-fiction, as well as a LGBTIQ poetry journal.

The Poets Roundtable, the Central Arkansas Library, and the NFSPS also have several poetry contests for students. Most of them are only open to students from Arkansas, but there are a couple open to students anywhere in the US.

Contests open to Arkansas students only:

Central Arkansas Library System Student Poetry Contest – Deadline February 1, 2012
Sybil Nash Abrams Memorial Contest – Deadline March 15, 2012
Arkansas Writers Student Poetry Award – Deadline April 30, 2012

Contests open to students from any state:

Manningham Student Poetry Trust Award – Deadline February 8, 2012. The mailing information on this website is for Arkansas (but it's a national contest). If you live outside of Arkansas and want to submit, you can contact your local branch for the submission address for your state.
National Federation of State Poetry Societies Student Award – Deadline March 15, 2012

You can find more information about the Poets Roundtable of Arkansas and your local branch at www.poetsroundtable.com. If you don't live in Arkansas, you can find information about local poetry organizations in your area by visiting the NFSPS website. I also recently learned that the Poets Roundtable of Arkansas has a FaceBook page. You can follow it on FaceBook here.

In addition to the student contests, I also learned about a contest sponsored by the Arkansas Art Center. This contest has separate categories for students and adults. They will have an Ekphrastic Poetry Slam & Formal Poetry Competition. Ekphrastic poetry is poetry inspired by art. For the contest, you will need to write a poem inspired by the art at the Arkansas Art Center. You can stop by the art center to view the art or you can view it online.

Submissions for the written poetry competition are due by February 11, 2012. Registrations for the ekphrastic poetry slam are due by February 18, 2012. The poetry slam will be held on Saturday, February 25, 2012. To view the Art Center's calendar of events listing about it,  click here. Or click here for complete contest and registration details for both contests.

Please share this with anyone you know who likes to write poetry.

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Blog: Who Succeeds When Similar Concepts Are Launched Simultaneously: #Grimm vs #OnceUponATime and #Haven vs #TheGates

It happens all the time. Two creative pieces arrive with similar plots. Rarely do both succeed.

I noticed this in 2010 when Haven and The Gates aired on television at the same time. Both shows were about a small community that was a haven for people with unusual powers. The Gates was a rich gated community where families of supernatural creatures moved to be safe from the outside world. The predominant races were the traditional vampires vs werewolves. Haven took the approach that supernatural powers were not good. Citizens of Haven started developing supernatural powers called "troubles". While The Gates had a consecutive plotline, Haven was more episodic. Each episode of Haven was like a cop show with a supernatural twist, but each episode also had a few links to a larger plotline interwoven in the entire series.

The Gates died a quick death. Haven survived.

Fast forward to 2011/2012 and we have Grimm and Once Upon A Time – which both retell traditional fairy tales.

Grimm is the episodic cop show with the supernatural twist. The main character in Grimm is a detective for the police department, but he is also the heir to the Grimm family powers. He came into his powers suddenly and is still struggling to balance fulfilling his duty as a Grimm with fulfilling his duty as a detective. This tv show tells the darker side of fairy tales.

Once Upon A Time has a consecutive plot with flashbacks to the previous lives of the characters. It is the story of fairy tale characters who were brought to out world through a curse by the evil witch in the Snow White story. Everyone except the witch and the also evil Rumpelstiltskin have forgotten they are fairy tale characters. Only the baby of Snow White escapes the curse. She grows up, has her own child who she gives up for adoption. Then one day the boy shows up to bring her home, saying she's the key to defeating the evil witch and giving everyone their happily ever afters back. Of course everyone thinks the boy is crazy. There are a lot of undertones to the story on what is reality and several times in the early episodes, you wonder if the whole fairy tale story is all in the boy's head. But there is also hope that their can be happiness in the world.

While both Grimm and Once Upon A Time are good for their genre types, I personally tend to gravitate to stories with a consecutive plotline like Once Upon A Time. I'm not overly fond of episodic cop shows, but the idea of a cop show that involves supernatural and fairy tale creatures appeals to my sense of fantasy. I think I would love Grimm a lot more if it hadn't aired during the same season as Once Upon A Time.

However the consecutive plotline that I love in Once Upon A Time is also something can can and has been the death of many a series because if the audience misses an episode, they could become lost in the plot. Then the story is less appealing. The Gates had a consecutive plotline, but it also lacked the depth that Haven and Once Upon A Time have.

So who will succeed this time? I wholeheartedly love Once Upon A Time, so that's where my vote has to go. But I also like Grimm. I wish Grimm would focus on more of the long-term interwoven plotlines instead of focusing on the supernatural criminal of the episode. That would make it a lot more interesting in my opinion.

What do you think? Grimm or Once Upon A Time? And if you like Grimm best, are you also a big fan of cop shows?

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Blog: Stop wishing and start being in 2012

Happy New Year. Welcome to 2012.

It's been a long time since I've made a New Year's resolution. I don't see the point of making a resolution just because the seasons have cycled back around again. To accomplish a resolution, you have to be fully committed to it, no matter what the day or year. Any day can be the first day of a new life. But it is difficult to keep resolutions if you make them for the sake of the new year alone.

That said, last year I realized something. I had always been an aspiring writer. I thought of myself as an aspiring writer. And while I still aspire, the aspiration was what defined me. There is a saying in the workforce, "Dress for the job you want." And yes, it can mean clothes, but it also suggests preparing both mentally and physically. Last year, I realized that I needed to stop thinking of myself as an aspiring writer and start thinking of myself as a writer. Publication or lack thereof does not mean that the writing is not writing.

I realized I needed to stop aspiring to be a writer and start being a writer.  In 2011 I had a few poems published, won a couple of awards for my poetry, I started actively working with my friend Tim Robbins on a children's picture book, and I self-published a book of poetry in both paperback and ebook format (and let me tell you, setting up poetry in ebook format was not any fun at all).

I don't know what 2012 will bring. Maybe it will be the year I finally get a novel published. Maybe not. I don't have any resolutions for 2012, but I have goals. And even if those goals don't lead to publication immediately, they are helping me to become the writer I want to be.

So in 2012, stop wishing for your life to change and start being the person you want to be.