Sonya Rhen's Blog, page 8

Are you a “Flash” Fiction Superhero?

 

Having finished up April with National Poetry Month guest bloggers, I am taking a bit of a break.  It was a lot of fun!  If you missed any, check my past blogs to see all the great poetry.

The next great writing challenge I think will be Flash Fiction Month, which by consensus on several sites is in July.

If any of you out there are interested in writing some Flash Fiction and posting it as a guest blogger on my blog, just let me know in the comments below.  I’m posting early, so I can have more time to prepare for this.  Also, I find that it’s often really hard to write short stories.  You have to be so careful with word choice, that it can actually take longer than writing the same amount of words in a longer piece of fiction.  I’ll be looking for writing under 1000 words.

Dust off your pens.  Who’s ready to join me in July?

Don’t forget My Writing Life blog hops!

My Writing Life

Thanks again for the blog hop opportunity from Liz Fountain’s Point No Point blog: http://lizfountain.wordpress.com/author/lizfountain/

Take the time today to check out the Writing Life of the following:

Ottilie Weber


Ottilie Weber grew up in Wall, New Jersey, not far from the beach. She always has a book in her hands or nearby, despite her dyslexia. She graduated from The College of New Jersey, earning a degree in History Secondary Education and is currently in grad school at Georgian Court University. Ottilie has a passion for writing, where she is always ready to take on the next project. Her family and close friends are there to help her take on the bumps or potholes in the road.
http://ottilieweber.blogspot.com

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Roderick Hart

I grew up in St Andrews (Scotland) and went to the University of Aberdeen.  Since then I have worked in education, mostly in audio recording and editing. I have written poetry over the years and published quite a lot of it, though none recently. I concentrate on prose now – novels and short stories. I am married with two children. My daughter lives here in Edinburgh, my son in New York.
http://reinholdsite.wordpress.com/

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Eric Ian Huffman

My name is Eric Huffman. I spent much of my late teens and early twenties up all night in a small room, scribbling smudgy words in wire bound notebooks. Life took me away from writing for over twenty years, until last year, when I began posting poetry, prose, and short stories online. I was encouraged to do more with my writing by many of my online followers, and the credit, or the blame, for any books that I publish belongs to them. I am currently writing a novel.
http://ericianhuffman.com/

Thanks to all you great poets! – National Poetry Month

Hello everyone.

This month has been so exciting and challenging.  It has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone.  It has been an incredible journey through National Poetry Month.  I have met some really amazing people and been able to share with family and friends.  Thank you again to all who joined in and I have listed below.  If anyone missed these, check back in the past blog posts and read their poems.  It’s worth it.  :)

Thanks

Thanks to you poet

for sharing your work with us

Enriching us all!

Pamela Telkamp

DA Botta

Bonnie McClellan

Anna Mosca

Liz Fountain

J.D. Brink

Jakub Sofranko

Roderick Hart

Phil Teller

Casi Thomason.

P.F. Chan

Lori Lynne Armstrong

Michael O’Connor

Jodey Mann

Eric Ian Huffman

Ice

Rachel Thompson

Carolyn Howard Johnson

Jessica Lindly

Kristy Lloyd

Bianca Bowers

Rebecca Wolf-Nail

Shenanigan Cheesefield

A Surrealist Poetess of Yesteryear – National Poetry Month day 30 with Shenanigan Cheesefield

Welcome to National Poetry Month day thirty.  We come to the end of National Poetry Month.  It’s been a great month.  I’ve had so many great poems posted and I invite you to join in, even beyond April, to post a poem in the comments below.

Today I have fellow GoodReads author and poet Shenanigan Cheesefield.  While no one knows what has become of her, you can enjoy her particular brand of poetry below.  Then check out the links for more Shenanigan poetry.  Enjoy!

A Surrealist Poetess of Yesteryear

Shenanigan Cheesefield — dubbed eccentric, elusive, and enigmatic — is the pen-name for a British surrealist painter whose real name is not known. She was born apparently in Devonshire on the Ides of March, 1908, but nothing more is known about her prior to her association with the surrealists around 1928. After 1933, no record of her has turned up. She left behind only one known collection of poetry before the discovery in 2013 of another small trove of poems.

Poetry obviously meant a great deal to Ms Cheesefield, though she engaged in it only sporadically, it being not her ordinary mode of self-expression. If she were alive to discuss the work, I’m sure she would allude to Man Ray and Tsuguharu Fujita, then smile and shrug a little while richly scented blue smoke curled up from her cigarette holder. Her work speaks directly to the subconscious, unencumbered by the necessity for concrete manifestations of her imagery in trivially parsable prose.

The so-called Mildewed Paper Collection of recently discovered work will be published this summer by Smashed-Rat-on-Press. Below is presented the second poem from this pamphlet. The earlier collection of Ms Cheesefield’s known work is available for free as a “print it yourself” project from the publisher, and the upcoming collection is expected to be free as well.

2. Oh, Sylvienne, My Sweet

Within the sparkling eclairs of your

several eyes;

the moldy puff-pastries of your

many breasts;

upon the silken daffodils of your

shameless rust,

the roots of which grow unsullied

on your parlour floor

and creep vividly from the groin

of the kitchen table,

the chopping block,

the benevolent tantrum

in the oven of shame…

I reach for solace in the

crystalline effusion

of your warbling cataracts.

Naked, naked, naked,

as the goddess of navel oranges–

Wild, wild, wild,

as the dessicated entrails of a

butterfly in a bowl of clotted cream.

Copyright © 2014 The Estate of Shenanigan Cheesefield

Why We Dance – National Poetry Month day 29 with Rebecca Wolf-Nail

Welcome to National Poetry Month day twenty-nine.  Today I have fellow belly dancer, author and poet Rebecca Wolf-Nail.  I love her comparison of dancing and poety.  After reading the poem below, check out her website for belly dancing, mysteries and murder.  Enjoy!

First of all, thank you Sonya for this wonderful blog and the opportunity to contribute.

For me, poetry picks up where prose leaves off. It’s like the difference between dancing and walking—walking gets you someplace, but dancing taps into your very soul and conveys much more. We can describe many things in traditional, full-sentence writing, but poetry gives us the chance to break free from the rules and write what we feel or see.

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Why we dance

It’s not because we are happy

We dance when we’re sad

It’s not because we are sad

We dance when we’re happy

It’s not because the sun shines

We dance in the dark

It’s not because of the dark

We dance in the light

We dance

Because the music calls us

We dance because we are alive

You might as well ask

“Why do you breathe?”

.

Rebecca Wolf-Nail Copyright 2014

Bio: I am a writer, composer and belly dancer. I recently published my first murder mystery, Murder at the Arabian Nights—A Belly Dance Mystery!

Website: www.bellydancemysteries.com Facebook page: www.facebook.com/wolfnail Facebook website and blog: www.facebook.com/bellydancemysteries

Twitter: Rebecca Wolf-Nail @RebeccaWolfNail

My Writing Life | AR in the Daytime – National Poetry Month day 28 with Sonya Rhen

Welcome to National Poetry Month day twenty-eight.  Today’s poet is once again… ME!  Hello.

I have double booked myself, which goes to prove the old saying “When it rains, it pours.”  So today’s blog will be my poetry contribution as well as a blog hop on “My Writing Life”.  I immediately thought of the following poem which is found in my book “Requite Me: Poems of Love, Jealously, and Angst“.

I love the irony of pairing this poem with me writing about my writing.  (Did I spoil the irony by actually writing about it?)  I wrote the poem below in high school and I’m pretty sure the “AR” stands for “Artificial Reality”.  I seem to remember, at the time, one of my favorite movies was Altered States.  (Yes, I know that dates me, but less because I watched it as a VHS rental.)   After reading the poem below, you can read about what and how I write.  Then click on the links to hop to other writerly blogs.  Enjoy!

AR in the Daytime

My world has become a nightmare

Based on my perceived reality

I have become dissociated from my past

My friends are Complete Utter Strangers

I throw my soul upon the ground

And crush it with the heel of determination,

The need for success, striving to be the Best,

It isn’t me, It isn’t me

It Is Not Me

Not Me

Not Me

Me me…

 

My Writing Life

Thank you to all of you who followed me from Liz Fountain’s Point No Point blog: http://lizfountain.wordpress.com/author/lizfountain/  If not, check out her blog to find out about her writing.

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1. What am I working on? 

I am currently working on book 2 in my Shredded Orphans series about a seismic rock band that tours to different planets.  I am on about pass three of rewriting.  Although, I’ve skipped around a bit, so some sections might be on pass eight or nine.

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2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I think my work is different since it is humorous science fiction about a rock band.   I don’t find that combination very common.  Even humorous science fiction seems to be a smaller genre than most.  Many people have described my book, Space Tripping with the Shredded Orphans , as Firefly with a band.  I also have a mystery book and literary fiction novel that I’m working on.  I have tried to add humor to those as well.

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3. Why do I write what I do?

I am definitely influenced by television shows I love.  The Shredded Orphans series, comes out of my love of the shows, Red Dwarf, Farscape and Firefly.  I also grew up on Star Trek and all it’s incarnations.

The mystery book I’m working on comes from my love of mysteries and belly dance.  The literary fiction book is a semi-autobiographical look at the death of my mother.

I like writing humor, because I think laughter is good for the soul.  You should do it at least twice a day.  ;)  I believe that there can even be laughter in the most terrible times.  For proof, just see the movie “Life is Beautiful“.

Humor makes us human.

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4. How does my writing process work?

As of today, I only have one published novel and one published poetry collection.  For the novel, I wrote the rough draft as a 50,000 word NaNoWriMo novel (National Novel Writing Month).

I put it aside for awhile and then when I went back, I re-read it through once with no corrections to see the flow of the work.  Then I read it through and checked grammar, punctuation, point of view and formatting while adding scenes to help the plot.  Next I went through and tried to make all the writing flow better.  I worked on dialogue and took out and moved around scenes.  I went through one more time and tweeked words and scenes.

At this point I felt comfortable allowing a few friends to read it.  I probably sent this and posted it, so that about twenty people had access to it.  I had two people actually read it and I took their notes and made some final revisions.  I spent about 6 months working on the formatting and getting the book cover set up, all the while tweeking at words and scenes here and there.

It took me four years and ten revisions to get to where I felt comfortable with self-publishing it.  The other five novels were also written as NaNoWriMo novels and are in various states of rewrite.  I’m hoping to significantly cut down the rewrite time for the remaining novels.

Thanks for taking the time to read about how I write.  If you have any questions leave a comment and I’ll be happy to answer them.
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Blog Hop To Here:

Next week, Monday, May 5th, be sure to hop by the following blogs to see “My Writing Life” for Ottilie Webber, Roderick Hart, and Eric Ian Huffman or check them out now to see what they’re working on!  :)

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Ottilie Weber


Ottilie Weber grew up in Wall, New Jersey, not far from the beach. She always has a book in her hands or nearby, despite her dyslexia. She graduated from The College of New Jersey, earning a degree in History Secondary Education and is currently in grad school at Georgian Court University. Ottilie has a passion for writing, where she is always ready to take on the next project. Her family and close friends are there to help her take on the bumps or potholes in the road.
http://ottilieweber.blogspot.com

.
Roderick Hart

I grew up in St Andrews (Scotland) and went to the University of Aberdeen.  Since then I have worked in education, mostly in audio recording and editing. I have written poetry over the years and published quite a lot of it, though none recently. I concentrate on prose now – novels and short stories. I am married with two children. My daughter lives here in Edinburgh, my son in New York.
http://reinholdsite.wordpress.com/

.
Eric Ian Huffman

My name is Eric Huffman. I spent much of my late teens and early twenties up all night in a small room, scribbling smudgy words in wire bound notebooks. Life took me away from writing for over twenty years, until last year, when I began posting poetry, prose, and short stories online. I was encouraged to do more with my writing by many of my online followers, and the credit, or the blame, for any books that I publish belongs to them. I am currently writing a novel.
http://ericianhuffman.com/

Who Will Stay? – National Poetry Month day 27 with Eric Ian Huffman

Welcome to National Poetry Month day twenty-seven.  This is the fifth and last week of National Poetry Month and I will have the guest poets Eric Ian Huffman, Rebecca Wolf-Nail, Shenanigan Cheesefield, me and YOU!

Today I have returning poet Eric Ian Huffman with a wonderfully thoughtful poem.  I definitely encourage you to check out his website link where he has more great writing.  Enjoy!

 

Who Will Stay?

Who will stay

Until we are old, pale, and grayed, bodies fallen?

Who will stay

When we are broken, when we haven’t words

Knowing our silence, taking our hand as we are stilled by fear?

Who will stay

Through our whispering insanity

Finding forgiveness, though unfair, their crucifixion?

Who will stay

Cut by razor-tongue

Bleeding from confusion’s wounds, yet still drawing us near?

Who will stay

Through the rain’s gray pain

Until distant morning sun gifts us hope again?

Who will stay

When summer’s butterflies are gone

When perched love birds know only lonely songs?

Who will stay

Through the tumors, illness, through disease?

Who will stay

Longer than a warm, summer evening’s dream?

Who will stay

Who will prove themselves not a fantasy?

Some may look the sky

Their question, merely, why?

All I ask, tell me, please

Who will stay?

Copyright 2014

Eric Ian Huffman

http://www.ericianhuffman.com

Loved and Lost|Merlot Heart|Death Star – National Poetry Month day 26 with B.G. Bowers

Welcome to National Poetry Month day twenty-six.  Today I am very honored to have Twitter friend, fellow WordPress blogger, author and poet B.G. Bowers.  In fact I asked Bianca first if she was interested in doing a post.  If she had said no, I probably wouldn’t have taken on the endeavor.  So much thanks go to her for the great experience this has been!  Below are her insightful thoughts on poetry and publishing and three of her moving poems from her new book.  After reading check her website for her contribution to National Poetry Month with guest bloggers on the topic of “Poetry Belongs to Everyone”.  Enjoy! 

Thank you, Sonya, for inviting me to participate in National Poetry Month.

Sonya shared an interesting perspective on poetry as guest author on my blog for NPM. She used a story to illustrate how poetry is often judged as good or bad, and at the end of her story she offered one of her own, earlier, poems “with no apologies”.

I have to say that I admire Sonya for her ‘no apologies’ stance, because we poets have this sub-conscious notion that, as a rule of thumb, poetry does not sell, and, any poetry that does see the light of traditional publication is reserved for academics and/or elitists.

While I currently don’t agree that the best poetry is traditionally published, I admit that I imposed that dogma on myself for decades and remained a poet-in-hiding as a result.

Let me explain…

I have been writing poetry since my teens, but only shared it publicly when I started my blog in May last year. I had no idea whether my closely-guarded words were capable of resonating with anyone other than me, but for the first time in decades, the courage to try outweighed my fear of failure.

Nearly 12 months on, I’m so grateful that I did come out of hiding and find the courage to try. One of the first poems I shared, Loved and Lost, was such a simple poem. Simple in both its length and message, but for some reason it struck a chord with a large audience and I enjoyed numerous reblogs and followers as a result. The reason I tell you this story is because I would never consider submitting that poem for publication, and I know that poetry elitists and academics would likely dismiss it as a ‘bad poem’. Yet, it begs the questions:

What yardstick do we use to judge good poetry over bad?
Should we be judging it at all?

I’m inclined to say no, we shouldn’t judge it. At the end of the day, different readers appreciate different genres, writing styles, levels of difficulty etc. What is gold for academia may be plastic to everyday readers, but neither have the right to be judged one way or another.

Furthermore, what is more important – impressing a publisher or resonating with an audience?

Sharing Loved and Lost and witnessing the effect it had on complete strangers illustrated the importance of resonating with an audience versus impressing a publisher, and 10 months later, I’m proud of my first self-published poetry book (even if academia and traditional publishers judge me otherwise).

I believe that Poetry has a place on every bookshelf, and I urge all the poets-in-hiding to forget about what you think is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ poetry and please, find the courage to try.

The sheer number of poetry blogs and readers of poetry blogs tells me that there is certainly an audience and readership for poetry; an audience with different appetites for different types of poetry.

With the rise of self-publishing, events like National Poetry Month, and supportive readers like yourselves, maybe, just maybe, Poetry might very well reach more bookshelves in the future.

I leave you with 3 poems:

Loved and Lost, a 20 year old poem about unrequited love
Merlot Heart, a recent poem about love
Death Star, a revised poem about the fear of failure, and, how that fear kills our dreams if we never have the courage to try.

Bianca x

… 

Loved and Lost

 

I have tried so hard

I have given so much

bared my soul

and exposed my heart

 

You have manipulated

You have been devilishly cruel

and calculated

 

I have loved and lost

You have merely lost

… 

Merlot Heart

 

My merlot heart. Seduced.

By mythic tales of thousand year old sun-worshippers.

Gazed directly into that fiery star

- too long -

Traded moon boots for gravity

And now

the surface gloss of decades,

belies the grain

of light years below.

 

My merlot heart,

once pulsing to a haunting melody,

now labours to a tired tune.

Unable to recreate the elation of that moonwalk.

Euphoria. Inaccessible,

beyond the space between dreams

and that black hole

of indelible memory.

 

My merlot heart,

bleeding its colour

in a disappearing world,

where the sun is but a star,

and the moon a whole planet.

…

Death Star

 

A galaxy dwells inside us

stars of prospects and possibilities beckon

unimaginable adventure awaits

yet lulled by the security of gravity

immobilised by the death star

 

borderless horizons beckon our intent

but the death star looms in our imagined universe

exploration limits are not decided,

they levitate at our beck and call

the death star reigns without sovereignty

 

gravity keeps us earth-bound

while our destiny floats in space

resistance fuels the death star’s power

where meteor showers are commonplace

and shooting stars are improbable as unicorns

…

© 2014 B.G. Bowers, from Death and Life .

About the Author

B.G. Bowers was born in South Africa and left at age 23 with nothing but a suitcase. She has since lived in New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree, with double majors in Film/TV/Media Studies and English. Her poems have been published in America and New Zealand, and you can find her at bgbowers.com

Links:

Website: http://bgbowers.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/bg_bowers

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00JK513P2

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/bgbowers

 

 

 

Stay Little – National Poetry Month day 25 with Kristy Lloyd

Welcome to National Poetry Month day twenty-five.  Happy National Arbor Day!  Plant a tree or just get out and enjoy the beauty of one.

Today I have dear friend, mother of my son’s friend and poet Kristy Lloyd.  Parents out there will understand the sentiment.  Enjoy!

 

Stay Little

 

I want you to stay little, but don’t you listen to me

It would be selfish of me to keep you frozen, a child

But I am selfish

 

You will fly as most girls do

I will be your safe place to land

When you go far into that great beyond

Don’t forget the baggage from home

Meant to be tools for you, heavy as they are

 

You there, looking in the mirror

A reflection of what you see, not who you are.

Take heart

 

You are more than today’s fads and fashions

I am a spectator; watching you try on different hats.

To be honest, every single one is cute on you,

I can still see you burning through it all

 

You’re an ember

Lucky is the one who gets burned

 

by Kristy Lloyd

Better Self – National Poetry Month day 24 with Michael O’Connor

Welcome to National Poetry Month day twenty-four.  Today I have fellow blogger and poet Michael O’Connor returning for a second poem post.  I am especially pleased to post today on Michael’s 50th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Michael!  I am in awe that Michael has found so many words to rhyme with “inside”.   Enjoy Michael’s introspection and when you’re done reading check out his website which has a unique collaboration of artistic endeavors.  Enjoy!

Introduction:

I started writing poetry quite by accident, and it almost always rhymes. I usually set out to write song lyrics and see what I’m left with. I’m most influenced by songwriters, who I consider to be today’s most inspiring poets. My poems tend to be somewhat obscure and vague, by design. I like people to have their own interpretations. Anyway, I’ve selected this one because it takes on special meaning for me as I turn 50. It started as an intentional exercise to rhyme every line. I share writing credit with my friend, Catherine Pedersen, who was instrumental in helping me edit it. Thank you, Sonya for allowing me to share it on your blog.

 

Selection:

 

Better Self

My better self is locked inside

Each escape has been denied

Despite the fact that I’ve relied

Upon my faith to turn the tide

Of evil feelings that won’t subside

And though my heart is open wide

The painful scars from tears I’ve cried

Are in plain view and cannot hide

From evil eyes that always spied

I fear my better self has died

But my soul is shrinking from its pride

The Grace of God will now decide

To whom allegiance is allied

And lift the burden of worries sighed

The evil, vanquished, starts to slide

From where it’s chosen to reside

And frees my better self to abide

 

© 2014 Michael P. O’Connor. All rights reserved.

 

 

Bio:

Michael O’Connor is the founder of OCEnterprises Inc., an incubator for creative development. Publisher of several blogs on Blogger, including The Twilight Blue and The Reason 87, he expects to self-publish The Twilight Blue: Volume I and Live Life On Purpose: A Handbook for Achievement in 2014. Connect with Michael on social media through his website www.ocenterprises.weebly.com