Rod Miller's Blog, page 37

Rod Miller on COW radio.

Not long ago I had the privilege of talking with Andy Nelson. Anyone who knows Andy will know what an experience that is. He is, without a doubt, one of the funniest men in all of the Wild West. He’s a writer, a poet, a comedian, a master-of-ceremonies, and all manner of entertainer. And he swings a fine shoeing hammer. Along with his brother, Jim, (that’s Andy on the left in the photo above, Jim on the right) he also hosts a weekly syndicated radio show, C.O.W. (Clear Out West) Radio that is broadcast on several stations in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon, as well as on the Internet. Cowboy music, poetry, interviews, features, and unfettered fun are always on the air when they roll tape on C.O.W. Radio. Andy and I talked about my sorry cowboy skills as well as Western writing and my new book, Goodnight Goes Riding and Other Poems. My appearance is on Show #615, to be broadcast at various times and places during the week of November 17-23, and available for download. Find out more about—and listen to—C.O.W. Radio here: http://clearout.ipower.com/index.html.

Lies They Tell Writers, Part 7: Cowboy Poetry and Free Verse Don’t Mix.

I like poetry—I like reading it and I like writing it. Most of the poetry I write is about cowboys, and I carry some cowboy credentials. So, I guess I am a cowboy poet—or, at least, a poet cowboy. For the record, some of the poems I write have rhyme or meter or both and some have neither. That’s obvious in my books Goodnight Goes Riding and Other Poems and Things a Cowboy Sees and Other Poems as well as my poems in periodicals and anthologies. Fooling around with words and fiddling around with sounds is fun—and hard work. And so is letting a poem find itself, whether it wants rhyme and meter or wants to run free. The simple truth is, rhyme and meter are poetic tools, not requirements. And that holds true for any brand of poetry. There are those—some friends among them—who believe that if it isn’t rhymed and metered (although most of them are a bit sketchy on what meter actually entails) it isn’t cowboy poetry. There’s even an organization I was once part of that claims poetry without rhyme and meter—free verse, to use the term that, for some reason, raises their ire—isn’t poetry at all, but prose.Nonsense. To make such a claim is either arrogant or ignorant. Maybe both.And it’s a claim that cannot be supported with any authority, whether you’re talking poetry by or about cowboys, or poetry in general.You might as well claim that Western music isn’t Western music unless it is written in the key of G, in 3/4 time, with a waltz rhythm, at 82 beats a minute.That, of course, would be absurd. But no more so than claiming that only poems with rhyme and meter are poems, and that free verse isn’t poetry.

To see if I practice what I preach, get a copy of my new collection of poems about cowboys and the West from Pen-L Publishing (http://www.pen-l.com/GoodnightGoesRiding.html).

Hanging Out With Writers.

      During the past couple of months I have had the opportunity to hang out with writers.      Late September found me in Idaho Falls for the Idaho Writers League annual conference. I was invited to present a couple of workshops there—a half day on researching and writing historical fiction, and an hour-long session on creative nonfiction.       The conference drew a good group of writers from across and up and down the state. Both my sessions were well attended, and no one pelted me with wilted vegetables or otherwise expressed displeasure.

      The red rock country of southern Utah was home for a few days in late October. I sat with three other authors at Read Cat Bookstore in Kanab for a book signing, then spent an evening and day at the Kanab Writers Conference. It, too, attracted a bunch of writers, all of whom seemed to have a good time.
      Some of them sat through my presentation on how prose writers can improve their writing by using techniques poets use. Others attended my session on writing essays. And, again, a few people expressed appreciation and those who found it a waste of time were polite enough to not say so.       All in all, some good times and good places to be.

Lies They Tell Writers, Part 6: Join a Critique Group—and Be Positive!

You’ve already endured my rant on why I’m not a member of a critique group. Brace yourself for the follow-up: why no critique group would want me. It has to do with social graces. When moved to speak my mind, I have a hard time resisting saying what’s on my mind. No euphemisms. No ambiguity. Nothing cryptic. While I never intend to be unkind, it sometimes comes out that way. Most writers don’t want to hear it. Then there’s the fact that I am irresistibly drawn to the negative end of the magnetic field. Whenever I look at a piece of writing, whether my own or someone else’s, the first question I ask is, “What’s wrong with this?” I automatically look for what’s wrong, I find it, and I fix it. It has been part of my advertising job for years, and it spills over into poems, novels, short stories, nonfiction, essays, magazine articles and any other string of words I encounter. Again, that holds true for my own words as well as someone else’s. Here’s why. What’s written well doesn’t require attention or comment. It’s supposed to be well written. Fawning over it or heaping praise on writers for doing what is expected seems to me akin to congratulating them on remembering to inhale and exhale in the proper sequence. So, in the interest of better writing, I zero in on what’s wrong and why.      On the other hand, if you can’t say something nice….Maybe I should just shut up. Or stay away from critique groups. 

Lies They Tell Writers, Part 5: Join a Critique Group

Early on in my attempt to become a writer of something besides advertising copy, I heard a lot about the importance of joining a critique group. You know, where you sit around with a bunch of other writers and read what you’ve written and talk about it. Theoretically, others will point out problems with your work that you can’t see because you’re too close to it. They might even tell you how to fix it. But opinions differ. The person sitting across from you might have an altogether different idea than the person sitting next to you. Not only different, even contradictory. Someone else may offer yet another conflicting opinion and more contrary advice. It’s all very confusing to me—too confusing.What to do? Who do you believe? What advice do you take and what do you ignore? If you have any faith at all in you’ve written, I suspect you would disregard it all and go with your gut. And, at that point, what’s the point? Besides, who’s to say these people know any more than you do? I suppose you could trace my dislike for such things to my years in advertising, where you must listen to clients (and others) comment on your work, then try to incorporate their often absurd notions into your ideas and copy. Having lived with that for decades, maybe I just enjoy going my own way, not having to explain or answer to anybody. Except, of course, editors and publishers who are paying for their opinions.Some people swear by critique groups. One friend, in particular, insists it makes him a much better writer. But as for me, I would rather spend my time writing than talking about writing.

Goodnight Goes Riding at CowboyPoetry.com.

CowboyPoetry.com is, without doubt, the world’s biggest cowboy poetry gathering. There, you’ll find collected thousands of poems by hundreds of poets from yesteryear right up to today. On top of that, there are feature stories, essays, photos and art, news…you name it; it if has to do with cowboy poetry and the related ways of life, you’ll find it there.A review of my new poetry book, Goodnight Goes Riding and Other Poems, was posted on the site recently and you can read it here: http://www.cowboypoetry.com/sincenews3.htm#rm.As you visit CowboyPoetry.com, spend some time looking around and enjoy the wealth of information and entertainment you’ll find there. And it wouldn’t hurt to reach into your pocket and support the work of the Center for Western and Cowboy Poetry, which runs the site and does more—much more—for the arts and literature of the West.

Songwriter Jessie Veeder in Ranch & Reata magazine.

The latest issue of Ranch & Reata magazine is out, and among the many fine articles inside its covers is a story I wrote on North Dakota singer and songwriter Jessie Veeder. My musical and poetic friend from the West River Country Jessie also calls home, DW Groethe, is quoted in the article saying this about composers who write about the West and about Jessie: “There are those who write all around it and then there are the few, steeped in the life, who reach out, grab it, raise it high and say, ‘Here it is. Take it or leave it.’” Jessie’s songs certainly “raise it high,” and once you hear her words and music, you’re more likely to take it than leave it, if only because her songs stick with you. Read all about it in the new issue of Ranch & Reata (www.ranchandreata.com).

New online magazine for Western fans.

My friend Dusty Richards is always up to something. Since completing his term as president of Western Writers of America, I guess he needed something to do (besides turning out one good Western novel after another) so he gathered up a bunch of other folks and started a magazine.The first issue of Saddlebag Dispatches is now online. It features Western fiction, poetry, and nonfiction about the West, with stories by some fine writers. And me. “The Passing of Number Sixteen” will run as a three-part serial in the first three issues. It’s a modern-day mystery with a rodeo setting, all about the strange shooting of a bucking horse. Saddlebag Dispatchesis free. All you have to do is click on this link: http://www.saddlebagdispatches.com/campfire.html. It will take you to the magazine, then click on the cover and the whole thing will download. Then start reading. And enjoy.

Odds and ends, bits and pieces.

Not long ago I finished reading Drygulch to Destinyby Kirby Jonas. I’ve known Kirby for several years through Western Writers of America, but only recently learned we once lived in the same small town in Idaho (although he is much younger than I) and he took ag classes from my brother, who taught at the high school there. All that aside, it’s a big, sprawling novel about a town tamer tortured by past accusations and challenged by lawless toughs in a mining boomtown. It’s a darn good story and well worth a read. (http://kirbyjonas.com/)

Speaking of Idaho, I recently spent a weekend there working on an article for Ranch & Reata magazine. The subject of the story is a remarkable young lady named Kimberlyn Fitch. She’s an oft-decorated rodeo champion, breeds show cattle, puts in her time at the ranch, and is studying to become a nurse. That’s her on the skyline in the photo above, gathering cows along a ridge above Midnight Creek. I’ll be back in Idaho soon to conduct a couple of workshops at the Idaho Writers League’s annual conference. A month or so later, I’ll be presenting at the Kanab Writers Conference (http://kanabwritersconference.com/) in southern Utah, and signing books at the Read Cat Bookstore.

But for now, it's back to work.

Guest Post: Lessons from the Poets.

Lynn Wiese Sneyd of LWS Literary Services—a firm which provides a variety of marketing and publicity services for authors—kindly asked me to contribute a guest post to her site. The post goes online today. It’s titled “Three Things We Can Learn from Poets” and talks about a few literary techniques employed by poets and how writers of prose can employ those tools to improve what they write. Read my contribution here, http://lwsliteraryservices.com/blog/, and be sure to check out the rest of Lynn’s web site to access a whole bunch of interesting and helpful information.The ideas in my guest post are condensed from an in-depth treatment of the subject I will present in late October at the Kanab Writers Conference. (More about that later.)
And now a word from our sponsor.

My new collection of poetry, Goodnight Goes Riding and Other Poems, is now available from Pen-L Publishing. (!) It’s available exclusively from the publisher until the end of the month, when it will go into wider distribution to all the usual places that sell books.Until then, Pen-L is offering the book at a 15% discount, saving all you early purchasers some money. Follow this link for this special, limited offer: http://Pen-L.com/GoodnightGoesRiding.html.