The idea of critique and criticism** has cropped up on a number of occasions recently, including at the poetry group I attend. There, it seems clear that some of the less experienced writers feel they shouldn’t be commenting on, let alone criticising, the writing of the more experienced group members. 
Continue reading “critical thinking I”
Tag: writing
pause to regroup
Well I knew I wouldn’t be able to write a poem a day through April, and I didn’t promise even a daily blog post, but it was never my intention to go three weeks without writing anything.
I’ve noticed, though, that I get far more ideas for writing when I have other things I should be doing.
Recently one of the big projects I’ve been working on for the last few years came to a stop, which means that all of a sudden I am no longer obliged to sit in front of the computer for several hours every single day whether I want to or not.
Looked at positively, this should provide an opportunity to catch up with all my own writing projects, but that isn’t the way it’s turned out so far.
Continue reading “pause to regroup”
not enough poetry
There’s definitely not enough poetry on this blog recently.
This morning, while walking back from the village, I heard something scuttle across the road and turned to look, only to find it was just a dry leaf blown by the wind, not an interesting small creature that would inspire me to write something new.
Then again, the scampering noise and the slight incongruity reminded me of the white mice in this piece, which dates all the way back to the year 2000:
Continue reading “not enough poetry”
no going back
The time before last when I upgraded to a new laptop, I was very careful to keep copies of all my old writing; so the other day when I went looking for an article written in 1999, I found several versions of it on my current computer.
Sadly, none of them were compatible with the programs I have available, and when I opened one of the documents, it began like this:
##MMXPR3#C#CXP#########################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################.### ###.#######�### ###�###�###�############################### ###
#######
There are 115 pages, with huge blank expanses and intermittent passages like the above. The three-page article is also in there, but it would require more patience than I have to hand in order to extract it.
Continue reading “no going back”
eternal questions
I have been struggling with line breaks in my poetry for years. Even so, I am a bit taken aback by a friend’s email promising me a copy of a text “which should definitively answer the question of ‘Why did you put the […] line break there!?'”
In my last post (on the present poetic) and in follow up comments, I have been pondering some of the reasons behind choosing to write in the present tense (a subject I intend to revisit soon).
In other posts about first-person narrators I have considered the question of the writer/narrator dichotomy and why I so often write in the first person if I am not writing about myself.
Continue reading “eternal questions”
don't confuse the narrator 