poetry-of-days--journal-sanctuary

Bring Your Light Into the World

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:42:22 +0100

Day 14 from POETRY OF DAYS ~Practice~

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:28:41 +0100

~PRACTICE~.

The world seeks more.

More consciousness

More joy

More love

More light

More compassion

More sound

More silence.

More movement in the right direction.

stillness.

frequent appreciation

no matter how great or small.

Today, just contribute

a little more You.

After that,

if you want,

you can go back

to your worries

about it all.

Day 85 from Poetry of Days- "Three to 4:55 AM"

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:45:02 +0100

-THREE to 4:55 AM-

3 am

All cradled in repose.

Doors closed.

Breath-arresting silence.

No bird, dog, or man making noise yet.

Too early for strains of

Distant planes,

For coyote and determined drunk both, the hour is late.

Machines, motors and neighbors sleep.

Stomach creaks, as a rusty gate.

Now the time is 3:48.

Feigning slumber, the faker lumbers.

The door complains of lacking alignment,

Dog sharply barks at her assignment!

Toilet flushes,

The flusher “hushes”.

Silence swirls and settles once more.

And the clock says 4.

Dare not breathe.

Is that wind through trees,

Or just a lung-exchanging wheeze?

A peek reveals it’s 4:14

Bed clothes sullied,

Car door thuds dully.

At 4:25

Another thought arises, drifts

Then sleep surprises.

4:30 am

First quail calls to the darkness

“I am!”

4:36, how can it be only that?

Rumble, creak, whisper, tap.

Unidentifiable at first

A machine-like sound arrives . . .

“Ah, here come today’s toady tourists,”

An airplane’s throaty rumble, advises.

Dawn cannot be far anon

Now that it’s 4:41.

Another quail brags

of intimate friendship with the sun.

4:55

Birds fully wake and sound the, “All alive!”

Everyone,

Time to get up

and have some Sedona fun!

Writing a New Poem

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:49:51 +0100

Exercises for Poets

Five Ways to Begin Writing a New Poem

1. Actively seek inspiration by looking in your journal for ideas or reading other people's poems; don't analyze, just seek stimulation.

2. Use your five senses – don't rely solely on visual images; remember your senses of touch and smell. Pay attention to music, and not just the music we hear on radio and TV: listen to the natural and manmade rhythms around you, including the sounds of mechanical objects and engines. Remember to always strive for "fresh language" and avoid clichés.

3. Make a list of your most memorable experiences from the past year. Are there details you remember that no one else did? Do the same for your early childhood. The chances are, if you have siblings, that you remember things differently than they do. Focus on the images that are unique to your memory.

4. Consider your friends, relatives, worst enemies: have you had experiences with any of them that seem contradictory? For instances, is there something about someone whom you actually dislike that you nevertheless find admirable? Have you ever been in a position in which you found your roles reversed? Have you, for instance, ever found yourself "parenting a parent?" or experienced a situation in which you found yourself filled with two strong but contradictory emotions like anger and respect?

5. Once you select a subject, start putting lines down quickly. Don't worry about ordering them or otherwise editing them, including whether you are writing in complete sentences.

Keep in mind that these are just ways to BEGIN writing a new poem. You are not likely to end up with a poem at this point. Most writers have to WORK towards that most of the time.

Persona

Actors speak as someone other than who they are all the time. Writers need to be able to do this as well. Try the following, doing so once for the purpose of satire and once for the purpose of empathizing.

1. Write in the persona of someone of the opposite sex.

2. Write in the persona of someone twenty years older than you.

3. Write in the persona of someone ten years younger than you.

4. Write in the persona of someone who is less well educated than you.

5. Write in the persona of someone who is more educated than you.

6. Write in the persona of someone who is blind or deaf or mute.

7. Write in the persona of someone who holds different religious or political or social opinions than you.

Rhyme

Many beginning poets assume that a poem must contain exact end rhyme, but most contemporary readers have found that such repetition of sound to be boring. Try employing one of the following methods of using rhyme.
1. Use off-rhyme or partial rhyme at the end of lines (bad/dead).
2. Use rhyme WITHIN the line instead of at the end.
3. Use rhyme at the BEGINNING of lines instead of at the end.

Rhythm

Words are made up of sounds that are either accented or unaccented when we speak them. In order to find the STANDARD way of pronouncing a word and to see where its accent falls when spoken in this fashion, see any good college level dictionary. Thus when we say words in groups, patterns begin to develop. We create rhythms in poems by being aware of these patterns and manipulating them. One of the most recognizable patterns of rhythm in English poetry prior to this century was the iambic pentameter, a five beat, ten syllable line of poetry. It has been said that this rhythm was popular because it matched the way English was spoken between small breaths; that is, the rhythm was simply a heightened imitation of normal speech. It has been further argued that in the Twentieth Century in the US the line was shortened as a result of the changes in the way we spoke.
1. Write a poem that imitates the way someone speaks, using line lengths to make breath pauses, during a heightened emotional moment, such as an argument or a plea.
2. Write a poem that varies line length to create a rhythm that doesn't rely on being repeated line after line. In other words, develop the rhythm across a variety of lines.
3. Write a poem whose lines all end with full stops (caesuras).
4. Write a poem whose lines are all enjambed except for the final line.

NOTE: A caesura is a pause, usually caused by punctuation, although it can occur naturally when the formation of a sound that ends a word changes dramatically from the way the next sound is formed, thus causing the speaker to pause long enough to reshape the mouth in order to pronounce the next word. An enjambed line is one which has no stop at its end so that the speaker naturally goes on to the next line without pause.

FREE Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:17:24 +0100

Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About
MOSTLY free....

by Ali Hale Of course, all you really need in order to write is a notebook and pen. But there are lots of software packages that can make life easier for writers. Whatever you want to be able to do, there’s almost certainly some software out there to help you. The list below includes some packages to help you plan and structure a novel, share documents online with other people, format your screenplay or script correctly, minimize writing distractions, improve your English and more…

Collaborative Documents

Often when writing, you’ll want to share a document with other people – either to ask for feedback, or to get them to add to it. All of these pieces of software allow you to share documents online, so that multiple people can have access to and edit them. I’ve found this very successful for receiving feedback from friends on my short stories.

Google Docs
FREE

“You can easily do all the basics, including making bulleted lists, sorting by columns, adding tables, images, comments, formulas, changing fonts and more. And it’s free. … Google Docs accepts most popular file formats, including DOC, XLS, ODT, ODS, RTF, CSV, PPT, etc. So go ahead and upload your existing files.”

Writeboard from 37 signals
FREE

“Writeboards are sharable, web-based text documents that let you save every edit, roll back to any version, and easily compare changes. Use Writeboard to write solo or collaborate with others.”

Word Processors

Word Viewer
FREE

“View, print and copy Word documents, even if you don’t have Word installed.”

Open Office
FREE

“OpenOffice.org 2 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.”

As a hard-up student (who preferred to spend money on booze than software), I used Open Office throughout my degree, and found it an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office. It’s a whole office suite, so can also be used to replace Excel, Powerpoint and more.

AbiWord
FREE

Famous open source word processor, and ideal for someone looking for a light and compact software. It comes with all the basic features that you would expect from a word processor, and it also supports different languages and operating systems.

Fiction: Writing Novels and Screenplays

If you’ve tried a bit of fiction and you want some help with writing longer pieces, there are a number of software packages you might want to try out. Here’s some reputable, well-established ones:

Character Pro from Typing Chimp Software
60 days free, then $69.99

“Character Pro puts a proven system for understanding human behavior at your fingertips – The Enneagram – to create a character spine for your character. But that’s only the beginning. Character Pro isolates each part of the character, provides tools and extensive help files to guide you to a well-rounded, complex and realistic character.”

Writers Café

Demo version free, $45 download, £32.90 (approx $65) on CD.

“Writer’s Café is a software toolkit for all fiction writers, whether experienced or just starting out. The heart of Writer’s Café is StoryLines, a powerful but simple to use story development tool that dramatically accelerates the creation and structuring of your novel or screenplay.”

Writing: Organising and Formatting your Manuscript

One of the biggest headaches for fiction writers is coming to the end of a project only to realise that every scene or chapter is in a separate file (and sometimes in different formats), and that pulling this all together – and editing it to match editorial conventions – is going to take ages. These packages can help you keep things organised:

Celtex
FREE

“Celtx is the world’s first fully integrated solution for media pre-production and collaboration. It replaces old fashioned ‘paper, pen & binder’ media creation with a digital approach to writing and organizing that’s more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share.”

Scrivener
30 days free, then $39.99
Mac Only

“Scrivener is a word processor and project management tool created specifically for writers of long texts such as novels and research papers. It won’t try to tell you how to write – it just makes all the tools you have scattered around your desk available in one application.”

Minimise Distractions When Writing

If you’re anything like me, distractions come up constantly when trying to write. Whether your problem is instant messenger, web browsing, email, or just using all the fancy formatting features on your word processor, a simpler writing environment can be the solution.

Wordpad
FREE
If you’re running Windows, this almost certainly came free with your computer. Some people find all the extra bells and whistles of a full wordprocessor distracting when writing. If you have trouble knuckling down to write, Wordpad allows formatting (bold, italics, etc) and can be easier to use than Word.

Write Room
Free trial, then $25. Mac only.

“For people who enjoy the simplicity of a typewriter, but live in the digital world. WriteRoom is a full-screen writing environment. Unlike the cluttered word processors you’re used to, WriteRoom is just about you and your text.”

Dark Room
FREE
Windows version of Write Room

Both Write Room and Dark Room have a retro feel of green text on black background (though you can change the background of Write Room). I’ve used Dark Room when suffering from a severe bout of procrastination on my novel, and would certainly recommend it.

Scientific Writing

For specialised types of writing, such as creating scientific documentation, normal word processing software may not be enough.

Latex
FREE

“LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system; it includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation. LaTeX is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents.”

Improving your English (for native and non-native speakers)

The spelling and grammar checks built into word processors can often leave much to be desired. If your English is shaky, or if you’re learning English as a foreign language, you might want to invest in software designed to help you improve your grammar and style.

JaLingo
FREE

This cool little program will bring a handy dictionary to your desktop, that you can use to confirm spelling of words or to check their meanings. The advantage of JaLingo is that it is OS independent, so it will work smoothly on most computers.

Typing Software

After a mis-spent youth playing online text games, I learnt to touch-type without trying to, but I realise many people aren’t so lucky (or so geeky). Typing speed is a surprisingly big factor in being a successful writer, and if you’re still pecking away at the keyboard with two fingers, it’s worth investing in software to help you learn to type properly.

Blogging Platforms

If you run your own blog or website, you’ve almost certainly heard of WordPress and Movable Type. Both are content management systems that you install on space provided by your web host, allowing you to easily publish new posts to your blog and modify existing ones.

WordPress
FREE (but you’ll need to pay for web hosting)

“WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.”

Moveable Type
FREE (but you’ll need to pay for web hosting)

“Movable type is a professional publishing platform.”

There are also many blogging services which will host your blog for you, such as blogger.com, livejournal.com, but these are more “sites” than “software” (you don’t install them on your own webspace.)

Journalling Software

At the moment, I journal on paper, as I like to get away from the computer screen and take fifteen minutes alone with my thoughts. I also enjoy writing with a good fountain pen, in a nice hardback notebook. However, this does make it hard to search for anything…

Debrief
FREE basic version, $29.95 for standard version, $39.95 for professional version

“Debrief® is software for saving notes on your PC. Ideas. Experiences. Research. Thoughts. They come from projects, meetings, status, tasks, issues, changes, risks, decision, contacts, brainstorming, pondering, work, studies, school. Capture them while you can and put them to good use later”

FREE Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:08:36 +0100

FREE Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About

by Ali Hale

Of course, all you really need in order to write is a notebook and pen. But there are lots of software packages that can make life easier for writers. Whatever you want to be able to do, there’s almost certainly some software out there to help you. The list below includes some packages to help you plan and structure a novel, share documents online with other people, format your screenplay or script correctly, minimize writing distractions, improve your English and more…

Collaborative Documents

Google Docs
FREE

“You can easily do all the basics, including making bulleted lists, sorting by columns, adding tables, images, comments, formulas, changing fonts and more. And it’s free. … Google Docs accepts most popular file formats, including DOC, XLS, ODT, ODS, RTF, CSV, PPT, etc. So go ahead and upload your existing files.”

Writeboard from 37 signals
FREE

“Writeboards are sharable, web-based text documents that let you save every edit, roll back to any version, and easily compare changes. Use Writeboard to write solo or collaborate with others.”

Word Processors

Word Viewer
FREE

“View, print and copy Word documents, even if you don’t have Word installed.”

Open Office
FREE

“OpenOffice.org 2 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.”

AbiWord
FREE

Fiction: Writing Novels and Screenplays

Character Pro from Typing Chimp Software
60 days free, then $69.99

“Character Pro puts a proven system for understanding human behavior at your fingertips – The Enneagram – to create a character spine for your character. But that’s only the beginning. Character Pro isolates each part of the character, provides tools and extensive help files to guide you to a well-rounded, complex and realistic character.”

Writers Café

Demo version free, $45 download, £32.90 (approx $65) on CD.

“Writer’s Café is a software toolkit for all fiction writers, whether experienced or just starting out. The heart of Writer’s Café is StoryLines, a powerful but simple to use story development tool that dramatically accelerates the creation and structuring of your novel or screenplay.”

Writing: Organising and Formatting your Manuscript

Celtex
FREE

“Celtx is the world’s first fully integrated solution for media pre-production and collaboration. It replaces old fashioned ‘paper, pen & binder’ media creation with a digital approach to writing and organizing that’s more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share.”

Scrivener
30 days free, then $39.99
Mac Only

“Scrivener is a word processor and project management tool created specifically for writers of long texts such as novels and research papers. It won’t try to tell you how to write – it just makes all the tools you have scattered around your desk available in one application.”

Minimise Distractions When Writing

Write Room
Free trial, then $25. Mac only.

“For people who enjoy the simplicity of a typewriter, but live in the digital world. WriteRoom is a full-screen writing environment. Unlike the cluttered word processors you’re used to, WriteRoom is just about you and your text.”

Dark Room
FREE
Windows version of Write Room

Scientific Writing

For specialised types of writing, such as creating scientific documentation, normal word processing software may not be enough.

Latex
FREE

“LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system; it includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation. LaTeX is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents.”

Improving your English (for native and non-native speakers)

JaLingo
FREE

Typing Software

Blogging Platforms

WordPress
FREE (but you’ll need to pay for web hosting)

“WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.”

Moveable Type
FREE (but you’ll need to pay for web hosting)

“Movable type is a professional publishing platform.”

Journalling Software

Debrief
FREE basic version, $29.95 for standard version, $39.95 for professional version

“Debrief® is software for saving notes on your PC. Ideas. Experiences. Research. Thoughts. They come from projects, meetings, status, tasks, issues, changes, risks, decision, contacts, brainstorming, pondering, work, studies, school. Capture them while you can and put them to good use later”

Journal Sanctuary 11/29/09 at JudyAMcNuttBooks.com

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:35:25 +0100

poetry-of-days--journal-sanctuary

Bring Your Light Into the World

Day 14 from POETRY OF DAYS ~Practice~

Day 85 from Poetry of Days- "Three to 4:55 AM"

Writing a New Poem

FREE Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About

Collaborative Documents

Word Processors

Fiction: Writing Novels and Screenplays

Writing: Organising and Formatting your Manuscript

Minimise Distractions When Writing

Scientific Writing

Improving your English (for native and non-native speakers)

Typing Software

Blogging Platforms

Journalling Software

Suggested by Our Readers

FREE Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About

FREE Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About

Collaborative Documents

Word Processors

Fiction: Writing Novels and Screenplays

Writing: Organising and Formatting your Manuscript

Minimise Distractions When Writing

Scientific Writing

Improving your English (for native and non-native speakers)

Typing Software

Blogging Platforms

Journalling Software

Suggested by Our Readers

Journal Sanctuary 11/29/09 at JudyAMcNuttBooks.com