Twice in one day ooooohhhh

I am killing every character in this new story. Part of the story so, cool not just me killing my darlings. I seemingly like to kill off characters. Maybe I will leave an astronaut or someone floating around the earth. I am amused by this idea. Not sure if I should be, but I am.

Also, as the world shuts down in this story, the Daily Show will continue broadcasting. I literally laughed out loud when I realized this was to be so. Because they might just do that. I love that show. Anyhoo...

Other news. Rob's idea here is brilliant. I haven't decided what book of poems yet, but will. I have a few days. I will have no intartube connection from the 5-11 of June, so I will bunch up a few, and then catch up later. I have done Napowrimo, Nablopomo (wins for funniest sounding!) and now NaPoReMo. I am definitely cranking out the Na...mos. Ha.

Have a great evening. I am off to kill Barbara Sue. The fact that her initials are BS amuses me even more. Chuckling here. Don't mind me....

File under not fair at all

My god what some people have to bear. I had wondered why he hadn't posted in a while, and this is the update. I wish Reginald Shepherd the very best recovery possible.

Now what

I have to say that finding and discovering characters is relatively easy for me. They just appear. I came up with an idea for a story, that takes several character's views of an event. Poof, I had 11 characters vying for my attention. I have already figured out their approach to the event, how they will deal. This I think will stretch me, because I almost might find writing their voices challenging. They are very different, but I hope their voices don't blend and blur. It will involve some research too (which I love) because they live all over the globe. I am going global!!

I think I have a title too, but that may change.

I have written no poetry except for a few blibs and blabs since April. No surprise, but I have been reading more.

Mostly the classics. My son is addicted to the game Age of Mythology, and because of the actual content in that game, he has been talking mythology non stop. We have been researching all those gods and goddesses which got me reading the classics I already had. Which were not enough. I picked up a copy of The Longman Anthology of World Literature, Volume A: The Ancient World for $4.35 used. Perfect condition I might add. Anyway, I have been drilling through the centuries. I am preferring the Greeks I have to say. Although the beauty of Gilgamesh is unsurpassed, even by today's standards. Or a fabulous translation. Either way, excellent. And now I want to learn Cuneiform script, not that I know a thing about it. But it worked for them.

Have a good evening.

Napo questions

These questions were posted at the Poetry Free For All so after I answered them there, I realized I should put them here too.

1) What made you want to do it? This was my fourth Napo, so like Donner, it has become my April tradition. Now I feel if I don't do it, somehow I am failing. April forces me to write. That is a very good thing, because otherwise I tend not to focus as much as I need to waiting for the poem to arrive. Napo makes me go looking for that poem.

2) What do you feel you got out of it? Minimally 30 poems. Over the four years that is quite a stack. I feel some sense of accomplishment just for that. I also feel that I occasionally hit the mark that I seem to have set for myself. I am proud of and surprised by a few of the poems. I like that feeling.

3) Do you think the poems you produced are necessarily worse what you would normally write? I am not sure. I tend to be all over the place because I still consider myself new to writing poetry even though I have done it off and on since high school. If nothing else Napo gives me a place to start for the work of revision.

4) Did it prompt you to write different kinds of poems to the sort you normally write? In what way? I generally stay away from rhyme and meter because I know I don't do it well. It doesn't come to me as naturally as it appears to do some. Napo gives me a place to try these. I feel I have stretched toward forms I normally wouldn't feel confident enough to try. I tried to simplify some of what I was writing, to keep it small and close. I also tried writing from another character's POV. That was strange.

5) Do you feel it goes against any principle of writing poetry, or definition of poetry, or somehow cheapens poetry or anything like that? Oh not at all. If you are writing, and I think Napo bears that out, the sheer effort will produce something, and from that something might come something better. And if not, hopefully you had fun trying. Poetry, with the big P, is big enough for all of us. It can bear the weight of Napo.

6) What are you going to do with the poems you've written during the month? Well right now they are stacked in order sitting quietly on my desk in a folder. In a few days, I will look them over, and remember those I have forgotten. (A weird side effect of Napo.) If I am pleasantly surprised by any of them, they will go onto the "to be dealt with" file. Those that were commented on by others in a positive or hopeful manner will go in that stack too. Then the real work begins. Because I truly believe that is where the poetry is crafted. This is where it gets difficult.