Lena Corazon

Flights of Fancy

Tag: haiku

Mixing It Up: #ROW80 Goals & #NaPoWriMo Day 7

ROW80LogocopyAnother Round of A Round of Words in 80 Days is upon us, and I am delighted to participate. For those who have never heard of this wonderful writing community, ROW80 is the writing challenge “that knows you have a life,” and allows we over-worked, over-scheduled creative folk to build our own goals.

After a rough and tumble year (or two… or three?), I’m all about treating myself with flexibility and care. I gave myself permission to take the weekend off from NaPoWriMo, because I’ve learned that placing pressure on myself is counter-intuitive. When I tell myself that I’m a failure, or that I’m lazy, or that I’m useless because I couldn’t wrest a few minutes out of my life to write, I ruin any chances I have to be creative for days, and sometimes weeks, to come. So Round 2 of ROW80 is all about being kind to myself (like fearless leader Kait Nolan writes in this awesome post), about allowing myself to make mistakes and to stumble without self-flagellation, and about actually remembering how to enjoy the act of writing, both academic and creative.

Before I get to my Round 2 goals, have a bit of a poem. I’m trying out a “lune,” a modified haiku form written with 3 words in the first line, 5 words in the second, and 3 in the third. And based on the subject matter, I’ll bet you can all guess what I was dealing with today…

“Migraine”

brain throbs incessantly

senses stunted, tongue silenced, thought completely eliminated

migraine strikes again

—-

And with that, here are my goals for Round 2:

Dissertation:

  • Finish 2 chapters by the end of Round 2.
  • Start coding data sources.
  • Hammer out an inventory of data sources.

Creative Writing:

  • Read 1 piece of fiction each week.
  • Figure out how to move forward with TELL ME NO LIES.
  • Write at least 20 poems for #NaPoWriMo.
  • Start blogging in May–maybe with weekly book reviews? The jury is still out on this one.

-oOo-

I’m still trying to keep things simple, as you can probably tell, but with the way things are going at the moment, simple is most definitely best.

I’m looking forward to rocking the ROW with the rest of y’all! Anyone else participating in NaPoWriMo this year? Any big goals slated for this Round? Can’t wait to see how everyone is doing!

 

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Gearing Up for October Poetry Writing Month

October is almost upon us, bringing with it all sorts of excitement. Autumn is in the air, Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte is back in stores, and my beloved San Francisco Giants have clinched a spot in the playoffs (whoo, Orange October!). On the writing front, all my WriMos know that NaNoWriMo is just around the corner, and are starting to think about the projects that they’ll pursue in November.

I’m giddy about all of the above, but right now, it’s October Poetry Writing Month (#OctPoWriMo on Twitter) that’s tickling my fancy. The challenge, spearheaded by the lovely Morgan Dragonwillow and Julie Jordan Scott, is simple: write 1 poem a day, every day in October (more info, plus tons of poetry-writing tips, here). You can find the list of participants (or sign up yourself!) at the linky.

31 poems in a month is a daunting task, but I can’t wait to start. As much as I love flash fiction, short stories, and novels, there is something about poetry that allows me to give voice to all of the emotions that I bottle up inside. Writing it can sometimes leave me feeling raw and exposed, but at the end of the day the process is intensely therapeutic.

I’ll be posting my entries for #OctPoWriMo over on my tumblr, but I’ll link to my favorites each week in my check-ins for A Round of Words in 80 Days (yet another thing to look forward to in October!). In the meantime, I will leave you with a trio of haikus I wrote this morning in preparation for the challenge. There’s nothing like scribbling a few itty bitty gems of goodness to get the day started right. 😀

-oOo-

“melts”

stone is unyielding

diamond can’t be destroyed, but

my heart melts for you

“san francisco”

gray mists shroud the land

hiding the face of the sun

when will summer come?

“morning benediction”

fill me with fierce strength,

open my eyes, Great Mother,

take my soul and heart

-oOo-

Any other exciting events happening in October? What fun things are y’all gearing up for?

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