I'll write the appies - Violet Nesdoly

I'll write the appies

Though I have laboured long

over the hot stove of fiction

slow-roasted the plot

peeled and cooked the characters

tossed point-of-view and dialogue

whisked lumps out of theme and motivation

and at last presented my creation

garnished to be page-turning

I prefer to work

on the poetry course

try to make each hors d’oeuvres

a playful experiment

every bite-sized creation

so surprising and intriguing

the reader can never stop at one.

Then I get to leave the kitchen early

because I’m done.

© 2011 by Violet Nesdoly

*************

With much of the writing world involved in NaNoWriMo, I decided to join in the writing frenzy, but in a different way. I have challenged myself to write one poem a day each day of November.

To help me do that, I refer often to the various poetry prompt sites I have bookmarked. The inspiration for "I'll write the appies" (my poem for November 4th) came from this prompt on poet Adele Kenny's blog The Music In It.

I'm posting an assortment of my November efforts here—so come on by, if you like, to sample some more canapés. 

- By Violet Nesdoly

Writing and incarnational discovery–Stephen T Berg

We live in a violent world. That's hardly a secret. We have been formed by a culture of war and violence, the nature of which we often keep wilfully hidden from ourselves. But today, we intentionally remember war, so that we can in some way dispel it, so that at least violence of a global scale, can be named and thwarted. And we hope that in the naming, in the remembering, something like grace and peace may appear.

And yet, as Flannery O'Connor has said, "Our age not only does not have a very sharp eye for the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, it no longer has much feeling for the nature of the violences which precede and follow them." And so in O'Connor's fiction, violence and the grotesque act as the cudgel to awaken the sleeping (that's us) to the reality of something like an intrusion of grace.

Of course violence is never the cause of grace, but it can, in its great distortions of social solidarity and communal life, reflect back to us our own propensity toward envy and rivalry, and in this uncovering, perhaps allow us the grace of seeing ourselves as we truly are—which is, if it happens, an occasion of mercy.

A writerly goal I repeatedly come short of, which is never less a goal, is to stay awake to those intrusions of grace and occasions of mercy, and so perhaps to seize them. For as long as there is language, as Bonny Way and Kathleen Gibson have outlined below, there is a desire to get at that meaning through honest reflection and a need to communicate it clearly. And the closer we can come to the nub and nut of things through true communication, the more set in relief grace becomes. And the closer the personal reflection, the more universal the meaning. For that, after all, is the nature of our Incarnate world, which the nature of violence attempts to usurp.

I have a notion that as Christian writers, writing for this kind of—if I can call it—Incarnational discovery, is at the bottom of most of our goals. For if it isn't, I suppose we're simply adding to the heap of informative tracts and very little to the meaning of things.

Of course as lofty or flighty as this sounds, it's only through the "habit of art," (Maritain) that we come to apprehend and then relay these meanings. For as we writers sit down to write out some vague and fleeting idea, we are immediately thrown into the practical question of form. And its through the daily habit of wrestling with this most basic aspect of writing where a discovery is made, a true thing found.

And as O'Connor has said somewhere, writers ought to be able to discover something from their writing, if not, there's little chance the reader will.

www.growmercy.org

Communication is Key - Bonnie Way

In university, I took a biology course to fulfill the science requirements for my Arts degree. It was not a course I looked forward to. Biology was my best science in high school, but my marks were just good enough to get me into university. Fortunately, I had an excellent professor and a friend to study with, but what got me through the course was my writing skills.

The exams had two parts: a multiple choice section and a written part. The multiple choice questions were specific. More specific than I knew. I couldn’t keep the Krebs’ cycle in my head long enough to get to the exam. What I could do was write. As an Arts major, most of my exams were written. I could write a whole essay on something I had only the foggiest idea about. And because I could write, I passed the course.

Communication is key in our world today. If we cannot communicate the information we know, it doesn’t matter what we know. Miscommunication or unclear communication can result in huge blunders or great confusion. As an editor, my job is to make sure that concepts and information are clearly communicated to the intended audience. As a writer, communication is my job.

So how can we make sure we are communicating clearly—as mothers, as writers, as employees? Written communication gives us the opportunity to check for clarity. Even a quick email should be double-checked before the SEND button is hit. Here are a few hints for checking your writing (whether email, articles, or other documents) before it goes to its audience. 

1. Read it aloud to yourself. You may want to make sure the room is empty before you do this (though your two-year-old may not care), but it allows you to hear awkward constructions, errors, run-on sentences, and other problems you may miss by just reading the document. Read carefully. Pause at commas and periods. Run out of breath? Your sentence is too long. Does a pause feel awkward? Maybe it is incorrectly punctuated.

2. Give it some time. If the document isn’t urgent, put it aside for an hour or a day or two and look at it later. This will let you “forget it” and see it with fresh eyes. You may catch mistakes that you did see as you were writing.

3. Have another person read it (critique groups are great for this!). If they are confused or uncertain, fix it. Perhaps in explaining it to them, you’ll discover a better way to express it. They may also be able to catch spelling or punctuation errors that you missed. 

Communication requires constant work but improves with practice. Pay attention to how those around you communicate (especially if you write fiction and need dialogue ideas!). Just remember that even if you don’t know everything, you can communicate clearly what you do know.

~ © Bonnie Way, http://thekoalabearwriter.blogspot.com

Writing On A Slant - Shirley S. Tye

You've probably heard it said that when a person's handwriting slants downward it's a sign they are sad, tired, or ill. If the writing slants upward, the person is feeling happy, energetic and well.

Lately, my writing has been slanting downwards despite two writing successes this year. My children's middle-grade novel was short-listed in a contest. My friend's novel which I ghost wrote was self-published by my friend. Many who have read her book have enjoyed it; in fact, some have said they couldn't put it down. Both achievements should have been celebrated. But for a year, I've been in a slump; everything I've tried has fallen apart. I'm feeling discouraged and these two "accomplishments" only added to my list of failures. Through my sad eyes, I viewed being short-listed to mean "close but no cigar" and "here's the big looser". And hearing all the compliments about my friend's book made me jealous that my name wasn't on the cover. God forgive me.

Sure I'm feeling discouraged now but I'll be up soon. I still have plans and there are other paths I'd like to explore.

First of all, I'm making corrections and improvements to the novel that was short-listed. Next time it's submitted, it'll be a winner and be published.

Second thing I'm working on is a play. That's a totally new genre for me but I'm learning about playwriting and will boldly try it. This past spring, I had an acting part in a comedy play and was told by many that I did a very good job. That experience taught me what works and what doesn't work for amateur theatre. The director, who I worked under, is also the President of the Executive at the amateur theatre in town. Since he was pleased with my acting, I feel confident that he'll at least read my play. That'll be a big step forward on the learning curve.

This summer, I began work on a romance novel. It's another unfamiliar genre for me but I thought I'd give it a go and see what happens. I like new adventures.

Yes, I'm beginning to feel hopeful. My writing is developing an upward slant again. Praise the Lord!