If you are aware that you need to be brave, you are probably on the threshold of writing something that matters.
Pat Schneider, Writing Alone and With Others (2003, pg. 172)
During the last week in April I attended an AWA writing-group leadership training with poet Patricia Lee Lewis at The Crossings in Austin, Texas. Patricia, along [...]

The current poll is difficult to answer honestly. It forces us to balance our feelings about ourselves with the expectations that we will be gracious, humble and, far worse, politically correct. It requires us not only to be aware of our talent and work ethic but also to be comfortable sharing that assessment (even [...]

Well, you’re near the end of April, of National Poetry Month, of NaPoWriMo!
 
Sigh…in relief, remorse, resolution…
Some of you have practiced writing daily and some have posted a poem daily. Some have made up your own rules and kept them or broken them. Some (like me) found you couldn’t stay with daily writing early on.
Some have [...]

30 Poems in 30 Days. How has that challenge been for you? Let us know what you’re doing.
As you cast about for yet one more inspiration, be sure to use the random prompts or previous prompts and share any tricks you use to get through the rough spots.
Are you writing American Sentences, haiku or prose [...]

Ahhh, April—that special time of year when our thoughts turn to spring, Opening Day in baseball and National Poetry Month in the U.S. So, how do you mark what is supposed to be “the cruelest month?” When you tell friends and family it is National Poetry Month, are your responses similar to this:
“National Poetry Month? [...]

Carolee is taking a little time off to be with her family this week, so I am stepping in to give you a place to talk about the current poll, should you want to.
We had a lot of voting in response to this week’s question: “Who in your ‘real life’ knows that you’re a poet?”
As [...]

Hi poets,
This week I’ve asked Dave Bonta (via negativa), one of our participants at Read Write Poem, to talk about how blogging poets might create audio recordings and include them on their sites. I asked Dave because he’s a blogging poet with experience in these things, and has helped other poets learn how to make [...]

At least half of those who responded to the current “read write poll” believe that “growing poetically” is the hardest part of being a poet. I am thrilled about that!
I am not happy that you’re struggling to grow poetically, but I am happy that you want it. It tells me that this community sees [...]

Last month marked my fourth year attending the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, this year in New York City. And because it was in the Big Apple, it certainly was … well … ginormous! With a reported 7,500 people registered, I couldn’t help but think about the poets and writers who have [...]

If you Google “temperamental artist stereotype,” you find heavy representation of articles from the world of psychiatry. It’s not difficult to argue mental illness in many famous artists and writers: Van Gogh cut off his ear and Sylvia Plath put her head in the oven, for example.
There are dozens of these tragic stories about [...]