Creating your own Writer's Retreat

Do you work when you are traveling?  I always do, it seems.  I find I get some of my best work done while traveling.  It's probably really due to the focus - limited space to write, limited time to work on certain projects, limited wifi.  It's easy to get  a lot done in a short amount of time. 

For me, taking those blocks of free time during a road trip are my own writer's retreat.  I can simply work on projects I want to work on at the time.  I don't have to worry about any other distractions (usually) from home.  It's a great way to help your creative juices reach their flow.

Next time you are traveling, take a few breaks along the way to create or work on your projects.  Not only will you have uninterrupted time (hopefully) to do so you might reach a new perspective or two.

Happy Writing!

Publishing Tips

Are you looking to get published?  Have you been published?  How do I get published?

I get asked those questions many times.  There are several ways to go about getting published.  One of the quickest is to write a Letter to the Editor of you favorite publication whether it be a newspaper, magazine, or online.  Another is to volunteer to write something for a local newsletter.  Yet another is to write for the place where you work if they use writing materials.

If you have a poem or short story or something else you want published, you should search for markets using resources in your local library or look online. Be sure to read the full guidelines and check out the publication before you submit.  You do this so you make sure what you are submitting is a good fit. 

To get books or articles published, you would really do the same thing.  You might even want to submit to literary agencies to see about getting an agent.

It takes a lot of hours to search and find places to send your work.  The reward, though, will be worth it when that first publication credit comes in (and it will!) 

Good Luck!

Reading Your Poems in Front of an Audience for Beginners

I've been writing for a long time, since I was a kid.  I've been writing poetry not as long, but for many years.  Yet this year, 2018, was the first time I really got in front of people to read my poems.  I had read a few here or there when I won an award or had a poem published in a Lit Mag or two and I was invited to a reception.  Other than that, I had never really read my poems in front of an audience.

For my first reading as a featured poet, I read in front of a group of about 45 people.  Since then, I've taught poetry in schools, at Arts events, and have given a few more readings from my poetry books and one of my fiction books.

Everyone has their own personality and style as well as types of work from which they'd want to read.  The first thing I'd highly recommend you doing if you are wanting to read at an open mic or even give a reading is to read your own works (words) out loud!  Yes, simple advice, but it will make you more confident about what you are reading.

Next, you may want to rehearse in front of family members or the mirror.  Third, you may want to plan what you are going to read (poems or sections from your book) and also plan what you are going to say. 

Fourth, practice!  Just like a musician practices, you as a poet should practice reading!  It will give you confidence and also give you a chance to make sure that you know how to pronounce everything! 

Fifth, be yourself!  Don't try to make yourself into an extroverted performer if you are not. 

Good luck out there and happy reading!

Lyrics and Poetry

Songs and lyrics evolved into what we know as poetry today more or less.  Can you still use lyric writing for your poems?

If you are telling stories within your poems, it is certainly a good start.  You can take memories and put them together as verses in a song and even use a common refrain or phrase throughout the poem.

What does a lyric mean to you?  Is it a full song?  Maybe a few lines from a song?  Maybe a verse or two. 

Say your poem out loud - what's the lyrical quality to it?  Is there rhythm or not?  Does it rhyme?

Lyrics of sorts can weave back and forth through your words.  It's like having an overall theme or notes to follow to complete the work as a whole.

Poets used to perform their poems out loud on stage, on street corners (and some still do.)  Spoken word poets are reciting their lines in lyrics, but poem like ones, so to speak. 

A poem needs no music, but it can sound like a song all the same ... that gentle or fast flow, that repetitive catchy hook, those end line rhymes or not. 

Writing a lyric poem will gives another way to work out the flesh of a poem just in more of  form, albeit a loose one.  After you've written it, say it out loud, sing it out loud, put it on the page -- which way do you like it the best?  The nice thing about poetry is that you can pick one way or two or all three and still come up with a good poem.

I'd Rather Be Writing or Writers Don't Take Holidays

How do you stay in tune, in touch with your writing?  You can talk about it with other writers in writing groups, or make posts online.  Maybe join an online group. 

To me, though, all of that is simply talking - not that any of those endeavors are not worthwhile or worth spending the time.  I prefer, though, to just write something.

When I sit down and look at it for my writing these are what I'm currently writing:  birthday cards, holiday cards, thank you cards, notes with cut outs from the newspaper, my writing journal, my writing ideas book, my poetry ideas notebook, a poetry memoir, a non-fiction book about poetry, 3 blogs, poems, a novel, one letter to the editor and a song!  Make you tired?  It doesn't make me tired!  What makes me tired (and cranky) is if I don't write something for the day, each day even on the weekends. 

Even when traveling, I always take something to use for writing and I do write on the road.  Some people want to talk all the time.  Me, I just want to write!

Journaling for Beginners

There seems to be an unspoken rule, that if you are a writer then you must journal, you probably love it, right?  Well not necessarily.  I have been writing in journals before it became a verb!  I've always written something:  song lyrics, stories, essays, book reports, poems, plays, articles, ad copy, etc. so writing in a journal is a natural thing for me.  I carry a couple of them with me at all times.  In one, I jot down maybe a few words or a sentence.  In the other one, I may write paragraphs of things I want to vent about to really just myself.  I don't write my journals for others to read.  If I did, that would be a memoir!

The important thing to take away from journal writing, is that you are exercising your writing skills well by writing.  It's just as important to practice writing every day as you might do with a sport or a music piece you are trying to play or maybe a presentation or speech you are giving. 

You can find cheap journals in the dollar store, or make your own or even use a notebook - many sizes and types of paper are available.  You may use your journal for any type of writing and include ideas in it as well.

Journaling is a great way to connect with your writing skills and thoughts.  It will keep your writing sharp and fresh!

PR for Poets

What is PR for poets?

There's not a lot on it.  Most of the PR for writing is focused on generalized writing.  There are resources out there, though, if you look hard enough.

Approaching the sale of poetry, though, is or can be a little different.  First of all, how exactly do you want to sell your poetry?  Is it a poem you want to sell?  A picture of a poem?  Maybe a book of poetry or chapbooks?  Maybe you want to put your poem or a few lines on a novelty item like a keychain, tote bag, or pillow.

That's the first step - is where you plan to sell it.  If you are selling pieces of poems or single poems, then you can use an online service that prints pictures on things and use those - maybe sell them at craft shows.  As far as books go, I've found that selling them at readings or giving a reading and selling them later has generated the most sales for me.  The next avenue that has been useful is email.  Then, of course, there's social media.  Pick the SM avenue that works for you - where you engage the most with your audience.

To be honest, I'm still learning how to generate PR for myself and my poetry.  It's a learning process for me. I think you have to explore all your options and then pick one or two that really work for you and start you focus there.  The rest, then, will hopefully start to fall into place.

Excerpt from "The Mailbox of the Kindred Spirit"

An Excerpt from the fiction novel "The Mailbox of the Kindred Spirit" 

by LB Sedlacek

"Ernie:

I hope this finds you well.  My handwriting is getting too shaky now to write much.  I still fish, though. 

I bet you are wondering about this mailbox I told you about in my last letter.  Go to Sunset Beach.  Park at the pier.  Bring good walking shoes and your dog if you have one. 

It’s two miles south approximately.  Start walking!

The mailbox is almost beyond the end of the sand dunes line.  There’s a small flagpole there, but I can’t promise it will stay with the weather. 

There’s a bench, too.  Come on.  Sit a spell.  Read the mail.

Yours truly,

Melody"

Now available as a Book or E-book - The Mailbox of the Kindred Spirit   

How You Write, Where You Publish

There are so many outlets for writing these days.  Does how you write determine where you write, where you publish?

With blogs, such as my own, you can publish nearly anything anytime you want.  But what if you aren't on a computer, don't use one, don't want to use one, what then?

Journals are a good choice.  Of course, you can do one of those online as well.  You can carry a notebook, notepads, note cards, and write stuff by hand. 

Cell phones and/or their apps can be another destination for your works, your ideas, your thoughts.  You can also publish on certain apps right from your cell phone.

Publications such as journals and zines accept submissions in a variety of styles and types of writing.  Newspapers or magazines may accept articles on spec or hire you as a reporter or writer. 

Other forms include writing ad copy, business writing, speech writing, or maybe writing correspondence for a politician or someone else.

The opportunities exist for you to find a home for your works!  Start at your favorite online source to search for what interests you or visit your local library (or book store) and pick up a reference book writing and/or submitting.  Good luck!

Teach this poem: "Dead Men Don't Know Jack"

BACKGROUND:

My poem, "Dead Men Don't Know Jack" was first published on my Medium page at:  https://medium.com/@lbsedlacek/dead-men-dont-know-jack-95cdd5d6ac5f  As of the writing and posting of this post it has received 3600 views and 2900 reads!  It has to be my most read poem ever.
I'm very proud of it.

I've always enjoyed reading westerns and watching westerns so once in a while I write a western poem.  Another one I wrote pays homage to Louis L'amour - it's called "Boots Crunching on Gravel." 

This poem, "Dead Men Don't Know Jack," is about the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok by Jack McCall so it's based on a true story.  It's a rhyming poem.  Most of my early poems, as this one is, were rhyming poems.  I wrote it when I first started writing poetry so it's one of my earlier works.  Most of my earlier works, as with a lot of beginning poets, rhyme. 

It was inspired by a teacher of mine who used to play the character of the Judge in a play about the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok.  I never saw the play, but every class I had with him he usually brought it up.  My teacher was a story teller himself.  I'm not sure if he ever wrote anything or not.

I am thrilled that my poem has garnered such an interest.  It was a fun poem to write.  I do enjoy writing cowboy poems!

TEACHING THIS POEM:  "DEAD MEN DON'T KNOW JACK"

1) Read the story of Wild Bill Hickok.  What kind of person was he?  Write a poem based on a modern day bad guy.

2) Look at pictures of South Dakota.  What does it look like?  Write a place poem set in the days of the wild west.

3) Talk about cowboys with your group.  What kind of cowboys exist today.  Where did the term come from?  Write a poem about your favorite cowboy hero or bad guy.

4) Watch your favorite western.  Who is the star?  Who are the characters?  Were they real people or made up?  Write a poem like a scene from a western.  Be sure to include settings and wild west characters.

5) Read some of your favorite rhyming poems.  Why are rhymes so popular?  Do you like to read rhyming poetry?  Do you like to read other kinds of poetry?  Write a rhyming poem.  Then take the poem and turn it into a non-rhyming poem, aka free verse.  Compare the two poems.  Which one do you like better.

You can have a lot of fun with western poetry.  You can read real life stories of the wild west or even the modern day west.  You will find plenty of situations, tales or characters (real or not) to write about.  Visit a western movie set (I did that once in New Mexico).   Watch some westerns!  Read some Louis L'amour and come up with some stories of your own. 

You can find out more about me at:
LB Sedlacek
or
LB Sedlacek on Medium

FINISHING LINE PRESS CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY

FINISHING LINE PRESS CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY:
Words and Bones by LB Sedlacek
$13.99, paper
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/words-and-bones-by-lb-sedlacek/

LB Sedlacek is a poet, author, editor, poem critic and publisher. She has had poetry and short fiction published in numerous journals and zines. Her poetry and short fiction have won several awards. She co-hosted ESC! Magazine’s podcast for the small press, “Coffee House to Go” with Michael Potter. She also served as a Poetry Editor for “ESC! Magazine.” She is the Publisher of “The Poetry Market Ezine” a poetry resource newsletter just for poets. She holds a BA in Business from Lenoir-Rhyne University and an MA in Communications and Theatre from Wake Forest University. She lives in North Carolina with her family and their hyperactive dog! In her free time, she enjoys reading, swimming, and volunteering for her local humane society. Her website is www.lbsedlacek.com Find her on Facebook @lbsedlacekpoet or Instagram @poetryinla

”Words and Bones” is an apt title for LB Sedlacek‘s fine chapbook for words are the scaffolding in these pages; words which both come from and go to the marrow. The author’s craft here has a simplicity, an elegance in clarity which makes even the complex, the scientific, not only accessible but familiar as a memory shared by a particularly American yet, ultimately, universally humane collective unconscious. What a fine mineral of many facets she has brought from her depths into the light of day.” –Stephen Mead, Visual Artist/Author

“You’d never think a skeleton is a complete person. I would have said the same thing about a poem until LB Sedlacek‘s “Words and Bones” came along. It’s a work which truly strips its poems down to their bare bones with all the un-necessary words nowhere to be found, leaving a manuscript of complete and wonderfully brief pieces. These poems expose the often overlooked remarkable details in the every day mundane which can only be seen when a poet’s eyes gaze upon them. The heartbreak, the wonder…you’ll begin to see it in your bones too.” –Rick Lupert, author of “God Wrestler”
#poetry