Wednesday, April 24, 2019

2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 24

For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Complete (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then write your poem. Possible titles include: “Complete Best Day I Ever Had,” “Complete Guide to Writing Poems,” “Completely Wrong Way,” and “Completed Set.”

*****

Poem Your Days Away!

Online poetry prompts are great! But where can you get your poem fix when you unplug? The answer is the Smash Poetry Journal, by Robert Lee Brewer.

This book collects 125 poetry prompts from the Poetic Asides blog, gives poets plenty of room to write poems, and a lot of other great poetic information. Perfectly sized to carry in a backpack or purse, you can jot down ideas for poems as you’re waiting in line for a morning coffee or take it to the park for a breezy afternoon writing session (or on a bus, at a laundromat, or about anywhere else you can imagine–except under water, unless you’re in a submarine or a giant breathable plastic bubble).

Anyway, it’s great for prompting poems, and you should order a copy today. (Maybe order an extra one as a gift for a friend.)

Click to continue.

*****

Here’s my attempt at a Complete Blank Poem:

“complete guide to breaking my heart”

Leave it to your friends. Or put it
in a note slipped into my locker.
Tell me on the phone. Or in person
as you storm off in tears

leaving me to sort through the whys
and what-did-I-dos. What did I do
but run to you and from you and
write another poem that might be

about you?

*****

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). In a former life, he was into collecting complete sets of things. Follow him on Twitter @RobertLeeBrewer.

The post 2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 24 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.


from WD Blogs – Writer's Digest
https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/2019-april-pad-challenge-day-24

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 23

Time for our fourth (but not final) Two for Tuesday of the month! Pick one prompt or use both…your choice!

  1. Write a free poem.
  2. Write a not free poem.

Remember: These are just matches meant to spark your creativity; you are free to poem wherever you wish.

*****

Poem Your Days Away!

Online poetry prompts are great! But where can you get your poem fix when you unplug? The answer is the Smash Poetry Journal, by Robert Lee Brewer.

This book collects 125 poetry prompts from the Poetic Asides blog, gives poets plenty of room to write poems, and a lot of other great poetic information. Perfectly sized to carry in a backpack or purse, you can jot down ideas for poems as you’re waiting in line for a morning coffee or take it to the park for a breezy afternoon writing session (or on a bus, at a laundromat, or about anywhere else you can imagine–except under water, unless you’re in a submarine or a giant breathable plastic bubble).

Anyway, it’s great for prompting poems, and you should order a copy today. (Maybe order an extra one as a gift for a friend.)

Click to continue.

*****

Here’s my attempt at a Free and/or Not Free Poem:

“freedom”

the flowers are free to grow
exactly where they take root

fish can swim anywhere they wish
if the water allows

& you can love the sun all you want
as long as you don’t stare

*****

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He loves this time of year. Follow him on Twitter @RobertLeeBrewer.

The post 2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 23 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.


from WD Blogs – Writer's Digest
https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/2019-april-pad-challenge-day-23

New Literary Agent Alert: Marlo Berliner of The Jennifer de Chiara Literary Agency

Literary agent alerts (with this spotlight featuring Marlo Berliner of The Jennifer de Chiara Literary Agency) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list.

Marlo Berliner

Bio: Marlo Berliner is an award-winning young adult author, freelance editor, and bookseller. She joined The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in March 2018 as an editorial intern after having completed a previous internship with The Bent Agency. Now, she is actively building her list as an associate agent. She is a member of SCBWI, RWA, NJ-RWA, and YA-RWA. Prior to her career in the publishing world, Marlo was an accounting manager for a Fortune 500 company. She holds B.S. degrees in Economics and Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

What I’m Seeking: Middle Grade and Young Adult: I am interested in all genres of MG and YA fiction, with particular emphasis on adventure, psychological thriller, suspense, mystery, paranormal, urban fantasy, horror, speculative, and romance. I enjoy magic, magical realism, unusual settings, pirates, dark elements, gothic tone, secrets or secretive characters, treasure hunts, and unreliable narrators. Also, if you can take a story or intellectual property (in TV or books) that is popular with the adult crowd and give me it’s MG or YA version, then I will give it a look because I believe these types of stories may have strong potential for the market. Stories told by #ownvoices, and stories with diverse characters of all kinds, including neuro-diverse and LGBTQIA+ are all welcomed. I am also open to coming-of-age stories set in college that walk the line between upper YA and NA. While I do like contemporary tales, I may not be the best fit for ‘issue’ books where the central conflict revolves primarily around rape/rape-culture, drugs, or illness. I will also consider some select nonfiction projects in MG and YA, particularly if they involve pop-culture or current events.

Adult: I am interested in all genres of Romance, except inspirational, historical and erotic. I am also open to women’s fiction, mystery, thriller, and suspense.

For more, follow me on Twitter @MarloBerliner.

How To Submit: Please submit your query and first 20 pages of your finished and polished manuscript via my Query Manager: http://QueryMe.Online/marloberliner

You will receive an automatic response from Query Manager which lets you know your submission is in my inbox, and you can track your query’s progress. I’ll respond within 6 weeks, but only to projects that interest me.

PLEASE NOTE: I only accept Query Manager submissions; any queries sent by e-mail or regular mail will not be considered.

*****

Get a Literary Agent to Represent You!

Many writers think getting a literary agent is the hardest thing they’ll have to do as a writer. They think agents are looking to turn away writers, when actually many agents are actively looking to sign new talent. Learn how to find these agents in Carly Watters’ How to Get an Agent OnDemand webinar.

In this webinar, writers learn what an author/agent relationship really looks like, how to find an agent that’s right for you, what the state of the industry looks like for new authors, the important steps to writing a successful query letter, how to stand out among other querying writers, and more.

Click to continue.

The post New Literary Agent Alert: Marlo Berliner of The Jennifer de Chiara Literary Agency by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.


from WD Blogs – Writer's Digest
https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/new-literary-agent-alert-marlo-berliner-of-the-jennifer-de-chiara-literary-agency

Monday, April 22, 2019

The Secret to Overcoming Writer’s Block: Meditation

If you’re a writer, you’ve likely experienced the other-worldly “flow state” that arises on rare and precious occasions, when you feel a sense of oneness between person and pen, and the words flow forth from your fingers as if your soul itself is dictating.

More often, there’s writer’s block. Every author, journalist, blogger, and poet must learn to hurdle this dreaded obstacle at some point in their career. Few realize that there’s a simple and ancient cure: meditation.

Yoga and meditation have added such ease and depth to my own creative writing that when I realized the correlation, I began searching for the science behind this undeniable mental boost. What I found was proof—and hundreds of meditators who have experienced a “writing flow” so intense that it nearly felt spiritual.

Meditation and the “Ah-Ha!” Moment

Remarkably, this phenomenon is thoroughly explained and documented in scientific journals. In one study, the brainwaves of Tibetan Buddhist monks, lifelong meditators, were recorded and analyzed both in resting and meditative states. The findings show vastly increased activity in gamma waves, which activate when we make problem-solving connections that require multiple parts of the brain working together in harmony. In normal people, these brainwaves only spike for a fraction of a second at a time—literally during “ah-ha!” moments.

For lifelong meditators, these gamma waves are CONSTANTLY activated, to a degree of 25 times greater amplitude than non-meditators, even during normal, everyday moments.

It comes as no surprise that this state of constant “ah-ha!”-awareness increases our creative powers as writers. Imagine you’re trying to iron out the details of a complicated plot point in a story you’re writing, but no solution seems to make sense. It’s a 10-minute meditation and gamma wave spike that will come to your rescue.

Get into Your Characters’ Shoes

When the above-mentioned monks’ brains were studied during active meditation sessions, the parts of the brain responsible for “empathy” skyrocketed to 800 times their normal resting level, a number on-par with the brain activity of someone having an epileptic seizure—all while sitting peacefully in silence.

Conjuring that level of empathy is an invaluable superpower for creative writers. To be able to put yourself into the shoes of your characters and believably describe their emotions takes a deep level of insight and compassion, and meditation provides exactly that.

Short Meditations, Lasting Effects

If you’re unable to commit years of your life to meditation like a Tibetan monk, there’s still good news: even small stints of meditation are proven to increase one’s mental power. In one study, first-time meditators were analyzed over the course of eight weeks, reporting an average of just 27 minutes spent on mindfulness practices each day. At the completion of the study, MR images showed increased gray-matter density in the hippocampus, “in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion, and introspection,” which are all vital skills for creative writers.

Yoga to Change Your Mood

When it comes to writer’s block, these mindfulness techniques allow writers to be more present, more observant, and more creative so that they can move quickly past moments of stagnation. And moving the physical body helps as well; yoga asana (poses) can also be used to enhance writers’ creative output.

Modern science is starting to understand the energetic effects of yoga poses on our mental state, through a psychological concept called “embodied cognition.” It’s the idea that, not only do our bodies respond to our emotions (e.g., when you’re sad, you frown), but our emotions also respond to our bodies (when you force a smile, you feel happier.)

You may have experienced this yourself if you’ve ever been told to strike a “power pose” before a job interview, for example. The advice is often given to those who are feeling nervous: stand like Superman (chest puffed out, head held high, fists on hips), because the confident stance actually makes you FEEL more confident.

In the book Stealing Fire, authors Jamie Wheal and Steven Kotler write, “Five thousand years ago, early yoga practitioners were tinkering with embodied cognition to prompt higher states of awareness. If simply standing like Wonder Woman for a few minutes is enough to produce meaningful changes in our hormonal profile, imagine what practicing a full sequence of yoga postures every morning would do.”

For writers, these movements can put you in a completely different headspace to increase your focus and awareness. If you’ve been sitting slouched over a computer, staring at a blank document for hours, try holding the opposite of that posture (a standing backbend, for example). It can completely change your mindset, creating more energy, motivation, and confidence in your ability.

How It Feels

I recently spoke with David Holzer, a fellow yoga teacher and creator of the DailyOM course  “Secret Writing Mantra” about what this practice means for him as a writer.

“Yoga completely transformed my writing,” he says. “It enables me to tap into inspiration every time, without having to wait for my muse to show up. I’m now fearless about going deeper into my writing, and able to direct my focus. I’ve become more disciplined. I use my breath to write in a healthier way.”

In Holzer’s course, he teaches other writers to harness the power of yoga, meditation, and mantra to optimize their writing. His approach is built on a simple sequence that emphasizes the power of mindfulness to help writers find their voice and overcome self-doubt.

How It’s Done

Guided meditations to beat writer’s block are becoming increasingly popular amongst writers. Most of these meditations focus on visualization and passive observation—quieting the mind so that new and novel ideas can arise. These meditations are as easily accessible as opening YouTube or Spotify.

The general technique is to find a quiet place to sit with an erect spine, close your eyes, and simply bring your focus to the breath. When the mind inevitably wanders and brain-chatter arises, just acknowledge the thoughts without judgment, and send them on their way. The act of bringing your awareness back to your breath, as Dan Harris describes it, is like “doing a bicep curl for the brain.” Your mind becomes stronger over time.

Change the Way You Write

The moment writer’s block strikes and you find yourself frozen at your laptop, a 10-minute break to meditate may be the pivotal moment for your project.

One ghostwriter I spoke to had this exact experience.

“I had been sitting at my desk for an hour, just reading and re-reading everything I had written the day before, completely unable to move forward, like my fingers had turned to stone on the keyboard,” she says. “So I decided to close my eyes, and just count my breaths. In, and out. In, and out. And within 15 minutes, it was like a flood-gate had opened in my mind, and the words just started pouring out.”

She concludes with a feeling that few writers ever experience, but that all writers can:

“It was like the words were no longer my own, but the words of a divine spirit. Through meditation, I think I met my muse.”


Megan Mulrine is a writer, editor, and meditation teacher living in Bali, Indonesia. Her guided meditations for overcoming writer’s block can be found on Spotify, and she’s currently hosting Writers’ Workshop Retreats in Bali to help other writers experience the deep flow state achieved through meditation.

The post The Secret to Overcoming Writer’s Block: Meditation by Guest Column appeared first on Writer's Digest.


from WD Blogs – Writer's Digest
https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/beat-writers-block/the-secret-to-overcoming-writers-block-meditate

2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 22

For today’s prompt, write a correspondence poem. Maybe write a poem that would fit on a postcard or in a letter. Or write a poem about correspondence school. Or jump into newer forms of correspondence like e-mail or text messaging. Of course, not all correspondence is connected to communicating; sometimes one thing corresponds to another by being similar.

*****

Poem Your Days Away!

Online poetry prompts are great! But where can you get your poem fix when you unplug? The answer is the Smash Poetry Journal, by Robert Lee Brewer.

This book collects 125 poetry prompts from the Poetic Asides blog, gives poets plenty of room to write poems, and a lot of other great poetic information. Perfectly sized to carry in a backpack or purse, you can jot down ideas for poems as you’re waiting in line for a morning coffee or take it to the park for a breezy afternoon writing session (or on a bus, at a laundromat, or about anywhere else you can imagine–except under water, unless you’re in a submarine or a giant breathable plastic bubble).

Anyway, it’s great for prompting poems, and you should order a copy today. (Maybe order an extra one as a gift for a friend.)

Click to continue.

*****

Here’s my attempt at a Correspondence Poem:

“letter never sent”

the thing about the letter
that i never sent
is that i wrote it
but i never sent it
because i already knew
nothing would change

*****

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He loves correspondence. Follow him on Twitter @RobertLeeBrewer.

The post 2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 22 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.


from WD Blogs – Writer's Digest
https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/2019-april-pad-challenge-day-22

Sunday, April 21, 2019

2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 21

We’re three weeks in today; let’s keep the poeming going.

For today’s prompt, write a sketch poem. My initial thought is to write a poem that’s like a sketch of a moment or an object. But you can play around with sketchy people or situations. Or just sketch something else together.

*****

Poem Your Days Away!

Online poetry prompts are great! But where can you get your poem fix when you unplug? The answer is the Smash Poetry Journal, by Robert Lee Brewer.

This book collects 125 poetry prompts from the Poetic Asides blog, gives poets plenty of room to write poems, and a lot of other great poetic information. Perfectly sized to carry in a backpack or purse, you can jot down ideas for poems as you’re waiting in line for a morning coffee or take it to the park for a breezy afternoon writing session (or on a bus, at a laundromat, or about anywhere else you can imagine–except under water, unless you’re in a submarine or a giant breathable plastic bubble).

Anyway, it’s great for prompting poems, and you should order a copy today. (Maybe order an extra one as a gift for a friend.)

Click to continue.

*****

Here’s my attempt at a Sketch Poem:

“sketch comedy”

of all the skits i’ve seen over the years
it’s one of the simplest that makes me laugh

on the kids in the hall mark mckinney played
mr. tyzik who always used his fingers to crush

people’s heads from a distance while saying
“i’m crushing your head” though my favorite

was when kevin mcdonald played a female friend
who put her thumb in front of her eye & said

“there is nobody home” which frustrates mr. tyzik
until he realizes the power of “nobody home”

and uses it to avoid paying cab fare for his friend
before both declare nobody is home to each other

and an overjoyed mr. tyzik says “if we do this
for a month, we live here rent free.”

*****

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He likes a good sketch. Follow him on Twitter @RobertLeeBrewer.

The post 2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 21 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.


from WD Blogs – Writer's Digest
https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/2019-april-pad-challenge-day-21

Saturday, April 20, 2019

2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 20

Wow! Some how, some way, we’re two thirds of the way through this month already.

For today’s prompt, write a dark poem. Cave poems, poems at night, and no electricity poems–these are all appropriate for today’s prompt. Of course, dark has several other connotations as well. An underdog is often known as a dark horse, a villain may have a dark heart, and Batman is known as the Dark Knight. Heck, when I was little, I thought Darth Vader was Dark Vader.

*****

Poem Your Days Away!

Online poetry prompts are great! But where can you get your poem fix when you unplug? The answer is the Smash Poetry Journal, by Robert Lee Brewer.

This book collects 125 poetry prompts from the Poetic Asides blog, gives poets plenty of room to write poems, and a lot of other great poetic information. Perfectly sized to carry in a backpack or purse, you can jot down ideas for poems as you’re waiting in line for a morning coffee or take it to the park for a breezy afternoon writing session (or on a bus, at a laundromat, or about anywhere else you can imagine–except under water, unless you’re in a submarine or a giant breathable plastic bubble).

Anyway, it’s great for prompting poems, and you should order a copy today. (Maybe order an extra one as a gift for a friend.)

Click to continue.

*****

Here’s my attempt at a Dark Poem:

“taking pictures of a black hole”

i admit there are times i’m afraid of the dark
because of all the games my brain plays in the park
of my mind processing possible outcomes so
i fell i’m possessing an incredible ghost

or perhaps the spirit may be possessing me
& i’m the dark vessel through which the spirit sees
just as scientists can see the unseeable
i often fear i could be the unbeable

so if i tremble when i’m alone in the night
imagine a black hole consuming all the light
& know our heavenly bodies are made to end
by dissolving in space like a note never sent

& silence like darkness never ceases to breed
more feelings of longing & an unending need

*****

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He enjoyed writing a sonnet today; find more poetic forms here. Follow him on Twitter @RobertLeeBrewer.

The post 2019 April PAD Challenge: Day 20 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.


from WD Blogs – Writer's Digest
https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/2019-april-pad-challenge-day-20