My old friend Nate McFadden recorded the poem, “Dinner at Henri's”, from News from the Front (my latest chapbook, published by the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, here) for his podcast. He performs a smashing reading, nailing the tone. The poem, inspired by the French Resistance, and a life long love of radio, is one of my personal favs; it reads well with audiences, more than others. It's nice to hear someone besides me read it, like most of you I do not like the way I sound to others.
Actively, I try to squeeze some kind of poem, or poetic work out every day. It keeps me sane, healthy, and engaged with language. During the busy school year I can least give myself a twenty minute period of time when I can be in my own voice, so to speak, and work my talent. I'm documenting the quotidian over at Figment and Wattpad, two social media sites that deal with writing. Granted, most of the work on the site is written solely so the author can post a cool, hip cover, but both sites are packed full of creative types that wish to share, create, & craft the written word (think deviant art for writers—Figment geared towards YA lit, Wattpad towards an older crowd).
One of the biggest reasons I have chosen these mediums is so that I can see patterns, cycles, or themes emerge in a public space. I am very fond of the revision process and find the writing process interesting. I am not sure if I can offer anything new by making the process visible, but who knows. Furthermore I can help anyone who wants it along the way (like FB or Twitter, you can follow writers and share comments or critiques) and give back what I learned over the years.
W/r/t fiction: new draft in the works of Castaways, and look for a short story collection ( I hope ) via e-book this fall.
Happy trails.
Comments
Most partially.
Thank you also for talking about the 20 minutes. The language time for self.