Finding readers

I’ve been thinking about this for the past week as I have been developing and tweaking my online outlets. Last night I was reading an article about speculative poetry in the 2010 edition of Poet’s Market. Speculative poetry is poetry that fits into the genre of sci-fi and mythological. What I found interesting about this article it stated speculative poetry is the type of poetry that actually pays. Often I have heard that poetry doesn’t pay and at best doesn’t pay well. But here was a genre of poetry that based on what the article was stating does pay out better than the average publisher of poems.

Why is that I wondered. After thinking about the article I realized that the sci-fi genre has a very dedicated and committed following. It has birthed an entire culture of hard core fans with a grassroots type movement. Dragon Con anyone?

And now it makes sense. Supply and demand is the root of all that is profitable. And the sci-fi fans LOVE their sci-fi in all its formats. Poetry included. A collection of poems that focus on sci-fi may actually sell. Why? Because sci-fi readers LOVE reading sci-fi.

My point is not that I’m about to write sci-fi poetry although I do love sci-fi and mythological worlds and characters. My realization is that finding readers is a more productive endeavor if I find what genre of writing my poetry falls into and I focus my submissions and online outlets into that area. Adding my poetry as a thread in the fabric of a genre’s culture would develop a readership.

As a poet I like writing about whatever moves me or inspires me and i will always do so. Yet I’m excited to focus my writing into a genre where my work is embraced because it enlivens the culture of the genre it belongs too.

Making it all work out

I admire jugglers and how they are able to maintain multiple objects in the air at the same time. I don’t know how to juggle but I feel like I do it everyday with the tasks in my life. If I had the perfect day I would spend it reading, writing and tinkering with my online branding projects such as my blog, my page on Reverbnation.com and untangling the odd world of Facebook applications.

But I don’t have the perfect day that often so most days I’m juggling my non-work hours trying to make time for exercising, my family, my writing, my reading and cooking. I’ve learned that’s its easier to squeeze in minutes here and there than to try and block off an hour of my time. Then on the weekends I’ll spend a quality block of time doing items that are important to me.

Even now it’s 12:30 a.m. and I’m trying to finish this blog. Such is the life of someone with a dream. You got to get it in where you can fit it in.

Life inspires poetry

Poetry full of passion, joy, pain, love, lost, fear, ecstasy, anger, hurt, peace, enlightenment or any other emotion comes from living life. You live long enough you experience events that tug at your emotions and heart from cloud nine to rock bottom. That’s life but that is what creates a great poet, a great writer. Never dismiss your experiences as nothing more than a bad day or a good memory. Use those moments to reach by poetry to others having a similar lot in life.

I’m finding my voice and sculpting a purpose for my voice. I’ve always written poetry for me and now I’m writing poetry to share with others and I’m developing my ideas of what is it that I want others to experience by my work. I hope my work takes you to a place that allows you to reflect on your life and maybe my poetry gives words to what you’ve lived.

Starting to record my poetry

Downloaded a free recording software called Audacity and now I’m able to record myself reading poetry and save it as a mp3 file. Actually to save the file as a mp3 file I also had to down load the free LAME mp3 encoder. instructions here. Gotta love open source software LOL.

What’s so cool about the software is that when I save the file it asks me the name of the artist, the genre of the work, and the name of the album. When I opened up my iTunes player and added my recording to my playlist it shows up as a song with my name as the artist and my “album name”. How cool is that!

So I’ll be creating more readings of my poetry (and also purchasing a nicer microphone). I’m now on the hunt for where to upload my recordings. Looking at Reverbnation.com It seems to be the spot where a number of poets have their recordings listed. I just have to read their website and see how all of that works.

Filling my head with inspiration

It’s tiring and illuminating at the same time.

I enjoy writing poetry as a means to express my emotional connection to an event, place or person. Focusing on how something or someone or someplace makes me feel is the premises for how I begin a poem . Then I put those feelings into words and hopefully I transport the reader so they too can feel their own reaction. Poetry should be a pulse. Representing something alive. Like you for starters.

I want to be a great poet. I want to be published poet. I want to be a PAID poet. How’s that for ambition.

My focus these days is to learn, study and learn more from the great poets of the past and present. Great in terms of society bestowing the title great on a poet and quiet internet poets who I think are awesome who post their poems just to share with whoever stumbles upon them. The greatest poets may be everyday hobby writers unknown to most of academia.

So I study. Not just the poetry but the lives of the great poets. I read journals whose target audiences are writers to learn about the business of publishing and what it takes to be a great writer. Talent gets a poet noticed and talent will be the wheels on the chariot that rides a poet to greatness but that chariot is composed of more than talent. The most talented unknown poet in the world can post their poems on the net but is that enough? I don’t think so. I’m not sure what else is needed but I know some other actions are required and it’s those actions I’m seeking to learn.

Realizing I need to expand beyond poetry in terms of writing I am researching classes in writing, editing, literature as well as poetry. Book reviewing is a specialty that develops writing, reading, and analytical skills and it’s easy to begin. Just log into a book seller website and start reviewing. I can do that.

So for now I have tons of inspirational ideas to craft into an action plan of being a great, published and paid poet. The next step is to put these ideas into action.

Alisa

What inspires me?

Poetry is all around me. Every day. All day. I talk in a poetic style and I write in a poetic style. It just flows out of me and some times I forget to collect it.

Which is why I’m always looking for inspiration. I don’t need inspiration to create a poem. I need to be inspired to capture what’s always flowing out of me onto paper. In short something to focus my thoughts upon to land the poem floating in my head onto a two dimension form. And I find inspiration is many places.

My favorite place are locations where there is a lot of people watching for me to do. Parks, museums, cafes, festivals, jazz clubs. Any place people gather in mass. I would love to write a poem in the mist of a concert but that’s just too much energy for me to contend with but the idea is awesome.

Sitting in a spot and soaking up the energy of a place allowing it to shape the words in my mind produces my work. I’ll write about anything as long as it moves me. An ant carrying a piece of candy, a homeless person on the street corner looking for money, children playing and parents daydreaming, or a simple piece of art. I feel that life is full of poetry and I want to capture those moments and share.

Alisa

Learning from the Lost Generation

I’ve been reading a lot about the Lost Generation. The group of American expatriate writers that descended onto Paris from about 1914 to the late 1920’s. Two of the most notable writers were F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. I have always found this era in Paris to be something nostaligic and romantic in its nature.

I went to Paris about a month ago and it’s an amazing city that stays with you even after you’ve left. Paris has a way of getting into you and a little piece of it always travels with you. There is so much to see and do in Paris and in my attempt to see all the “must see” places like the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles I didn’t get a chance to visit the literary historical part of the city. To be honest I was so in awe of what I was seeing I didn’t even remember about the expatriates in Paris until AFTER I got back home. That’s just how much history and culture is in Paris. Too much for one visit. Paris can be visited multiple times based on theme visits. The architecture of Paris. The art of Paris. The literary scene in Paris. The haute couture and fashions of Paris. The food of Paris. The wine of Paris. Not to mention I think it’s the perfume capital of the world.

So I find the idea of American writers living and penning in Paris to be a very exciting, romantic and adventuresome idea. And I’m searching for their experiences and how being in this great city inspired their work. I started reading Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. Which is his memoir of being a writer in Paris during the 1920’s. So far the one thing that stands out is how the author speaks of writing until he has something left to say and then leaves his work to walk around Paris. This way by not emptying himself into his writing he has something to start writing with the next day. And by walking about the city this allows his mind to free itself from his works. I love it! The visual is incredible. Writing until you have almost emptied out of you what needs to put on paper and then walking through out the city with a cleared mind just enjoying the environment and energy of a place. Or doing like Hemingway did in the beginning of the memoir and that is to walk into a cafe, get inspired and pull out a notebook and pencil to write.

To me being able to go places to be inspired to write something is the romantic side of writing. Some call it research but I call it exciting. I try to do this as much as possible because going to places and events allows me the opportunity to feel and experience the energy to put into a poem. I did this the other night when I went to a jazz and wine cafe and listened to a band. I wrote my latest poem Jazz at the Vino there that night. And for the hour I was at the cafe I think I understood the expatriates in Paris. The band ended at 11:30p.m. but if they had played longer I could have easily stayed longer and wrote.

Writing poetry comes naturally to me and being somewhere that greatly inspires me creates a wonderful experience. And that’s what I’ve learned so far from the expatriates in Paris.

Alisa