|
|
August,
Postcards, and Poetry
My first writing
love is poetry. I've been writing poems for most of my life. In fact,
this is a common entry point for many school children. Much of what is
read to children is verse and playful language a la Dr. Suess.
I often teach poetry workshops to elementary school children and what I
tell them is that poetry is the orange juice concentrate of language:
all of the intensity (the pucker!) and none of the water.
I have long maintained that an appreciation and command of poetry will
enhance any kind of writing, creative, persuasive, or both.
So what does this have to do with August and postcards and you?
Well, for the past several years, I have been involved in the August
Poetry Postcard Festival in which poets trade addresses and commit to
sending out original poetry on postcards to 31 poets (one a day). In
return, participants receive 31 original poems, all from different
writers.
I have a lovely collection of all the postcards I've received over the
years.
So here's my offer to you, dear subscribers:
If you email me (lisa@ljcohen.net)
your snail mail address, I will send you an original poem, handwritten
on a postcard, sometime during the month of August.
(Don't worry, that's all I will use your address for--no spam, nothing
but a single postcard.)
You can see some examples of past poems and postcards on my blog.
***
(top of page)
What's
New
I'm working on a new
story--a science fiction novel about what happens when a group of
teenagers inadvertently resurrect a derelict space ship whose
artificial intelligence has PTSD.
What's interesting and new about this story, (working title, DERELICT)
is that I'm sharing the first draft process publicly on its own blog.
This has been an incredibly fun experiment and journey and I've just
passed the 25% mark in the story. 4 chapters are now posted and I'm
committed to posting a new chapter each friday until the story is
complete.
***
(top
of page)
This
Issue's Story
So I don't have a story
to send you this month; however, I will give you the link to DERELICT
(http://derelict-wip.blogspot.com)
in hopes that you might want to follow along with my first
draft process.
A new chapter will go live every Friday.
What I do need help with is finding a name for the ship's AI. The space
station's name is Daedelus. The code that programs these complex AI's
is called SIREN (self-learning, interactive, recursive,
enhanced networks.) I envision the AI as having a female personality.
Given 2 references to Greek mythology, I'm thinking something from
mythology, or at least tangentially related would be appropriate.
So,
dear subscribers, if you have any suggestions, please send them on. If
I use your suggested name, I will credit you with my thanks.
***
If
you are looking for any of the previous short stories from older
editions of BlueMusings, head to this downloads
page. All formats of the prior offerings are there along with
information on how to download the stories for your preferred
reading device.
(top of page)
|
|
|
This work
is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
(This
means you can share the newsletter and/or the story with a link back
to http://www.ljcohen.net, Lisa Janice (LJ) Cohen, but please
do not place it for sale or change it.)
|
| Past issues of
Blue Musings archived here. |
|
|
