Holy Sonnet Batman!

In recent post I've mentioned a few different things. One was looking back on some of my old post that had substance and weren't just filler material I posted to let people know I was still alive. Actually that I might have mentioned quite a while ago. I don't really recall. Anyway, the other was poetry. When I combine these two things I came up with one thought. Sonnets.

Over two years ago, I sat in the last day of writing class, forced to write a sonnet. At the time this was really annoying because I was on a bad kick about my dislike of poetry after having just been forced to write poetry in many different forms, including prose poems. For the record, I still can only guess the difference between a prose poem and a short short. I really think it has to do with sharing thoughts (prose poem) and telling a story (short short). Of course, this is only a guess and really I feel the whole thing is very debatable. Jenni, if you're out there please feel free to enlighten me.

Sorry for the digression. Now back to our regularly scheduled program, which is my brilliant sonnet and the idea that followed, which wasn't all that brilliant and I have yet to follow through on.

I wrote a sonnet about Batman. To me, it seemed really genius. It wasn't something many people would write a sonnet about. I felt my use of BAM! and POW! were an awesome idea and a great tribute to the old comics and t.v. show.
It was definitely one of my favorite things I ever wrote. I loved it so much I vowed to write 154, or however many Shakespeare sonnets there are, comic book character sonnets. I started with a bang, one a week, even buying a rhyming dictionary but I fell off the wagon after a mere 4 and a half started sonnet.
It was difficult to find cool things about each character or quirky things like onomatopoeias and then make them rhyme and fit. I started to wonder if I should have just left it at the awesomeness of Batman. I still think about it. Maybe one day I'll have inspiration to finish. Until then it's in my incomplete stack.
And for anyone who hasn't read the first of my few sonnets and is mildly curious about it, just click here for the original post.

*Why did I not use the title of this post for the original post. And yes a Robin sonnet with Holy something or other in it would be a quote that would equal the quirkiness of the onomatopoeias.*

**Also why does spell check keep telling me that onomatopoeias is wrong and that it should have an apostrophe after the 's'? Am I missing something in my grammar or is spell check just nuts as usual? **

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I did have another poetryesque post that is mixed with an old school flashback but I thought I'd hold off for a day and spread some love.

I received a blog award a few days ago and I didn't get around to putting it up. I was hesitant since I don't really feel like I deserve but D.B.Echo went to the trouble of giving it to me so I feel I should, in fact, do what the award says I've done and spread love.

I don't think anyone who reads this blog would not be worthy of the award so I give it to everyone.

My plan was to continue to spread the love and the poetry by putting up a poem filled with love that I had written. Then I looked through what I had, only to find they were all sad and about heartbreak. It's been a rough few years for me in the relationship department, but fortunately, I'm on the path to setting things right. It's a hard path. A poetry, short story and novel inspiring path that I never thought I would have the strength to go down. Well, it may be tough but at least it's giving me something to write about.

And now I'm getting way too personal. So remember spread the love. And not just the romantic love. Be kind to others, go out of your way to do something good for someone and try to have some understanding with everyone.

Anyway, since my blog is kind of plain and I want to spruce it up. I've decided to add more videos and more pictures so for Valentine's Day, here's another RENT moment.

If Only I Could Play An Instrument

My last post was about poetry. It seems crazy to me considering how much I don't understand it and thus am scared to attempt to write it. Yet, I write what I must, what pops into my head and demands to be put on paper. Sometimes it's just lines that would not make a cohesive story but still they say what I want to tell. The only thing I can really categorize that as is poetry.

I'll admit I don't read much poetry but I do know there are some poems that I do admire. Although, the poetry I flock too is probably too well known and mainstream to count for much among true poetry lovers. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, many different children's poems by Shel Silverstein and Shakespeare sonnets are about the only thing, not in text books, on my book shelves.

A common thread is that they rhyme and when I attempt to write poetry, even if I try really hard not to, what I write usually rhymes. I'm not sure that it's considered high quality poetry these days if it rhymes.

So I'm thinking that maybe I'm not a poet. Perhaps I'm a lyricist. I love music. I can remember the words to just about any song I've heard more than two or three times. I really connect with music and I feel like most of my poetry would make decent song lyrics if they were tweaked a bit.

I would love to turn my rhyming poetry into songs. The only problem with this is that I have absolutely no musical talent at all. I can play the guitar a little. I would love to play the piano but I don't know how. Even if I did manage to learn to play then I would have to figure out how to write original music to go with my lyrics.

There may be the option of teaming up with someone who has musical talent but we see how that has gone as far as finding an artist for comic book projects.

Right now I don't think I'm anywhere near where I need to be to pursue anything as far as lyrics go. Maybe I should just work on the poetry and if I manage to be decent at that, then I can look into other things.

Of course, what I should really do is focus on my novel and short fiction. Or maybe I should just write whatever I feel I have to to keep my head from aching at the thought of having a brilliant idea be lost and never to be shared.

Dreaming of poetry

After a rough night last week I stayed in bed longer than I probably should have. While trying to sleep but not really, I got really inspired with rhyming lines that would make a good poem. Well maybe not good because I still don't understand writing poetry. At first I thought I dreamed it and that, aside from dreaming the lyrical words, I also dreamed I would never remember it when I woke up. Then I came out of my half sleep, attempting to return and I had the lines in my head. Although, I'm not entirely sure they were the same as the ones I dreamt of. It was all very confusing, as dreams usually are.
Anyway, so it has me stuck once again with a poetry bug regardless of the fact that I cannot write poetry, at least not well. The same could be said for prose but at least with prose I understand enough about it to fake being somewhat good at it.
I've written some new poetry and revised some old poetry. I've cracked open some of my old 'how to write poetry books' and some books that have poetry in them. And I've even been ludicrous enough to toy with the idea of potentially submitting some poetry.
For a while, I was posting anonymously on a poetry community, just to see how bad it was. I really just got an occasional 'that's nice' type of comment that I felt people just did out of obligation in hopes others would respond to their poetry.
I really have no idea if what I'm writing is on a kindergarten level or if it might pass for more. Since the writing group seems to be falling apart I can't go there, which means I have no clue. All I know is that it means something to me so I'm going to consider giving it a try but I definitely need to look into what types of poetry seems to be getting published in the literary magazines latley.
I also might look around for a more active poetry community. Or maybe a writing group for prose and poetry, possibly online so I don't have to worry about meetings.

Only one great line

Tonight I finished my part of chapter 9 of Behind the Naugahyde. It's weird because the idea for Behind the Naugahyde really came from how much Jenni and I wrote about our jobs in e-mails and on live journal. We started thinking we could write a novel.
I just told Jenni this recently, but when we started and even now, I felt this horrible pressure about writing my part. Jenni would always have an amazing way of dramatically retelling stories. There were so many times when the muscles in my face would hurt from laughing so hard. I, on the other hand, wasn't so clever at writing them. I knew Jenni's part would be fabulous and mine would not be. For what we've gotten done, that is true.
Sometimes it scares me that I feel so much pressure about writing. This isn't the first time I've felt pressure to make something good. Of course all authors want to write great things so I'm sure I'm not alone.
The first time I remember having this incredible pressure to write something was in my tenth grade American Lit class. We had to write a poem for some reason, I don't really remember. It was one of those on the spot assignments that I absolutely hate. Anyway, I wrote the first line "She's in love with herself". My teacher came by and just started raving about what a great line that was. "It's a beautiful opening line. It's so powerful. I instantly want to know more about her." That' probably not what she said word for word but it was similar to that. Of course the first line was the only line I had and then I just became run over with this pressure to write lines that were equally great. I sat there forever trying to figure out what else to say about her that would be powerful, something that wouldn't disappoint the people that wanted to know more, like my teacher. Well time was up so I scribbled down a few meaningless lines about how she thinks she's all that, I can't even remember them now. I turned it in completely heartbroken that I had only one good line and that I my never have a series of great lines that make an unforgettable work of art.
I don't know what I ever did with that piece of paper. I'm sure I threw it out because it was awful and I didn't need the constant reminder that I cracked under pressure. Also I think I'm a bit of a coward and don't want to have it sitting around. I might be tempted to try to see what I would have come up with if I wasn't under the pressure of the time restraint. Of course I would always be under pressure with that line because my teacher had put that comment out there and because I want every line of everything I write to be one of those great lines.

No comic book store, unfinished comic story, reading a few comics

This week has been crazy. At the top of the list my favorite comic book store closed it's doors this week. It's a crazy situation that might end in them just moving but still it's been sad.

I've been working on my realistic hero comic. I should name it so it's easier to refer to. Hopefully that will be done soon.

With Friday's paycheck comes more stamps for more submissions.

Today, for the first time in a long time, I was just inspired to write about how something made me feel. Not really in a prose story, just lines of thought. Almost poetry, I dare say.

Currently listening to: Tiny Dancer-Elton John
I've been reading: All-Star Superman #4, Astonishing X-Men #15, Superman/Batman #27, Robin #151, Flash #1, Daredevil #86, 52 #7, Superman Returns Prequel #3
Went to see: The Da Vinci Code

Poetry Rant

As I sit here procrastinating from writing my story for class, I am annoyed. Not because I can't figure out how to start my story or because I have this urge to clean my office and can't because I must finish this. The reason I am so annoyed is that I think there is something unfair about writing. I looked at my fellow students posting to see if I was the only one who had waited until the last minute, I wasn't. There was one posting though and it was by one of the students who had chosen to do poetry. He wrote two poems that together barley make a page. I on the other hand have to write in the area of 10 pages. I checked the paper that told us what we must have by the end of the semester. I must have over 40 pages of short fiction, poets on the other hand must have 8-10 poems. Now I know poems aren't always as short as the ones posted but still they are generally under a page. Also I'm not criticizing poetry but they don't have to have a plot, characters or dialogue. They can just write whatever and even if it doesn't make sense it's called interpretive or experimental.
Maybe I should switch to poetry so I can do less work. Of course the class wouldn't benefit me then because I don't really have an interest in it.
Okay I'm done complaining. Now I have to get back to work.

*This is not me bashing poetry. I like poetry. There are many pieces that I love. I'm just not good at writing it.

Being Committed?

It's happened. I woke up in the middle of the night. The clock read 4:33. I think the reason I woke up was mostly panic that I was going to sleep through my alarm and miss jury duty. Then of course, I would get arrested or fined, so I kept waking up periodically. Just as I was about to fall back asleep, I realized that I had a really good idea for a story. Forgetting about leaving the comfort and warmth of my bed, and that I was incredibly tired and needed to be up rather early, I headed to my desk. I jotted it all down and actually got on quite a role. I was just so worried, if I didn't get out of bed to write it down, I would forget it and it could have been the best story ever. Looking at the great idea now it doesn't seem that great. Then today I went out to lunch and I couldn't help it. I started writing again on my placemat, because I didn't have enough paper in my little notebook. The point is that I have become slightly obsessed. It's okay though, at least to me. It just makes me feel committed to my love of writing.

The only other thing to say is that I have completed sonnet three and started sonnet four. I have to admit I started cheating and bought a rhyming dictionary. It's tough. Do you know how many heroes end with woman/man? I didn't want to write the same thing every time.

Shaffierean Sonnet #1

As mentioned in the previous post, today in my creative writing class we tackled rhyme and meter poetry. I am not a fan of poetry and had a rough time with the free verse and prose poems we had done through out the semester. So to focus on syllables and iambic pentameter, not to mention rhyming lines in a pattern, well lets just say I was more than excited. Our professor did not have us use this type of poetry through out the year unless we wanted to, because she did not want to limit our creativity. Today however, she wanted us to give it a try.
During class, particularly when discussing the difference between prose poetry and short-shorts, it was determined that poetry tends to have less of a tale to tell or someplace it's going, but rather expresses emotions and ideas. So when we set forth today we looked into some of the most famous rhyme and meter poetry of all time, Shakespearean sonnets.
For those of you unfamiliar with them they are often about seasons, time, love, emotion. Basically everything you would expect from poetry. Our teacher said we could really do any form but sonnets would probably be easiest. Well I figured William had really set the bar high for serious sonnets so I was going to go all out crazy. The professor tried to inspire us with two words, 'strange exhilaration'. This made me think of flying, which lead to superhero's, which lead to my sonnet. You're probably thinking, "she's teasing us by writing all this and now we'll never get to see it". You're wrong! Since I have absolutely no idea who would publish this, I will publish it here, for my faithful fan(s). Don't worry for those of you who don't get it I will explain at the end. Hopefully you like it, when I read it aloud in class people actually laughed! Here it is the first of my many sonnets.

He lands in the street, dropping from the sky.
Swears to protect, always ready to fight.
He is and is not a regular guy.
Crime fighting the job, they call him Dark Knight.

The Penguin, the Joker, and Ras al Ghul,
He is strong enough to stop them. Pow! Wham!
They use their power and evil to rule,
But he is just too fast for them. Bang! Bam!

Jumping from roof to roof over Gotham,
No resting when catching the enemy.
Sending some to jail and others to Arkham,
And he will return when they are set free.

They try to get by him but no one can.
He stands over watching, he is Batman.

For reference:(Batman is often referred to as the Dark Knight. The Penguin, the Joker and Ras al Ghul are all Batman villains. In the old comics and 60's T.V. series, in fight scenes they would use sound bubbles with words such as "Bam!" when hitting and such. Gotham City is Batman's hometown. Arkham is the insane asylum where the bad guys go.)

I would also like to express how excited I am that I figured out how to make line breaks. It took me nearly two hours of frustration as my sonnet kept coming out in a paragraph, but I figured out it was a format setting.

Short-short prose poem

Today I sat in class and after spending nearly half an hour making sure everyone received each others papers via e-mail, we got to the really fun discussion. The next two and a half hours went to figuring out the difference between short-shorts (very short stories) and prose poetry (poetry written in paragraph form). Once we read a few of each we discussed the differences, then wrote a paper on the differences. Our next assignment will be to write one of each by focusing on the characteristics that we used to define what made them different. Oh how exciting!

Time consuming moron!

I just realized that if I took a word count on all the letters I have written to my fellow co-workers in the past few weeks about the newest employee who acts like an eleven year old, that I would probably have close to enough to meet my NaNoWriMo goal. That is obviously an exaggeration but I do feel like I get less time to work on stuff because I spend a lot of time writing lengthy e-mails recording his moronic behavior. It could make a good book but I unfortunately haven't been saving any of it. Although spreading word of his idiotic ways does make me feel better. I know, now everyone's wondering what this employee does that is so bad. Mostly he lies about being great, doesn't do anything I ask him to and tells me I'm mean when I tell him to do his job. Maybe I'll start posting my e-mails since they are works of writing and they are entertaining.

In creative writing class I got my poetry back and I think the best comment I got was "I can tell you are more of a short fiction person than a poetry person". Our big paper that we have to send to the whole class is due next Wednesday. Then I have to read everyone else's. That should be fun.

I still haven't gotten either article done and the paper goes to print tomorrow. I asked my editor for suggestions. What I got was to go to the meeting for the association tonight (Thursday). I have to work every Thursday and I got the message at the time the meeting was ending. That is partly my fault since I can't check my voice-mail at school because it gets no signal there. I don't want to let the editor down but I'm not sure how much choice I'll have.
Registration for the winter semester starts next week and I have to figure out what I want to take. Decisions, decisions.

Idling

I have two articles for the Lookout I am trying to work out. It's hard to go to club meetings when you have to work. That's why you tell your editor these things but they don't listen.

The novel is going well I have been working on it every day. Yeah I know! I definitely think the rough draft will be done before December.

The comic is still kind of idling. I wish I had more to say about it but I don't . Although I do plan to send my new idea out to a few smaller companies and see what I can come up with. I would also like to get the new writers market guide for 2006 and send out some more submissions. I'm going to do some more rewrites to the stories I haven't managed to get published and send out a few new ones.

Class is still going well and since my teacher has been sick we are way behind schedule, which isn't bad because it will cut time out of poetry.

Still going

The novel is still going strong, I have only missed one day since I started. I think it could actually be finished ahead of schedule.
I didn't write for the paper last week, and I stopped my reviews. So now I feel like I'm not doing anything.

Class is still going well but I still question the content sometimes. I turned in a story and the main character got picked on at school for wetting their pants. My teacher actually wrote that she didn't feel it was solid motivation for middle school bullies. What school did she go to? I'm still struggling with the poetry but fortunately the due date got postponed a week.

The comic book seems to be idling right now. I'm still just waiting for things that are out of my hands. That is the toughest part.

I have come up with a new comic idea. I'm going to write up a proposal and send it out to a few small companies. So hopefully that has a somewhat good outcome.