One of the mistakes many beginners make is that they try to emulate someone else’s voice. It is fine to love a certain poet or style, but when it comes to writing poetry, you have to realize that the only voice that will work for you is your own voice. Don’t worry, all of those poets who have influenced you will still be there in the back of your mind when you write, just don’t waste your time wondering how they would write a line. What matters is how you write.

“Into the garbage chute, flyboy.”

One of the great joys of writing poetry is that moment when you have a sudden breakthrough. Your can spend hours sitting around trying to get one poem to work, then all of a sudden inspiration strikes and another, better poem emerges, seemingly without effort. You are going to write a lot of bad poetry in your time, while you are looking for those inspired poems. Sometimes, you’ll even write a great poem without ever feeling inspired. The point is that you have to keep working in order to get to those good poems. Don’t give up just because you feel like you’re surrounded in garbage. Success might be waiting behind the very next door.

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

Another easy mistake to make is avoiding a topic because it feels too personal, too uninteresting or not “poetic” enough. A well-written poem can be about any subject that matters to you. The important thing is that it does matter to you. Embrace the topics that you think you want to avoid. Challenge yourself to write about anything and everything that has meaning to you.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

Poetry and self-doubt go hand in hand. Don’t dwell on the shortcomings of your poetry. If you are worried that your poetry isn’t good enough, then keep writing and keep studying other poets. Training and experience do matter, even in the realm of poetry. Life is a very long road. Don’t expect to master everything the first time. As long as you keep working and believing, you will keep improving.

“Let go”

Inspiration is a fleeting creature. When you finally get inspired, you need to allow yourself the time and the space to keep writing. You may have had other things planned. The phone may ring. There might be a knock at the door. When you are inspired, you need to ignore all of that, because once the inspiration leaves it may not return again easily. Embrace the inspiration you get and follow it for as long as you can.

Do you see the multi-colored letters that form my name at the top of the page. I did that on purpose. I was trying to recreate the look and feel of an early nineteen sixties cocktail bar sign, the sort of thing you would find in a Rock Hudson / Doris Day movie or (my personal favorite) the Kim Novak, James Garner, Tony Randall classic, Boy’s Night Out. It may or may not be the best look for a site by a 21st century writer, but I liked it. This all leads me to a conversation being had over at ProBlogger about how much design matters during the early stages of a blog. I subscribe to the philosophy that the first, most important thing to do is start writing quality posts and worry about fancy design earlier. Read: Does Blog Design Matter in the Early Stages of a Blog?

Somebody Out There Made it Work

Have you wondered whether or not to try freelance writing for other blogs? In my opinion, it isn’t worth the effort. It is far easier to write and market your own blog about things that interest you than to try to squeeze money out of the notoriously tight-fisted blogging community, but Leo Babauta claims to be making $2000 a month freelancing for blogs, and he offers a boatload of advice for people who want to follow in his footsteps. In my opinion, there are far easier ways to make $2000 a month, but I don’t begrudge anyone who wants to try the exciting world of freelance writing. Read: How to Become a Freelance Blog Writer

28 Years Later

When I was a kid watching Meatballs for the first time, I thought it was an instant classic. After 28 years or so, it turns out the movie was merely great, which is why I still don’t want them to remake it. Unfortunately, Hollywood continues its self-devouring ways and has commissioned a script for a new version. I wonder if this one will have the lead character laughing and joking his way through a date rape scene. Read: Who’s Ready for Another Serving of ‘Meatballs’?

The Book is Flat, and Thick

On the traditional book front, I am reading Thomas L. Friedman’s The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. After reading Timothy Ferris, I became more interested in the influence of outsourcing on the technology industry.
Friedman’s book discusses the benefits and challenges of a truly global, mobile economy. I’ll be discussing it in more detail once I finish reading it.

It costs too much

I’m not usually strapped for cash these days, but I’m probably a lot cheaper than I used to be. When I made six dollars an hour, plunking down twelve dollars for a ticket, popcorn and a soda didn’t bother me too much. Now I make around $30 an hour, but the thought of spending forty dollars or so for my wife and I to go to the movies just seems like a waste of money, especially when my local video store (Sorry Blockbuster, I found a better deal) charges me $.99 to rent the DVD complete with features and I can spend the other 39 dollars on far better snacks with money to spare.

I’ve Seen it Before

Hollywood stopped making new movies years ago. They were recycling pretty heavily in the eighties and nineties as well, but now it seems to have reached a fever pitch. Every major movie this year is a sequel. Spiderman, Shrek, Harry Potter, Captain Jack Sparrow. I’ve seen them all before, and in better movies. As for the non-sequels, try to tell any two romantic comedies apart these days. I give major points to The Break Up, because at least they had the guts to let the relationship fail, but it is still a kinder gentler version of the much more biting The War of the Roses. I could go on and on about this, but you get the picture.

Commercials

I don’t go to movies to watch commercials. Thanks to Tivo, I rarely even watch commercials at home. I am perfectly happy to sit through previews of coming attractions, but I do not want to experience jingle spouting dancers shouting the word Fanta at me in Dolby Surround Sound.

Annoying People

Even in the eighties, you had to deal with people talking in movies, but the trend is growing exponentially. Between the people chatting with each other, the people talking on their cell phones and the people texting each other, the theater isn’t just loud, it’s glowing. It’s easy to blame this sort of thing on these kids today but I see plenty of older offenders who should know better.

The Rise of Television

While the quality and originality of movies seems to have fallen steadily during my time as a moviegoer, the quality of television has risen dramatically. Shows like Lost, Heroes, CSI, The Shield, Entourage and The Office have raised the bar for television writing and production values to the point that they are every bit as entertaining as movies. Sure, there is a lot of junk out there, but the beauty of Tivo and other DVRs is that you can watch what you want, when you want. In the past, movies (with their multiple viewings per day) were more accessible than television shows, but now that gap has closed.

I’ll always be a fan of movies, but more and more I am waiting for the DVD to come out. There isn’t the sense of urgency that there once was. I know I can see it sooner or later, and I’m perfectly happy to wait most of the time. Besides, it seems as if the truly unique movies only make it to the video store. The theater is too busy showing POC3 on eight different screens.