Monthly Archives: February 2025

February 28, 2025 · 4:29 pm

The Creative Process Part 2

Every week there is a poetic battle challenge (X account is @The_PoetryArena) I compete in on a regular basis. Prompt word is revealed on Wednesday. Then poets submit their poems on Friday / Saturday. Five poems are selected as finalists on Monday. The community votes on Tuesday and then Wednesday the winner, crowned as the Voice Of Valo(U)r, provides the next prompt word.

This morning the muse hit me again as I was driving to school. I had this idea of “sheltering in place”. And I honestly don’t know where the idea came from, but as I was driving the idea blossomed into an idea of a newscast stating the command.

Again, when I got to school I started jotting down the idea. The first draft was kind of short and actually more like just the idea. I had some lines down but more notes of imagery and theme.

Then came the second draft.

The poem wanted form. This honestly is the magic of writing. I didn’t actually research more traditional poetic forms, I ran with the idea of using a rhyme scheme of AxAxBxBx and so on. I did think about syllable count per line, but decided to run with a more natural break in the lines.

As you can see I had to actually identify the rhyming lines because as I edited for flow and word choice, I got lost on which line needed the rhyme.

Another magical aspect about this poem is that I had no idea how it would end. As I wrote the poem, the theme emerged through the rhymes and play on words. And I also felt the weight of what is going on in our country mix with the tension of what I believe life should be about, come through in the lines as I wrote. I wasn’t planning on a happy ending… but it is an honest ending.

I did some heavy editing on the second draft, then transferred the poem to my computer so I could submit the poem to this week’s battle. And so, it will be interesting to see the poetic journey this poem takes.

The overall process was the same for each poem, but this time there was more work involved in the final draft. Even though I wasn’t using a traditional poetic form (which sometimes calls for a lot of editing) this poem’s creation was more intense. I had to mesh the rhyming rules with my idea. That work was a joy though.

Feel free to comment about your creative process in the comment section or on social media.

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February 27, 2025 · 10:12 am

The Creative Process

Yesterday, the muse hit me as we were on our way to school. I was driving, so I kept repeating some lines of a poem in my head so I could jot them down when I got to my classroom. As it happens, more lines came to me as we got to school.

As soon as I sat down, I released the poem onto a yellow legal notepad. I thought it would be fun to share my creative process on X as I spent time working with the poem.

Here are those posts:

Post One:

Love the creative process… first is jotting down the lines I had in my head as I was inspired on the drive to school…

Post Two:

The second step (for me with poetry) is to consider if the main idea of the poem can be better expressed through a poetic form. So what I will do is consider the rules of longer poetic forms (the poem is a page long at the moment. If a form stands out I will rough draft (cont)

the poem in that form. Then I have to make a hard creative decision. I decide if the poem works in the poetic form, or as written. I will still work on word choice, flow, things like that after that decision… I’ll let you know what I decided when I get the chance…

Post Three:

So step two has been completed. I will not be using a traditional poetic form, I will work with the poem as it was written on the page (step three). Forms I did look at: cywydd deuair hirion, kyrielle, rimas dissolutas, and Ya-du to name a few….

Post Four:

Step three of the process is the work on the poem. I have edited the original draft, but now have rewritten the whole poem on a new sheet of paper working the edits in. The 2nd draft also focuses on line breaks, tempo, things like that… I will rewrite the whole poem (cont)…

a number of times. I do that so I experience the whole poem, not just the edits. When I feel I have the poem ‘right’ I will transfer it to my computer.

Post Five:

Side note for creativity… To a degree I trust my gut regarding decisions about the poem. No poetic form felt like it would enhance the theme of the poem, trust the feel of the words on the page as I write. So, there is always the risk of getting something ‘wrong’ (cont)

in the sense that the poem isn’t the best it can be. Or the bridge to the reader is not strong. But the more one works on their craft, they can trust their gut more, and be OK when it doesn’t seem to hit correctly…

Post Six:

Step 4 is easy. Transfer of the work onto my computer. But step five is a challenge… what to do with the poem. I was going to share it in the next post, but as soon as I do that I can not submit the poem for publication consideration… And I like how this poem (cont)

turned out. I like the imagery and the theme. I want to share it, but am now thinking about seeing if someone else would like it enough to publish it. So, at the moment I am going to submit it to some journals. Hope you enjoyed this look into the process of writing a poem today!

And so I have a new poem in my folder “unpublished 2025” and I am looking for opportunities to submit the poem. 

When I write blog posts (like this one) and short stories, even my novel ideas. Step one is kind of the same. I do like to get ideas down on paper, even if I use my phone to record an idea, like I do when I walk. I personally like the sense of creation as I write. The feeling of the pen, the way the ink evolves into words. 

In some ways, I can’t forget about that idea because it is in the real world. So, would love to hear about your creative process. Share in the comments, or reach out to me on social media. 

Here’s to a creative day!

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February 18, 2025 · 10:15 am

Snow Day Feeling

Watched a movie last night.

Slept in until 8.

Played a little Minecraft and am now writing this blog… all before 10 am even.

This is our second snow day in the last two weeks. February has been rough with the snow and the temperatures. Today we should get to 0 degrees.

The house is warm. The coffee good. Everyone is chilling in their own way. One daughter is playing Little Nightmares, another is writing (and texting friends I believe), and my youngest is jamming out to Taylor Swift in her room.

But a part of me wonders what other households are like at this moment. We had our first snow last week. Every day I start each class with a fun question. So naturally I asked how everyone’s snow day was. Guess what the number one response was.

Boring!

Yes, by a long shot. Boring.

Now, there were other answers, like productive, sleep, and snow. But it disheartened me to hear so many students say ‘boring’.

One of my goals as a dad and husband is to make home the best place for my family. For me HOME is more than a place, it is a feeling, it is warmth and safety. It is dinner together, blueberry muffins on Sunday, laughter and good times… especially on a snow day.

This house is now the place I have lived the longest. And it has only been 14 years. The next longest time I lived in one place was grad school – four years.

Growing up, home was an ever changing place. And the hardest part, an ever changing feeling. Too many times those feelings were not good.

Now, my children have said that they were bored. Of course I said they could read a book, write a letter, or draw a picture. But I am proud of the home we have. A snow day is an unexpected chance to laugh, snack too much, but most importantly, to just be family.

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