Poet, Writer, Instructor
Reflections on the day-to-day experiences of a working writer.
Poets, writers, teachers and parents are wringing their hands over the November 2022 release of ChatGPT, an AI program which can “answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests,” according to descriptions at its creator’s website, OpenAI. No doubt you’ve seen the ChatGPT-written “poetry” and “essays” people have gleefully shared… Continue reading Poetry Survives Latest Death Threat
When I was a graduate student at San Jose State University, I stumbled across a rolling cart (literally stumbled—I tripped over my own feet and almost fell) displaying the tempting label “Books $1 each.” That’s when I found 50 Contemporary Poets, the Creative Process, edited by Alberta T. Turner. In spite of its slightly sticky,… Continue reading Visualize the Reader—or Don’t
A woman sitting next to me at an editors’ lunch I attended BC (before Covid) asked if poetry was my day job. Without hesitating, I said yes. Later that day, however, I started to question my response. I define “day job” as work that pays the bills so a person can spend whatever remaining time… Continue reading Bread Labor: Poetry and the Day Job
My mother gave me a copy of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron in 1992, the year it came out and the year I turned 32. It’s safe to say that Cameron’s book was a factor in my decision to quit my high-tech job in Silicon Valley and return to school. It took eleven years, but I… Continue reading The Artist’s Way, Thirty Years Later
As I was getting ready to leave New York City last week, it occurred to me that much of the art I saw on my trip, from the Statue of Liberty to the majority of the art at the MOMA, was a response to oppression. I started thinking about what it means to live in… Continue reading Pictures & Words: My Visit to New York City
After reading and following the submission guidelines—i.e., no name or identifying information on your document, no more than five poems, nothing longer than 1000 words, etc., etc.—you finally click “submit.” A few seconds later, you receive a confirmation email that looks like this: Dear Erica, Thank you for your submission to Awesome Literary Journal. We have received… Continue reading The Waiting
As we begin National Poetry Month’s twenty-sixth year, my thoughts turn to the tiny bit of extra attention poetry and poets receive during this time. In April, Poets Laureate revel in their brief moments in the sun, coming up with creative ways to force poetry into the attention of unsuspecting citizens. When I was Poet Laureate… Continue reading Some thoughts as we begin National Poetry Month #26
“A journal always conceals vastly more than it reveals.” – Verlyn Klinkenborg, The Rural Life In “Notes on the Danger of Notebooks,” an essay in Synthesizing Gravity, Kay Ryan writes, “Isn’t it odd to think that in order to listen we must be a little bit relieved of the intention to understand? This, of course, is the… Continue reading The Danger of Notebooks
Numbered tiles If you’re a writer, artist, musician or other creative, how do you get noticed? Is it enough to be good? How will people find you? One way that’s become popular in the age of the Internet is to send out bits and pieces of your creative process, sharing the project as you work… Continue reading Should You Show Your Work?
The blank page. A rectangle of absence, it fills the writer with equal parts expectation and dread. A stark reminder of the writer’s apartness, it demands that you pay attention to it and not your family, dogs, messy house, or whatever else might distract you. We could compare the fear of the blank page to… Continue reading Fear of the Blank Page