Andrew's View of the Week

Last week I wrote about the one last poem I needed to write.  It’s done.  Here’s what happened:

I had fully intended to rewrite it as a little playlet with two characters, so I opened a new editing window and copied the poem over.  Then I gathered my courage and sat down to write.

And I stared at the poem.

Then stared some more.

I thought how to expand it, where to put the dialog, where to add the explanation on what is going on and from what point of view to tell the story.

Then I saw a line in the poem that wasn’t needed so I deleted it.  Then I saw another, and another.  I deleted about half a page of the poem.  Then I saw a word that wasn’t right and I found another word.  There were redundant words so I trimmed them.  Near the middle I found a confusing line.  I made a small edit to clarify.

I pruned, changed and refined the words and abandoned the play.  Then I realized it was done.

It’s been a full year since I first wrote that poem and now my poetry collection’s words sit complete in my computer.  Now the problem is how to release it from my desk and into the world.

I’ll admit that is more than a bit scary.  Some of the poems in the collection are personal and touch on the raw edges of my emotions.  In some ways I am still unsure about letting anyone read it.

But, I know that it must be done.  I won’t make any money with this.  At best I hope to earn my costs back.  Still, it is my hope that these words of mine will find their way in to the hands and hearts of a few who might find the words beneficial.

Now it is off to the Amazon website to figure out formatting requirements.

No great insights this week, just that space between the hammer falls of creativity.

Till next week,
Andrew