Sign
Don’t stop at the sign. /
Travel on beyond the wires. /
Your horizon waits.
.
.
#sign #travel #wires #horizon #beyond #poem #poetry #haiku #senryu #photo #oldnorthknoxville #davidebooker #january #sunday #012223 #2023
Tag Archives: travel
“New”
New
New is the wonder /
of moments as an old leaf /
travels down the stream.
.
.
#new #leaf #travel #stream #wonder #moments #photo #poem #poetry #haiku #haiga #oldnorthknoxville #davidebooker #december #monday #122523 #2023
“Tracks”
Tracks
All travel alone /
Each in a box car of flesh /
Whistling goodbye.
.
.
#haiku #poem #poetry #tracks #train #whistle #boxcar #goodbye #flesh #alone #knoxville #photooftheday #poemoftheday #davidebooker #tennessee #february #Saturday #2021 #022021
“Sign”
Sign
Don’t stop at the sign. /
Travel on beyond the wires. /
Your horizon waits.
.
.
#sign #travel #wires #horizon #beyond #poem #poetry #haiku #senryu #photo #oldnorthknoxville #davidebooker #january #sunday #012223 #2023
“Tracks”
Tracks
All travel alone /
Each in a boxcar of flesh /
Whistling goodbye.
.
.
#haiku #poem #poetry #tracks #train #whistle #boxcar #goodbye #flesh #alone #knoxville #photooftheday #poemoftheday #davidebooker #tennessee #february #saturday #2021 #022021
Filed under 2021, haiku, photo, photo by David E. Booker, poetry, Poetry by David E. Booker
Writing tip Wednesday: “10 Poignant Practices for Every Writer”
Here are 10 smart, yet simple ways for every writer—from novelists to journalists to poets—to enrich his or her mind and become better at cultivating ideas and putting them to the page.
by MELISSA CLARK
1. Travel the world
Old, young, rich, poor, there are many ways to see the world, soak up other cultures, see examples of creativity in art, food, music, architecture. Lately, I’ve been applying to and attending artist residencies to work on my writing in other countries including Spain, Portugal and Mexico. Even if you’re only able to take a day trip, take it! Soak up any experience you can get that lives outside your day-to-day life.
2. Journal
Not just the “My boyfriend broke up with me” kind. (Though that’s fine, too.) Write down your thoughts, ideas, memories, draw pictures, and record dreams. There are many ways to journal including blogs, Pinterest, and various apps. Who knows what ideas the younger you has in store for the older you. You’ll never know if you don’t record them.
3. Be a student throughout your life
So many colleges and universities offer extension courses. I like taking classes outside of my writing interest and have taken Nude Figure Drawing, Ceramics, Anger Management and Stand-Up Comedy, among others. Ultimately, anything you learn can be useful to your writing.
4. Also be a teacher
I grew up in a family that supported my creativity, but many people don’t and they need a mentor to help them navigate the waters. I not only teach in colleges, but at unexpected places, too, like spas and retreats. I love meeting and being inspired by different types of students all over the country. Why not volunteer your time teaching writing to kids or the elderly? Everyone has a story. How wonderful if you’re able to help someone express theirs.
5. Realize that no idea is too big/small/silly/crazy
One afternoon at lunch with a friend I ate too much (as usual). When I lifted my shirt to show him my bloated belly, he said, “Are you sure you’re not pregnant?” and I said, “Yeah, right, from a lazy sperm!” This off-the-cuff comment inspired my first novel, “Swimming Upstream, Slowly,” about a woman who becomes pregnant from a lazy sperm. Silly? Absolutely! Published novel? That’s right! What ideas are you preventing from being realized because you think they are too big/small/silly/crazy?
Other tips include:
6. When you hear “no” do it anyway
7. Accept your shadow side
8. Invest in a good therapist
9. Forgive yourself
10. Practice gratitude
About Melissa Clark: Clark is an author, television writer and college instructor. She is the author of the novels, Bear Witness, Swimming Upstream, Slowly, and Imperfect. Her essay, “Rachael Ray Saved My Life” is included in the anthology The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage.
She is also the creator of the animated television series, “Braceface,” starring the voice of Alicia Silverstone which aired on the ABC Family Channel. She has written scripts for “Rolie Polie Olie,” “Totally Spies,” “Sweet Valley High,” among others. Melissa teaches creative writing and literature courses both privately.
Complete entry at: http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/10-poignant-practices-for-every-writer?et_mid=752210&rid=239626420
Filed under 2015, Writing Tip Wednesday, writing tips
Monday morning writing joke: “Dreams”
Three writers are sitting at a bar. It’s the first time they’ve met.
After a drink or two, the first writer turns to the others at the bar and says, “I had a strange dream last night.”
The second writer asked, “How strange was it?”
“Well, the first writer says, “I dreamed I went to Hell and a lot of famous writers were there. You know, Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, Albert Camus.”
“Really,” says the second writer. “I dreamed I went to Heaven and a lot of famous writers were there. You know, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, John Bunyan.”
When he didn’t say anything, they asked the third writer, who said, “I dreamed I was in a bar with two other writers.”
The next night the three writers met again at the bar.
The first writer said, “I dreamed I was in Heaven, and I saw all those writers you mentioned.”
The second writer said, “I dreamed I was in Hell, and I saw all those writers you mentioned.”
Then they turned to the third writer sitting between them. He took a sip of his drink and shrugged his shoulder, “I dreamed I was in a bar with two other writers.”
After another drink, they started talking about their work.
“I’m a crime writer,” said the first writer.
“I’m a romance writer,” said the second writer.
They then turned to third writer who sighed and said, “I’m a travel writer.”
Filed under Monday morning writing joke
Billboards
Grounded stars imbued with a foggy night.
Suntanned pieces of wind-tilted technology.
Saluting Souvenirs of transience: Billboards.
A toothpick-bearded hitchhiker saunters from a
Detroit-styled digestive supplier.
Straddles the roadside.
The smoke curls and cocoons in the corners of his
Well-traveled eyes.
His past:
Grounded stars imbued in a foggy night.
His future:
Suntanned pieces of wind-tilted technology.
Saluting Souvenirs of transience:
Billboards.
Filed under Billboards, poem, poetry by author
Weird in an endearing sort of way
I have a friend who is tentatively planning to get married in March or April of 2013. Her boyfriend is an outdoorsman sort of fellow. They are considering New Orleans as a possible honeymoon destination, and I suggested that she and her intended take a raft down the Tennessee River near where we live to the Ohio River, the Ohio to the Mississippi River at Cairo, IL, and the Mississippi River to New Orleans. I suggested she could even mount her telescope to the raft and chart the stars as they go floating down the rivers.
She said she was not going rafting, not now, not ever, and not for her tentative honeymoon.
I said I was only trying to help them save on gas or air fare to The Big Easy and give them a chance to bond as they lived off the fish they caught in the rivers or the animals he shot on the land.
She said I was weird, but in an endearing way.
What I haven’t figured out is a river plan to get them to their other choice for a honeymoon: The Big Apple. Seems appropriate to send a newlywed couple to a city nicknamed after the fruit that tripped up Adam and Eve.
Some ideas are simply ahead of their time.
Booker's Blog 