Edited by Jackie Morris, Tuesday, 11 Feb 2020, 11:34
On a whim (I'm not sure I believe in whims) I decided to do poetry as my first genre. My husband sighed and put his dreams of an Amazon bestseller back in the cupboard of 'the way things could have been' along with the ordered and tidy house and a woman who brought money in instead of just spending it. Very stoical man, my husband.
What a revelation! I love writing poetry so much, it's like an elegant crossword that needs solving. I've also enjoyed reading my fellow poets work, which is often so different in tone and content from mine. I learn something every time.
I was a bit blasé about choosing fiction as my secondary genre, as of course I can write, I read all the time, words ooze from me, what are you on about. Oh. My. God. First of all the national Fiction Forum is WAY noisier than the tutor group. Then there's the difficulty of actually having an idea. Then there's all the work that seems to be involved in getting even a small piece of work together. Also, I think I have been exposed to a lot more good fiction than good poetry, so the weight of my own expectations is greater. Now I have started reading poetry again I find a poem I like and think 'that's clever, I'd like to aspire to this'. I write a bit of fiction and think 'this is so crap, I'll never catch up with all those authors'.
Where am I now? I've reminded myself I am doing this to improve my own writing, not to write a critically acclaimed novel or short story, that I can take baby steps and that even if no-one ever comments on my fiction work that will be OK as its writing it that's the critical thing. This feels very grown up and correct. It was how I got over my initial fear of writing a poem, so it does work.
Of course we haven't had our TMA01 marks yet, I may be a quivering heap when they arrive. But for now, I am keeping on keeping on in the hope that if I do then at some point something will escape and be worth releasing into the big wide world.
Poetry v Fiction
On a whim (I'm not sure I believe in whims) I decided to do poetry as my first genre. My husband sighed and put his dreams of an Amazon bestseller back in the cupboard of 'the way things could have been' along with the ordered and tidy house and a woman who brought money in instead of just spending it. Very stoical man, my husband.
What a revelation! I love writing poetry so much, it's like an elegant crossword that needs solving. I've also enjoyed reading my fellow poets work, which is often so different in tone and content from mine. I learn something every time.
I was a bit blasé about choosing fiction as my secondary genre, as of course I can write, I read all the time, words ooze from me, what are you on about. Oh. My. God. First of all the national Fiction Forum is WAY noisier than the tutor group. Then there's the difficulty of actually having an idea. Then there's all the work that seems to be involved in getting even a small piece of work together. Also, I think I have been exposed to a lot more good fiction than good poetry, so the weight of my own expectations is greater. Now I have started reading poetry again I find a poem I like and think 'that's clever, I'd like to aspire to this'. I write a bit of fiction and think 'this is so crap, I'll never catch up with all those authors'.
Where am I now? I've reminded myself I am doing this to improve my own writing, not to write a critically acclaimed novel or short story, that I can take baby steps and that even if no-one ever comments on my fiction work that will be OK as its writing it that's the critical thing. This feels very grown up and correct. It was how I got over my initial fear of writing a poem, so it does work.
Of course we haven't had our TMA01 marks yet, I may be a quivering heap when they arrive. But for now, I am keeping on keeping on in the hope that if I do then at some point something will escape and be worth releasing into the big wide world.