Announcement

my mid-life crisis was late in life too .

ed

best wishes for your new career !

-does that mean you have a wood lathe for sale?


hugs,
Bronson

Go for it dude. I am inspired

Todd1963 said...
Go for it dude. I am inspired

Todd, dude - you're my inspiration. Rock start, writer, soon to be retired continuing survivor of the worst.

dude,
Andrew

Here I sit in anticipation,
waiting for your poem's creation,
knowing that ye bards construction,
will cause me profound celebration.

Andrew, my friend.

Am I to take your OP as being literal? A bit confused, can't tell if you were joking with us or not.

If true, as a fellow writer, I wish you all the best. If I were into poetry, and never have been, I would offer to help you read or proof your work if you desired, but I have no experience in that genre.

Just never give up your woodworking, you are just too good at that in my opinion. I am getting better at it, but no where near your skill level, now that I have invested in buying better tools and re-building my entire workshop at my home. Wish you lived close enough to help me in that department.

If you need any help in the writing "biz" or in getting book(s) published, I am more than happy to be at your service.

David

ODE TO A WALNUT

I left my prostate
on the interstate.

Nah...

Seriously, Andrew, the arrival of the Internet has revolutionized literary production and dissemination. In the past, in the print only days, literary connection with an established publishing house was all but a necessity for success, whether financial or reputation-wise.

Today the web has changed everything. There are dozens of how-to-succeed-as-a-poet sites (some better than others, of course) that I could name, and hundreds of websites of people displaying their poetic wares, but the question still remains of what you want to accomplish. Making money writing poetry has never been easy, and in fact most of the great and successful poets of any era spent their early years just writing, and cashed in on their work only much later in their careers.

The old advice to writers in general, "write about what you know," always has been and still is the best advice. So good poems about the woodworker in his workshop, or about the PCa patient under the large radiation machine whirring above him are certainly possible. But it's also said that a good writer (or poet) can be just be handed a topic and he can turn out a good essay, poem, etc, about it, simply because he's good.

As a former catalog librarian I guess I must have cataloged at least a couple of hundred or so poetry monographs or collections over the years, and the one thing I noticed that they all had in common was that the poet was driven to write. Perhaps the resulting poetry that he or she produced was good or not so good, but the impulse, the need, to write was always clearly there. Maybe that's you.

But first decide what it is that you want to see accomplished by being a poet, whether acknowledgment by family and friends, recognition by a wider audience, or even making money from it (a bit more of a challenge). But having a plan, a goal, in mind is essential to being a successful (by the standard you have chosen) poet.

I haven't seen any of your work yet, but I'll bet it's good. Please feel free to show us a sample if you would like. I get the feeling that it's good stuff.

We should all follow our dream, whatever it is. If writing poetry is your dream, then by all means go for it.

Andrew, I tried to be a poet a few years ago. Got stuck on my first poem trying to find something that rhymes with "orange"...

Then I knew I should find something else.

Good luck!

81GyGuy said...
"The HW PC Poetry Review"
Volume 1, Number 1
"The Poetry of In The Shop: a critical review"

A poet is a builder of worlds: worlds of fantasy, of hope, of pleasure or pain, or of any world the poet wishes to create. ...

All I can say is wow - that is great - you writing is great. Thanks for writing that. Means a lot to have you take the time to put that together and to post it here.

You have a way of making my stuff sound better that it is.
Thanks,
Andrew

Andrew, wish we lived closer together as well, We could barter skills - your woodworking tips for my writing tips, sounds like a win-win.

With the wood working stuff, I am good with the designing, planning, and laying out part, but still lack some serious executing of it skills. Some of it is honestly from being left handed, as so many tools, especially power tools are just not left-handed friendly. And the rest, I admit, is simply due to a lack of general carpentry skills. I end up doing things my way, but doesn't mean its the right way.

David