Month: February 2010

No “Three Poems for Thursday,” So How About “Fiction Friday?”

On By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn Observations uncategorized2 Comments

Is it weird that I can figure out how to post video and use a webcam, but I can’t figure out how to turn off the ringer on my phone? Anyway, this is me reading the prologue of the historical novel on which I am currently working.

I first started doing the research for this novel about ten years ago.  I know that sounds like a long time, but I let my curiosity take me wherever it would.  In the meantime, I got busy actually writing other things.  After a few false starts a couple of years apart, finally within the last year I streamlined my research and began the writing of the novel in earnest.

Feedback is very welcome and appreciated.  Sharing my draft fiction is a bit scarier for me than sharing my draft poetry, but here goes.

Knowing and Taming The Enemies

On By Suzanne B. LeitnerIn Fiction, Intervals, My Poetry, Poetry, Writing and Not Writing, Your Poetry8 Comments

One of the most frustrating things for a writer is not writing.  In my case, I sometimes sit down at my desk or in one of my favorite chairs with good intentions, but the phone rings or I remember the clothes in the dryer or I decide to check out The Weather Channel … in other words, nothing happens.   Why not?

For me, the reasons vary, and it depends on what I am trying to write.

I somehow ritually rid myself of the fear of putting down a terrible poem.  In my world, I no longer write terrible poems – they are “drafts.”  My friend Scott Douglass once said to me, “I have yet to meet the perfect poem.”  Scott meets a great many poems, not only as a poet himself, but also as an editor and publisher, so I found his statement to be quite comforting.  I still do. Continue reading “Knowing and Taming The Enemies” →