Prevent Yourself from Getting Hacked

By Laurie Epps

Welcome back. Today's blog is about preventing yourself from getting hacked. However, be aware that nothing is foolproof. But Edie's straight-forward approach makes it easy for us to follow, but also brings forth things that we might be taking for granted.

We're still working from her book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. A lot of this section seems to be common sense, but in the digital age, it's just too easy to click the wrong click.

How to Write Poetry for Children (And Everyone Else, Too)

By Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy

A young friend read this poem to me earlier this week, and then she read it over and over. It caused me to consider what makes a poem connect with its readers, even when it is something so simple as this:

My Kitten

By Marchette Chute

Kitten, my kitten

soft and dear

I’m so glad

that you are here

Sitting together

just us two

You loving me

and me loving you.”

~from Surprises (I Can Read Book 3) Paperback by Lee Bennett Hopkins

What can we learn about connecting with readers from this simple children’s poem?

Use a Familiar Theme

Sitting with a kitten in your lap is a common pleasurable activity for nearly everyone, especially every child. Whether you are writing for children, women, theology buffs, or even men ;-) there is always something common to them that will develop that instant interest in what you have to say. I tend to be guilty of writing from obscure ideas that excite me but mean nothing to other people - they can be fun, but they don’t get feedback from the readers that makes writing a communal effort. Writing from the familiar goes to where the reader is and brings her to where you want to go.

Use Simple Phrases

Each phrase of My Kitten holds together alone as an idea to which every child can relate. This keeps the reader engaged and following the flow of the idea. While the phrases are simple, one has a depth of meaning that makes them both functional and essential to the concept of the poem.

Use Feeling Words

Feeling words connect with the reader on a visceral level, both physically and emotionally. Words like “soft and dear”, “glad”, and even “sitting together” help the reader feel your ideas, not just understand them intellectually. And good poems, as with most good writing, are about the feelings that are evoked.

Personalize

Personalization doesn’t have to mean putting the poem into the mouth of the reader as we see in this poem. It does mean connecting with the reader’s experience, and using it to create a new experience in the reading of the poem. We as poets want our work to belong our readers in a way only each reader can experience. This poem accomplishes this in multiple layers, from the familiar activity of holding a kitten to the love we experience by being together with someone.

Here is a children’s poem suitable for this time of year - I hope it connects with you:

Mom called my brothers and me for dessert

We shot in like a cannon blast

I knew she was serving my favorite treat

And I did not want to be last

There, slopping out of our mammoth-skull bowls

Was that yummiest, oozy glop

Three towering dollops of cold eyes cream

With congealed scary on top

I gobbled it up like a monster should

Using all my fingers and toes

I ate it so fast that I choked real good

And gobs of it shot out my nose

I like to sling food at my brothers’ heads

But I love eyes cream so much more

So I used all my tongues and tails and teeth

And I licked it up off the floor

Now that my big furry belly was full

And I had swallowed every slurp

I flopped down in front of the monster box

And let out a monstrous burp

My brothers all burped out loud just like me

Then we started to scream and hop

"Bring us some more of our favorite stuff:

More eyes cream with scary on top!"

Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy is a freelance writer and poet living in the upstate of South Carolina with his wife and four children. To find his daily poetry entries, log onto: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bad-Bad-Boy-Publications/557182874309579

or find him on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Kenneth-OShaughnessy/

Occasional Poetry

By Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy

Have you ever heard about an event and said to yourself, “Someone should commemorate this with a poem”? Poems written for the specific occasions are, appropriately enough, called “Occasional Poetry”. An occasional poem we should all be familiar with in America is The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key.

Writing as a Process

By Laurie Epps

Happy Memorial Day!

Writing is a process. Often as writers, we are the keepers of details. Without all the elements, we'll never have a finished work. This week in Writing Down the Bones, Goldberg talks about cultivating our ideas, and fine tuning our details to resonate with our readers. Show the readers we know our stuff instead of just telling them.

As a woman, I related with the obsessions, and the baking analogies. So don't just read the column, try the techniques. They work, and don't forget to share your experience with all of us. Join the conversation.

Writing From Scratch

By Laurie Epps

Every writer has had a moment, that even though vocationally we are writers, it is an act that eludes us. We either stare down the blank screen, or we simply don't take the time to write.  Natalie Goldberg addresses these issues in Writing Down the Bones

Where Do We Begin?

By Laurie Epps

We are discussing Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. Below, you will see my outlines of the various themes in the book.

Beginners Mind: Pen & Paper p. 5

Writers tools are very important, whether pen and paper or laptop, typewriter or recording device; make it personal experiment.....

Goldberg's example was a drawing pad. Choose your supplies carefully but not so carefully that you are shopping instead of writing.

How do you pick your supplies? Please share with us below.

Launch of Monday Morning Book Club

Writer: Laurie Epps

We are going to begin our book club next Monday, and I am so excited! My first reading selection is going to be Writing Down the Bones. This book has an unusual format, and though it takes a bit to get used to, I really enjoy that you can read an essay here and there, and put it down in between. 

Writing Love Poems

Love Poems
With Valentines Day on the horizon, I thought it would be a cinch to teach you and your kids to write love poems like a pro. After many painful hours of research, I can tell you, that love poems, as famous as they are, aren't actually a separate form of poetry. But I can share with you some tips to get your poem going in the right direction.

Thoughtful Thursdays: A Poetic Column

Hello. My name is Laurie Epps. I am a senior at Anderson University and I have been writing for most of my life. My first love of writing was Poetry, so it would stand to reason that my first real column would be devoted to the craft of words and alliteration that I love so much. I hope you will come back every Thursday to see my latest work, as well as, spend time to get to know different sorts of poetry with insightful columnists who will teach you how to write it yourself.

Just so that you learn a little more about me as a writer, I received my first poetry book when I was seven years old. I memorized nearly every verse, and I was captivated by the beautiful words of poetry. Through the colorful pictures and words rich in imagery, I escaped to another world.

This past Christmas, my dad sent me my beloved old Poetry book. I cried when I opened it. It was like a long lost friend. So much of my childhood was wrapped around it's words of rhyme.

When you open my poetry book, you can tell which verses were my favorites because of the acid stains from my hands on its pages. Every stain has a memory, and an imprint from my childhood. Inside the front cover, you can see where I wrote my name in cursive for the first time.

This poem in particular, I recited to my fourth grade class from memory. My teacher was delighted that I memorized such a long poem. She was also told my parents that the other students were on the edge of their seats listening to my poem. It was the first time I can remember feeling proud of myself in my young life.

I am so excited to take this journey with all of you. Come back every Thursday, and we will begin the conversation.

Thoughtful Thursdays: A Poetic Column

Beginning
January 31, 2013

1writerlaurieepps.blogspot.com will offer a weekly column devoted to poetry. This column will start with the basics. First we will explore different types of poetry, and what makes them that type of poetry. We will offer instructions on writing the various types of poetry, and give current poets a chance to showcase their work.

So get to writing! We would love to hear from you.