Ghyu means love in Nepali
and some other stuff about the writing life
Good Friday to you (or good whichever day you happen to read this).
In this newsletter, you’ll find a reflection on different ways a writer can develop their craft, followed by a question I’d love you to answer about a moment when your writing took a new direction or a time when your own writing surprised you.
Next, a wonderful piece of synchronistic news, and after that, you’ll find a prose poem that was published in a poetry journal. And as always, an invitation, to comment on or question anything I’ve pointed to.
One develops their writing craft and learns techniques through many different streams: classes, courses, workshops, reading, and also listening deeply for what is working in freshly generated writing. For instance, after reading Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where are You? I wrote a couple of stories using her technique of using only a distant third-person perspective, so that no inner dialogue, thought, or physical response was revealed to the reader. This sharpened certain aspects of sensory detail and pressed me to find new ways to present character. Or after taking a workshop where we were invited to switch verbs with nouns and vice versa, I played with that when writing some poems.
As writers, we need to stretch our range while strengthening our voices.
Recently, I was invited to take part in a Beta test for a course based on Alan Watt’s 90-Day Novel writing book and course. Well, here’s the thing, I had been exploring various ways my latest story could go, and as many new stories seem to do, it grew arms and legs to such lengths that I stalled, feeling overwhelmed and a bit lost.
Then, on Day 1 of this 90-Day course, everything settled. Not, as you might think, because I suddenly had a clear sense of direction, plot, etc., but precisely because the pressure was off to have the answers ahead of the proverbial horse. I’ve been playing, making notes and scribbles as ideas pop into my head without worrying if they’ll “fit” into what I’ve already “planned” or what I thought this story was about. The “results” have been delightfully surprising. It’s already taking my story into more complex and interesting territory.
FOR YOU TO CONSIDER: What device, prompt, or method, has taken your writing in a new or unexpected direction? I’d love to hear about your process.
If you read my last newsletter, you’ll know I’ve been accepted to an artist’s residency for the month of May. I was curious about who I’d be sharing my time there with so I asked Michelle at La Porte Peinte about the other eight artists. I couldn’t be more thrilled that one of them is Marija Krtolica, a choreographer/dancer from New York. I looked her up and almost cried with joy. She seems to embody so much of how I envision the protagonist of the novel I’ll be working on during my stay. I’ve just been in touch and can’t wait to meet her this spring. It just seems so synchronistic.
We’re coming up to Valentine’s Day—adored by some, dreaded by many. So I thought I’d share my poem about different sorts of love. It was recently published in Last Stanza Poetry Journal which you can read for free on Kindle.
Ghyu means love in Nepali
~ after Mansi Dahal
We have so few words for love in this language much of the world seems to prefer. What is the word for when love freezes? The word for a love that hesitates? Burns? Crashes? In English love needs adjectives and metaphors—it can’t stand on its own. I’m told that snow in Inuktitut has many words, and I wonder do they also parse the notion of loving with the same precision. Such as wet love, icy love, melting or fresh love, fragile love—the kind so thin it gives way under the slightest pressure. The Greeks have understood this need for distinction. Love for everyone is agape; sexual love is eros; philia for friendship; ludus for playful love; philautia for love of the self; storge for unconditional or familial love; and for a longstanding, committed, companionate love, pragma. Even the poets struggle, having to dress up their love in fancy clothing. For instance, a gauzy dress will suit translucent love. What kind of love wears a suit, a tutu? And what of naked love? It may take only a day or two for love to change its garb—from a swirling chaos of reds and purples to something stripped down, maybe a nylon slip or a straitjacket. Some loves wear the same practical shirt and pants for decades. From garters to turtlenecks, from silk to synthetics, I’ve worn them all. All, that is, except the one the Greeks call pragma. If I could, I would detail its lines and its seams, the way the fabric moves when the beloved walks. I’ve been through my closets, and possibly yours as well, but not one pragma garment has ever fit me right.
Thanks so much for reading.
Now, over to you. What’s up in your writing world? Any revelations, plot twists, turning points? Maybe it’s that you’ve made a new commitment - twenty minutes or an hour a day, a week, signed up for a course, found a writing buddy, submitted for the first time? I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to.
On my writing process. 1/28/23
The biggest change in my writing thus far came after discovering Masterclass, an online classroom that for a yearly fee one has access to hundreds of “classes” created by masters in various fields: Simon Biles – gymnastics, Neil DeGrasse Tyson – scientific/critical thinking, Jesse Krebs – survivalist techniques and my favorites writers – Margaret Atwood, Amy Tan and poets – Billy Collins, Amanda Gorman, Joy Harjo each revealing in intimate sessions his/her secrets to attaining skills.
In one of Joy Harjo’s sessions, when she introduces the concept of poetry ancestors I learned about inspirational connections with other poets. I love reading poetry; my growing collection of poetry books is crowding my bookshelf. Through Joy Harjo’s masterclass I found other poets like Audre Lordes and saw how Audre’s poetry influenced Joy Harjo’s work. They both became poetry ancestors for my poem Unfold A Black Man that was published in the latest Peregrine anthology, my first published poem the honor I share with all my poetry ancestors. My list of ancestors continues to grow offering a hand to the universe of poets.
Congrats on your new poetry publication! I love prose poetry. Just wrote a prose poem (with you!) tonight.