Dear Women’s Fiction Writers friends,
This is the 35th post on Women’s Fiction Writers! Thank you all for being so excited and enthusiastic and engaged over the past four months! The best is yet to come…starting with another fabulous WF author on Thursday and plain old prose by me next Tuesday!
I wrote this poem in 2009 and tweaked it for today. I’m no Hunchback of Neiman Marcus, but it was so fun to go outside my novel and my WIP for a while! I hope you enjoy the momentary diversion as much as I did.
~ Amy
An Aspiring Author's Poem
I read a book I didn’t like,
gave it to a writer-friend,
she didn’t like it either,
nor made it to the end.
We both enjoyed the prologue,
then it fell apart,
we dug deep to understand,
and prayed to find some heart.
We spoke of missing cadence,
of light and fluffy prose,
was there a thread we both had missed?
Still, neither of us knows.
The lesson in the book we closed,
was strong as any other,
how we would like our own work read,
to be unlike another.
So when an author drops a thread,
I learn to pick up mine.
If I read too many words,
I learn how to refine.
When characters do not ring true,
or dialogue is stilted,
my own mistakes jump off the page,
my loves are often jilted.
We pushed aside the book that day,
continued with our lunch,
but in our sad agreement
was a buried hunch.
Only with a writer can the worst book
in a while,
be the source of conversation,
a lesson and a smile.
Love this…and so true:
Only with a writer can the worst book
in a while,
be the source of conversation,
a lesson and a smile.
The thought, or something like it, occurs to me weekly when I attend my writers’ critique meetings. My husband, who is so not a writer, was actually on target when I returned from a meeting and he asked tongue-in-cheek, “So, did you figure out where the commas go?” Only a group of writers could spend a chunk of time discussing the pros and cons of a comma in a sentence and how it alters the intended meaning. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. 🙂
Hi Densie,
Right now I’m reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. It’s the runaway British bestseller about…punctuation. Very funny, very true…and depending on the company, very embarrassing to admit!! 😉
One of my faves is:
Let’s eat Grandpa! (better known as: Let’s eat, Grandpa!)
🙂
Amy
Perfect. I love it!
🙂 Thanks, Tina!! 🙂
I like this poem! Nice!
🙂 Thanks, Karen!!
This is so awesome, Amy Sue. Love it. And so true that we learn to write by reading – by reading the good stuff that “works,” and the not-so-good stuff that doesn’t “work.” Thanks for the smile.
🙂 Melissa, thanks for all the nice comments and tweets! It means a lot.
Amy
Ah, Amy. Your perspective always makes me smile. Great poem. Thanks for stepping out of your comfort zone.
I’m so glad, Jocosa! 🙂 Thank you!
I think you’re wonderful whether in your comfort zone or not. I think you have a special gift for pairing words together in fresh and lively ways.
sari
Thanks, Mom! 😀
Perfect, Amy! And congrats on the blog’s success!
Thank you, Nina. Back atcha!