The words dance
like dirt on the page,
defying securities
of posit and finite.
I feel the ink stretching
the fibers of the paper,
see it filling the
microscopic spaces -
a manic glimpse
of foreheads
and breasts
loping into corners,
squared to meet
the room.
A violent scrawling
of no significance,
idle language loses
all purpose,
molts like charred flesh,
and I am Hyde.
No morals,
freedom to devastate,
the white tablet
is raped of innocence,
the pen sodomizes
all meaning,
the words
become poem.
"Poetry endangers the established order in the soul."
poetryrePAIRshop v06.11:125
THEODORA COCHRANE
a published author for many years, THEODORA COCHRANE writes using different pen names to maintain her privacy.
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THEODORA COCHRANE
Ten Ways to Become a Successful Writer
Anyone can call themselves a writer. All you have to do is write –
a story, an article, a journal, a novel, a poem. But that is rather like
being called a plumber because you sort out the central heating and
replace washers. Or a dressmaker because you make your own clothes.
Or a bricklayer because you built your own garage. These are hobbies
you enjoy. They aren’t your main source of income. The difference
between writers and the other examples is that people who write are
usually passionate about what they do. If you are one of these why
not become a real writer who gets paid for their work? It gives great
pleasure to answer “I’m a writer,” to the question “What do you do?”
It gives even greater pleasure to add “For a living.” So what must you
do to become a full time writer?
1. Get paid for your work. I’m afraid that there are many people who
are so anxious to see their work in print that they will write for nothing.
There is only one acceptable reason for doing this and that is to build
a portfolio of published material. Unfortunately editors know which
publications use such material and sadly some of these publications
will print material which would not be of a standard to be paid for. If
your work is good enough you will get published. I operate with two
guidelines. I only offer material for which payment will be made if it is
accepted – even if it’s only a letter to a ‘Reader’s Letters’ page.
2. Never dispose of anything you write even if it’s been rejected. It can
be re-worked and represented to another publication or at another time.
Maybe it can be incorporated into another piece. While you decide
what to do it can safely sit on file in your computer ready to be
summoned when you’ve got writer’s block or a spare moment.
Sometimes just re-reading it will set you off on a more productive line
of thought.
3. Write every day. Set an achievable target for doing this. Even if it’s
only an hour a day at first you must stick to it no matter what else
happens. Choose your time of day. Get up earlier if necessary. Make it a
habit so that you feel uncomfortable if you don’t do it.
4. Don’t give in to writer’s block. There will be days when you sit
down at your desk and your mind goes blank. Don’t sit there doing
nothing or, even worse, decide to end the session and do something
else. Just write anything. Even if it’s gibberish. Write about the fact
that you can’t think of anything and how cross that makes you, etc.
Before you know it your writer’s block will have disappeared.
5. Start small. A good place to start submitting work for publication
is the letter page of magazines and newspapers who pay for the items
they publish. Warning! Don’t be tempted to present something you
dashed off on the spur of the moment. Prepare the items you submit
to editors with as much care as you would if it was a short story or
article. It is good practice for working on longer items and will sharpen
your skills.
6. Study your market before you submit anything at all whether it is
a letter, an article, a short story or a novel. Show professionalism by
choosing a suitable subject and style.
7. Edit, revise, rework and edit again until you are sure you’ve got it
right. Some writers study the market before they decide what to write a
bout. When I’m writing short pieces, unless I’m working on a
commissioned article or story, I prefer to write whatever is in my mind
at the time. Then I work on it so that it is suitable for whichever market
I have chosen. One piece of writing can often be adapted and edited to
suit several different publications. But beware of the next point.
8. Never send the same article to more than one publication at a time.
You will end up in any editor’s black book if after publishing your
piece of work it is then printed in a rival publication. Wait until your
manuscriptT has been rejected before submitting it elsewhere. Before
re-submitting it, re-read it. Especially take note of any comments the
editor might have made. (They do sometimes do this.)
9. Do not alienate editors. To most people that would seem to be
pretty obvious but there are still tales of hopeful writers sending
angry letters or making abusive phone calls when their submissions
are rejected. Remember that there are hundreds (at least) of hopeful
authors sending in material. Don’t pester any editor for a decision
for at least a couple of months, and then a polite enquiry by ‘phone,
letter, or email is acceptable.
10. Never give up. There are very few writers who were successful
from the start. Keep a list of how many rejections the best authors
had. Read it every time the heavy sound of a rejection landing on
the mat depresses you. Before long it won’t be that heavy thump,
it will be an acceptance or a cheque. At last you’ll be on your way
to being a real published writer.
All time is here;
ancient seas, marsh, salt.
I walk up a flaming canyon.
Stones radiant with heat,
prickly pear, sage and rabbit-brush--
bare scorched things.
I clamber over a dry waterfall,
inhale warmth from pale baked clay,
scatter panting lizards.
In and out of light and shadow,
the path narrows to a solitary juniper
against a sliver of sky.
On slopes claret-cup cactus blossom--
Light is scarlet, light is flowing.
Sand shifts, becomes damp, oozing.
Cottonwood leaves dance
to a wind not felt.
I hear a ticking on boulders,
a flare of water over a shelf
of cool fern and a slow gathering
of watery blooms, pink and yellow
--wandering seeds made fruitful.
I too am here.
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