Am I a Lazy Poet? (daily poem challenge a little too revealing)

Writing a poem a day, instead of waiting for magical inspiration to swoop in, showed me I’m kind of a lazy but also a good writer.

I’m lazy because I don’t want to write a poem a day.

I’m good because that’s how I have to think about myself (it’s my career and my passion)—plus, there are a couple of gems within my daily poetic forcedness. I found if I wasn’t too tired (I often procrastinated until the end of the day) and let the poem take over, I lost the words I typed and fell into the images, hanging on as I wondered, “What’s next?”

Poem A Day Challenge

Yep, I took on the daily poetry challenge to write a poem a day for one month, which I started Sept. 1 for the month of September. I’m going to continue the challenge in October, but I also know, at this point, I can’t commit to more than 30 days at a time. To see a vast endlessness of a daily poem requirement is a bit daunting—that would mean 365 poems in a year and writing a poem Every. Single. Day.

Instead, I have to shrink my view of the daily writing commitment into something I can mentally handle before I can turn it into a habit. It remains a chore some days, instead of something to look forward to, excited at what will happen.

So far, I’ve met the challenge, or mostly, in that each day has its poem, though I skipped a day or even two days three or four times and had to backtrack to fill in the poem slots.

Some days I wrote poems because I had to show up, writing bad poetry just to fill in the blanks. Other times I had things to get out, whatever I had stored up in my poetic soul, awaiting inspiration. I had a spot for the words in waiting and was surprised at the layers of thoughts I have about things.

I wrote a few poems with similar titles—what’s going on in my head, really? And a few about the same subjects. I tried on new subjects. I started a few with “The poem goes here,” because that’s how I have my fill-in-the-blanks set up with the title in bold and the typing in normal font. I called one “Poem Date,” and another “My poem asked me on a date.”

I wrote a few haikus thinking poems with 5-7-5 syllables could be whipped out, and I could get to bed. I also wrote about writing about poetry. I called one of the poems, “Lazy Poet.”

 

Poem Examples

Here a few examples of my bad poems, or semi-okay poems—I’m not even sure. I wrote them sleepy.

Showing Up, written Sept. 7:

To be honest,

I didn’t show up today.

I wrote today’s poem tomorrow

When tomorrow became today.

I skipped.

Not rope,

Not class,

Not even hope.

I just didn’t write a poem.

I was too tired.

I didn’t feel poetic

Or soulful

Or helpful.

I went to bed.

 

Two Haikus

Missed Date, written Sept. 9

I missed my date with

Poems called Haiku and Lune, Can’t

Find my Cameo.

 

Too Hard, written Sept. 20

Writing a poem

day, too hard like counting syl-

lables: need short words.

Finding Hope in the Poem A Day Challenge

The Poem a Day Challenge provides a simple method to accumulate a large number of poems.

Writing a poem a day sounds easy.

Just sit down and make up rhymes, rhythms and line breaks—and fill the page, because a poem is just a few words.

Right?

But for me, it isn’t that simple.

During the month of September, I’m taking on the Poem A Day Challenge, an idea I learned about from Placerville, Colorado, poet, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. Ten years ago, she decided to write a poem a day for one month but extended her effort to a daily, lifelong practice, so far producing more than 3,650 poems.

Wahtola Trommer, Colorado’s Western Slope Poet Laureate, gave a 2 ½-hour workshop, “Rigorous Willingness: Writing from the Unconstricted Throat,” in early August that included poetry advice and writing prompts at the Loveland Museum/Gallery in Loveland, Colorado.

Not Good, But True

Wahtola Trommer said her poems don’t have to be good but do have to be true. For the challenge, she lowered her standards in order to produce a large volume of writing, seeing her poetry as practice.

“You get in your own way thinking it has to be good,” she said.

So far, I’ve written 18 poems and have 12 to go—or thousands if I make writing poetry a daily habit. I, too, lowered my standards, but unlike Wahtola Trommer, I didn’t let any of them go. They all ended up in my long poem file where poems unfold chronologically as I write them, waiting for me to organize and put them into collections for chapbooks—something on my projects list that I keep avoiding.

Share the Poems

In other words, the poems are that practice because they haven’t become product. I haven’t followed through with Wahtola Trommer’s great, yet simple advice: share the poems.

But I will—soon.

I’ve learned that writing daily is a way to get past the fear of rejection that comes with putting work out there, because within the not-so-great poems, there will be those good ones. Produce a lot to find the good poems through being available to them and what they have to say.

Writing and Time Management (to get to that important writing space)

Shelley Widhalm in her reporting days chases after a story during a county fair parade, while trying to multitask with her camera.

Considering that I consider myself a writer, I have let time dis-management get in the way of what I love.

Yes, I made up a word for my inefficiency at time management. I’m used to a 9-to-5’er, but starting a business and taking on a part-time bridge job (that’s fun because I get to wear a baseball cap, run around and be busy) has shown me that I’m not as skilled at using my time as I thought. In other words, too often I’ve exhausted myself and gotten overwhelmed, resulting in dreaded wasted time.

When time isn’t well managed, efficiency can be affected as well as how quickly work can be produced and the quality of that work. To feel more at ease and in control, I found a few ways to better manage my work day to free up space and time for my personal writing and to make the most of the writing and editing work I do for my business.

First, I learned I shouldn’t think of all of the tasks I have to do for the next day or week all at once. I tended to blow them up in my mind, thinking something that will take 10 minutes would take a half-hour or longer. I exaggerated, and then I worried, falsely believing that I’d never get it all done.

So, what I now do is break up what I have to do into small chunks, doing the most important things first, using lists to prioritize and get rid of any unnecessary things. With a boss, my tasks list was defined for me, but out on my own in the big world, I had to figure it out, get organized and develop systems. I had to get intimate with the time clock.

Time Management Tricks

Here are a few other things I’ve learned about time management:

• Focus on one task at a time. Though multitasking sounds trendy and is touted as professional, the brain actually switches from like task to like task but can’t do both at the exact same time. The brain, however, can handle two dissimilar tasks at once, like listening to an audio book while driving. (Check out the “Mindfulness Pocketbook, Little Exercises for a Calmer Life,” by Gill Hasson).
• Don’t squeeze too many tasks into the day, causing the time devoted to each one to become frayed or frantic.
• Don’t procrastinate tasks, because with procrastination comes the guilt of needing to do the one thing but not doing it now, resulting in wasted thought time. Plus, the task can be broken into smaller chunks if there is a longer deadline.
• Devote your entire attention to the task, ignoring email or other distractions.
• Switch tasks when you get tired or thoughts seem to slow down and come back to it later with a fresh perspective, unless, of course, the deadline is immediate.
• Mark down how long it takes to do each task—three months into my business, I started tracking how long I spent on everything, devoting a surprising half-hour ad day on email (I’d thought it was less). This helped me identify how long it took for each different task, especially to speed up the process.
• Set a time limit for each task, but allow for some overage.
• Don’t get caught up in too many details of the task, spending too much time on any one aspect. Be thorough and accurate, but don’t dwell or aim for 100 percent, absolute perfection.
• Identify your most productive times of the day and set aside easier tasks or chores that are routine and do not require much thought. Be sure to do something on the weekends, even for an hour or two, to make for less work later.
• Use waiting times, such as in an office or in line, as a time to do portable tasks, such as jotting down ideas or answering emails.

Fit in the Breaks

And lastly, take breaks, including between and during tasks. A short walk once an hour is ideal to stretch muscles and invigorate the mind and body to get ready for more work.

Some, or all, of these time management ideas can be used for writing. Be sure to set aside time every day or week for writing, so that it isn’t forgotten because of all of the tasks that have to be done. Have a place to write. Squeeze it in when waiting in those lines. Keep a notebook with you. And take pride when you do write, another task accomplished.

 

Causal vs. Effectual Writing (or finding structure in the process)

Shelley Widhalm imitates the pose of a Ben Franklin statue, ready with her notebook in case she’s inspired or motivated to write effectually.

Writing has multiple levels of structure from freewriting, where anything goes and the focus is speed, to highly scientific documents or how-to manuals.

Another way to look at this is to see writing as causal or as effectual, either having a rigid structure or coming out of inspiration, motivation and the moment. In other words, is writing something that strictly follows a formula or format, or can it be freer than that? Can writing be in that gray area, neither black nor white?

To answer this, I’m adopting two concepts from the business world, where causal and effectual thinking are two different approaches to starting a business.

The uncertainty of starting a business doesn’t produce the best outcomes with a traditional approach of developing a business plan, according to Cindy Skalicky, owner of On Point Communications, LLC, who gave a presentation in July at the Loveland Business Development Center, “Mastering the Model: A Closer Look at Effectuation, Lean Startup & Business Model Canvas.”

Causal vs. Effectual Thinking

Causal thinking with a specific goal in mind works when the business model, customers and products already are a given. Alternatively, effectual thinking starts with the business owner taking inventory of the self and the skills, education, experiences, training and aspirations related to a general idea of what to bring to the market, whether a product, service or invention. Effectual thinking is having a basic idea or leaning and an idea of a plan, but not everything outlined and specified.

With causal thinking, there already is knowledge about what works and doesn’t work, while effectual thinking is more of an exploration and immersion into the process; it’s planning versus letting the ideas unfold and develop along the way. Effectual thinking is good for uncertainty and not knowing the final outcome; it’s you, as the business owner or writer, in relation to your idea.

Effectual thinking is, to use another business concept, taking assets to action, starting with your identity and passions, such as your favorite classes, hobbies, lifestyle and what you already enjoy doing. It’s starting with your inside, or the assets you have, coupled with your outside, which is your network. The upside is putting those ideas into action, resulting in taking what you have to offer to get out the idea or product.

As such, causal writing begins with that plan or outline, or a predetermined structure, while effectual writing starts with the writer.

Causal Writing

Examples of causal, structured writing could include a press release, which must get the readers’ immediate attention while addressing the 5 W’s and H (who-what-where-when-why and how), or a classroom assignment of a five-paragraph essay that has to meet certain criteria to earn an A.

The journalist or student doesn’t ask, “Who am I? What do I know? What am I passionate about? Who do I know?” Instead, the editor or instructor hands over the assignment, and the staff or class has to turn in the assignment for a paycheck or grade.

At the same time, the journalist or student could find ways to personalize what they write, coming up with a creative lead or way of structuring the sentences to unfold the telling of story in a news or feature article and finding details they find interesting from their own backgrounds and perspectives when fleshing out an essay.

No two journalists or students will write the exact content, though there will be more similarities in the noticed details in hard news versus soft news and the more feature-like articles focused on storytelling and profiling individuals, places and events.

Effectual Writing

The assignment may begin as causal, but as writers find ways to personalize what they write, what they produce becomes a blend of causal and effectual writing.

A master’s thesis that follows a specific format also can be effectual, because graduate students choose their topics and approaches, while meeting the criteria for graduation. My thesis, interestingly enough, analyzed how literary theory can play out in the way journalists craft their stories based on their backgrounds, personalities and experiences, as well as their relationship with the editor, newspaper and other staff.

Writing may begin as causal—here’s your task or assignment—but, no matter what, ends up being effectual because of the revision process, requiring the writer to go through multiple iterations.

A lean startup business enables you to iterate and change the product for the better—you have your ideas from the effectual process and now you need to iterate them, building on feedback and measures of your success, while eliminating waste and mistakes through continuous small improvements. That’s what happens with revision—the elimination of error and continual improvement toward a better written piece that also makes you a better writer with that experience and effort.