The Swellest Wife Anyone Ever Had
An Appalachian Domestic Life Made Epic
The Swellest Wife Anyone Ever Had is out now from Kelsay Books! I first started submitting poetry manuscripts to presses in 2009. I was a finalist and semi-finalist in book contests more times than I care to remember. It feels like a dream to have a book finally out there in the world. I hope that you’ll consider buying a copy from either Kelsay Books or Amazon, if your finances allow. If not, I hope you’ll consider requesting that your local public or university library orders a copy for their collection. The collection follows the life of a mid-20th century Appalachian woman and has been described by Amanda Page as “an Appalachian domestic life made epic.” In case you missed it, here’s a link to the Meter Cute I did a few weeks ago.
Let’s write!
1) Set your timer for 10 minutes. Write about your favorite flower or plant. Follow your brain wherever it goes, don’t tell it that something’s off topic, just follow. Are you writing about a favorite memory only tangentially related to the flowe ror plant? Are you writing a detailed description of one of its petals or leaves? Great! Both are perfect things to be writing right now!
2) Set your timer for 10 minutes. Write about your least favorite flower or plant. Follow your brain wherever it goes, editor voice is completely turned off.
3) Time to en-rhythm! Set a timer for 10 minutes. Read a poem over and over, aloud, for that entire time. I’m going to suggest Wordsworth’s “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” but feel free to pick whatever poem moves you right now. Feel more like dancing and grooving to en-rhythm? Try Aurora’s “The Dark Dresses Lightly” and see how it goes.
4) Time to draft! Set the timer for 10 minutes. Write an ode to the flower or plant that you wrote about in step 2. Does that sound like torture? Okay then, do something else, you’re in control here! Write what feels best about whatever is kicking around in your head right now.
Now you’ve got a draft of something to revise this weekend or next week or whenever! And it took less than an hour to get you there!
Thanks for letting me stop by!
And here’s a little bonus, a clip from the TV show The Critic that shows how I feel right now. Hope it’s not getting too annoying for folks!