Poetry, Muses, tomato plants and writing advice

Spent an hour or two earlier helping my dad (age 81, remember him?) use a sort of mini-rototiller called a "Mantis" to chew up a sizable plot in back for his tomato plants. Good workout...many people pay a gym for less. While still "out of shape", I am probably the hardiest I have ever been in my life.

I've been talking to my older brother some more...he's launching his own blog...it will be interesting to see where he takes it...he has some interesting tales to tell and has a job that puts him in a position to meet a lot of interesting people...I'll give you more details when he's up and running.

Got a letter today from a young writer wanting to know some advice about writing...generic stuff.

That's like asking for generic advice on how to stay healthy or dating...the generic stuff would take an encyclopedia, so I sent him a note subdividing it into three possible channels: advice on writing, advice on marketing yourself to publishers, advice on being a guerilla poet.

The first is even more subdividable than that: fiction writing, nonfiction writing, poetry writing.

I know a little about fiction, I've written some short stories, ghostwritten a novel and written cost proposals for government consulting (hee hee).

I know something about nonfiction writing. I've written a memoir and several how-to articles.

Poetry? I've heard of it. 8 books by mid-July, 10,000 loose poems, named the Romantic Poet of the Internet by Yahoo in 1996, poet of the year or month many times for various publications/sites/whatevers, I have been called the poet of the cyberrennaisance or digital renaissance...yawn. It gets tedious. Some people collect credits like some people collect past lovers. All either shows is that sometime or another, you slept with someone. Not much of an accomplishment, actually.

I tell my proteges that there are two elements to writing poetry, craft and gift. A person without gift can still learn how to write good poetry (just look at Shakespeare) but can never be a poet. A person without craft might have the gift, but will waste it. So, regardless, you have to learn the craft...hey, even Michelangelo was an apprentice.

Form is the ultimate expression of craft. But it requires a large vocabularly and exposure to the craft itself.

Voice is the ultimate expression of gift. It shows you through your works, making your works all related (some more closely to others) in some way or another due to similarities that can all be traced back to who you are. You aren't ready to find your voice until you develop your craft.

Some will and have had issue with what I said just now, but there are those who argue the existence of God. Simplistic translation: Opinionated morons abound.

Sorry for the ponitifcate, I'm feeling my oats...Brigit surfaced today. Yeah, one of my most beloved muses stuck her head out and sent me an email today...hadn't heard from her in six months (Freudian slip for a man 15 months into a celibacy kick, I initially typed "sex months".)