Experience Writing

Find the Joy in Grief and the Hope in Despair

I thought I was exhausted from Writober, but it turned out I just needed the election to be over, or perhaps both. I unplugged yesterday, and didn’t peek at the results until kitty was curled up next to me, I had delicious baked plums to fill my empty belly, and cocoa-coffee to wash it down. Maybe it’s just that the sun came out, and even though the construction started at 6:50 am, I was already awake and the world was just too beautiful with my headphones on.

The Calm in the Chaos and the Chaos in the Calm by Maria L. Berg 2024

My response to the headlines surprised me, I started scrubbing my kitchen, then cleaned some windows, then did the mending on my sewing table. I cleaned up my sewing crafts area and planned two new sewing projects. Then I suddenly found the contradictory abstract nouns for November (when I just couldn’t the other day). And I reset the calendar quilt for November.

I have some catching up to do, but it feels like my November started today. That’s why I put the inspiration for my contradictory abstract noun study “Find the Hope in despair and the despair in hope” as today’s inspiration.

ModPo 2024

This is the tenth and final week of ModPo, and Rae Armantrout was at this morning’s ModPo live. Knowing she was going to be there, I spent the hour before reading her poems in ModPo Plus, and watching the video about her poem “Care” that was recorded in Seattle in January of 2020. I really enjoyed it. At first, I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch and listen to ModPo Live, because I knew the poets would be upset. But I’m glad I showed up. Hearing the other poets express their grief, disbelief, and anger is what inspired me to get to my abstract nouns calendar, and not give up until I had it finished.

New Poem

Yesterday’s Poetics prompt fits so perfectly with getting my contradictory abstract noun calendar done. Merril’s prompt post was “Choose Joy” and asked us to write about something that brings us joy. Though I have Grief / Joy for next Wednesday. “Find the hope in despair and the despair in hope” brings me joy. Exploring contradictory abstract nouns brings me joy. So writing a poem inspired by any abstract noun brings me joy.

The dangers of joy

The mountain in all its volcanic calm—
hovering on the horizon, dressing
itself with colors of cloud formations
reflecting in the calm autumn lake
accompanied by the red, yellow,
and orange leaves, or the choppy
wind-swept lake those same leaves
floating, melt-dancing through
the blues of rock and whites of glacier
—always brings me joy

I stare in awe whenever it appears
on a sunny day, shedding its cloud
coat, baring itself to the golden rays
Like a hovering parent, or a self-
obsessed sharer, I can take a picture
every day, and its contours are always
new. And there are other good views.

Dangerous to drivers, the mountain
will suddenly fill the sky on the way
up a hill, or around a corner
On the way to work, or on the
way out of town, it fills the sky
and my heart, and I’m stunned
The world stops turning
and if I’m not careful
so do I.

Recently, the mountain
has been showing signs
of waking from slumber
tossing and turning a bit
Maybe having the same
bad dream I keep leaving
the computer playing
uninteresting re-runs to avoid
but I hope not. If the mountain
wakes up on the wrong side
like I did the other day
it’ll take more than a twister-disc
and some roasted plums
to temper that volcano.

Having your hopes snatched away is definitely fuel for despair. But instead, I feel like today is my ticking clock. I need to use the time I have as fully as I possibly can before the volcano erupts figuratively, or literally.

Time For Reading and Writing and Art
Find Your Joy

November Expectations

Writober Recap

This Writober was a huge success. Thank you everyone who participated, linking up their images, poems, and stories. Your work was intriguing, thought provoking, entertaining, and fun. And you kept me inspired to keep working every day.

Congratulations to Circe of Baldacchino di Perla, ladyleemanila, Carol anne at Therapy Bits, and A.M. Moscoso at My Enduring Bones for the scary amount of great work they posted during Writober. Click on the links and check out their sites. Circe is hosting an Autumnal daily poetry prompt for November.

The High Points

There was so much to enjoy about this Writober. First, I completed my challenge: 31 poem drafts, 31 flash fiction drafts, 31 new photos, some sewing, and some music. I’m really excited to look back on everything I created.

Favorite Image: Fear of Predators

The Low Points

The main low point was that I was working on the prompt posts almost the whole month. I couldn’t seem to get ahead, and that took away from the energy and time I had to respond to the prompts. So I’m going to create next year’s prompts this winter while I’m still in the Halloween mood.

I think my responses to Fear of Separation were my least favorite. Though I really enjoyed taking my camera for a walk around the neighborhood, I don’t think my work got to the feeling of fear of separation in any interesting way.

Least favorite image: Separated
Least favorite poem: Lost in the Forest
Least favorite story: Lost in the Forest

The other low point was that the huge interest on Day 1 immediately dropped off. And then continued to drop off. So I’m wondering what people were looking for that I didn’t provide.

Suggestions?

I would really love some feedback. How can I improve the prompts, the activities, the information, the site, so that Writober is a ton of fun for everyone. Please leave suggestions and comments in the chat. Or if you would rather shoot me a private note, send it to mariaberg@experiencewriting.com. Thank you.

Next Steps

During Writober we enforced our daily writing habit with warm-ups like word collecting, sensory detail phrases, and sensory detail questions. We also explored activities to fight fear of the page, and learned about the basic building blocks of writing. There’s no reason to drop all of that because October is over. As Dorianne Laux wrote in Finger Exercises for Poets, “My instrument is the immensity of language,” and like any instrument, we need to practice to play well.

Now that the rush of Writober is over, you can come back and visit the posts at your leisure whenever you have the time. Just scroll to the bottom of these posts and in the Select Month box choose October 2024. They’ll come up last post first, but just click to the final page and start at the beginning. You can also select Octobers from previous years and see how Writober has evolved here at Experience Writing.

In November I like to keep the momentum of Writober going with more daily writing challenges. I write a novel draft for NaNoWriMo, do the NovPAD daily poetry challenge, and create a daily photography challenge.

I want to get back to my contradictory abstract noun study. So this November, I’m going to look over my Writober word list and pick out all the abstract nouns, or abstract nouns that I connect with my favorite words, and put the abstract nouns and their opposites in my calendar, attempting to cluster them into the five universal fears. Each day I’ll attempt to photograph the abstract noun in it’s opposite, and the opposite in the abstract noun. For example “Find the hope in despair, and the despair in hope.” That’s the statement that launched my study I’ve been enjoying for years.

2024 November PAD Chapbook Challenge

Robert Lee Brewer at Writers Digest provides daily poetry prompts in November. Then poets are challenged to edit and compile their poems into a Chapbook. This is a great opportunity to continue our daily writing habit and explore the techniques we learned during Writober.

Today’s prompt is to write a “before you leave” poem.

Or Leave

I have a special painting
on my mantel many would
consider folk art
or outsider art
or kitsch that
says “Be Nice or Leave”

I earned that piece
with its Abita bottle cap
frame from Dr. Bob himself
for playing my songs in a loft
of a barn for a benefit
for kids learning
and it survived the hurricane

It has a place of honor
and like mismatched socks
once you notice it,
you can’t stop talking about it

So before you leave
know you weren’t nice
and wonder why you couldn’t be
That sign survived
when so many of my friends
and places didn’t
but you stood by

November Novel Writing

I thought I had decided to continue my full focus on poetry through the rest of the year and start my new novel in January, but then I looked at the NaNoWriMo site and realized that it’s my tenth NaNoWriMo in a row and I’m not ready to break that streak.

I didn’t finish the first draft of my horror novel last year, so this year, I’m going review what I did write last year and using the universal fear study, and Novel writing prompts from Writober, attempt to finish a very frightening first draft.

I’ll be looking back through previous years’ Novembers for prompts and inspiration. Last year I bought a Clue board game with the intent to invent a word crawl to go with the board game. Hopefully I’ll figure it out this year and can share it with you.

I’m also excited that I finished my spooky pockets for my calendar quilt, so I can rearrange it for November, and put Halloween candy, stickers, and positive messages in the pockets to reward myself when I meet my goals.

I look forward to hearing what you are all up to this November. Write On!

The Writober Finale

Fighting the Fear of Death by Maria L. Berg 2024

These are my responses to the final Writober prompt post Fear of Death.

OctPoWriMo

Living With Fear of Death

Color of the distant object deceives
The slice of cloud dismembered from the sky
becomes filthy while falling and floating by
The dead end road ends abruptly
I can’t taste the poison but it’s there
I will never hear his voice and not feel disgust
texture is often more important than taste
I will hear my inner music again
Everything changes if I use a filter
I will witness transformation through chopping
Trauma lingers like an underlying hum
I will follow him if he’s prowling
and wonder why now? Why did it take so long?
I will witness a changed world if I live
pressure like a flame thrower at my back
I will touch my lips as I think about what I will touch

Writober Flash Fiction

I felt called, as if I could walk across the water to the giant pushing on the sky. It was a cold day, the day he came. I pulled on my long wool coat, for my morning walk along the beach. I slipped out before she woke up. I had a lot to contemplate. She had made up her mind without saying a word. She was taking the job, moving to Jackson Hole. So far from the ocean I loved. We either split up, or I went with her. There were no other choices. I couldn’t be that angry at her for not consulting me. I hadn’t told her about my cancer diagnosis. I don’t know why, but I didn’t feel it was any of her business.

I was kicking at the wet sand, watching the ocean’s furthest reach fill up my divots when I felt pushed, and almost fell over. It wasn’t the wind: there wasn’t even a hint of a breeze. No, it was like the air over the ocean was forced into me. I turned expecting a tidal wave on the horizon to explain it, but instead saw a giant shadow pushing against the sky, as if someone a thousand times as big as me was backlit onto a sky curtain and was trying to push through. I felt surprisingly calm, no fear at all. I took this as the third choice I had been wishing for. No moving, no staying, just walk across the water to the giant in the sky and accept whatever comes. But the ocean didn’t hold me. I probably should have taken off my heavy coat.

Halloween Photography Challenge

Today’s images are a celebration of completing my Halloween decoration Sewtober challenge. The photo represents fighting the fear of death with beautiful light.

Fabricglass Pumpkin by Maria L. Berg 2024

Sewtober

I really pushed myself hard and completed my vision of a glowing fabricglass
3-D pumpkin for Halloween. Fabricglass is a layering, sewing, and cutting technique I invented using spandex fabrics to create a stained glass effect. I had some rope lights sitting in my closet from when I made light boxes, and coiling a strand inside worked perfectly to give it a warm glow. I’m so happy with my finished pumpkin. Thank you being my accountablibuddies and inspiring me to finish my project.

Fabricglass Pumpkin from the Side by Maria L. Berg 2024

Congratulations everyone for all your Writober writing and projects. Thank you for joining me. It was so fun to read your work and see your images. The month went by way too fast.

Happy Writober!

Happy Halloween!

Come back tomorrow
for a Writober Recap and Next Steps

Fear of Death

Happy Halloween! You’ve done it: thirty days of poems, stories, and photographs; weekly sewing and music projects. And we’re here at the end. Our final Writober poem, story, and photo prompts of 2024.

OctPoWriMo

Poetry Toolbox

Word list: You now have well over a hundred words to use while exploring fear in your writing. Fear is universal, everyone feels it and experiences it, and now you have the tools to write about it. Spend time with your word list. Put your words into categories of your choosing. Compare and contrast your words. Journal about your words. Put your words on cards and make your Personal Universal Deck, or print out your words, cut them out and put them in word jars. These are your tools, practice with them, and get to know them. (Inspired by Frances Mayes’ list of a hundred favorite words in The Discovery of Poetry)

If you didn’t make your word list this month, it’s never too late. I created this Excel Spreadsheet for you to use to collect and explore your fear words.

OctPoWriMo wordlist Download

2. Sensory Imagery: There is so much you can do with the phrases you wrote this month.

Go back through and collect them by sense. Write a poem for each sense separately using your responses.
Choose your favorites to use in a poem about universal fears
Write a poem with anaphora
Put the trigger phrase at the end and write a poem with epiphora
Search your phrases for euphony, or cacophony
Search your phrases for rhyme, or meter
Order all of your favorite lines and order them to fit a metaphor

(Inspired by a week one exercise in the poetry chapter of The Portable MFA in Creative Writing)

3. Choose a poetry collection: Read more poetry collections while working on your own.

Poetry Building

Putting it all together: Have fun today. Experiment and stretch yourself. Try writing something completely different than anything you’ve ever written before. Write as your Halloween costume character. Put on your mask, so your inner critic has no idea who you are. Use your wordlist. Use your sensory details, and sensory question answers. Every day of the month has built up to this day. What stood out to you as the most interesting technique or rhetorical device this month? Try it out. Then read your draft aloud and make changes for sound and mouth feel.

Example poem: Today we’re looking at Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson, copied here from poetryfoundation.org for educational purposes.

Because I could not stop for Death – (479)

By Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – ’tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –

Source: The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by R.W. Franklin (Harvard University Press, 1999)

How does this poem make you feel? What stands out to you? How does this poem explore fear of death?

Today’s prompt: Write a poem exploring the fear of death using your favorite rhetorical devices.

Form: If you’re looking for more of a challenge, write a sestina using six words from your wordlist.

Writober Flash Fiction

Write a story with a beginning, middle, and end with conflict that leads to change in less than a thousand words (no minimal word count) inspired by one of the images in the Extinction folder of the Writober 2024 Pinterest board. How does fear of death affect your character?

Novel Prep

Diving into your new novel in November? I hope you feel prepared and are excited to get started. If you scroll down to the bottom of these posts, you’ll find a search and a Select Month box. If you select November 2017 you’ll find lots of daily prompts to keep you inspired to write every day.

Halloween Photography Challenge

Take a photograph that depicts death or fear of death and link to your photo in the chat.

Tunetober

Don’t forget to link to your spooky tune in the chat.

Sewtober

Don’t forget to link to your project in the chat.

Get Moving

Now that you’ve read all the prompts and have all these ideas running around in your head, it’s time for motion. My suggestion:

Put on your costume and dance around while waiting for trick-or-treaters.

Now, grab what inspires you, and create!

Don’t forget to come back & link in the comments.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Cruel Acts

Fear of an Act of God by Maria L. Berg 2024

These are my responses to the Writober prompt post Fear of Acts of God.

OctPoWriMo

When They Blame God

I can’t imagine how people
blamed the city, everyone in
the city for being hit by
a hurricane, but they did.
So many said we deserved it
for our beliefs and our actions.
Some said that God was punishing us
but aren’t we all victims
of acts of God?

Do those people blame
themselves when lightning
hits a tree and the fire spreads?
Do they feel punished when a strong wind
blows and a limb falls on their roof?
Is it their own beliefs and actions
that caused the water heater to burst
and flood their house? No. It’s never
their debauchery, their impure thoughts
or deeds. It’s only bad luck.

Writober Flash Fiction

Jayden and her tornado hunting friends, thought it was fun to make up stories of what horrible things the owners of the destroyed houses must have done to deserve the wrath of God. As they watched a funnel sweep up a cow, they laughed and said Bessie must have made sour milk. When a ferocious, wide twister took out a small town, they imagined a conspiracy of murdering vagrants and making them disappear. When a church was the only building destroyed, they imagined a cult of devil worshipers in the basement. They laughed and laughed as they recorded the destruction, and posted it to their Youtube channel for likes and comments, hoping to eventually get a sponsor to one day become professionals, and not just hobbyists. Vehicle damage and injuries, made for an expensive hobby, but the adrenaline from getting so close to such power, was worth the credit card debt.

They were chasing a super-cell. A group of tornadoes that were joining into one massive, earth-tearing monster, roaring through farms and small towns. Jayden stopped laughing in the middle of her story of a mid-western drug cartel; meth-cooking farmers, small town dealers; because she saw a face, a giant face in the funnel, staring at them, scowling at them.
“Guys, do you see that?” she yelled over the deafening roar.
She didn’t know if they heard her, but Yolanda slammed on the breaks. “It’s turning right at us,” she yelled.
Jayden saw the finger, definitely a giant finger form at the base of the funnel. It pointed right at them. Then it was over them, pressing down on them, as if squishing an irritating ant.

Halloween Photography Challenge

For today’s images, I was thinking of how a Tornado can hit down and destroy one house leaving its neighbors untouched. I cut a tornado with a finger pointing down at its base for my shape filter then used the blue only setting in my camera to take pictures in the mirrorworld.

Happy Writober!

Excited for Halloween?

See you tomorrow!

Fear of Acts of God

Welcome back for the thirtieth day of Writober. We are in our final days looking at the fifth universal fear: fear of extinction. Today, we’re looking at Acts of God, storms and other large events that are out of our control.

Fear of Acts of God by Maria L. Berg 2022

Fear of Acts of God is the same as fear of bad luck, similar to fear of fate or destiny, but I mostly see it as fear of bad storms, earthquakes, and eruptions. Maybe a better name would be fear of acts of planet and atmosphere.

Rhetorical Device: Aporia

Aporia is a declaration of doubt, often feigned. Aporia comes from the Greek word meaning “to be at a loss.” I like the example on LitCharts from Sojourner Truth,

“That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! […] I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?”

Sojourner Truth obviously knows she is a woman, but doubts “that man” sees her as such. Thus she presents this doubt with her question.

Fighting Fear of the Blank Page: Do you remember playing Mad Libs? Thinking up words without any context and then laughing at the fun final stories with the words you chose. Why not enjoy that kind of fun with your own writing.

Mad Libs: Take your favorite example poem from this month, a poem you studied, or the poem or story you wrote this month that was your favorite to write, and replace every noun with the word “noun”, every verb with the word “verb”, and every adjective with the word “adjective.” Then play mad libs with your poem or story.

*Quick Note about links in this post: I am an amazon associate, so most of the links in my post will take you to amazon products. If you buy from these links, I will make some pennies which will help me pay for this site and my creative endeavors.