Adrian S. Potter

I stated on my blog awhile back that it is my goal to write 100 creative pieces in 2008. It is also my goal to publish that many works, but let’s just focus on what I can control – I can’t account for editors’ tastes.

Right now I am on track to meet that 100 works goal. I count 48 pieces of work that I’ve wrote or rebuilt so far in 2008, and a good deal of them have been published or are forthcoming in journals.

The inventory: 32 free verse poems, 9 prose poems, 3 short stories, 1 creative non-fiction/ranting piece. I am also going to count the 3 lectures I wrote on writing and the creative process during my poetry workshop/guest blogging stint over at the Scribes’ Tribe Scribblings website.

Hopefully I can keep up this workrate. Although I admit there are a few throwaway pieces in the bunch (and a few that need major revising), most of this work is up to par with my previous writing and is currently touring the submission and contest circuit trying to find a home in some magazine, journal, website, or whatever. Fingers crossed.

Such is the life of a writer, I suppose. Be good…

The Spring 2008 issue of Denver Syntax is now online.  Denver Syntax is a literary, art, and music review based out of (you guessed it) Denver.  The writing in it is edgy and provacative, and its format and style are top notch, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, I am lucky enough to be in this kick-ass issue of Denver Syntax.  I have two poems included in the issue, When I Speak of Life and Burn Everything Down and Start Over.  Much thanks to editor Jonathan Bitz for the chance to contribute.  Go on check out my poems and the whole issue.  C'mon, it's just a click away.  You know you want to.

Note: This was originally posted on 4/16/08 at the Scribes' Tribe Scribbings blog as part of an April poetry workshop.

What is your process for writing poetry?

I’ve only recently started thinking about process. Maybe that’s because I’ve only recently had folks interested in my work enough to ask. At first, I really had no clue how to describe my personal process. I’ve come to realize that process for me is a fluid entity, something that remains constantly changing.

For example, last year I wrote a lot of narrative poems and political/socially driven poems. So whenever I wrote in my notebook, I’d tuck away the random phrases and metaphors that came to me for future use. Whenever I was struck upside the head with a complete idea, I would start writing, and then go back to my notes to see if anything I’d written before “fit” within the piece I was working on. This worked well at the time. I knew where I wanted to take the reader, and then added in images and descriptions from my notebook that correlated with that concept.

Lately I’ve drifted from the conventional narrative of my previous poems, and toward something less linear, more disjointed. I wouldn’t call it fully abstract, but definitely not as organized as my previous style. This style shift has impacted my process. No longer do I just store things away for future use – sometimes I take a phrase I think of and run with it in order to see where it takes me. I no longer feel like I need to always know where I’m going with a concept before I start writing.

I mostly write free verse, so I rarely have the constraint of remaining in a certain pattern (unless it is of my own creation). That is a personal choice, but I can see myself trying some forms, such as sestinas or villanelles, in the future.

When I think of process, I feel the following things are important:

• Realize that your process can be fluid and remain in flux. You can change from what you “have always done” and still be a good writer. The only thing holding you back is fear.
• Don’t be afraid to try something new. You might find a different voice yearning to come out of you…or a voice that was always there, but you never bothered to listen to.
• Make sure what you are doing works for your style and personality. I have friends who write using their own methods, and can cookie-cutter a whole poetry manuscript in a single night if they so desired. However, if I employed their methods, I wouldn’t write a single word.

Click here to check out a review of my fiction chapbook Survival Notes by Marie Lecrivain, executive editor of poeticdiversity.  I definitely appreciate the positive words she has for my chapbook.

As part of National Poetry Month, I will be guest blogging over at the Scribes’ Tribe Scribblings website. I’ll be talking about poetry in general and the intersection of poetry and prose in particular. It’s intended to be a poetry workshop where people can ask questions and advice.

Click here to check out the poetry workshop page where I’m featured. Right now they have posted an interview with me where I answer various questions.

The rest of the blogging for the month will work like this:

April 16 - Poem-making, the Process
April 21 - How Poetry Influences Prose, and Vice Versa
April 23 - Spreading the Word: Getting Your Work Out There Through Publishing and Readings
April 28 & 30 - Critiquing poems from those posted on the website

Big thanks to Candace and Amy of the Scribes’ Tribe for this tremendous opportunity.

I have work in the inaugural edition of Imagine, the Arts Ministry Journal of Imago Dei. My poem Conversation with an Atheist appears in this new magazine dedicated to expressing Christianity through the written word, visual arts, and creative arts ministries.

I also have new work – three poems to be exact – in the third edition of MO: Writings from the River. MO: Writings from the River is the journal of the Montana State University - Great Falls Literary Guild, published annually.

I’ll have work later this month in the upcoming first edition of a new online journal, Asphalt Sky. When it is online, I’ll post up a link.  Also in May, I'll have a poem in the online journal Prairie Poetry.

More of my work will appear in Talking Stick later this year.  My poem Minnesota and my micro-fiction piece False Hope have been selected to be part of this Minnesota literary journal.

As far as my goal to write 100 works in 2008, I am right on pace. I count 26 poems, 2 short stories, and 1 ranting piece in various states of disarray. I’ll keep on the grind, I suppose.

Finally, in the coming weeks, I’ll be doing work as a guest blogger (somewhat ironic, considering the erratic pace of the posts I make on my own blog) at Scribes’ Tribe Scribblings ), a unique and helpful writing website/blog that was spawned by a writers’ critique group. I’ll post more a little more about this guest blogging stint tomorrow. Until then, be good…

In case you didn't know, April is National Poetry Month...not that we shouldn't celebrate poetry every month.  Click here to learn more about this month-long celebration of verse.