Writing To Be Read

                  Any creative writing course will tell you that the trick to creative writing is to make colorful and accurate descriptions that make the writing come to life, enabling the reader to mentally visualize what the writer is describing. Effective writing is therefore filled with adjectives and adverbs that attempt to enliven the words on the page, (or screen, as the case may be).  While these descriptors can come in handy, they are not enough to create writing that crosses over from okay to excellent.  In order to do that, the writer can also utilize comparative measures, through the use of similes and metaphors to help the reader to visualize what the author is trying to portray.

             If adverbs and adjectives are the meat and potatoes of effect writing, the similes and metaphors are it’s bread and butter; some work just is not complete without them. Imagine if you can, the colorful characters of Chaucer without the similes that bring his brash and bawdy Wife of Bath or his brawny Miller, as well as the other colorful characters of The Canterbury Tales to life for us.

                        “She sat her gentle horse easily, and wore a fine headdress with a hat                  

                         as broad as a buckler or a shield, a riding skirt about her large hips, and a           

                         pair of sharp spurs on her heels.” (1, 14, 46-50)

                        “His beard was as red as any sow or fox, and as broad as a spade.  At the right

                          on top of his nose he had a wart, from which there grew a tuft of hair red

                          as the bristles of a sow’s ears, and his nostrils were wide and black…His

                          mouth was as huge as a large furnace and he was a jokester and a ribald clown,

                          most of whose jests were of sin and scurrility.” (1, 14, 58-65)  

Or perhaps it would be easier to envision the sonnets of Shakespeare without the art of comparison that the use of metaphors affords him, as we see in Sonnet 73,

                        “Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

                          Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

                          In me thou seest the twilight of such a day

                          As after sunset fadeth in the west;

                          Which by and by black night doth take away,

                          Death’s second self, that seals up in all the rest.” (2, 729, 3-8)

Without the use of similes and metaphors their work would not be the classic literature that it is.  It would be instead, something dull and boring that did little to entice us to read it other than to lay lifeless on the page in front of us; Chaucer’s Wife would simply have ‘a big wide hat’ and the Miller would just have ‘some very red hair and a hairy wart, a big mouth and a lewd sense of humor’, while Shakespeare’s birds would ‘sing on bare branches’ and it would just get ‘very dark’.  Without metaphors Emily Dickenson might never have written poetry at all, since a good portion of her work is so heavily packed with metaphor that there would be very little left, as can be seen in this brief poem titled Apparently with no surprise,

                        “Apparently with no surprise

                          To any happy Flower

                          The frost beheads it at its play—

                          In accidental power—

                          The blonde Assassin passes on—

                          The sun proceeds unmoved

                          To measure off another Day

                          For an approving God.” (2, 726)

             If the truth be told, similes and metaphors can be difficult to master.  A certain command of language is required to master the art of creating illusion with the written word through their use.  I myself have always seen them as some what of a challenge.  They do find their way into my writing, to be sure, but it is often difficult to find just the right circumstances that are totally analogous to the scene that I’m trying to portray.  That can be a real challenge.  One of the writer’s networks that I am a member of had a poetry group that posted a new theme each week and then the group members would each try to come up with a poem along that theme.  One week the theme was prairie dogs.  While I was tossing the idea around to see what I could come up with, a friend of mine, who is not a writer, was trying to write a poem for a class assignment. Her theme didn’t matter, but she needed to write a poem using similes and metaphors.  “Why don’t you just write my poem for me.  You’re a writer.”, she whined.  Of course, I declined, but it got me thinking along those lines and I decided to make this my personal challenge and after deliberating on all of the imagery that came to mind when I thought of prairie dogs, I came up with a poem using similes and metaphors that had a prairie dog theme.  The funny thing is that by using similes and metaphors the poem that I wrote was nothing at all like the cutesy little children’s poem that I had originally envisioned.  The similes and metaphors had changed my poem into something totally different, almost by themselves, as you can see,

Prairie Dogs 

By Kaye Lynne Booth

As I gaze out over the crater pocked moonscape of the prairie,

Tiny volcanoes erupt with overgrown chipmunks at unsuspecting intervals,

Like targets in a shooting gallery;Cute, cuddly deceptions of looming plague,

Spreading a potential for destructionAs certain as a flow of molten lava,

Through their maze of leg breaking burrows.

1. Reprinted in The Humanistic Tradition, 5th ed., Book 3, by Gloria K. Fiero,

     London:Magraw Hill, 2006

2. Reprinted in Discovering Literature: Stories, Poems and Plays, 3rd ed., Hans P.

     Guth and Gabriele Rico editors, New Jersey: Printice Hall, 2003.

            Somewhere way back when, (back when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth), I read that the first step to becoming a writer was to call yourself a writer.   I think that this is a valid statement.  So far, it has been true for me.  Once I began thinking of myself as a writer and introducing myself as a writer, I began to behave like a writer.  To behave like a writer is more than just writing, (although obviously, that is a big part of it), it is introducing yourself as a writer, referring to yourself in profiles as a writer and talking to people that might be able to aide in promoting your career in some way about your writing.  During the past couple of years, I’ve joined social networks, business networks and writer’s networks, as well as founding a writer’s network of my own, (Writer’s World : http://creationcorner.ning.com/ ), and on every single one I refer to myself in my profile as a writer, and then I post blogs that feature my writing to back it up. 

            Of course, there have been times when behaving as a writer has made me feel as if I was stretching the truth a little bit.  When I signed up for the Fremont County Writers and Artists’ Fair last year and Tygre asked if I would be promoting a book or displaying my work, I had to do some fast thinking.  My first children’s book was still being prepared to go to the illustrator’s, so no way was I ready to do a book signing and all I really had was a collection of poetry which only contained one poem that had actually been published.  “Yes, I’ll need a table to display my work, as I will be doing a poetry signing.” I responded.  I had never heard of anyone else doing a poetry signing, so I had to figure out just what that would entail.  I got busy and prepared illustrated backgrounds for all of the poems that I wanted to display and framed up one of each.  I also printed out several copies of each one and when the big night rolled around, I was ready.  I set up my table with a stack of copies in front of each framed poem display and sold the copies for five dollars a piece, (autographed, of course).  I didn’t know if it would work; I didn’t know if I would sell one poem, but I behaved like the writer that I was beginning to believe that I was and it paid off.  No one else had ever heard of a poetry signing, but you know, I did sell some of my poetry, and not just to people who knew me, (although I had shamelessly posted notices at work and went around inviting everyone that I even remotely knew).  In fact, only a few people of all that were invited even showed up. There were people buying my poetry because they liked it, (not just because they felt obligated).  I didn’t make a killing, but I made enough that night to make me feel that my poetry really was good and that I actually had enough talent to truly be a writer. 

            Another thing that happened that night that truly opened my eyes was the discovery that I had already been keeping company with other writers, real writers.  There were several local authors there that I had known all along and hadn’t even realized were authors.  I also met a local editor and a couple of agents.  I haven’t used any of these new resources yet, but I have their cards and I plan to use them someday soon.  After all, the Fremont County Writers’ and Artists’ Fair is just a way to network up close and personal. 

            After that night, I walked away truly feeling like a writer.  The illustrations for my children’s book, which is the first in a series titled “My Backyard Friends”, will be finished and ready for publication this spring.  (The book is titled “Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend”, so watch for it.)  I have enough to poems now to go ahead and make a volume of poetry of them, so I’ve begun to put that together, with illustrations.  My writer’s network is really beginning to take off, and I’m negotiating a ghostwriting project that I hooked up on off one of the business networks that I belong to (StartUpSpace), plus I got turned onto to this really great bogging opportunity that you are reading right now.  I don’t feel like I’m stretching the truth so much any more when I claim to be a writer.  I really do behave like a writer and it has paid off.  Doing things that writers do has made me into a writer and next year I plan to have a book to sign along with my poetry when I sign up for the Fremont County Writers’ and Artists’ Fair. 

            To close this blog post, I’d like to share with you the very first thing that I ever published.  It was featured in “Dusk and Dawn” magazine in 1996:

A Prayer For Guidance

Lord, hear my prayer and guide me.

Show me what to do.

I feel that I have lost myself.

I fear I’ll loose you, too.

At every crossroads in my life

I need a sign to tell

Which way to go, which path to choose

To make things turn out well.

I know I must be honest

And love my fellow man.

I know I must be kind and generous,

And help others when I can.

Where I seem to have a problem

Is in choosing where to go

The direction that my life should take,

Is what I do not know.

So I ask that you take charge, Lord.

Lead me along the way.

Help me make the right decisions.

Guide me every day. 

          This is my first blog post, so I thought that I might introduce myself.  It’s always nice to know a little about the person whose work you are reading.  To start off, I am Kaye Lynne Booth and I’m a writer.  That always sounds so great to say.  I’ve had a few things published, but I’m not in the big leagues yet, although my first children’s book is being illustrated as I write this.  This is a very exciting thing for me, because it should be ready for publication by spring.  It is actually the first book of the “My Backyard Friends” series.  There will be at least five more books in this series, if all goes well.  In additions to children’s books, I write poetry and several genres of fiction. I am currently preparing to embark on a non-fictional story through my first stint as a ghostwriter.  You can see why I chose to do a blog about writing.  It’s what I do.

            In my personal life, I live in Colorado with my husband of twenty-seven years and our fourteen year old son.  We lost our nineteen year old son last September, so recent times have been pretty rough for us.  He was a handsome, talented young man with a promising future ahead of him, but that’s all ended now.  My family members are animal lovers, so in addition to the human members of the family, we have three canine members and one feline.  They are not just pets; they are a valued part of the family.  We also have four older children that are grown and gone off with families of their own, blessing me with a total of thirteen grandchildren.            

           My hobbies include reading, which is an absolute necessity for a writer, and bird watching, which I do right in my backyard at our mountain home.  In fact, the birds in my yard are what inspired the “My Backyard Friends” series and the characters it features each have a basis in the birds that visit the feeders in the forest that is my backyard.  My poetry, as well, has basis in my true life and reflects whatever is happening with me at the time that it is written.  Due to this factor, you might guess that I must have a poem about my birds, as well, and you would be right.   As a conclusion to this introductory blog post, I’d like to share it with you.