Book-in-a-Day 10: 20 Ways of Talking to Your Poem

3/8/2013

20 Ways of Talking to Your Poem, 2013

Title: 20 Ways of Talking to Your Poem
Structure: Fan Book
Dimensions: 3 1⁄4 x 1 1⁄8 Thickness: 1 3⁄16

Video of my process.

BOOK 10 is done! It feels great to have 10 books completed. I'm enjoying this process and learning so much about myself as an artist and poet.

This week, I took my inspiration from the workbook I've been compiling since last year. It includes daily writing exercises for poets who want to have a daily/weekly/monthly writing practice. It also includes strategies for revising poems. Originally, I had planned to release the book in February of this year. The cards would be the supplement to the book. They would be something the poet can carry around with them as they think about and ruminate on their poems.

It was interesting to make these cards and see them come to life. The most revealing part of the process was when I condensed the information to make it fit the cards. I realized that the workbook is really close to being done and that I'm just procrastinating with moving it forward. Oh!! Procrastination!

Ten is a milestone worth celebrating and this was just the book to do it. It will be the prototype for the actual card deck that I hope to have ready before summer.

The book (cards) act as a tool for revision. Each strategy is in a set of three (name of the strategy, quick reference for the strategy, and a revision refresher -- a detailed description of the strategy). There are 20 of them (as the title suggests). It's geared towards poets, but could easily be used by prose writers, too.

I'm proud of this week's book because, not only is it the 10th book in the series, it's the tangible manifestation of an idea I've been carrying around for a while. And, YES, I will be making an edition of this. I'll also likely give some to folks who take my first online poetry course -- Conquering the Blank Page Using Poetry, which starts April 1st.

This was a fairly simply book to make. I upcyled the backs from scraps of old projects so that I could create visual prompts for writing. That way, the book becomes both a tool for revision and a way to generate ideas.

I mention this on the video, but it's worth saying again -- the screw post is much bigger than it needs to be. Either I'm being led to make it more than 20 (which I could totally do), or I just need a smaller screw post :-). Either way, it's the one thing I would change about the book.

Finally, I wasn't up until 2 or 3 in the morning making this book. I finished before 11PM and that felt great. Maybe I'm getting it down to a science???

To see a list of materials and more photos, visit givinghands.ning.com.

I'm looking forward to what next week brings. If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please post them to the Giving Hands Creative Community site.

See you next week for book 11!!