Poetry as an art form gives us practice caring about others.
– Tracy K. Smith
Tag: practice
Quotable 352
Word choice stands at the center of the practice of writing. This is particularly true for poetry, and even more so for haiku. Simply put, the choice of a word can make or break a poem.
– David Grayson
Quotable 337
First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice.
– Octavia Butler
haiku 338
football practice –
the next generation
of concussions
Quotable 207
Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence. It is no fun to write lumpishly, dully, in prose the reader must plod through like wet sand. But it is a pleasure to achieve, if one can, a clear running prose that is simple yet full of surprises. This does not just happen. It requires skill, hard work, a good ear, and continued practice.
– Barbara W. Tuchman
Quotable 199
Write as often as possible, not with the idea at once of getting into print, but as if you were learning an instrument.
– J. B. Priestley
Quotable 157
Simple English is no one’s mother tongue. It has to be worked for.
– Jacques Barzun
Pen to Paper: The Haiku Habit
I don’t get out much. Living where I do, there’s nowhere to go, and my big jaunt is usually from the little farmstead I inhabit to one of the nearby tiny towns, a distance of 10 or 15 miles depending on which way I go.
This is why so many of my haiku are about the dogs, or coyotes, or the weather. There’s not much going on around here. Someone more keenly attuned to the natural world than I am would find enough haiku moments to fill a calendar. As it is, I have to look pretty sharp and then hope a coyote howls at a different kind of moon than I wrote about last time. Needless to say, I’m missing a lot.
But seeking the constellations of life is a valuable thing in itself; writing a good haiku after making the discovery is the cherry on top. As one looks more, it becomes a habit. With diligent practice, the constellations become more numerous, more sharply defined, more richly patterned.
Jeanne Emrich has written about getting into the haiku habit. This is in many ways a primer, but it also reminds those of us who have written haiku for years what it is we’re looking for and what to do with it once we see it. Jeanne has illustrated her essay with some excellent haiku.
Quotable 48
Genius is in a certain sense infallible, and has nothing to learn; but art is to be learned, and must be acquired by practice and experience.
– August Wilhelm von Schlegel
Quotable 43
Good writers write whether they are in the mood or not. They practice whether they feel like it or not. It’s the only way. Everyday practice. That’s how you get better.
– Heather Sellers