Words Worth

For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity.
William Wordsworth 

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I often think of what my words are worth. When I read guidelines, there it sits, a number for what my words are worth. Sometimes it says .01 cent a word, or .50 cents a word and on rare occasions I see 1.00 a word.

This is what my words are worth to the people accepting my work. To me they seem worth so much more that I fear releasing them into the unknown, but how can I make them worth more if I don’t send them out?

Having my poetry published is one of the stars that I reach for. Sure I’ve written a novel and some short stories, but it is my poetry that holds the key to my heart. Finding a publisher that accepts poetry is no small task, since in these economic times, poetry doesn’t sell. There it is again, a price for my words.

When I think about it, it is not only letting my work go, for a price, it is releasing my words for a cause. I’m a firm believer in the cause and effect theory, and it is because of my poetry, I can have an affect on many peoples lives.

I had a student in f2k this session. He said to me, “This isn’t what I intended the story to mean, so I missed my mark, I’ll have to try again.” I told him, point blank, “Let the people, reader, think for themselves. Allow them to walk away with whatever they want.”

I went on and told him about how my poetry isn’t always intended the way people receive it; they get something totally different then what I wrote and it is okay! I’m not going to change the wording to fit what they got out of it, I’m going to write and release it and whatever affect my poetry has, then I am willing to allow the reader to have an individual thought on the matter. Does that make sense?

Why make your words fit into one persons mind, when another reader might come along and get something totally different from the piece. Are you then going to try and change it for them too? And remember, with every change, you’re going to lose something and that is the intent behind what you meant. Is it worth it?

I don’t feel that it is worth it. This is just my opinion. It is not set in stone or anything, and this is a totally different aspect from revision and taking out or adding words. I had someone crit my poetry and when it came back, the meaning, the flow, the rhythm all were lost to taking a word out here and there. To me, it is not worth losing flow and rhythm, for perfect meter and stanza proportion.

To me...my words are worth more!

Something's Missing

Deut. 15: [13] And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty:

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Did you ever get the feeling that there is something missing in your life? Have you ever read an incomplete sentence and wondered, “What’s missing?”

I’ve been reading lately about modifiers, clauses, conjunctive something or other and cumulative what’s its. Does any of that make sense? I didn’t think so, there is something missing. Oh, natural flow and form.

I form a sentence with no thought in mind of how it is structured, or if I’ve placed the modifier there, is the adjective where it is suppose to be, the verb, oh dear, how about the noun? There just seems to be an empty space there when I do that.

I’m a writer and what I write is off the top of my head as I think a thought. There we go, maybe I shouldn’t be studying about the sentence and its structure, maybe I should be thinking about the way I write and speak.

I love philosophy and I can learn a lot about writing from the great philosophers, just as much as the great writing teachers of the world. But I can not grasp the concept of dissecting my writing, cutting it down and picking out a conjunctive clause. A generative what, an aural what? Others may remember independent and dependent clauses, prepositional phrases, and how to diagram them, but not me. This is not me!

If you want to be a writer, this is what is in your arsenal of language and writing skills, but again, there is something missing. A point to be made? I’m missing the point.

You mean to tell me if I can get all of this crammed into my brain, it will make me a better writer? If I practice these skills, will my words become aural and not verbal? Will I then take people down a yellow brick road and deliver them to the great and all powerful Oz?

What?

Oz was nothing but some short man hiding behind a curtain, threatening the dickens out of innocent people and a DOG! Why would I do that? Lead you to the Wizard of Oz? I’ll tell you why. If you remember, Oz led Dorothy home. She had many a conflict, abounded in aromas, poetic muse filled the screen with a play on words, prose and otherwise. I remember the screen going from black and white, to vivid color!

I get it now! Your writing will go from dreary black and white to being full of color and magic and with all of this new arsenal in your backpack of writing skills, you too, can bring home what you were missing all along, the point!