Gift From God

I offer my own words for you
to try, but your silence
tells me, “No Mommy, not today.
I’ll talk when I’m ready.”

I try to enter your silence,
unchain your syllables,
But my grown-up logic always
fails to unlock the right key.

I enter my own silence as
whispers of a soundless
prayer repeat inside my head.
Show me how-give wisdom.

In the beginning was the Word;
therefore the Word resides
in you, wee one. Yes, I walk by
faith and not by my sight.

April 20th Meeting

April is National Poetry Month, so if you've ever written a poem ...
See you there!
6-8 PM
Fellowship Baptist Church -- and we'll meet in the Library again.

Oops! I Nearly Forgot

Our March meeting will be tonight.
6-8 pm, at the church.

Don't forget to bring along some current works to share and an older piece of writing so we can apply our SURE challenge.

Verb Challenge

Our second challenge this month, to go with the SURE Challenge (see previous post), is the Verbs Challenge.

Write something following these verb rules:

• No "to be" verbs
• No unhelpful helping verbs
• No adverbs
• No buried verbs

Actually, it's probably easier to write something just trying to follow those rules but then revise the piece.

Remind me, what are the "To Be" verbs we can't use?
Let's conjugate!

infinitive: be
past tense: was, were
present participle : being
past participle: been
present tense: am, are, is (I am, they are, she is)

What are Helping Verbs again?
Here's a good explanation of helping verbs. Have, Be, Do, Can .... these are helping verbs. They have no meaning of their own and are used only to help the main verb in the sentence. Remember, you can use some helping verbs but only ones that are actually helpful. Don't just throw them in there for the fun of it.

Just for the heck of it, What's a adverb?
Adverbs modify verbs: Rachel spoke quickly. Quickly is the adverb telling us how Rachel spoke-- for this exercise we want to say Rachel prattled, or Rachel blurted. Find verbs that don't need help to convey your meaning.
Adverbs can also modify adjectives: It's a strangely orangish bird. Strangely tells us that this bird wasn't just orange, the orange was a strange orange.

Okay, but what's a Buried Verb?
I have my suspicions. Suspicions is a verb that has been buried in a noun. Instead let's say: I suspect.
Buried verbs end in -ment, -tion, -sion, -ful, or -ance.
Don't have investments, invest.
Don't make commitments, commit.
Don't be joyful, rejoice.

After all, "I hope you enjoy this challenge" is much clearer and easier to read than " I am really hopeful that you will have enjoyment when working on this challenge."

SURE Challenge

Bring with you to the next meeting an older piece of writing. Pull out something that's been sitting in the drawer unedited.
Look at it to make SURE it's as tight as it can be:

S -- are the words you chose Simple and Straightforward?
U -- if you use a big word is it Unique? There's no other way to say it?
R -- are you using a Rich vocabulary, or just showing off your vocabulary?
E -- are your sentences Economical? Have you used a phrase where a word would do?

Next Meeting

February 16th, Monday from 6-8. Hope to see you there.

We are writing Something Happy for our challenge.

Poetry Contest and Scholarship Deadlines

If you are a Christian poet now is a good time to enter the Utmost Christian Poetry Contest (follow this link to Utmost Christian Writers Homepage). They've had fewer entries than in past years, not that I want any extra competition (I entered again this year) but Check It Out. The deadline for entries is Feb. 28th.

Thinking of deadlines -- If you're wanting one of those scholarships for BRMCWC 2009 better hurry up. (Go to CWFI, the instructions are under "Member Benefits" but anyone can apply) That deadline is Feb 15th. So if you haven't applied yet, you'd better hurry.