Category: writer`s block

NaPoWriMo Day 18

On By WinstonIn Courage, Patience and Hope, Humor, My Chaotic Mind, NaPoWriMo, Perseverence, Personal, Poetry, Sorry for the Chaos, writer`s blockLeave a comment

It’s that time of year again when I have no idea what I’m going to write about. As always, I shall deal with this by writing about not knowing what to write about. Enjoy!

A Verse About Nothing To Write About

Each year it seems I hit this point,

I’ve nothing left to say,

Any yet if I’m to meet my goal,

Must say it anyway.

The theme so far’s been personal,

I guess that this is too,

For while this block’s not good for me,

Don’t see it harming you.

Most years I try to play this game,

And thirty poems write,

And every year there comes a point,

I would give up the fight.

Yet I believe if I dig deep,

There’s one more verse in there,

And so, my keyboard clacks along,

Though there are few who care.

And though I struggle, on I forge,

With rambling rhymes I strain,

To once again wade through the swamp,

Of my fermenting brain.

I’ll hit that point, but not today,

My well of words run dry,

In that moment I’ll pack it in,

Keep typing now just try.

I cannot promise quality,

These words barely connect,

A deeper, moving meaning is,

Just too much to expect.

But look at this I’ve pulled it off,

Now one more verse is done,

Tomorrow is another day,

To write another one.

But for today, I’ve managed this,

Have earned a bit of peace,

Now time to seek my pillow and,

Oblivion’s release.

Cheers,

NaPoWriMo 2022 Day 28

On By WinstonIn Humor, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, writer`s blockLeave a comment

Three days to go and the creative juices are drying up. Still, I’ve managed to bang out another one. Only two more to go!

A Missing Muse

The voice inside my head cries out,

“Oh no! This cannot be!”

“The words, the lines, those precious rhymes,

Have all forsaken me.”

Yet here I sit and still I type,

Pull words it seems from air.

For in my head is naught but void,

No muse yet lingers there.

From overwork my muse has fled,

To seek less stressful lands.

For someone whom, though they create,

Still time off understands.

For even on the days I miss,

My muse I still pursue.

For then there is the catching up,

And then next verse is due.

Now though that muse has sought surcease,

From labour in my cause.

The fact is I’ve three more to write,

Too late a day to pause.

So here I sit and still I type,

These words upon the screen,

And wonder if that muse who fled,

Will ever more be seen.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo 2022 Day 20

On By WinstonIn Humor, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, writer`s blockLeave a comment

So, as you may have noticed, I’m running a couple of days behind on the whole post-a-day idea. This stresses me far more than it should and it quickly begins to rob me of the fun I have doing this. So this year, I’ve stressed less and just let things unfold as they will. So now, if I write one more verse before midnight, I’ll be all caught up.

April Struggles

The more behind I get it seems,

The faster I must run.

I stress and struggle with each word,

Until this is no fun.

If not for fun, then what’s the point,

What does it matter then?

I may as well do something else,

Than stress myself again.

Yet here I am and here I stay,

Too stubborn just to quit.

And there is that good feeling,

Once all the pieces fit.

Yes here I am and here I stay,

Though struggling, fighting still.

Continue putting pen to page,

And prob’ly always will.

As long as there is life in me,

Can still turns words to rhyme.

As long as I’m still having fun,

Up this hill I will climb.

Though I will often fall behind,

I will keep keeping on.

Keep doing this until at last,

All words from me are gone.

That is not yet, and hopefully,

Still far, far off for me.

So please enjoy these simple rhymes,

My gift, to you, from me.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo 2021 Day 21

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Self Awareness, Uncategorized, writer`s blockLeave a comment

Over two-thirds of the way through the month and it’s getting a little more challenging. But with a suggestion from my personal muse, angel and wife, here we are.

The Challenge

I hate it when I must work with,

Deadlines of any kind.

The very thought I might miss them.

Sets traps within my mind.

So every year I sit and face,

This challenge and my fears.

When every day a deadline looms,

Each day closer to tears.

There is no prize if I succeed,

Nor penalty if not.

It’s in my head the whole of it,

That’s where the battle’s fought.

I set the goal, I set the pace,

It all is up to me.

I am much harsher on my self,

Than someone else would be.

I love to write, I truly do,

But now it is a chore.

One that I do but grudgingly,

While thinking “Nevermore!”.

But I won’t quit, will stay the course,

Deliver on my vow.

There’s just nine days that now remain,

I’ll get through them somehow.

So bear with me, I’ll bear with you,

Until this task is done.

And once this month is over then,

Words once more will seem fun.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo 2021 Day 10

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Uncategorized, writer`s blockLeave a comment

For myself typically the problem isn’t finding words. Words I’ve got in abundance! The problem is finding words that I can force into some form of narrative. That’s where the tricky bits are, and that’s the subject of today’s poem.

So Many Words, So Little Focus

I feel the words rush through my mind,

In search of some release.

I try to shift them to the page,

Find for myself some peace.

But any peace is too short-lived,

For always there are more.

A jumbled, meaningless tumult,

An endless, numbing roar.

I catch a few, a sentence make,

From there a couplet spin.

They are too few the words I free,

To calm the storm within.

Now once again, the chaos comes,

I give myself to it.

I dance within the whirling gyre,

Though here I plainly sit.

I clutch and grasp and wrestle with,

The words within my mind.

And when at last I dare to look,

A finished verse I find.

And briefly then I know such peace,

Before it starts again.

The words return, they rush and roar,

And fill up my whole brain.

And so it goes, the wheel turns,

The cycle starts anew.

To write until the storm abates,

Is all that I can do.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo 2021 Day 1

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, writer`s blockLeave a comment

It is April 1st once again and so begins National Poetry Writing Month. Last year, I finished a couple of poems away from the 30 verse target. Hopefully this year I can go all the way. Time will tell.

Without further ado… today’s offering.

A Most Poetic Death

“Good morning”, said the typist to,

The keyboard where he sat.

“I’m hoping we’ll get on this year,

Despite last April’s spat.”

The keyboard for it’s part said naught,

For keyboard’s cannot talk,

The typist sits there nervously,

Then gets up for a walk.

Returning, sitting, fingers placed,

He fumbles for some words.

But what appears on snowy page,

Are horrid, verbal turds.

He cannot write, he’s lost the knack,

So backs away again.

Perhaps the keyboard is the block,

Now searches for a pen.

It’s not the keyboard nor the pen,

He knows this from the start.

The problem is the emptiness,

Where verse lived in his heart.

He used to love the play of words,

The rhythm, shape and flow.

Has sacrificed that love for craft,

Too blind to see it go.

The typist sits, his fingers range,

And roam across the keys.

Tears form and trickle down his face,

As each weak verse he sees.

If craft lives now where once dwelt love,

Then craft must be a muse.

The poet dead, mere typist now,

A shell for craft to use.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 28

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Self Awareness, Uncategorized, writer`s blockLeave a comment

Clearly, I didn’t make my goal of 30 poems in 30 days. Life happens. I still intend to deliver the last three as my writer’s block permits. Persuant to which…

On Not Finishing NaPoWriMo

The words all bleed and blend and blur,

Like sidewalk chalk in rain.

I shriek and moan inside my head,

Gone half-mad with the strain.

 

I try to force, somehow coerce,

Bend language to my will.

Although it’s worked so many times,

It seems I’ve lost that skill.

 

But wait! What’s this? A line or two,

And now a couple more.

Don’t dare to hope, just let them be,

Perhaps they’ll flow once more.

 

But now again I feel them slip,

In muddy, flailing haste.

I try to grasp and desperate cling,

To these poor words I’ve chased.

 

My voice fades out to nothingness,

And with it all I’ve made.

The ragged, tattered pages shred,

And now like them I fade.

 

Please bear with me, I’ll be right back,

My tortured brain must rest.

T’was hubris drove me here for I’m,

Not equal to this test.

 

Cheers, Winston

 

 

NaPoWriMo Day 11

On By WinstonIn Humor, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Uncategorized, writer`s blockLeave a comment

At least once each year, I hit a point where I can’t think of a single thing to write about. This invariably leads to something like the following.

On Writer’s Block

Another day has come and gone,

And here I sit once more.

With keyboard and an empty head,

I’ve been through this before.

 

There is no verse inside my head,

No trick to make this right.

I greatly fear the truth is there,

Shall be no post tonight.

 

I could resort to tricks of old,

Write that I cannot rhyme.

That would be cheating I suppose,

But still there is the time.

 

In thirty minutes give or take,

Tomorrow will begin.

And then with two to write, my God,

The mess I will be in.

 

So for tonight, this boilerplate,

Of simple thoughtless rhymes.

And then to sleep and hope the dawn,

Brings more productive times.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 27

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, writer`s block2 Comments

So… here I am almost at the end of the month and I get tagged to work a couple of overnight shifts. I’m normally a Monday to Friday 0600-1400 worker, so the change is wreaking havoc with my brain. This of course made it problematic to focus on writing. Naturally, that problem became the focus of tonight’s poem. Enjoy!

NOTHING DEEP IN HERE

Come words, come rhymes, I summon verse,

I wish it worked that way.

Then I would not stare blankly at,

This page and sigh each day.

The juices of creation flow,

At some lost muse’s whim.

The odds of pulling off this feat,

Are looking mighty slim.

But I keep typing, keep the hope,

That I may yet prevail.

Though truthfully I more suspect.

Spectacularly fail.

Now rhyme by rhyme and word by word,

I slowly closer creep.

To finishing this verse I write,

To once more joyous leap.

As I tie off this poem now,

With just three left to go.

At tunnel’s end there is a light,

Please God just let words flow.

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 8

On By WinstonIn Humor, NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Uncategorized, writer`s blockLeave a comment

For those of you who don’t know, the idea of the National Poetry Month Writing Challenge, is to write 30 poems in 30 days. That’s why all of these posts are headed with NaPoWriMo. Every time I do this, I hit days where I have absolutely no idea what to write. As you may have guessed, today is such a day. So here is today’s poem.

Le me know your thoughts.
BLANK PAGE, BLANK MIND

I sit and wonder what to write,

And think “Oh dearie me.”

Today is just the ninth and so,

Much more to do you see.

To want for inspiration now,

Is not a hopeful sign.

If I’m to have the slightest chance,

To hit this goal of mine.

Write thirty verse in thirty days,

That is no simple task.

But I will see it through somehow,

Some spark is all I ask.

In years before I’ve done this thing,

Spilt words upon the page.

Perhaps I’ve used up all my thoughts,

Perhaps it’s just my age.

But nothing comes now when I call,

There’s nothing in the well.

Creative block is less than fun,

It is a writer’s hell.

So bear with me, I’ll struggle on,

Spread words across the earth.

While clearly it’s not epic verse,

Enjoy. For what it’s worth.

Cheers, Winston