So I was featured again in this months magazine from the coffee house writers poetry department. I am not the only thing that is worth reading. All of the magazine is amazing. I am so honored to be a part of this.
So I knuckled down and put the newest volume of my poetry yesterday. Usually formatting and publishing takes longer. Updates on my platform and the new computer made a world of difference.
So I proudly present the link to preorder Poetic Remimders, which includes two collaboration poems I have done with another talented poet. https://books2read.com/PoeticReminders
Yesterday I was wanting to do a post about Japanese poetry forms. Japan is a place with a very rich culture and their literature shows it. Their mythology and history is such a diverse and interesting set of topics that the average person might be confused by it.
So I was wanting to be sure that I had the spelling and such right. When I don’t know the proper way to spell… I Google. Google led me to an article that I was blown away by. The writer is far more eloquent on the topic than I feel capable of. So, I admit I felt discouraged.
One of the problems that many authors face is the issue of comparison… Not by others but the comparison we do ourselves. It is so hard to see our own writing and feel accomplished. It is so hard not to hate on our own way of speaking. Dude, words are hard. Especially when you read someone else has written it in a way that just makes sense.
So, I have shared the link above to the article on Japanese poetry. I ask you… What forms do you like and where does it orignate from? Do you find articles that hit home and feel seen or discouraged? And why?
A lyric poem or lyrical poem in literature is a poem in which the poet either expresses his feelings and emotions. The poet also presents a character in the first person to express his emotions. It is a combination of lyric and poetry where a piece of poetry is written as a lyric. Lyric has been derived from lyre, a musical stringed instrument used during the Grecian period to accompany the poetry sung during different festivities.
Aristotle used the world lyric or lyrical with reference poetry to categorize it into three distinct types. A lyric poem is often short and non-narrative but keeps some elements of melody. Although odes and elegies are other categories, they, too, are placed under the lyric poetry. Lyric poems can follow any metrical pattern, be it iambic, trochaic, or pyrrhic.
(Iambic) An iamb is a literary device that can be defined as a foot containing unaccented and short syllables, followed by a long and accented syllable in a single line of a poem (unstressed/stressed syllables). Two of Robert Frost’s poems, Dust of Snow, and The Road not Taken are considered two of the most popular examples of iamb.
Trochaic Trochaic an adjective of trochee is a metrical foot composed of two syllables; stressed followed by an unstressed syllable. This rhythmic unit is used to make up the lines of poetry. However, it is deliberately inserted to make the text sound different. The material pattern of trochee is composed of “falling rhythm” as the stress is at the beginning of the foot. It, however, plays a great role when writing about dark subjects like madness and death. Etymologically, trochee is derived from a Greek word, “trokhaios” which means ‘to run.’
Types of Trochaic Meter Trochaic Tetrameter: It is a type of meter consisting of four stressed syllables per line. For example, “By the shores of Gitche Gu”. Trochaic Heptamer: It is a type of meter consisting of seven stressed syllables per line. Such as, “Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and”. Trochaic Pentameter: It is a type of meter consisting of five stressed syllables per line. “And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor”. Iambic Trimeter: It is a type of meter consisting of three stressed syllables per line. For example, “This has neither wax nor”. Catalexis: The absence of a syllable in the final foot in a line is called catalexis.
Pyrrhic meter A metrical unit consisting of two unstressed syllables, in accentual-syllabic verse, or two short syllables, in quantitative meter. Though regularly found in classical Greek poetry, pyrrhic meter is not generally used in modern systems of prosody: unaccented syllables are instead grouped with surrounding feet. Andrew Marvell’s “The Garden” contains examples of pyrrhic meter, here in bold: “To a green thought in a green shade.”
So we have the technical information on Lyric poetry. I gathered the above from other websites (all listed below). Lyric poetry is often the basis for songs. Not always, but often. I normally don’t use the writing from other sites, even though I am citing the sources… But I wanted to give you information on a form that I don’t use. I have no skill with lyric poetry.
Cait is a friend and fellow Coffee House Writer. I was tickled when she agreed to let me be part of the blog tour for her new book. I was so disorganized and panicked… Then her very professional email comes in with the entire interview and everything I would need. I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I was crippled by migraine and unable. Please do show her love, and look into her work. The new book is nothing short of amazing. I was in the ARC readership and I preordered the ebook because I enjoyed it so much.
Have you always wanted to be an author? No. I never wrote outside of school, which I hated. I’ve always loved books, I just never thought of writing myself. I started my first fiction story in the fall of 2015, but I didn’t start writing seriously until 2017.
Is writing your full-time profession? No, I’m a freelance editor, and I offer a variety of other author services. I also own and manage Functionally Fictional, work for Coffee House Writers, and am part of the indie staff at YA Books Central.
What are some things you like to do unrelated to books or writing? I love creating pages in my bullet journal, singing along to a huge variety of music when home alone, watching Disney movies… Most of my life revolves around books anymore though.
What are your daily writing habits like? They’re nonexistent for the most part. I have a tendency to write a lot within a couple days, then nothing for a while. I need to work on that actually.
Are you a plotter or pantser? A little bit of both. I write out a vague outline and any ideas I have, then I start writing for a bit before plotting more thoroughly. Once I plot out the chapter-by-chapter outline, I jump around and kind of let the inspiration direct the writing. Things change as I go, but the ending and big plot points stay put usually.
What’s something you could eat every day and not get sick of it? Probably pizza… or peanut butter.
How do you work on more than one book at a time? I say I have a lot of books started, but I’m not actively working on them all at once. Remember, I’m still new to all this. So far, I typically have one fantasy and one contemporary going. The Last Summer is a YA contemporary romance coming out in June, and I’ve been writing it while promoting The Lost Legends. While I’m promoting The Last Summer, I’ll be writing book two in The Nihryst series. I like working one step ahead at all times. I also write based on mood and inspiration. For example, if I get really inspired for a scene in the next fantasy book while I’m technically supposed to be working on the contemporary, I will switch for a day or two.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? England and Wales. I’ve been obsessed with British history for as long as I can remember.
What music do you listen to while writing? I have different playlists for different books and moods. For fantasy, I listen to a lot of Ruelle, Florence + the Machine, The Lumineers, and movie/tv show scores. For contemporary romance, it’s a lot more upbeat pop like Taylor Swift, Paramore, Parachute, Jonas Brothers, and Khalid.
Favorites time… Movie: The Wizard of Oz TV Show: Brooklyn Nine-Nine Song: Where We Come Alive by Ruelle Book: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare or A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas Color: Coral Animal: Flamingos
What can we look forward to in the future? I am working on The Last Summer, which is coming out in June if I can get it finished. Book two in The Nihryst series will hopefully be out in the fall, and another contemporary or two will be out in the winter. Book three in The Nihryst series will likely be out next spring. I also have a fae duology in the works that I’m really excited for. I wrote half of the first one like a year and half ago, so I need to get back to it. OH! And I may or may not have a sci-fi retelling series planned… with The Lion King being one of the stories, but with humans and cyborgs…
Cait Marie has been obsessed with books her entire life. The love of writing didn’t hit until 2017. Since then, she has held multiple positions within Coffee House Writers, including C.O.O., Advertising Supervisor, Editor, and Writer. In 2018, she used her passion for reading to create Functionally Fictional. In 2019, she joined the indie staff of YA Books Central as a reviewer and then Indie Assistant Blogger. Cait graduated with honors in 2019 from Southern New Hampshire University with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology, and she is currently enrolled in their Master of Fine Arts program. She lives in Indiana, where she freelance edits and provides a variety of other author services. When she’s not writing or reading, she can usually be found watching Disney movies or Brooklyn Nine-Nine, creating bullet journal spreads, or singing along to various soundtracks and showtunes.
There is definitely channels that I am unaware of. And I have far more than this… But I was limiting the choices to more learning based channels. If you want to add…. Comment them so others have access.