"Abounding Images: An invitation to Imagery Power: Photography for Writers" 🎉📸

So pleased that my article was published today as a Women on Writing Spotlight article. Check out the prompt I share as well:

“Abounding Images: An Invitation to Imagery Power: Photography for Writers”

By Melanie Faith

 

                I found three rolls of brand-new film in a drawer earlier this week that I’d forgotten I’d purchased. It felt a little bit like unwrapping a Christmas gift to myself. Eager to head into the great weather, I took my ‘90s Canon Rebel outside for a few nature shots. The heft of the camera body nestled in my hands just right. Working with a physical, clicky dial to blur the background and focus on the foreground was like stepping back into a favorite pair of blue jeans—comforting and the perfect fit. Need I say that I took the rest of the roll and returned to my desk, smiling?

                I’ve also been taking a lot of photos with my cellphone camera and find it a wonderful photographic experience, too. It is featherweight, and I can take as many pictures as I please. Cellphone cameras have come a very long way in the past ten years. Smart phones are equipped today with much better software and make sharper photographs than any of my first digital cameras. And they’re quite easy to use, and super handy. Rare is the person without a phone as a near-constant companion, which (of course) makes them absolutely the best for capturing inconspicuously as we go about our daily lives. And sharing cellphone photos is so easy it’s a dream.

                Whether you prefer making photos with an old-school film camera that takes film or film cartridges, taking pictures with your cellphone, or a combination of both, there’s something meaningful and meditative about the art of photography. Much like the craft of writing, we begin to see our surroundings, our daily lives, and even ourselves a bit differently, a bit better in some ways, by taking the time to focus on elements we might previously zip past on our way to the rest of our appointments and to-do lists. The fact that no two people see the same images in the same way nor interpret them in the same way enhances our development as artists.

                Making a photograph, like making a poem or a short story or a song or a chapter in a novel or an essay, is deeply personal. We have so many options that it’s exhilarating. We get to choose the subject. We get to choose the angle we take the image from. We get to choose the crop or zoom of the photo. We get to choose if we print the photo to make it a physical object in the world or if we keep it a digital file. We get to choose if we make the photo part of a series on a subject or if the photo is a one-off and stands alone. We get to choose light source and time of day and if we scan or upload the photo to software to alter its hues (hello, black and white!) or shoot in black and white mode or with b & w film.  

                It is in making these choices, often intuitively and in quick succession and very frequently learning and experimenting as we go, that we grow in other art forms as well.

Thinking about making a better photograph certainly continues to influence and encourage my poetry as well as my prose. Photography, much like writing and other art forms, focuses on the importance of the image, the resonance of created expression, and the great fun and challenge when we take the world as we experience it and offer a new creation that very likely will connect with other people who themselves make writing and other art.

                There’s no prerequisite needed, and I’ve had students who made visceral, beautiful, jaw-dropping photos from disposable cameras, phone cameras, underwater cameras, instant cameras, pinhole cameras, film cameras of many makes, and even from photosensitive photographic paper.

The field of photography is wide open to individual interpretation and vision. Begin where you are, with that little “Hmmm, that’s interesting” when you’re out on a morning walk, and see where it takes you. One snap, one click, one moment documented at a time.

 

Try this prompt: Make a photo today of an object someone else uses every day. Aim to show a special quality about this object—whether its shape, its size, its hue, its placement in the home or outside, or some other quality. After taking the photo, either write a few sentences describing this object, why you chose it, and who uses it OR create a character who uses this object and write about that character for fifteen or twenty minutes. What would happen if the character reached for the object and it was missing? Go!

  ***

 

The Power of Simple Joy, Camera Doodle, and Photography for Writers📸

This afternoon, I’ve given myself a few hours to rest. I started with some reading, some writing, then an afternoon nap, then some doodling, and now this post.

May has been bouncy and active in a good way, and it’s always refreshing to work in little pauses whenever possible for the simple power of joy—you know, those hobbies or spaces of free time that are the first to get shoved aside in a busy schedule.

Photography is certainly one of my places of simple joy. So is doodling, so I combined them and worked on this perfectly imperfect doodle of one of my film cameras, the Canon Rebel K2 I got for a song in 2019 or 2020 online.

This summer, starting July 3rd, I’ll teach one of my favorite online courses, Imagery Power: Photography for Writers. Just looking at this camera reminds me of the creative fun that awaits in the class—in which students are free to use any kind of camera (or a mixture of cameras) they fancy, from cellphone cameras to digital cameras to disposal cameras to photosensitive paper, to make their own photographic images and then write about them.

I’ll use this handy-dandy book, Photography for Writers, that I wrote as a class text and also have just written some new prompts that’ll be fun to take for a test spin. Teaching the class also inspires my own photographic process, and I’ll be doing the assignments alongside my students.

Have some time this summer? Care to tap into some simple photographic joy? No previous photography experience necessary. I’d love to work with you and a friend. Sign-ups currently open! More details: Imagery Power Clickety-Click.

As we think about summer, the time is perfect to pause and think about how to work in a little more time here and there, a little more time this week or as soon as possible, for these little pauses that bring you joy. To summer and much happiness ahead!

***

If you’re looking for an online class to jumpstart your creativity later in the year, I also have these two courses coming up:

An Insider’s Look at Launching as a Freelance Editor (NEW!) One-Day Webinar, September 15, 2023, 1-2 pm

Food Writing for Fun and Profit (starts October 6, 2023, 5-week class; sign-ups open)

My Craft Article Published Today 🏊

Super excited to have this article published at Women on Writing today!

“5 Line Breaks to Inspire Your Poetry Writing”

By: Melanie Faith

 

I’ve been a practicing poet since I was 17. When I think back to the many styles of poetry I joyously tried in college and grad school and beyond, I marvel at how much my line breaks have changed and continue to evolve as I grow as a writer and with the needs of each successive project.

 

My first poems, handwritten on pale blue lined paper that I spent my weekly allowance to purchase at the local stationery store, had looping scrolls of lines across the pages, almost from margin to margin. By graduate school, while experimenting with haiku and tanka, the sparer I could make my lines the better. (I’m not a sparse-speaking person—surprise, surprise—so it was often a challenge.) Since then, my lines usually rest in the merry middle somewhere between languid, Whitmanesque flourishes and ultra-succinct compression.

 

Let’s take a closer look at line breaks and what they can mean to your own writing practice.

 

The Innate Break: This is what I call a line break that just feels right while drafting. Why’d you break the line there? You don’t know, and you’re not stopping to think about it right now. Your hand keeps the pen rolling or your fingertips typing while you focus solely on the words unspooling. You break the lines intuitively and only notice them later, when editing or writing another draft. There’s something to be said for letting the poem take the form it wants to take. A little like after learning to ride a bike—for the first draft or two it’s often not necessary to think consciously, “Should I break the line on this word or that one?”, just like you don’t think, “Right foot, make sure to pedal now. Okay, left foot, same deal. Pedal now.” There’s synchronous motion that happens in cycling and in drafting a poem. Letting that sensory flow go can lead our work to some great destinations.

 

The Emphasis Break:  Words that fall at the beginnings and endings of lines get extra emphasis for the eye and for the mind. End lines on thematic or precise word or phrase to emphasize key ideas. You can also take a poem that had innate breaks and, in the editing stage, make new line breaks on more precise images or diction choices.

 

 The Stanza Starter or Ender: Just like the opening and closing words in each line get a little extra attention from the reader, so do images or words that open and close a stanza. The stanza breaks, in fact, get even more emphasis due to white space. Whether while drafting or later editing our poetry, it can be a good idea to consider if the line you are breaking a stanza on is the best place to emphasize the poem’s theme or content. If not, consider breaking the stanza-breaking line at a new place.

 

The Form-Based Line Break: If you write poetry that has a set pattern or formal structure—such as a sonnet, villanelle, or terza rima—your line break will be based on a number of fun constraints, such as stressed and unstressed syllables, syllable count, and rhyme scheme. I have great respect for poets who find the constraints of pattern poetry motivating, although my poetic brain runs more to making my own line-break patterns. Neither style is inherently better or worse than another—they are both apt vessels for the poems you write. If you know that writing formal poems is your jam, I encourage you to try a few kinds of poems to experiment with the different end-line conventions each requires. If you usually write acrostics, try haiku. If you often write odes or limericks, try an Italian sonnet. If your last few poems were villanelles, try writing a sestina or a ballade.  There’s great variety in line breaks among formal verse that a poet could spend many years happily exploring.

 

The Variety Approach: Are you working on a chapbook or a poetry collection? Are you preparing a handful of poems (often three to five) to submit to a literary journal? In this case, it might be good to read the poems in relation to each other. Is there some variety in where and how you break your lines? Is each line separated at an optimal place and/or have you left some blank space somewhere on the page?  Also, sometimes placing poems with long lines next to poems with few lines and/or succinct lines can create a meaningful pattern for the reader and also inform any editing or new line breaks. You might also consider shuffling the order of your poems.

 

 

Use these line-break ideas as you draft, edit, or prepare submissions of your poetry. There’s no 100% right or wrong place to end a line and begin a new one, but with time, practice, and focus, and having these ideas in your pocket, you may well be surprised how quickly you up your poetry game. 

 

 Want to learn more? Check out my online poetry class that starts April 21st! Jump-Start Your Poetry Practice.✍️

Poetry Publication in Songs of Eretz! ✍️

I’m so pleased to announce that a poem I wrote about roller skating was published today in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review’s Spring 2023 issue! The theme is “Growth.” It’s also a great joy to appear in the same issue as my dear friend, Charles. Follow the linky-link to check out the issue, filled with poetry and photography by many talented artists.

A splendid way to start National Poetry Month! To all of the poems we’ll read, write, and celebrate this April!

“Interior/Exterior: Reflections on Drawing a Scene” 🖼️

Happy March! I had so much fun writing a fresh flash essay about my doodle last month that I decided to create another one to share. 🤗

“Interior/Exterior: Reflections on Drawing a Scene”

I almost wrote this reflection yesterday afternoon, but I was hungry and promised myself that after eating I’d get right to it.  And then, I just needed to pay a bill quickly and I’d sit right down and write. And then, I remembered a time-sensitive email, and then…well, you know the rest.

Yesterday’s writing didn’t happen.  

Alas, I had the “perfect” hook pop into my head yesterday, but tonight is no longer yesterday. So, scrap that. My tone today is different, and my hook has evaporated like a cartoon bubble. So be it. This reflection won’t be about whatever that would have been, and that’s okay, too.

Earlier this week, I also promised myself some time to doodle during a break, and I did follow through on that intention. I decided to try to draw a scene—a whole interior SCENE!—which I haven’t attempted since…probably middle school. Yeah, it’s been a hot minute.

I usually doodle one thing at a time, or parts of a scene, or words/phrases paired with a mini doodle or two, but to fill a whole sheet with myriad elements kept my brain and my hand hopping.

I put on some music, broke out a coffee-table book filled with gorgeous photos, picked the one that called to me most as a reference photo that I then adjusted as I went.

I started my scene on a scrap piece of newsprint paper I bought online this summer in a jumbo, 500-sheet package.

There’s something about knowing that I’m not going to save the first drawing because it’s on the kind of paper that tears when an eraser hits it that frees up my creativity. Nobody will ever see this first sketch so, who cares? Onward!

Without contemplation first, hand motions of pencil on paper are often quite soothing.

I try to get that way about more things: that not skipping ahead to envision outcome. Sometimes, my creative process lands, and I don’t stop to examine or even to think about forming whatever I’m creating until I have a draft or five. Those are the best days.

More often, though, my mind loves nothing more than just to keep skipping ahead. Ahead, ahead, ahead!

I’m certainly not the only creative to find my process varies like this. Depending on my day, my mood, how tired I am, how hungry I am, fill-in-the-factor-here, the challenge of crafting something is either easier than imagined, or more frustrating than imagined, or (most frequently for me) somewhere in-between, but it’s rarely the same type of journey more than once.

Each piece needs something different of us, like every friend, like every life circumstance.

My original sketchbook scan in all of its uncropped glory, spirals and all.🤗

So, my interior scene (which I also drew in pencil first, free-hand, on the sketchpad page and then traced with felt-tipped marker and pops of color from watercolor pencils) has some walls that are certainly not architecturally sound, a baseboard that shouldn’t look like it’s cutting through one of the plant’s fronds, some picture frames that are crooked despite practicing perspective, and a chair that I’m pretty sure doesn’t even resemble a chair.

On the other hand, I got the happiest kick while drawing the arched doorway between the rooms that reminded me of more than one friend’s home, and drawing the little locks on the big bay window, and then having a light-bulb moment about adding in a pop of life-giving green on the plants, and attempting some splash of light across the floors, and making the one rug a sisal rug with squiggle motions, and then drawing lines for wooden floors, my favorite flooring—all, nothing but joy and in the flow. 

The floors!

The wooden floors. That’s right—I was going to write something about those yesterday.

There was also originally going to be something about the lemonade I tried recently and loved. But today’s reflection needed to be the way it turned out here—about the challenges (for me, anyway) of drawing whole scenes in scale and with perspective but doing it anyway, and something about the comfort of putting elements together that make an interior that becomes exterior, which is also, pretty much, what we do when we create, whether it’s a conversation, a painting, a poem, a dance, or a birthday party. So be it.

On the balance, not bad for a cozy interior. Not great or professional, but not shabby, either.  Onward!

 

One-Year Book Birthday Giveaway!

February marks the one-year book birthday for my book, Writing It Real: Creating an Online Course for Fun and Profit! In celebration, I’m going to run a book giveaway to share this splendid book that’s packed with tips and insights aplenty on everything from brainstorming your class idea to crafting your syllabus to running your class and so much more to keep educators motivated and interactive with their students.

Between now and Wednesday, February 15th, 2023, if you’re interested in winning a free copy, just leave a comment at my Instagram @frompromisingtopublished99 or here at my website in the Comments section of the post, letting me know what type of course you’d love to create and teach.

Examples might include but are not limited to: science fiction, poetry, flash fiction, romance novels, photography, introductory figure study, pottery, creative nonfiction, memoir, journalism, you name it.

Feel free to add a detail or two of why this class idea interests you, if you’d like.

After the 15th, I’ll enter all names from the comments into a hat (‘cause I run old-school that way🥳) and pick some winners. 😊📔Good luck, and teach on!

My Cyanotype Print Featured at Bait/Switch 🎉📸

Shout-out and much appreciation to @baitswit.ch and Lu Valena for the wonderful experience I had making this #cyanotype print in response to a riveting piece of art by @shawnathon01 that appears in Volume 3, No 4 and for featuring my work today on Instagram. It was a great joy to be part of this publication. Many thanks to talented @christinetierneyphotoart for sharing her awesome work and encouraging me to submit to @baitswit.ch. It's a treat to be among such marvelous artists!

Check out the issue for much more amazing art and consider submitting to this ever-evolving, inspiring publication: Bait/Switch clickety-click!

Blog Tour: Review at Lesliesvoice.com & Many Thanks! 🎉

Such a pleasure to have a review of my book at Lesliesvoice.com!

An excerpt from Leslie’s thoughtful review: “Through anecdotes, metaphor, and humor, this author keeps the reader engaged and laughing throughout the book. Yet the serious part of publishing comes through loud and clear, and a brief exercise is given at the end of each chapter to drive home the content. 

This book, From Promising to Published, came to me at the perfect time, just before I typed “The End” on my manuscript. I’ve made notes and scribbles throughout the book, a good sign that I’ll be coming back to it again and again. I’m in the middle of preparing all those things Melanie talks about: Author Bio, Cover Letters (including elements and examples), building a web and social media presence, and managing, and even planning for, rejection (something every writer needs). One of my goals for 2023 is to take more risks with my writing life. The author uses swimming as a metaphor for risk. I’m not a swimmer and, in fact, I’m terrified of deep water. But in writing, I’ve gone beyond the ‘toe-tip in the pool’ to mastering the ‘swan dive.’ Next up, the ‘butterfly stroke.’ I many never learn the ‘freestyle.’ To learn what each of those strokes represents in writing, take a deeper dive into this book, and enjoy the ripple effect of taking some risk. 

From Promising to Published contains helpful information about identifying a target audience and submitting to literary journals. But beyond that are tips and tricks I haven’t found in other books on publishing; for example, courtesies and networking among authors, protecting my personal space, avoiding burnout through self-care, and my favorite…celebration! A few months ago, I bought a beautiful peace sign paper weight for myself and had it wrapped up as a gift at the store. After typing “The End” following the last chapter (about freedom and peace), I celebrated by opening my gift. It sits on my bookcase as a daily reminder that I was able to achieve a significant milestone in my writing life!”

Read the rest of the review at: clickety-click!

Check out more of Leslie’s wonderful writing and publications here (“Friday Speak Out!: The List-Maker,” here (“My Favorite Chair”), and here (“What I Would Teach My Children”). Also enjoy this great interview with Leslie from Women on Writing when Leslie’s work placed Runner Up in WOW!’s 2020 Creative Nonfiction Contest: clickety-click.

Many thanks to Leslie Cox for this beautiful review and for making the final stop of my blog tour so meaningful! 🎉

My sincere appreciation and thanks to all of the bloggers who hosted my book during the tour and wrote reviews; to Women on Writing for ongoing support, enthusiasm, and kindness; to Nicole Pyles for applying her amazing blog-tour creation skills to my tour and making this such a fun experience that I couldn’t have done on my own; and to each of YOU, dear readers, who have come along on the fun journey of this blog tour and offered marvelous feedback and messages and/or have purchased From Promising to Published.

May your muse continue to shine, and here’s to filling 2023 with wondrous words and publications aplenty! 🎉

Blog Tour: Reviews at Liberate & Lather and Word Magic 🌟

Super excited to have reviews of From Promising to Published at Liberate & Lather and at Word Magic!

From the Liberate & Lather review: “I ended my read feeling built up, and options I never thought of were gifted to me.  My power to forge along as a writer has been renewed.  If you are on the fence about publishing or not publishing, wrestling with imposter syndrome, or needing fresh ideas to get your work in front of many eyeballs, then you want this in your hands.”

Many thanks to Angie Clay. Check out Angie’s awesome Ignite & Write Subscription Boxes, inspiring podcast, and self-care products.

From the Word Magic review: “Melanie’s goal is to demystify the mystifying process of publishing and she succeeds in this by giving a step by step, logical sequence of milestones and how to accomplish each goal. The chapters are coherently arranged for easy navigation. The author also advises that not every tip will apply to every reader, and they should feel free to pick up on the ones that most suit their situation. One piece of advice I liked was this: say you are a writer/author right from the start, not an imposter, and cling to that knowledge.”

Many thanks to Fiona Ingram at Word Magic. Check out Fiona’s amazing books and her wonderful series website: clickety-click!

Blog Tour: Craft Article, "6 Tips To Tame the Taking-on-Too-Much Spiral"🌟

I’m honored to have my craft article featured today at Editor-911 as the next stop in my book tour for From Promising to Published.

An excerpt:

“How can we step back a little to create a gentler schedule?

Tip 1: Refrain from the immediate yes, however tempting. Pause for an hour (or even a day) when a great opportunity lands to think it through, step by step. 

Break down the opportunity’s required components and guesstimate possible time investments. Factor in your current energy level and health (yours and family members) before taking on a promising project. 

Visuals help: physically open your calendar and pinpoint exact hours in your schedule when you will do the work involved.  If you don’t have a lot of successive empty spots in your weeks ahead, you already know the answer. 

Last week, I had a fantastic short-term gig land in my inbox. My first instinct was to leap on it. Yes, yes, yes! Sign me up! 

Then, it occurred to me: a project like the one offered requires 2.5 to 3 hours minimum per day, 5 or 6 days a week…”

Read the rest at: clickety-click!

Many thanks to talented writer, book publisher, and educator Margo L. Dill!

Check out Margo’s awesome online writing classes, including Manuscript Draft Editing Package with Consultation (For Novels, Short Story Collections, and Memoirs), Children’s Novel Draft Editing Package (For Novels for Children Ages 9-12), and Writing a Novel with a Writing Coach: One-on-One Instruction, and Margo’s books and editing packages, sure to inspire and support your writing projects! Sign up for her free newsletter: clickety.