[New-Poetry] Time to write?

[Jeff Newberry]

I'll chime in here and say that, like David, I am a professor.  Right now,
I'm on leave to work on coursework for my doctorate; but even when I was
teaching 4-5 courses a term (I work for a community college), I found that
when I had lots of things going on, I was more productive. I worked on poems
during office hours; sometimes, I printed out hard copies to take to class
if I were showing a video or doing some other activity that left me free.

I've found that downtime depresses me.  And, it seems, steals my
creativity.  I write songs, as well, and I can't seem to get any music
written when I have a lot of free time.

As far as my poetry is concerned, I've been working on being more
disciplined this summer.  I rise early, walk the dog, have coffee & cereal,
and write until noon or 1:00 p.m.  Then, in the afternoons, I read.

So, the routine, I suppose, helps me.  I know that other work in different
ways.

Jeff Newberry


On 6/11/06, Richard Wilsnack <rwilsnac at medicine.nodak.edu> wrote:
>
> David Graham's "poet in residence" message, and the correspondence
> concerning the Richard Hugo House, raise a chronic question for creative
> writing in general:
> How much does it help/impede the writing process to have extended time
> available for writing?  Or, in contrast, how much does it help/impede
> writing to have to
> write, as David says, "in the cracks of a 14 hour work day"? I suspect
> that the (un)availability of much "free" time works differently not only
> for different types of writing (say, novels vs. lyric poetry), but also
> for people with different personalities. Many writers, I suspect, hate
> deadlines yet work best when deadlines beset them. Any comments on the
> benefits/woes of having abundant/scarce time for writing?
>
> Richard W. Wilsnack
> rwilsnac at medicine.nodak.edu
>
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-- 
"Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death."
                                                   --Miguel de Unamuno

Blog:  http://museoffireblog.blogspot.com/
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