About Sonnets

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In the last blog post, I said I would write more about sonnets.  I believe there is something attractive about sonnets, so I write them.  This is how I go about writing a sonnet.  What are sonnets? Basically, a sonnet is a 14 line poem.  There are many different types.  I don't go about limiting myself to one certain type, I do what's going to work best for what I want to write. 

Most of my sonnets contain 3 quatrains, (a paragraph made up of 4 lines,) and 1 couplet, (a paragraph made of 2 lines,) at the end.  Shakespearian Sonnets have an ABAB CDCD EFEF rhyming scheme in the quatrains and an GG rhyming scheme for the couplet.  Many different sonnet types count the syllables in each line.  In the following example of one of my sonnets, "The Discussion", I have used 10 syllables for each line.  When coming up with a sonnet I write a template looking like this:

1. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  A

2. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ B

3. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A

4. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ B

5. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ C

6. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ D

7. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ C

8. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ D

9. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E

10. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ F

11. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E

12. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ F

13. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ G

14 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ G

Each underline, or dash, represents each syllable that I want to use.  A syllable can best be described as a beat of a word, usually indicated by a vowel.  For example, 'frog' is one syllable.  It has one vowel, so the word frog would be written across one part of the line above.  'Discussion' would be 3 syllables indicated by the i, u, and io.  Since it is three syllables, I would write that across 3 parts of the line.  To put 'frog' and 'discussion' together, I would write across 4 parts of the line to look like: frog-dis-cus-sion.  To write one line of the sonnet, I still need to come up with 6 more syllables.  It's not the easiest thing to do, but it is doable. 

Iambic pentameter is also part of a sonnet, and it is also hard to do.  I am not good at iambic pentameter, so I don't do it.  The rules in poetry are meant to be broken!  If you are interested, I found the best description iambic pentameter here: https://classicalpoets.org/2015/12/02/how-to-write-a-sonnet/#/ 

In order to come up with writing rhymes and a subject, I do a free write.  I write all words I can think of and then see if I can put any two together that rhyme, or if a word might inspire a rhyme.  The words can create a guideline of a potential subject.  Sometimes, as in the case below, I come up with the subject first.  For "The Discussion," I wanted to come up with a poem that fit in the category of speculative (relating to fantasy or science fiction).  I thought talking frogs would work for a speculative poem.  I did try to write "The Discussion" for publication, however I do not think it's good enough for that.  I do think it's good, just not that good, so I am sharing it with you for free now.

The Discussion

 

Now it is dusk, we are frogs, we arise.         

Time for our meeting, time for our chatter.                                                                    

When it is colder, we fear our demise.                           

We must discuss an important matter.        

                                                          

Among the dark it is time to discourse.                                                               

Us, waking, nocturnal socializing.            

Like you, we try to discover the source.                                             

Knowledge gleaning, avoid criticizing.                                                                

                                                                       

Our music reverberates among us.             

Ponds, our water, it is disappearing.                                                                   

Asking what can we do, who can we trust?                                                                   

Not understanding, others are jeering.                                                        

                                          

Can you understand the amphibian?                  

Shivering, dying now, to our chagrin. 

                                                              Photo by gary tresize on Unsplash

I encourage you to revel in this beautiful form of poetry, whether you be reading sonnets or writing them.

 

Learning How to Publish and Promote

                                                         

                                                         Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

First, right now, 10/15/22, until the 18th of October, the "U)n-Clenched Emotion," kindle book version, is on sale for 99 cents on Amazon.  It normally costs $2.99.  It's always free on Kindle Unlimited.  If you haven't already found the link on this blog, it's at: https://www.amazon.com/Clenched-Emotion-Natasha-Gruss-ebook/dp/B01LZNVH4Y   This book is authored by Natasha Gruss, which is me,  even though I am now Natasha McKinley.  Amazon does not let people change the name of the author of a published book, which makes sense.

                                              

                                              Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

I found some other interesting things about how I can edit and promote the books I write.  Even after it was published way back in 2016.  I have not yet had my 2 of the same books, (the kindle version and the print edition,) linked.  Hopefully this is in the process of happening.  I thought that I had messed up by not originally linking my books.  Well, I just found out it wasn't my fault.  Author's used to publish their books with Create Space.  That's where I published my print book. Now, you can not publish your books with that.  I had to go into Create Space and transfer the print book to Kindle Direct Publishing, where are where all book versions are published now.  I had published my delightful book when Amazon was making this change, so my linking got lost in the cracks.  I have changed the book descriptions, the subtitles, and the keywords to match.  Hopefully this will get my books linked in a few days; after my promotion ends.

                                            Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Kindle does not let you price your book at 99 cents all the time.  You have to do a promotion to do that.  You get one count down deal during a promotion period which lasts for a few months.  Hopefully I will be able to do another free promotion for Black Friday/Cyber Monday.  Amazon also added another way to promote my book.  I was able to nominate it for Prime First Reads.  That's where Prime members get to download a free book, out of a list of a limited amount of books, once a month.  I doubt they will choose my book, but it was an easy click to nominate it.  Doing is risk-free.  I hope I have given authors some good information on Publishing and promoting their books.  And if you are not an author, I hope this was still an interesting read.

Thunderstorm

https://youtu.be/67HAVaT4VZ0

 

Poetry Writing Prompts

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Often, authors encounter writers block.  I am fortunate that I rarely encounter this when writing poetry.  The reason for that is because I have some go to writing prompts to help me out.  I used to volunteer to teach poetry classes and the following prompts are what I used when I needed to come up with ideas quickly.
I would have people write about colors, things that happen in the calendar year, music, teach a specific form of poem, and use published poems and authors as inspiration.  Writing about color is a little self-explanatory, so I will only go in depth on the other prompts I have listed.

Photo by Renáta-Adrienn on Unsplash

Calendar Year

I often had my students write about things that happened in the calendar year.  Things like seasons, the weather, holidays, and the specific months.  It was easy to look outside and prompt my students to write about what the weather was doing, or to have them write about the specific season we were experiencing at the time of the class.  Writing about the month we were in was also effortless.  I always felt holidays were especially inspirational.  I wrote so many of these types of poems that I am working on making a book out of them.  I currently have 42 poems typed up, and I am not even finished!

Photo by Eric Nopanen on Unsplash

Music

I have written a little bit about this in previous blog posts.  In my classes, sometimes I would simply have the students write a poem about their favorite song.  Sometimes I played the same song for everyone and had them all write a poem about that song.  You might think that you would get very similar poems doing this, but actually, they came out very diverse.  I always did want to be careful with this prompt because I did not want to infringe on any copywrites.  If you are simply writing this for yourself, that doesn't matter.  Done carefully, poems written inspired by music can still be published.  I found a call for submissions for poems that are inspired by the Rolling Stones.  Sometimes I would play music on glass bottles.  You could also play your own instrument, if you have one, for inspiration.  In this case, you do not have to worry about plagiarism.  I am of the belief that music is poetry.  I've seen some lyrics of various artists printed out and they look like wonderful poetry.

Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash

Forms of Poems

I really like to write sonnets, haikus, and acrostic poems.  I like them, therefor I teach them.  Haikus are pretty straight forward.  Write a poem with 3 lines.  The first line being 5 syllables, the second line being 7 syllables, and the third line being 5 syllables again.  I know that some people argue that Haikus should be about certain things like nature, or that it should be conveyed in a different way, but I don't think that has to be the case.  I was teaching poetry to beginners, so simply saying to write a 5-7-5 syllable poem was good enough for me.  I also love to do Acrostic Poems.  These poems are poems where the first letter of each line spells out a word.

For example:

Next

Akin

To

Amazing

She

Happily

Ascends

 

I actually made money at some craft fairs charging people to have me write out an acrostic poem of their name.  I did not charge much, and yet, a surprising amount of people wanted to have this done.

 

Sonnets are a little harder.  I must admit that I still don't understand iambic pentameter very well, so I don't bother with it.  The great thing about poetry is that you don't Have To follow the rules.  There is a lot I can say about sonnets, so I will write about them in a future blog post.

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Using Published Authors and Poems

Most of the time in my poetry class, I would choose 3 poets and their published poetry for inspiration.  I went to a poetry website, printed the author's bio, and a poem they had published.  We would read these bios and poems out loud and use them as inspiration to write our own poems.  This exercise took a little preparation, but I learned how to do it so well, it did not take much time to prepare at all.  Now when I am working on poetry, for fun, or to try to publish, I often read poetry ezines.  I have learned a lot from doing this.  For example, I knew about acrostic poetry, but I did not know there was a form of poetry where you start each line with a letter of the alphabet.  Finally, if none of these prompts work for you, you can find other prompts all over the internet.  There are many tweeted prompts every day, and Writer's Digest sends out writing prompts.  Writer's Block can be overcome!                                                                                                                                  

The Importance of the Pause

 

Photo by Ales Krivec on Unsplash

In all writing, not just poetry, where the writer puts pauses into their piece is very important.  In prose, the pauses are easy to indicate with commas and periods.  Paragraph breaks are also another form of pauses.  A pause in writing allows the reader to stop and think about what they just read, and perhaps prepare for a new idea.   The pause allows the reader to have time for what they just read to sink in.

Photo by Hrayr Movsisyan on Unsplash

 

Commas and periods can be a way to indicate a pause in poetry too.  Poetry is not exactly like prose, it has it's own set of rules.  Also unlike prose, in poetry, it is okay to break some of the rules.  Sometimes there will be no commas or periods in the piece at all.  In that case, line breaks are something that indicates a pause.  Why would you want to incorporate pauses in your poetry at all? You don't have to, but it can really help if you or someone else is reciting the poem.  Most poems are written to be read or performed, (with the exception of some visual poetry).  The spacing between words can indicate a pause as well.  In poetry, you can put as many spaces as you want between words, or even letters.

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash

Perhaps you don't write poetry, but only read it.  In that case, notice the pauses if there are any.  It will help with the comprehension and emotion of the poem.  Reciting a poem, whether you are the poet, or the reader, can help you get the best feel for the piece.  Next time you read a poem, notice the pauses.  It will help you better understand what the writer is trying to convey.

Photo by Isabella and Zsa Fischer on Unsplash

Sleep, Interrupted

By Natasha McKinley

 

She,

            Sleeps,

                           Softly.

 

There is a patter of

                                    footsteps that She

dreamily hears.

 

Awaken now.

            See what disturbs your slumber.

 

She wakes.

            It is only the footsteps of her family.

 

                                    Rest easy.

What to do for Poetry Month

It is the month of April, and the month of April is poetry month.  There are many things people can do besides write poetry.  Most obviously, they can read poetry.  Of course, you can read the classics like Shakespeare or Dickon's, but you can read current day poets too, (like me).  If you read a poet's work on your kindle, they would appreciate a review or at least a star rating.  All you have to do is click a star.  I decided to read a poetry book for this April.  

This month I decided to read Misha Collins poetry book: "Some Things I Still Can't Tell You."  Misha Collins is not famous for being a poet.  He is famous for playing the character Castielle (an Angel), on the T.V. show Supernatural.  I was very excited when I found out he was into poetry.  I saw him recite some on my Instagram account, thought it was great, and asked my husband for his book for Christmas. My husband got for it me!  Misha Collins is a very good poet, and I am very glad that I have his writing in my possession.

If you are a poet, and are published with Amazon, you can give your book away for free for up to five days.  You won't get any royalties when you do this, but you might spread your work around the world a little more.  I chose to give my book away for 3 days at the beginning this month.  Four people took advantage of the offer.  I may give "Un-Clenched Emotion" more free days in following months.  It is on Kindle Unlimited, so if you have that, it is always free.  I found out that I do get royalties if someone buys my book that way.

Naturally, if you would like to, you can write your own poetry in the month of April.  There are many poetry challenges online where they ask you to write a poem a day for the whole month of April.  I have done this in years past, but did not do a poem a day this year.  I did write a few poems this month, which I plan to submit to publication.  They are speculative poems, poems that follow a fantasy or science fiction theme.  I have a title for the other poetry chapbook, (or perhaps whole book), this time, and some more of this book to put together. The theme for this book is the Seasons. I still have a long way to go to get this finished.

I challenge you to read and/or write poetry this month.  Promote what you have already written, or write a review for an author you have read.

April Poetry Month- Free book April 1st-3rd

It's been two years since I posted anything in this blog. Some good things have happened since then. I got my first Amazon rating for My Kindle E-book, "Un-Clenched Emotion". 5 stars, hooray! I had my friend with Kindle Unlimited download my book in the summer of 2021.  Last time I ran a free promotion for my poetry book, 6 people downloaded my book.

It's April, and April is poetry month. In honor of that, I am coming back to this blog.  I am offering "Un-Clenched Emotion" for free at: 

https://www.amazon.com/Clenched-Emotion-Natasha-Gruss-ebook/dp/B01LZNVH4Y

Surprisingly, I have a lot of traffic to this blog for not working on it for 2 years. I have played around with Twitter. I have over 500 followers and have never sold my book from there as far as I know. Yet, maybe someday! I do think it was Twitter people who downloaded my book for free last time.  If anyone wants to follow me there, my handle is: @natasha_gruss

In 2020, I got married and my name changed. It's actually Natasha McKinley now.  "Un-Clenched Emotion" is published under Natasha Gruss. As you can see that my Twitter handle is also still Natasha Gruss. If I publish more books, they will be under Natasha McKinley.

I am also on Goodreads. Once again my name is still Natasha Gruss there. I have a total of 7 reviews on Goodreads, which is great! Unfortunately, so far, it hasn't really helped in selling my book.  They are all positive reviews however, which makes me feel good. Goodreads has helped me give away my book for free! You can see my Goodreads profile here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15863356.Natasha_Gruss

I am happy that I have gotten my this book out there so people can enjoy it.  I hope more people will take advantage of this free offer this time!  If you take advantage of this offer, I hope you post a review on Amazon. I could always use more reviews there.  Thank you for your time in reading this post!

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