What Are Acrostic Poems?

                                                        Photo by Aneta Pawlik on Unsplash

August is a month full of my family's birthdays. My Dad's and Daughter's Birthdays are 2 days apart. My sister in-law's is the day before my Dad's, And my brother in-law has the same day as my Dad's! I also have friends with August birthdays. 

But what am I talking about birthdays for when I should be talking about acrostic poems from the title of this blog? Well, acrostic poems happen to make great birthday presents. In fact, one was the greatest gift I ever got. It wasn't my birthday, just a random day, and a friend of mine in high-school said she had something for me after class. It was an acrostic poem of my name saying nice things about me. I write acrostic poems all the time, mainly because they are easy for me. So what is an acrostic poem?

                                                   Photo by Matthias Heyde on Unsplash

An acrostic poem is a poem that spells out a word going down. So when looked at, the first letter of each line of a poem spells out a word. Let's use Birthday as an example:

Bright

Inspiring

Ritual

That

Happens to

Dare the

Awesomeness of

Years

                                                        Photo by Angèle Kamp on Unsplash

For me, these types of poems are fairly easy to do, and do quickly. I actually once used this form of poetry to make money at a craft fair. I got some nice paper, and wrote out poems for people, charging a small amount (it was a dollar then, but over 15 years has passed and I would charge more now). I asked a person their name or a name of a person they wanted to make a gift for. Then I would ask about that person and what their likes were. Then I would write out that person's name and write a poem about them, and it's all thanks to my friend that gave me that poem in high school. I often think of a letter and see how many words I can come up with that letter. When I seriously want to write the words, I will write them down on a piece of paper. This can also help me when I have writer's block. It's fun for me. I hope it's fun for some of you too. At least I hope it's fun for you to read if you don't write!

Part of the reason I am telling you about acrostic poems is because "Season's of Sensation" will have many of them in it. It's not the whole book, but it is a big part of the book. Every month has an acrostic poem of it's name. I've got that part of the book done. That was an automatic 12 poems. I also wrote a sonnet for every season as well as 3 haiku's for each season. (As well as acrostics for each season too, automatically giving me another 4 poems). Then there is a lot of free verse in "Seasons of Sensation". I'm going to sign off now, I need to work more on my book than I need to write my blog!

 

Paperback 30% Off!

 

Wow! I've been keeping track of my Amazon book pages, and it's a good thing I did. They decided to list paperwork my book for sale for 30% off. Discount, awesome! It's normally $9.99, but Amazon has decided to only charge you $7. I have no idea how long this is going to last. There is plenty of time to get Un-Clenched Emotion for Christmas present, ships is 2 days! A great idea for a gift. 

Go to https://www.amazon.com/Clenched-Emotion-Collection-Poems/dp/1537725327

PS. I am putting my Kindle book on sale for .99 for one week starting December 9th, 2025. A great self-care gift for you. The sale is in honor of my birthday coming up, and I chose to do this one!

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

 

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.

How to Write From Experience and Autism Awareness

If you have taken a writing course, or workshop, you might have been told to write what you know.  I was told that once, and I took it a little too literally.  I love fantasy and science fiction, and wondered how I could write about an imaginary planet when it's not something I know.  You don't have to have experienced something first hand for you to know something about it.  I've read enough mythology and facts on space for those subjects to be something I know.  I haven't written any prose yet, I've been busy working on my poetry.  For poetry, writing from your life's experience is a good idea.  An imaginary characters' experience works too.

Use a Memory for Writing Poetry

A good way to write a poem from experience is to go through your memories and try to describe it.  Of course, this works for good memoirs too since that's what they are.  You don't have to write your memory word for word, and in poetry you probably shouldn't.  Think of the feelings you get from those memories, wonder if that memory makes you think of a color, and try to come up with a phrase (that only has to make sense to you) that describes that memory.  This will help you come up with similes (comparing items using the word like and as) and metaphors (comparing items not using the word like and as) in your poems.  You can also choose to write about a subject matter that is close to you.

Experience with the Subject of Autism

It's April now, which means it's Poetry Month.  It is also Autism Awareness Month.  Poetry and Autism are both subjects I know about.  I have decided to write a poem using my experience with Autism to celebrate both poetry and autism awareness.  I don't plan on trying to publish it, so I will write it here for everyone to read as an example of how to write from experience. It is as follows:

Relating to a Mystery

Understanding an Echo (they called it Autism,)

Sweet parrot mimicking in human flesh.

She gazed at the river and spoke in metaphor.

Could it be possible? Did they lie?

Hidden talents hidden in flapping wings like hands.

Each song sung verbatim with feeling.

She feels it all distinctly, everything.

They are not emotionless.

Lumped together in the image of different.

Rainbow Puzzle Pieces try to celebrate the many feathers

of parrots flocking.

Comprehension can’t be communicated,

I’m not talking about her, but about me.

Is blue really accurate?

Relate, relate, relate,

Unsuccessful, it is pointless.

There are unanswered questions that swirl

and never finish until we expire.

I read stories, she watches stories

So that we might illuminate our curious minds.

When we hear a lion roar, we imitate.

My head’s full of useless feathers.

The mimicking parrot is full of brilliance.

It’s me who wants you to understand.

Expression needs training,

This encompasses humanity as well as parrots.

Will you feel compassion?

It’s everything we need.

Her, You, Me, Us.

In the end, that’s all I’m trying to express.

I could describe how all of this relates to autism, me, and my daughter (who has autism,) but this post is already kind of long.  If you would like to know more. please write a comment and I'll try to answer. 

How to Start Writing Poetry Freestyle

It’s April, that means it’s poetry month.  In honor of that I have decided to write about poetry in general and how to write poetry in my blog.  I have taught poetry workshops and helped people write a poem, fresh on the spot.  When I write poetry, I can usually write it all from one sitting off the top of my head.  This is hard for many people to do.  I will proceed to tell you how I get started writing my poetry and what I tell people they should do when writing theirs.

Writing a Poem is an Act of Bravery

The first thing I like to explain to people is that people who write poetry are brave. You may feel like you don’t fit in the “brave” category yourself but just put your pencil (or pen) to the paper and start writing. (Or start typing on the computer if that’s what you prefer).  Write what you are thinking about in the moment, no matter how silly or embarrassing you think it might be.   Any ideas, subjects, words, formats, etc., are acceptable. This is called freewriting.  Some people may need prompts to do this and some may not.  (I do this with and without prompts.)   Some prompts are:  

• ·         Looking at the place you are and writing down poetic descriptions
• ·         Listening to everything you hear and writing how that makes you                                    feel
• ·         Thinking of a memory and describing that memory

If you feel you are not brave, that’s okay, simply writing things down is an act of bravery. It doesn’t matter if what you write comes out written poorly, the fact is you did it and you should be proud of that accomplishment.  You have dared to create something new.

What if Don’t Like My Poem

Often, you may not like what you wrote, but someone else will.  There are countless examples of musical artists that hated the songs they came up with.  Their songs went on to hit the top of the charts even though the musicians hated that song.  REM hated “Shiny Happy People,” but many of us know and love that song today.  Poetry is like that, you may hate it, but someone else may like it, so be brave to write anything down that comes to mind.  You don’t have to write a poem in one sitting and be done with it either.  (My poems are usually written out and complete the first time, which is unusual and if you encounter a writing teacher, they will usually tell you that you must rewrite).  If you want to, you can use your poem as a rough draft and rewrite it to something else you like more.  If you still don’t like it, which is often the case, you can use the poem you wrote as inspiration to write another poem.  A completely new one.  If you like the original, feel free to keep it!

Writing freestyle is one way to start writing a poem. If you don’t like something you have written, try and try again.  Feel good that you were brave enough to do it, no matter how you did it.  You have created.