“permanent” by devi laskar

It’s been a crazy fall so far, as I uprooted my family and myself a couple of months ago and moved across these United States and am trying to: 1. Get unpacked; 2. Find my things that help me write or paint; 3. Kick the kids to the curbs in front of their respective schools; 4. Find soccer practice; 5. Find the grocery store; 6. Write my books!

Oh yeah, #6 has been giving me such a hard time. I’ve been attempting to do too much – write one novel, finish another, work on my art-a-day challenge every day, be an effective blog editor for the Book Writing World, finish my book of poems, and write a nonfiction piece. In short, I don’t have enough hours in the day and I’m letting a lot of the bigger pieces collect copious amounts of dust, as much as that is possible on a laptop.

Thanks to Elizabeth Stark, I’d tried writing on 750words.com. It was working for me all through the summer until about two weeks ago when I completely derailed from the writing habit and could not hop back on and could not continue. So, I’ve had some time to think about this – and the truth is, I’m a poet first. Love the poems, get excited reading poems, and get happy writing poems.

So, I signed up for Poetry Boot Camp, led by my friend and fellow Squaw Valley colleague Molly Fisk. Whew! That was the hardest part, making the commitment to writing a poem every day for a week, and being held accountable for that poem every day. It was just what I needed: someone who was expecting me to do my work and hit the send button by midnight every night last week, and turn in something.

My week is over and I have several poems to add to my manuscript and I’ve received valuable and constructive criticism that is surely propelling me down the road toward making the writing habit just that: a daily commitment to the practice of my craft: writing.

Here’s a tip: let’s each of us find a buddy, someone who is willing to be that friend who does not have to read your first draft, but just has to be the one who checks in with you every day and asks that question: “Did you write today? Did you work on the XYZ that you made a commitment to me about?”