A poem a day
Every year as November rolls around, I think about joining in the National Novel Writing Month – or NaNoWriMo for short.
The idea is to challenge yourself to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. That’s an average of 1667 words per day. That is quite a challenge to many writers, myself included. On an average day I am generally happy with 500 – 1000 words. On a good day I might stretch this to 1500, and on a fabulous – albeit very rare – day I can even get over 2000. I think my best day was a super 3000 words, but that mean about 10 hours of work.
I considered joining the challenge again this year, but realistically I just don’t have the time with my many responsibilities outside of my writing.
Poem a day
So instead I am going for an easier, softer and far more achievable goal: a poem a day for the month of November. So far I’m on track. I might even publish a few of them here on this site. (The first one appeared here.)
I have done this successfully before. On a six week holiday in Ethiopia, Morocco and Spain we were away for 45 days and I wrote 55 poems. Admittedly, some of them were haiku, but I achieved my goal. And I wrote some great poems as well.
Thought: perhaps I will create a new habit and write a poem every day of the year. Now that’s a challenge I can achieve.
Good writing.
Poem #46 Sacred Kingfisher
2 Comments »1st November, 2013; Category: Poetry
Sacred Kingfisher in our garden today
Sacred Kingfisher
Flash of blue-green
Lights up the early morning
Drabness of the mallee trees
Just metres from our breakfast table.
We sit transfixed by the kingfisher
On a dead branch overhanging our rose garden.
Tail-flicking and head bobbing
It surveys the garden for its breakfast.
It drops to the ground, a living arrow
Of death for a beetle, gecko or native cockroach,
A quick gobble and it’s gone,
A kingfisher gourmet delicacy.
It reads my mind, lingers long enough
For photos, posing in a variety of settings
But always within reach of my camera lens,
A modest model robed in holy turquoise.
© 2013 Trevor W. Hampel All rights reserved.
To read more about this wonderful encounter, go to my birding site to read about “A beautiful guest at breakfast” . I’ve included several more photos on that post, too.
Writing prompt – colourful vegetables
No Comments »14th August, 2013; Category: Poetry, Short Fiction, Short Stories, Short Story Starters, Writing prompts
Vegetables on sale at a farmers’ market in Morocco
A few years ago my wife, daughter and I travelled through magical Morocco for two wonderful weeks. One of the places we visited was the village of Sefrou which is about 30km from the city of Fes. It was one highlight in 14 days filled with many highlights. You can read more about my journeys on another site I write for: Trevor’s Travels (click here).
On our visit to Sefrou we wandered through the local farmers’ markets, featured in today’s photo above. Farmers from the surrounding districts had brought in their produce for sale, set up on stalls in the streets, squares and lanes of the town. The locals crowded into the cramped spaces buying up delicious looking vegetables and fruits. We bought some yummy bananas and mandarins as a treat. Other fruits included oranges, apples, dates and many more. The vegetable range was even more diverse, with tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, silver beet, cauliflower, capsicum, beans, cucumber and much more.
The displays, like that shown in today’s photo above, were colourful and inviting.
Writing prompts:
Here are some ideas for writing. Use these prompts as an exercise in warming up your writing at the start of the day, or perhaps even as the start of a short story or poem.
- Describe the scene shown in the photo above.
- Imagine being one of the vendors shown in the photo. Describe what you are feeling.
- Write a short story from the point of view of a young child lost in the marketplace.
- Tell the story of the journey from the farm to the home of the buyer. Try it from the point of view of the farmer – or perhaps even a vegetable.
- Write a poem describing the sounds, colours and smells of the market.
- Write about how you would feel if you had no money and was starving and you saw the above scene.
Good writing.
Writing prompt – Patience
No Comments »4th July, 2013; Category: Fiction, Poetry, Short Fiction, Short Stories, Short Story Starters, Writing prompts
A patient mule in the medina of Fes in Morocco
On our tour of Morocco several years ago I photographed this very patient mule standing just outside a shop in the busy medina of the city of Fes.
It just stood there patiently, ignoring the milling throng all around, oblivious to the movement, the noise and the general confusion.
Writing prompt:
- Write about a time you had to be very patient.
- Write about an occasion when someone had to be very patient with you.
- Write a list of the virtues of patience.
- Write a poem titled “Patience”.
- Write a short story starting with the words: “After three hours of patient waiting…”
- Write a short story finishing with the words “It had been a day that severely tested my patience.’
Good writing.