Bits and Bats What I Learned in November

Here be the remnants of my ruminations on my first NaNoWriMo experience. I chiselled it off my previous post, basically so you didn't end up with too much rubbish on your plate at once. Hope you enjoy!

I've learned that all you need to do something is your own will, but you must accept that things outside your control can have an impact on that, however big or small. Even in doing reasonably well drafting a novel, I have neglected both blogs I write for. You might say that's 'craft getting in the way of craft', but it does show how there's only so much space in life for what must happpen. I don't know what I think the answer is to this, or even if I think there is one. Either sediment'll settle eventually, or I'll be all shook up forever - never grabbing a medal anywhere, but running many races. My point is that I have the will, and I'm cracking on, so let's see.
   I've learned that I really do over-analyse [he says, over-analysing his over-analysis...], and that this whole NaNoWriMo 'WeUp' has probably been a waste of time, or at least doing it every day has been. Maybe one paragraph on the week's lessons would've been more time and effort appropriate. To be quite honest, I did it more with others in mind, hoping that other newbies/potential converts might be made to feel better. Really, I didn't learn much more about myself/my reaction to different modes/genres, and I should've been concentrating more on technique and aesthetics, but that's something for another time... There's still more work to go into it, but I'll try and only give you another update when my novel is a world-wide bestseller...
   I've learned that technology still has Satan in it. Laptops distract - a ruler bar over here, a blinking cursor just there and then the internet everywhere... Normally I write onto paper first [as with what you're reading right now]. It helps me get into the flow and get lost in my mind, but that's just me.
   I've learned that, while it has felt good to get words down and feel productive, the relentless attitude of inflexible 'scientific' goals [i.e. 'measurable' or 'numeric' or whatever] can damage, or at least change, your approach. Does it matter if you're a sporadic/fluctuating writer in terms of output? Is it better to write one word a day, or a week, and build up something beautiful over time, rather than go for power and pressure, only to end by beating yourself up because you fell short of an arbitrary mark?
   Is encouraging writers [current or future] to think of art as a defined target, rather than an end produced in a purely personal way, full of twists and turns in its own right, the way to go? Not that I'm necessarily saying I think that NaNoWriMo does encourage that, I'm just genuinely asking. I think there's the threat of these things, but maybe that's where natural temperament and talent come in. Maybe?
   It does give people a drive and focus, which is good, but should there be a NaNoWriMo - and/or other generic equivalents [NaPoWriMo, NaScriWriMo etc] - where the encouragement is to expand conceptual playfulness as opposed to 'raw stamina/distance'. But then I suppose that's what we try and do every day. All creative writing is an experiment. Also, I suppose our lives are what build our stamina, our distance, and we can only hope that the habits we form are the ones we want to keep [and here I snigger at myself...]. I do think that this Novembral event can, if you're not one already, start you on your way to being a writer. Even if it takes you five years to ever pick up a pen/tap a key again, then it might've helped you. Then there'll be people, probably, who have the required number of words but never think about their work again - and there's nowt wrong wi' that.

Peace, love and light.

Internettal Wonderment

I've just been blown away by some awesome articles that I found while having a cheeky browse on the ol' interwebs. I was trying to find Bob Cobbing's 'A good fuck makes me feel like custard' permutational poem, and, since time was on my side, I went the long route by simply Googling 'Bob Cobbing'.

First up I went on the Electronic Poetry Center site, which linked me to UbuWeb. Both are incredible resources. This article caught my eye, though, as the subject of sound poetry and its power to question the 'linguistic stereotypes' that prevail is rapidly becoming the most important to me. I think this is a very personable collection of thoughts, like a gentle mentor talking to a faithful student. The way it talks about motives, materials and concepts of the 'genre' unlocks so much future it's astounding.


Next up on my information superhighway tour is from the Birkbeck Uni website, which those of you who don't have the Ship of Fools version of Robert Sheppard's The Necessity of Poetics should check out (there are a few differences between the two versions that I found very interesting, especially the 'workshop junkies' element). My wandering took me to Lawrence Upton's Bob Cobbing: and the book as medium; designs for poetry. Now, I've not actually read this one yet, but it looks impressive, especially due to its generous use of pictures which are vital to understand the implications of going beyond (or, more accurately is some ways, before) language. What made me really happy I'd stumbled across this site was it's archive of issues, a vast wealth of discourse on poems and poetry, all free. I don't mention the 'free' bit because I got a puerile, knee-jerk gut reaction to getting something for nothing, I mention it because the implication is that the value in the articles is in sharing them, of learning from them. It's an ever-present debate in the art world, the 'value' of a piece and, of course, the value lies outside the capitalist constructs of monetary wealth, but it's nice to see such a high-standard body of important research being made so freely available. Of course, there are other great free sites, such as New Pages, Black Market Review (currently displaying a lovely bit of collaborative art), National Association of Writers in Education and a whole bunch more. They are all gateways to enlightenment. There are also plenty of journals that charge, and there's nothing wrong with that at all, I'm certainly not implying that 'free is better' in terms of the work itself. Gylphi is one example, London Review of Books, and, I don't know, New Writing? Priceless.

Next: University of Pennsylvania's collection of recordings. Again, you can't really appreciate the magic of this kind of poetry without the benefit of sensory stimulation - aural in this case - so this is massively important for unlocking the 'proper' experience. I'm sure Cobbing would probably not like such terms as 'correct' and 'proper' in this respect, but certainly he'd encourage performance (only one soul was brave enough to try that at the recent JMU exhibit [link correct at time of publishing]) and be more than happy to give his own.

Then I had to modify my search a bit to find this custard malarkey (to 'Bob Cobbing custard'), which eventually got me on the Jacket site,  reading Sheppard's Bob Cobbing: Sightings and Soundings. Each bit is like a match being struck, bright bursts of light, smouldering for a few paragraphs, some being blown out rapidly, before the next one is lit. It was an important read for me, as it really got you past the 'works' and into the contextual side of things. So vivid are the recollections, that I could smell the matchstick sulphur. Maybe this link isn't so interesting for general browsing, i.e. if you're not specifically looking for sound poetry material, but if you are then it's invaluable for those of us that weren't there (though my image of the 'SILLIWHIG' episode is so clear that I feel I was there, in disembodied spirit at least).

Anyhoo, that pretty much completes my redneck ramble, getting all excited about the internet whilst everyone else is probably like, "So what? It's nothing new to us..." Still, I'm glad to show you some groovy links, and remember folks: though these links are are Cobbing-centric, explore the rest of the site! These online journals are a great way to stumble across something new and something relevant, whether directly or indirectly, so be bold.

Ciao for now!

Monday bloody Monday

Well yeah it's been a pretty dreary Monday with the rain and the oh-so early lessons at 1000hrs. Fiction writing was focused upon settings today: how they inform and enhance characters and plot in a setting. Some people even regard setting as another character!!! Bear that in mind when you next write something, even if it's a shopping list.
So today I found out a couple of new mates' birthdays, bought a mouse for my laptop which helps during internet gaming (apparently), missed out on the opening of 'Club Velvet' in Southport - which I actually wanted to go to despite not being a club person normally - and have got an essay that I'm trying to get going with.
So, to feel like a 'good boy' I'll not rant on any longer about problems I'm having, and leave you in the knowledge that someday soon I'll be free of this essay and we can be as close as we want...
At the top of this post I have included a picture of what the rain outside could look like, with skillful application of a pint glass recepticle, and the coffee which is going to get me through some of my essay (though not in that order or with any known laws of gravity). I know it's what you want.