How Poetry Can Help You

Four years ago I started to write an essay about taking my son to college. I tried several approaches, but I was blocked. After a couple of weeks I sat down to write the essay again and a poem appeared on the page. I've been writing poetry ever since. Some of my poems have been published by websites and magazines. This week my first book, Two Car Garage, is being published by CHB Media, a Florida publishing company. The book is now available on both Amazon.com and bn.com for only $9.99. What I learned writing the poems that went into the book can help you create whatever form of content you want to create. The three most important lessions were: 1. Practice -- I was proud of my first poem, but the poems I'm writing now after four years of practice are much better. Whatever you want to do -- paint portraits, write movies, create television shows, etc. -- you will improve if you practice. If you do nothing else, keep working on your craft. 2. Get support -- I did some research and learned that a lot of writers joined writers groups to get creative support and honest critiques of their work. It didn't take a lot of internet searching to find several writers groups in my home town. Find the people in your home town that are doing what you want to do. The support is priceless. 3. Learn from the best. I also read poetry -- both the classics and the best work that's being done today. I attended poetry readings by professional poets. I went to poetry and writing workshops to learn how to improve. I may not have been able to meet Robert Frost and ask him how to write a poem, but I can buy his complete poems and learn from them. So if you want to write novels, read great novels. If you want to direct films, watch and analyze the work of the great directors. If you want to paint pictures, make sure you see the work of the great masters in person. I started from writing my first poem to my first book in a little over three years. You may take less time to realize your dream, or you may take more time. The only sure thing is that, if you don't try, you're guaranteed not to suceed.

Everyone Gets Rejected

One of the hardest things to understand and prepare for in the world of creating content is the certainty -- not the probability, but the certainty -- that your work will be rejected at some time or other. That happens not only to people starting out but also to established artists at the top of their game. I've read interviews with some top producers who say they still pitch ten ideas to networks for every idea that gets accepted. That's a great percentage in the world of television -- it's not uncommon for some producers to pitch a lot more ideas before one gets accepted. Rejection is the norm; acceptance of your idea is the outlier. And while many people understand that fact intellectually before they begin creating content, it's a very different situation when the work you spent years developing gets rejected with only a cursory read, or sometimes no read or all. How can you deal with that and continue to sustain your efforts? First, it helps to know you have a lot of company. Read Stephen King's book on writing -- before he became one of America's best selling authors he was barely supporting his family in a small apartment in Bangor, Maine. It's well known that JK Rowling was living on the dole in the UK when she wrote the first Harry Potter book. All the networks rejected Survivor, until Mark Burnett had the chance to re-pitch the idea to the head of CBS. Every record company except one rejected the Beatles music. They didn't give up, and neither should you. Second, it helps to think of your work as something that will find an audience, even if it hasn't yet found one. The rejections aren't the end of the creative process, they're part of the process. Expect rejections, and when you get one acknowledge it and move on. If you get constructive feedback, try to incorporate it in your work. Third, work on multiple projects. If one gets rejected, you still have others to create. That keeps you from putting all your energy in one creative basket. Hal Prince, the Broadway producer, said he always scheduled a meeting on the next show for the day after the reviews came out for his current show. If the reviews were good, they had a new show to develop. And if the reviews were bad, they had a new show to develop. Even if you want to spend most of your time on your new novel, make sure you spend a little time outlining your next story. That's a good thing to have ready in case a network or publisher asks, "What else do you have?" Finally, consider ignoring the gatekeepers and going straight to the audience. The internet has made it relatively easy to self-publish books, post videos, poetry, music, etc. It's possible that a network or publisher will discover you from your internet post. In previous posts I provided examples of viral content that made its creators famous; you probably know some, too. However, understand that if you are self-publishing on the web, you need a plan to market your material, or it will drown in the sea of content already available. You work will be rejected, and it will feel like you were personally rejected. It's your ability to overcome rejection and continue to create that will determine your ultimate success.