Revisions.... :|

Revisions are necessary, for me at least. My first drafts are just dumped information into a semi-organized form. The next time I look over it I clean up the mess. (And it tends to be a big mess). I use the second and third revisions to incorporate details and expand on the main topics I threw down on paper. Then the last couple of revisions are to filter out unnecessary words, punctuation marks, etc.

Bottom line:
Revisions are annoying but useful. We go through the torute of clawing at our own work but the final draft is worth the aggrevation. Good Luck with your endeavors. :)

5 Stories Told and Waiting to Be Written

5 Stories told within the last 3 days

·         My friend got so frustrated that he punched the wall. His hand got swollen and we spent the rest of the night at the ER.

·         I spent four hours in this goddamn kitchen cooking for (secret identity) and this is all *** have to say? Next time stuff some of those already made chicken nuggets in the microwave to keep **** from starving.

·         The “tornado” on Saturday blew half the things on my balcony out onto the streets. My barbeque grill toppled over. I guess we won’t be grilling hamburgers any time soon.

·         I call out to my sister from my room into the hall. “Can I get the number for the pizza guy please?” (I get a txt from her instead) “You can’t just come over here to tell me? You sent the wrong number anyway! Wait, you’re missing a number too.”  I ended up walking over to get the delivery papers out of the drawer.

·         I was going through my ipod looking for a song to listen to with my friend to pass some time before class. “Oh, this is such a great song. I love it.”  We sit back to listen. A minute into the song and I had to change it. “God, that was getting annoying.” My friend just looks at me like I belong in a hospital not a university.

5 Stories I hope to write

·         Family Memoirs (My grandmother’s story and my mom’s story especially)

·         Historical Fiction –there are so many events that have occurred in our generation.  

·         YA Fiction—just for fun and more importantly to raise awareness of the dramatic increase in Teenage Depression and Suicide. They are not getting the attention they deserve.

·         General Fiction

·         I’ve always wanted to write a really complex and twisted Sherlock Holmes type story. I love the idea of a good police case that needs the brains of a brilliant but misunderstood person (Man or woman).

Poem 1 and 2 Original and Revisions

POEM 1 ORIGINAL: 

Poetry is…

A heater

in the wild winds of winter

to warm the frozen skin

on my toes,

melt my icy numb limbs.

It tenderly blows out endearments.

The poet’s voice is fire,  

language, the  passion,

 playing its part as the savior,

raising its burning silver sword,

gallantly battling bitter rigidity and

expressionless chaos.

Then all at once it

stops unfalteringly as

I read the final couplet.

And

in creeps the crawling cold air.

REVISION: 

Poetry is…

A fireplace  

in the wild winds of winter

to warm the frozen skin

on my toes, as I curl them

towards the crackling sparks

of gypsy shades.

Poetry melts icy numb limbs

that minutes ago treaded through

white winter showers.

The poet’s voice is like

a dragon’s flaming breath

that ignites the village

living within the creases of

the firewood resting on the very top

of the iron-gated pile. 

Language is a gallant hero

playing  its part as the savior,

raising its burning silver sword,

boldly battling bitter rigidity and

expressionless destruction of a deathly season.

Then all at once it

stops unfalteringly as

I read the final couplet.

The ashy end approached too soon .

And

in creeps the crawling cold air.

POEM #2 

ORIGINAL:

Dead End

His letters

scattered

abandoned,

calamity all ‘round

the wooden glacial home:

A desk.

The ink, like

Drops of gloom,

Blotted,

Resting on his life,

spreading

expanding the shadows,

over what little clarity

remains.

The letters

folded,

forgotten,

forbidden,

enclose the depth of

isolation

in his wooden home.

REVISION:

Dead End

Letters,

scattered,

 like one thousand puzzle pieces,

abandoned,

like a child left in a basket under a note.

Calamity all ‘round

the wooden glacial home:

A desk.

The ink,

drops of blotted gloom,

it spreads,

expanding the shadows,

that reach with determined claws,

ravenous for

what little clarity

remains on

virgin pages.

The toxic stench of the uncapped ebony liquid,

stretch into the flared nostrils of a disgraced man

whose creations were scandalous black holes.  

His letters will remain, atop

the tomb shaped desk,

folded,

forbidden,

forgotten. 

Another Favorite Author

Now I know we were supposed to choose one, but I could not decide between George Gordon, Lord Byron, and Mr. John Keats. It is interesting to know that Keats and Gordon were rivals. Keats had a dislike for Gordon and Gordon for Keats, at least when Keats was still alive. This is what Keats had to say on Gordon, 'You speak of Lord Byron and me - There is this great difference between us.He describes what he sees - I describe what I imagine - Mine is the hardest task.' John Keats in a letter to his brother George, September 1819. 

Here are the sites for the two of them: http://englishhistory.net/byron/contents.html
My favorite poem by Lord Byron is When We Two Parted. I LOVE that poem. 

http://englishhistory.net/keats/contents.html
I had already posted my favorite piece of work by Keats which was an Ode on Melancholy.