michaeljarmer

#442: I named my undergrad creative thesis . . .

Welcome to sonnetmageddon, day 4. Not even 1/6th of the way through the month, I have a sense of something taking shape in the way of a connective thread, beyond the repetition of this formal structure, the sonnet. Just four poems in, it might at this point be pretty oblique–so I mention it here justContinue reading “#442: I named my undergrad creative thesis . . .”

#441: The bug for travel does not sit with me . . .

Welcome to day 3 of my sonnetpalooza. All sonnets, all the time. 24 hour sonnets. I’m feeling pretty groovy about my progress. I find myself, even, a bit ahead of schedule. As of this third day, I have composed five of these babies. The jury is out about whether I will post more than oneContinue reading “#441: The bug for travel does not sit with me . . .”

#440: These are the worst dogs we have ever had . . .

Welcome to the second day in the festival of sonnet, wherein, I have determined, in celebration of NaPoWriMo, to write a sonnet every day during the month of April. The dilemma always during National Poetry Writing Month, whether you are doing your own thing or following the lovely prompts offered by the NaPoWriMo website, isContinue reading “#440: These are the worst dogs we have ever had . . .”

#439: The poet Larry Levis said or wrote . . .

Greetings! Happy April Fool’s day. Far be it from me, though, to play a prank on you, dear reader. So, I begin today holding true to the self-challenge of writing 30 sonnets in 30 days in celebration of National Poetry Writing Month. For this first one, I have decided to be faithful to the ShakespeareanContinue reading “#439: The poet Larry Levis said or wrote . . .”

NaPoWriMo 2023: A Sonnet Festival

Don’t ask me why, not just yet anyway, but I am moved this year as I anticipate the first day of National Poetry Writing Month to veer away from my annual practice–not by skipping it, or by doing something different, like working on prose, for example, like some fiction writers do in the fourth monthContinue reading “NaPoWriMo 2023: A Sonnet Festival”

The Book I Read: The Kudzu Queen, Reflections on a Mockingbird, and Ethna McKiernan

Hey there! Welcome back to the Book I Read podcast with Michael Jarmer Writer Guy, a podcast where I talk about books, reading in general, writing fiction and poetry, with some occasional diversions into music listening, teaching and learning. Hey, hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day–and a stellar President’s Day. We’re supposed to beContinue reading “The Book I Read: The Kudzu Queen, Reflections on a Mockingbird, and Ethna McKiernan”

How I Know I Need To Start Meditating Again

It has been almost a year since the last time I meditated on a regular basis, or frankly, at all. In my last year of teaching, in the same school I taught at for 32 years, in the first year back to in-person learning after the COVID-19 shut down, a group of teachers and administratorsContinue reading “How I Know I Need To Start Meditating Again”

The Book I Read: Groundhog Day Redux–Forever

Hey there! Welcome back to the Book I Read with Michael Jarmer Writer Guy, a podcast and blog series where I talk about books mostly, among other things: reading in general, writing fiction and poetry, some occasional diversions into music listening, teaching and learning. It is January, so, happy new year to you. I hopeContinue reading “The Book I Read: Groundhog Day Redux–Forever”

The Book I Read: Late Work—An Autobiography of Love, Loss, and What I Was Reading

Hey there! Welcome back to the Book I Read podcast/blog with Michael Jarmer Writer Guy, a podcast where I talk about books mostly, books I’ve read exclusively, reading in general, writing, listening, teaching and learning. It is December; the holiday season upon us. Last time we spoke it was October when it still felt aContinue reading “The Book I Read: Late Work—An Autobiography of Love, Loss, and What I Was Reading”

Notes On My First Attempt at NaNoWriMo: Writing a Novel in 30 Days

It has been five days since I reached the goal of writing 50,000 words, a draft of a novel, in a single month. I wrote, to be precise (sort of), 50,139 words during the month of November, and according to my goal tracking page on Novelpad (an online novel writing application I discovered through theContinue reading “Notes On My First Attempt at NaNoWriMo: Writing a Novel in 30 Days”