Finding Myself As a Writer

[hephty]

Finding Myself As a Writer

After years of random studies, and reading a variety of literature, I've decided to start a study program. It's nothing more than trying to find good habits that will cause me to develop as a writer or poet, that I plan to stick to for a time. I know that learning Spanish has been a great deal of fun, and I matured as a writer too, because I was covering both English and Spanish vocabulary, broadening both. After the first couple years of reading bilingual dictionaries and vocabulary books, I noticed a big change in my writing.

Today, after reading a bit of a novel, I happened to think upon broadening my English vocabulary. I recalled the days I'd spent in the bilingual vocab books, especially how fun they were, and how much it helped me progress in my literary endeavors. Then, it dawned on me to do something similar with just English.

I instantly ran to my computer and looked up college vocabulary books, and found one that is not only thematic, but has sentences for each new word, as well as a list of competent synonyms. What makes it even more exciting, is that I'm doing this all on my new Kindle, and can look up any word or synonym instantly to catch the subtle differences or contrasts between words. This has me excited, as I want to spend so many hours studying this way, but must be patient, as I'm looking to make a habit of this, so that I can firmly learn the vocabulary presented in a way that I can better and more clearly express myself.

This is only the beginning, but I've decided to make a journal of it, where I will expand on what I'm learning, as well as record the lessons, and gain experience in the writing process as well.

[hephty]

I read a fair amount of English literature, but have been studying Spanish on the side for about years. It's been a random affair at best, but I started taking second language acquisition a little more serious about 3 years ago, when I read somewhere that most Romantic poets knew a romance language. After that, I looked into the benefits of knowing a second language, and one key factor was that it sharpens your ability to draw associations. For a poet, being able to draw unique associations is crucial. The idea, as far as I understand it, is that knowing just one language, you tend to know one way of looking at words and concepts, where learning a second language forces you to think in new ways about words, specifically, that your thinking becomes less concrete and fixed in it's associations.

After that study, I realized that learning Spanish could have a profound impact on my poesy, especially in that it would broaden my ability to draw associations, and therefore have a more diverse style with new ways of looking at things. This ability, to draw associations, is what caused me to take Spanish more serious, because not only will I enjoy a second language in all it's glory, but it will also help my English, and poesy, in ways I can only imagine.

So, besides reading a lot of English literature and poetry this year, I'm making a serious effort to acquire fluency in my second language, Spanish. Some people call me crazy, and that English is all I need, but over the years my love for Spanish has only gotten stronger and stronger, to the point where I think of the language much like a love interest that I can't get off my mind. Learning Spanish has been the greatest hobby I've ever taken on, and is very much enjoyable, and seeing I have such a passion for it, I believe becoming fluent this year will not only be possible, but something that I will continue to look forward to and enjoy every step of the way.

[hephty]

Flash Epics

I'm starting a new project involving something I call 'flash epics.' Specifically, I want to turn these flash epics into Gothic tales of my favorite myths. What I call 'flash epics' are very short renditions of myths in the epic blank verse fashion. Epic blank verse is rare, but something I'm passionate about, but I don't have it in me to write lengthy poems (besides, who would read them?) so I came up with the idea of 'flash epics.' I really have fun with the form and want to write one every two weeks, but I believe the love of writing these flash epics will keep me going for some time. <3

Here's a list of myths I'm interested in writing flash epics of this year:

Apollo and Daphne
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus
Cephalus and Procris
Artemis and Orion
Narcissus and Echo
Hyacinth
Proserpina
Orpheus and Eurydice
Venus and Adonis
Atlanta
Apollo and Python
Deadalus and Icarus
Phaeton
Perseus and Andromeda
Achelous and Hercules

And the list goes on.