Writing for Profit or Nano Economics 101

This morning, as I sipped my coffee (you will learn that coffee plays an integral role in the development of my posts), I contemplated the direction my life had taken over the last several months. In January of this year, I published the first issue of an online poetry magazine. Even though it struggles with attracting new poets, its readership continues to steadily increase. I administer two poetry prompt blogs and recently sponsored a poetry contest on one of them. These blogs also have a sizeable group of readers, but, again, neither has captured those elusive participants. And then, there’s my novel. A story that floated around in my head forever finally found its way onto paper. But have any of these pursuits been worth my time or effort?

No doubt, this sudden introspection evolved from receiving my first royalty statement for Tarnished Idols. In this regard, the word “nano” seems overly optimistic. Quite likely, the check won’t cover the cost of the electricity I’ll use to type this post. But I digress.

You can well imagine that my initial disappointment blew all the facts out of the water. FACT: the book had been available for a mere six weeks before the end of the sales quarter. FACT: The press release hadn’t even gone out yet. FACT: The amount of time I had to spend on promotion was, itself, of nano proportions. FACT: money was never the point … was it?

Those of us who engage in the literary arts should know this one thing above all else. Unless you are an incredibly gifted author with a huge public relations machine projecting your work and protecting your hindquarters, the likelihood of outward success is probably close to zero. There are hundreds of excellent writers out there who will, slowly but surely, find their way onto the bookshelves and eReader devices of the consumer. They’ll make their mark, create a name for themselves, and accrue a loyal following. But for the rest of us, that will probably not happen. And you know what? I’m okay with that.

For me, the act of writing is pursuing a lifelong dream. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I spent years writing songs in the hopes of achieving musical stardom. When that didn’t materialize, I sporadically wrote poetry while writing bits and pieces of my novel. It wasn’t until last year that I finally had the opportunity to make these literary hopes a reality. Circumstances made it possible for me to spend my entire day engaged in the art of wordplay. While I’m sure, in the back of my mind, I saw myself on the cover of People Magazine for rocketing to the top of Oprah’s booklist, I never seriously expected that to happen. The outward success that all writers dream about is, unfortunately for most, just that – a dream.

You’ve probably noticed I’ve used the phrase “outward success” twice in this post. Not to minimize the impact of that kind of achievement, it’s only part of the picture. The biggest reward comes not from monetary gain, but from “inward success.” Every time I put words down on paper, I’ve created something. Words become thoughts which, in turn, become poems. Or words become sentences that tell a story which, in turn, become a book. It’s the act of really doing it that becomes the success.

After you’ve finished writing your poem, short story or novel, you have already touched one person’s life. Your own. Should others have an opportunity to read your work, then that becomes your second blessing. The first was engaging your brain to form something concrete with your unique gift of words.

So, when the big checks aren’t delivered to your mailbox and the media isn’t banging down your door, don’t waste too much time worrying about it. If you write because you want to retire early on your millions and crisscross the country in your luxury motor home, perhaps this is not the path you should follow. But if you write because you want to write and because you need to write, then let the writing itself become your ultimate goal.

To Prompt Or Not To Prompt

I administer two weekly, poetry prompt sites. Every week, A Muse Fuse follows the alphabet by picking a new word, in alphabetical order, from the dictionary. The Magnified Muse chooses a particular quote from which to create a poem based on what that quote means to the poet. Before I became so absorbed with my own projects, I wrote to the weekly prompts at Poetic Asides and micro poetry.

On July 6th, A Muse Fuse began a Poem-A-Day Challenge and for the next twenty-six days, I wrote a poem based upon a word following the alphabet from A-Z. My partner, Lynda, created the list two months ago. I added the list to my calendar and didn’t look at the words again until the Challenge began. Every morning, my PDA beeped and blinked with the daily prompt while it dared me to find a way to work the word into a poem.

The Challenge ended on Saturday, July 31st. We were having friends for dinner on August 1st. With company coming, our house of two dogs and two cats needed a serious de-furring. Preoccupied with the cleaning and cooking preparations, I had little time to think of much else. It wasn’t until this morning that it hit me. There was no scheduled poem to write. My muse was on a mini-vacation until next week when I would return to my series of poetry prompts. And I felt lost.

I was trying to decide where to begin, here at my new blog home. What deep, inner revelations would inspire my first post? After some serious thought, and several cups of coffee, the idea materialized. I’d write about poetry prompts.

Several months ago, I was scrolling through some Twitter comments about poetry prompts. One entry caught my attention. A woman posted that she didn’t believe in poetry prompts. Poems should be born solely through the inspiration buried within the heart and soul. Puzzled by her comment, I discussed the point with a friend of mine. To my surprise, he agreed with her. He didn’t like his inspiration being restricted to a particular word or thought. Not for the first time (and, surely, not for the last), I remain baffled by people’s perceptions. I’m a poet. I’ve been writing for years. Inspiration abounds in my heart and soul, but it doesn’t just jump haphazardly through my fingers to the keyboard.

So how do you define inspiration? If you write about how you feel in the rain, aren’t you writing about rain or a particular emotion? If you write about your love for someone, you’re inspired by love, a person or a relationship.

Poetry prompts serve the same purpose and, usually, produce results on a deeper level. For example, it isn’t just writing a poem about a grapefruit. After you’ve said it’s a round, tart, diet food, what else is there to write? The poem is more about what the image of a grapefruit brings to mind. I’m taken back to my younger days, sitting around the table in our kitchen. We seldom ate breakfast as a family unit during the week, and we weren’t much of a hot breakfast kind of family. Cereal was our morning staple. Dad ate his Wheaties with a banana and Mom ate her Total with half a grapefruit. If we were eating together, it was because we were heading out for the day or getting ready for Sunday Mass. From that one grapefruit, I’ve got the inspiration for family, memories, anticipation, and spirituality. That’s a pretty hefty list of ideas from one piece of fruit!

Words, phrases or images fuel our imagination. They uncover places we might not otherwise think to visit. And once we reach that destination, the sky is our creative limit.

Weekly quote prompts at The Magnified Muse resume on Thursday, August 9th. A Muse Fuse returns to its regular, weekly journey through the alphabet on Thursday, August 12th, starting with the letter “S”.