Behind the Page

Lately, I have struggled a bit with channeling my creativity into new stories and poems. There is an element of writer’s block, but there is also a lack of focus and motivation involved. Ironically, in my opinion, those with an artistic bent tend to have a lot going on in their brain. Currently, translating that jumbled mess in my mindspace (yes, I made up that word) into a story, whether that be prose or poetry, has been a challenge.

This isn’t about whining, though, or ranting about writer’s block. It’s about taking the opportunity to do some non-fiction/non-poetry writing, while I wait for my creativity to catch back up with me. Yeah, okay, I know it may still involve some creativity, but it’s different. Take my word for it.

Perhaps the worst thing a writer can do is to stop writing. So, if one type of writing isn’t working out at the moment, why not try something different? One of the solutions I came up with to keep me typing away is to do some writing about things I have already written. It doesn’t require me to invent new ideas while in an idea drought, but it will allow me to keep exercising my writing chops while awaiting the proverbial rains to return.

Behind the Page is a planned series of articles to discuss the inspiration, process, backstory, etc. of fiction and poetry that I have previously published on Vocal. There is no hard, fast number of articles I am shooting for, but I’d like to do several of them (however many that is). That’s the plan.

Why am telling you this, instead of just writing one and sharing it? Well, because while pondering this idea amidst the jumble in my mindspace ™ I decided to make the series more participatory. I want some community feedback. Hopefully, it will give me some food for thought on my own work and, if I’m lucky, it will make the series more interesting for readers.

I would like to hear from you, dear reader, about which of my stories and poems you would like to know more about. Have you wondered if a particular story is based on actual events? Has there been a poem that made you wonder if I’m a drug-addled lunatic? Well, this is your chance to be nosey and find out. Come right out and ask, if you’d like. If you choose to be less brash about it, you can just say “hey, tell me the story behind such-and-such”. Either way works for me.

If you’d like to play along (and I hope you will), all you need to do is comment on this post, telling me which poem or story you’d like me to cover. I can’t promise that I will do each one that is suggested, but I’ll do my best to honor all requests. The fact is, though, there are a few things that I’ve written that I don’t remember how, or why, they came into existence. In most cases, I do remember and more than a few are based, at least loosely, on personal experience.

Okay. That’s the idea and that’s the plan. Comment below and tell me what you would like to me go Behind the Page on. Alternately, comment below and tell me that it’s a horrible idea and you couldn’t give a whit about the inspiration behind my writing. For what it’s worth, I hope you’ll go with Option 1, but I will accept either as a “learning moment”.

Please join me Behind the Page and let’s learn together what makes one writer tick.