Well, it must be time for me to clean my desk and surrounding area. There are contest entries, novel manuscripts, unfinished magazine articles, & sections of newspapers with "keep" penned in margins - buried under other current projects. On top of all are a dictionary and thesaurus.

That's not everything either. Snippets of paper (reminder notes) are on the floor, in the nook between my computer speaker and a storage box. The bits of paper are also taped to nearby walls and to my monitor.

I missed a contest I wanted to enter - just because the flier wasn't within view, but buried in the literary mess.

Sooo, off I go. By this time next week, I should be more organized.

Do YOU need to organize and clean around your writing area?

Some tips on organization can be found here: http://www.onlineorganizing.com/CalendarHoliday.asp?holiday=4

Folding Mirror Poem

I came across a contest, and it asked the writer to create a Folding Mirror Poem.

Here were the rules:
This structure sees the structure of one half of the poem reflecting the other half. I modified it a bit, though.

The middle line represents the fold. Nine lines total with the middle (5th line as the fold). See below structure:

four words
two words
a sentence
one word
middle line (this line should "join" the two parts. Use either a sentence or a couple of words)
one word
a sentence
two words
four words

Symmetry is important in this poem. What good practice (and possibly a contest entry.)
Have fun!

Ozark Creative Writers Conference

Hope you all are having a restful (yet lucrative) summer. It's finally hot here in the Ozark Mountains. We had it "easy" until now.

Speaking of the Ozarks, there is a writer's conference coming up in October. It is given by the Ozark Creative Writers. See www.ozarkcreativewriters.org
Take a look.

This conference offers writing contests, quality speakers, and lots of fun networking with other writers.

Hope to see you there!