Welcome to the third in this series, Tips for Beginner Poets. You can find the previous two posts here and here. By now, you hopefully have implemented some of the previous tips, and are ready to move on to more advanced techniques.
Tip #9: Don’t be afraid of the blank page.
The blank page can be daunting. Every writer, poet, author, or essayist knows this. Try not to be too intimidated by that great expanse of white on the screen, or the unsullied blank sheet of paper. Chances are, you have access to more paper and can fit many hundreds or thousands more Word Documents or Pages onto your hard drive. (In other words, paper is no longer the expensive commodity it used to be, so don’t be afraid of ‘wasting’ it.) See the blank page not as an enemy to conquer, but rather a good friend of yours, full of possibility and wonder. Write something, anything, to start with. Sometimes, the Muses will smile on you and sheer inertia will do the rest; if not, at least you tried.
Tip #10: Develop a writing habit/practice/routine.
Whatever you want to call it, make writing a priority in your life. Sit in your writing chair, or in a special space you’ve set aside for writing and write for a set period of time. Make space for your writing practice, and try to establish a specific time for your daily writing routine. Try writing when you wake up, or just before you go to bed, or perhaps on your lunch break. No matter when you choose to write, try to be consistent about it, and you’ll see both your output and your creativity begin to blossom more and more.
Tip #11: Find inspiration.
Go on a long walk, if you can. Take your notebook along, and take notes on the smells, sounds, sights, and any other sensory information you can gather. Alternatively, try going to a nearby museum, or – my personal favorite – visit your local library. If you cannot get out of the house for any reason, try taking a virtual museum tour, reading an ebook, or going to Google Earth, finding a random spot in a far-flung nation, and dropping yourself down into the thick of things. Sometimes, you might end up on a deserted forest road; other times you’ll find yourself in the middle of a megacity. Explore a little bit, then write a poem about the lives of the people and animals who might live there.
Tip #12: Diversify.
Your poetry writing practice will benefit from writing in other genres, such as fiction, creative non-fiction, essays, or any other genre you can think of. You will gain valuable skills from writing in other genres, and many of these skills will be easily transferable to your poems.
