A “real newsletter”? Maybe?
Dear Reader,
If this were a real fancy-pants newsletter, it would have mail-merge and I would not have to call you “Dear Reader.” I could be like Miss Nancy, and call you by name:
Summary
The author reflects on a recent week filled with personal challenges, family events, car troubles, and creative writing endeavors, while also issuing a writing challenge to the readers.
Abstract
In a personal and engaging newsletter, the author shares their experiences from a week that included attending a unique high school graduation at a Texas motor speedway, dealing with unexpected car issues, and finding time to write despite the distractions. The author highlights their own written works, including an abecedarian poem and a villanelle, as responses to a writing challenge posed by a friend. In turn, the author extends this challenge to the readers, encouraging them to write either two poems, two short stories, or one of each, with topics ranging from humorous and upbeat to serious and uplifting. The author provides resources for poetry forms and invites readers to share their writings on the platform, fostering a sense of community and mutual support among writers.
Opinions
Dear Reader,
If this were a real fancy-pants newsletter, it would have mail-merge and I would not have to call you “Dear Reader.” I could be like Miss Nancy, and call you by name:
Have you been a Do Bee or a Don’t Bee, this week? I’ve been a little bit of both, to be honest!
After traveling to Dallas for my niece’s historic high school graduation at the Texas Motor Speedway, and spending a relaxed and pleasant weekend with family, I did not write much, this week. We took my husband’s car, which is probably a good thing — if we’d taken mine, we might have been stranded at the first rest stop! (He had a flat, on our way out of town, but as luck would have it, there was a Firestone store right there by the nearest exit.) When we got home, it was my car’s turn to throw itself on the fainting couch:
Well, never waste a non-crisis, right? I wrote this while waiting on the “patient.”
Next, Bob Jasper challenged me to write a poem. An “abecedarian poem” — not a form I’ve ever gravitated to, but who am I to pass up a challenge? I posted
and then threw the gauntlet back at Bob with this:
And now, I throw the gauntlet back at you with a challenge to write two things, before this week is out:
For those of you who say, “I want to write a poem, but I don’t know how, or where to start,” take a look at https://www.poetry.net/poetry-forms.php for a list of, and definitions of, various poetry forms. Or just wing it. None of us are Poets Laureate — perfectionism is the enemy of “good enough.”
For your topics, make one of them:
For example, you might look for, read, and link to a few Black authors on Medium. Or write about how to cope with anxiety as your state or country re-opens even as nothing has changed with regard to the pandemic. You might write about what changes you hope to see when the world settles into a “new normal,” or the changes you’ve seen in yourself during the past three months.
Feel free to leave your links in a comment, here, or on one of my Stories. I’d love to read what you come up with!
Till next time,
Holly
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