Comic books and short stories (and shadow-boxing with the muse)

Apparently, my attention span is fairly short these days.  Taking a look at my Goodreads feed the last few weeks reveals a literary diet completely consisting of graphic novels and short story collections. 

I'm also apparently scattered - right now, I'm reading two different poetry collections (Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno's Slamming Open The Door and Allan Safarik's Advertisement For Paradise), a collection of short stories (Tamara Linse's How To Be a Man - which opens with one of the most amazing stories that I have read in a very long time, the title story for the collection.  If the rest of the collection holds up to that standard, I'm in for quite a treat.) and two more graphic novels (Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers and Flight Volume 7).  Whew.  For someone with a tenuous memory, that's a lot to keep straight.  If what someone reads says something about their personality, I would assume that *how* they read it has a little something to say as well.  I'll leave that deduction up to you.

I used to think that as a writer I had to focus on one thing.  Only poetry, only prose, genre-fiction or literary, etc. etc...  I'm slowly coming to the point that I am ok with being just as scattered as an author as I am a reader.  I understand the business reasons for a tighter focus, but I've found (through much trial and error) that it is just much better for me not to fight inspiration when it seems to come so seldom.  Not to mention that it is difficult to see writing from a business point of view when the money I dump into supplies/submissions far outweighs any income I've received thus far. 

So, then, what are my new random projects that I am allowing myself to entertain?  I've written a sci-fi story (or else the beginning to something much larger that's sci-fi in nature...), I am at the very beginning of plans for some video poetry of one kind or another, and I am toying with the idea of finding an artist who would like to collaborate on some comic book styled art to accompany poems.  Who knows if any of these projects will actually go somewhere, but if I allow myself to play, perhaps... 

On yet another tangent, (though more related than others...) for anyone interested in comic art and poetry, check out Bill Sienciewicz's ad for Mtv from 1991:  http://brianmichaelbendis.tumblr.com/post/95283141965/bill-sienkiewicz-1991-mtv-artist-series-ad
This ad, torn lovingly from Rolling Stone (or Spin, perhaps) hung lovingly on my college room walls for many years.  I actually still have it today.  *This* is the kind of thing I would love to accomplish.  And hey, if anyone wants to track down the original art and buy a gift for me, well...

Here I am.  I'm rambling on my blog (again).  I'm listening to my entire musical collection on shuffle, playing with a new poem that doesn't want to go where I want it to go, the first two lines of a new story that feels like it could be good, some ideas for a poetry video - possibly involving Lego, trying to remember a fantastic line of poetry from a dream last night that I told myself several times I should just get up to write it down, tracking some packages that should be arriving soon, reading my Facebook feed...  Too scattered to even know where this blog post might be going.  Maybe that's the simplistic metaphor right there.  (Or else I'm reaching for depth where there is none.)  Regardless, this is where I am today.  I'm learning to just roll with it a little.

The clouds had nothing to do with it.

cool air and some manic rambling regarding motivation

It is a beautiful fall day here in Wyoming.  Perfect temperature for opening all of the windows and doors while I sit around in a jacket and enjoy the cool air coming through the house.  Tomorrow, there's a 60% chance of light snow - yes, in early September - and I cannot wait.  Of course, it most likely won't snow and everyone will have to listen to me complain about how the weather forecasts are never right.  But for now, I love this feeling; fall coming on, a cold front pulling in, the leaves starting to turn enough so that they hiss and crackle in the breeze...

Fall always makes me a bit manic.  This week, I'm all over the place.  Cheating.  Anything to keep me from actually writing.  Today, a long morning coffee break, web browsing (I should seriously cut off all net connection.  I'd have probably finished five novels by now...), updating my Goodreads, reading my Facebook feed (a few times), running errands that could probably wait, catching up on e-mail, reorganizing my hard-copy submission files (I am helpless at keeping things updated electronically - it's old-school for me or I'd be even more of a mess), playing with the cats...  I've been up about 7 hours or so and I have basically accomplished nothing at all.  If I was my boss, I would be in serious danger of losing my job.  Oh, wait....

I suppose I still find myself waiting for my muse far too often.  Sure, I know that success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration - that's the cliché I'm looking for, right?  But, yeah... I know it.  And I put the mantra through its paces.  Just do it.  All you have to do is write.  Or my favorite, from Sharon Doubiago's workshops back in the day:  Just don't lift your pen from the paper:  Don't.  Stop.  Writing.  Maybe that's what I need for motivation - a professor to give me homework.  I'm obviously not too great at being my own boss.

So, here we go...  I've finished a short little blog post for the day.  The sun is higher in the sky - a little solar warmth mixed in with the cold air.  I'm done cheating for the day.    At least for now.  Let's do this thing.