Your Secret

Dear PRN, I think that you are a great writer and that i love the Alice series. I know that you hear that really often and that it’s probably getting old, but i just thought i’d let you know. I finished Intensely Alice a few months ago and i think that you captured everything perfectly. The emotion, plot, thought, EVERYTHING. I am actually e-mailing you for advice. I want to be a poet, and have been working at it for some time. But, lately i have had inspiration block. I have plenty of rhymes and rhythems running through my head, but i can’t place them in any particular order or poem. I was wondering how you got your inspiration. I know that you are supposed to write about what you know and use life experience and all that, but nothing goes on here in small-town USA. I can’t afford to have life experiences. Anyway, i would really appreciate it if you gave me the secret behind your pieces of perfection (i know that it sounds like i’m kissing up, but i’m just telling it like it is).

One of the most difficult things to explain to beginning writers is that there is no secret, no magic, no back door to writing or to getting published.  Just patience, hard work, and keeping at it.  I’m not a poet, so I can’t speak with authority on how poets get their inspiration.  I can’t even speak with authority on how writers get theirs, because we’re all different.  Poems are about feelings and observations too, aren’t they, not just experiences?  What does it feel like to be a small-town girl who feels she hasn’t had much experience?  How does sadness feel?  Envy?  Delight?   What pleases you?  What do you worry about?  Your own feelings are your gold mine.