From Sharon Scholl, Poet…..

  

….An All Points Bulletin For Writers

 

 “Stop thinking of writing as instrumental to some other goal (fame, fortune) and start doing it because it is an interesting way to develop your own mind.” Sharon Scholl.

 Ask Sharon Scholl who she is and she will say she is a musician, “basically piano and organ, ” in her straightforward contralto voice.  This is a modest statement from a quiet woman originally from San Antonio, Texas, who, as you get to know her, will slowly reveal a mind and life filled with every sort of creative and intellectual activity, from having danced in the regional troupe of the Metropolitan Opera for a season, to writing symphonies, to traveling the world.  She holds a doctorate in Music and Humanities from Florida State University. She has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and a Fullbright Fellowship to Turkey.  She is designated Professor Emeritus from Jacksonville University, where she taught humanities for thirty two years. She is an innovator in humanities education, having authored textbooks (Music and Culture published by Holt Rinehart & Wilson, and Death and the Humanities published by Bucknell University Press). In the 1970s, she discovered that American education was too western and so she began traveling –to Africa, Japan, and Turkey--in  a quest to learn about other cultures and to redesign the humanities program at Jacksonville University.

So what about poetry?  “Oh, I’ve always written poetry,” she says, as if it were a part of breathing. Music and poetry are closely connected; poetry was originally created to be chanted, sung and or harmonized. Homer sang and today’s rappers are singing, too. Scholl recalls writing poetry in French in high school because she could think more freely in French than in English. She enjoys writing all kinds of poetry, including rhymed and free verse.  She began publishing her poetry in her forties in literary magazines, including Oasis, Calliope, Northwoods and Poetry Motel.  Her first poetry collection was Unauthorized Biographies (Closet Books) which she describes as “an unauthorized biographical sketch for famous people” and her current collection, All Points Bulletin, a collection of poems about her travels, both published by Closet Books.

Having spent a lifetime as an educator, traveler, poet, and musician, Scholl is a woman who lives and breathes to learn, to communicate, and to create.  The Flamingo Writer has selected Scholl to be its Poetry Editor and to judge its first poetry contest. Below she offers eight pieces of valuable advice for students who write and who want to learn the craft of writing. 

1. Whatever you write—poems, essays, short stories—when you are finished, let go of it.  The words on the paper do not represent you, your feelings, values, or personality.  They are just words on paper.  Assume they are not as well stated as they could be and accept criticism eagerly.

2. The first version of anything is likely to be a lot less than it could be.  Assume you will have to edit, throw parts out, shift things around, and maybe scrap the whole thing.  The main difference between good writers and poor writers is the willingness of the former to work at the craft.

3. Let go of reality.  Often, “what really Happened” in a real episode of your life is not very effective in a fictional or poetic situation.  Be willing to lie, if need be, about people and situations if it makes a better story! My relatives read my stuff with huge disclaimers from me about the exaggeration and plain untruth they will encounter.  Fiction is not “real life.”  That’s why we read it!

4. Don’t write about things that are deeply emotional for you.  You’ll be able to by age 50, but not at age 20. The result is a lot of overly sentimental glop until you can get some life experience perspective on the matter. I’m finally writing well about things that happened to me at age 10 (I’m 72!).

 

5. If you write poetry, don’t hesitate to work in strict forms (sonnet, villanelle, ode). They encourage creativity in ways that blank verse doesn’t.  Always have a rhyming dictionary and a thesaurus on hand, no matter what kind of poetry you write.

6. Join some literary circles where your work can be read by perceptive readers who will give you their well-considered reactions and suggestions.  Don’t be satisfied with “open mike” nights where people just read their stuff, hear the applause, and think they are doing pretty well.

7. Read a lot of contemporary essays or poetry, or short stories or whatever you are interested in writing.  This gives you ideas about the style you find most personally congenial and reinforces the professional level you are aiming to reach.  It also gives you indications about what publications might be open to what you are writing.

8. If you decide to submit your work for publication, expect to get rejection notices.  Even the best writers have about a 25% acceptance rate sending material “cold” to some editor. (Estimate based on personal inquiry with many writers I know.) Even if your writing gets nowhere in terms of public interest, it is valuable as a kind of diary of your life and interests.  Stop thinking of writing as instrumental to some other goal (fame, fortune) and start doing it because it is an interesting way to develop your own mind.