Between freelance work and family obligations (especially over the summer, when I practically wear a chauffeur uniform), I don’t get much time to work on the writing I love. That’s why I am so excited to have carved out several chunks of days to work on a poetry project. I’ve finished draft 2 of this collection, which I’ll call Teeth, revising one poem per day. But today, after flag practice and yoga, I will have about 4 straight hours to do draft 3.
This collection is aimed at primary grades, so my revision pass this time will focus on length and age-appropriateness. My humor/voice often tends toward the 5th/6th-grade level, and I want to make sure that each poem is the kind a 1st grader would get if it was read to him and he could see the pictures.
I’ve also found how long a few of my poems in Stampede feel when kids and I read them together on school visits. This new collection is longer (30+ poems), and a few 16-liners is fine. But I want to make sure I have some 2- and 4-liners, as well, with the average probably being 8 lines.
It’s really fun to go into a poetry project with very concrete goals. I can’t wait to see how much transformation I can find in 4 hours.