So, you already know about the MFA Notebook. But it’s not the only book in town. I’ve got a journal where my daily writing lives before drafts are pulled out and copied onto loose sheets, the cahier sized book that is for copywork, an orange book that’s just for ideas, and a monthly calendar from the dollar store.

The last one is just for tracking my daily writing. I mark out each day that I write with an X–Jerry Seinfeld style. What I didn’t expect was the handsome diagonal quadrants a la Lynda Barry that the X would create.

I use these spaces to note exactly what sort of writing happened: blogging, commonplacing, journaling, poems.

A good day has room for all four.

The idea is that when you do your work, you take note of it. Even if the day at the page doesn’t seem like much or enough. Maybe this practice is especially important on those days. Even when the fire wasn’t roaring, I was standing close, fanning the flame.

To see all the posts in the series Listening to My Life :: Homeschooling an MFA in Poetry, click here.

There’s a saying, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I accidentally happened across the work of Shaunta Grimes early on in my Homeschool MFA journey. And talk about a happy accident! Shaunta is the best kind of teacher–always pushing you to excel because she’s always learning and growing and pushing herself.

Shaunta has published three middle grade novels, and there are more coming. The woman has a fierce writing practice. She’s also really good at taking a long term goal and breaking it down into daily and weekly steps. Figuring out the next steps is where I often get blocked. Shaunta’s suggestions become a roadmap.

Her work is founded on a quote from Ray Bradbury:

Just write everyday of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens.

Simple, doable, approachable. And that’s the magic. It’s so easy to begin. It helps to short circuit the self-doubt and fear. But it’s also a powerful practice that will change you.

I don’t follow all the suggestions in the 1,000 Day MFA. I’m a poet afterall, not a novelist. There are fewer essays and short stories on my reading list. But it has been a guidepost for my own developing practice, especially my MFA Notebook. I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow!

To see all the posts in the series Listening to My Life :: Homeschooling an MFA in Poetry, click here.

“I want to consider what William Stafford’s daily writing pages contained and how they worked for him–
how something like his approach might work for any of us who choose to give such daily writing practice a try.”

Each page begins with a date.

“Once I write the date on a piece of paper,” he said once, “I know I’m okay. I have made it to my writing.”

This is the “open sesame” move of the daily writing practice, for by jotting the date down on a page, you have accomplished the most difficult first step:

you have shown up and you have begun.

–Kim Stafford

Four Elements of a Daily Writing Page in William Stafford’s Practice

To see all the posts in the series Listening to My Life :: Homeschooling an MFA in Poetry, click here.

This was the title of a workshop last January at AWP in Portland and the subtitle of a book by Craig Morgan Teicher. I didn’t go to the workshop. Somehow just the title was enough for me to chew on. Enough to get me moving and thinking in the right direction.

If a poet is going to progress, it’s not enough to simply put in the hours. To show up at the page day after day till you’ve reached mastery. A writer needs not just vertical growth accumulating through time but also horizontal growth.

The work must deepen. But there’s no blueprint for this growth, no guaranteed path.

Just yesterday Jen mentioned that her writing comes in cycles. And last week Melissa shared how handwork is creating space to ponder creatively. I think following these hints and intimations is a part of the essential work we each must do if we are to progress.

I have been putting my hand to William Stafford’s four fold way of writing, trying to linger a bit like Melissa, past the dreams and dailiness that come, waiting for a phrase the carry my jottings closer to a poem. Like Jen, I’ve noticed that these daily ways of coming to the page shift over time and I’m trying to follow that thread.

To see all the posts in the series Listening to My Life :: Homeschooling an MFA in Poetry, click here.