Writing the Life Poetic

Introducing The Path of Possibility in Writing and in Life!

All good things must come to an end, and this blog -- thanks to your company here -- has been one of the very best parts of my writing life! Today, I am officially stepping down from posting here. Instead, the conversation about the life poetic will continue over at the brand new Path of Possibility in Writing and in Life.

Why the change? As my new book, The Productive Writer, was taking shape, I found myself at a crossroads of identity. My collection of poems and my book Writing the Life Poetic both anchored me solidly in the realm of poetry. The realm of poetry is my first language, and there are many other realms in which I live and write these days. So the question became, what is the scope and shape of who I am, what I write about, and the service I want to give my community of writers today? The answer came very quickly.

I realized that what I've been trying to accomplish in everything I write and all of my classes is simply: to help people align themselves with possibility. Whether you're writing a poem or a marketing plan, trying to get up the nerve to do a little freewriting, read publicly or send out a book proposal, what interests me is how I can help you follow that desire into action...making the possible far more probable. What I've found is that we're so used to getting in our own way, we may have no idea how very likely our dreams and intentions may be. My goal is to help poets and writers find a greater alignment between their writing and their lives--by tending all that is possible along the way.

So, without further ado, I invite you to come on over to The Path of Possibility in Writing and in Life and enjoy your free party favors!

You can download a free "Productivity Power Tools" workbook companion to The Productive Writer. (Just look for the link in the center column.) Plus, if you sign up to receive email updates, you'll get the free, 10-week email series, "10 Ways to Boost Writing Productivity."  This would also be a great time to sign up for the free, Writing the Life Poetic e-zine, which comes out six times per year and features inspiration, insight and information from 10 of my favorite poets and people.

You'll also find information about five new, online classes that I'm very excited to offer in a new, interactive classroom forum.

Poem-A-Day Challenge: Break Through Your Resistance
January 1 to January 31, 2011

Poetry for the People Level 1
January 10 to February 21, 2011 (six weeks)

Poetry for the People Level 2
January 12 to February 23, 2011 (six weeks)

Productive Writing Revolution: Set Your Sights and Hit Your Targets
February 28 to April 11, 2011 (six weeks)

Break into Business Writing: Make a Living as a Writer
February 28 to April 11, 2011 (six weeks)

And, of course, you'll learn all about my books, who I am, and my thoughts on being 40.

The best part of blogging is making friends whom I then get to meet "live" sooner or later! I'm headed to Washington, DC, New York, NY and to bookstores and writing communities throughout Oregon in the coming months. If there's an event on my schedule that works for you, I sure would love to see you! 

It's an exciting time to be a writer. I am honored to be traveling with you, and I look forward to supporting you as you walk your own, unique writing path.

The word is the way,

Sage Cohen

Pre-order The Productive Writer today and get a FREE workbook!

Efficient systems, effective strategies and powerhouse attitudes to fuel your writing life are just a click away!

Today is amazon.com spike day for my new book, The Productive Writer. If you're planning to purchase The Productive Writer at amazon.com, I sure would appreciate it if you would order yours today! Strong sales right out of the gate can help give this book a solid foothold, and your help is invaluable. 

If you pre-order The Productive Writer today, send me a copy of your receipt and I'll email you a copy of my Productivity Power Tools workbook!

Thank you for supporting my book. And thank you for investing in yourself. May 2011 be an intention-come-true year for you.

To your success!

Free, 60-minute teleclass from writing coach Marla Beck

"Overwhelmed Freelancer? 5 Simple Steps to Balance, Bliss and a Booming Writing Business"

a free 60-minute teleclass from writing coach Marla Beck

Wednesday, November 17 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern

Are you overwhelmed by the day-to-day demands of running your freelance writing business?

• Struggling to find time to query or prospect?
• Exhausted, off-track or unfocused?
• Book proposal perpetually taking a back seat?
• Writing just to pay the bills?

This free, one-hour teleclass is for you if you're ready to: realize your full potential as a writer and business owner finally take control of your time, energy and attention relax, knowing that you know exactly what to do to achieve your financial and writing goals

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I felt really energized and motivated after the call! - Margarita Tartakovsky

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You'll discover: how to instantly harness more time, focus and energy for the important "big picture" projects you keep putting off three essential business practices to boost your productivity and your bottom line how to take control of your business so you can devote more of your time and talents to doing what makes you happiest

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"In just a few sessions, Marla coached a new niche out of me and encouraged me to pursue my own writing projects in the midst of a very busy freelance business. I've seen tremendous benefits from her coaching -- she's a real gem in the uncertain, crazy world of publishing." - Kate Reilly ---- Reach your writing goals by taking control of your attention, time and energy. This free, one-hour teleclass will give you empowering, practical solutions to get you started.

Register: http://www.coachmarla.com/teleclass.html

Dear scar,

You new, kissless

lips the surgeon made

 

through which the slick

tongue of my son’s life

 

took its first taste

of this world. Now empty

 

of coin or entrance, keeper

of the secret my body

 

never learned to confess,

your cold lips zipped against

 

the steel that made you.

It was the midwife who

 

spoke the sentence:

I was doing it wrong,

 

I’d never learn to let go.

I’d been rehearsing this

 

disappointment my entire life,

tracing fingers over

 

its pressed-in letters

now inscribed: the Shema

 

across this threshold.

Today, as I kiss my fingers

 

to you, this door that would not

be blessed, secret seam

 

where my son and I divided,

your silence is kind. Today I see

 

an indelible smile stitched

below my stretched-out belly,

 

the stigmata that says this body

did exactly what it was asked to do.

 

And when it could do no more,

it learned, by God, it learned,

 

there may be endless

ways to open.

Dear Poem,

Theo and I sit on the loveseat,

my body a parenthesis enclosing

 

the small exclamation of his.

We study the six spider

 

webs on the other side

of our dividing glass

 

that seem to hold our home

together. This is what it is like

 

to be inside of you

dew suggesting diamonds

 

all along the improbable

silk of your weave

 

spun of nothing,

stitched to air

 

and yet holding

our world together.

Dear Redbud,

 

Today Theo and I collected

your fallen hearts,  pressed

 

them inside of my iChing where,

like wishes, they will become forever

 

fixed, vein-stained with their moment

of departure. You were a wedding

 

gift. It was spring and everything

was possible. Ardent bark

 

and lustrous leaf, you blazed. Now,

you are tentative, leaning a little

 

as if resisting the burden

of representation. Shy of color

 

and circumstance. I want to cover

your bare shoulders, your many

 

empty arms. As if winter were

something I could spare you.

 

As if letting go were not

the only way to begin.

 

 

Hope to see you at AWP on February 5!

The news is in! Our panel at AWP now has an exact date and location! If you're attending AWP and interested in online teaching, come on out and join the conversation. (And if the panel doesn't match your interests but you'd like to talk poetry or productivity, let me know; I'd love to connect with you!)

Saturday, February 5, 2011 // 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.
"Finding and Creating Online Teaching Opportunities—and Sustaining and Succeeding in Them" panel
AWP 2011 Conference
Lobby Level, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Room Virginia C
Washington, DC

Panel experts: Erika Dreifus, Sage Cohen, Andrew Gray, Matthew Lippman, Chloe' Yelena Miller, Scott Warnock

See you in DC!

A Dictionary of the Cathedral

By Sage Cohen

In my devotion, the candle was dumb.

 

It came to me in birds.

It came to me scuffed with thrust.

It came to me withered, split.

 

It came to me silent as a knife, fat with treasure.

 

It was a feather pluming my plow,

a borrowed dress dragged to dust.

 

In my absence, I could not find the husk.

Shame sailed its own boats.

Moat and drawbridge, I sent my hair down.

The instructions unraveled until I was one less

person than I promised to be.

 

The harp would lessen my fall. It pawed

my lap like every good story. It gulped light.

 

Threaded with regrets, each column stands

for forgiveness, bends like a bride toward

the disappointment of her promise.

 

The prayer unspoken. My body

as surprising as morning before

it is broken open.

St. Francis, the sow and Chris Guillebeau

Galway Kinnell writes in the poem St. Francis and the Sow, "...everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; / though sometimes it is necessary / to reteach a thing its loveliness".

Returning to that innate blossoming of self-blessing takes most of us most of our lives--if ever at all. Reteaching myself loveliness is why I write (and teach). It is also why I feel a kinship with and a reverence for Chris Guillebeau, the blogger and author who has been "challenging authority since 1978."

Guillebeau is one of the most coherent people I have ever experienced. His integration of who he is, what he does, and what he offers to his "small army of remarkable people" has created a momentum of leadership and authority that is inspiring, informative and, simply, remarkable. He invites people to do as he does: set your own rules, live the life you want, and change the world. In this way, Guillebeau is reteaching each of us the loveliness that was our birthright: that I am and you are a whole person capable of unfolding to our greatest potential.

In my 40 years on earth, I have observed the majority of the people around me, myself included, fragmented into the small selves, ideals and dreams we feel we are allowed. Disconnected from our sense of authority and power, our options seem few, and inspiration is scarce. Until, that is, we take our lives back, name and claim our passion, and risk shedding old ideas and walking unprotected into the wilderness of our own, personal passions.

If you want to call your soul back -- or line up even one little, jilted feather that is limiting your flight, I'd recommend reading The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. Guillebeau will invite you back into the truth that your life can be remarkable. He will bring you back to what you have always known, but may have forgotten: that it is your birthright to do meaningful work that nourishes you and the community you serve.(He will also explain exactly how to go about this, and help you see how possible it is to actually do so.)  Most importantly, Guillebeau will get you so excited about living an authentic life that you may find yourself effortlessly taking a step forward into your own, greatest desires -- then another. And another.

You may be familiar with the Marianne Williamson quote that begins, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?"

By presenting a thoroughly exhilarating alternative to this life-shackling fear, Guillebeau's The Art of Non-Conformity invites the reader to welcome all that we are--then use the force of our alignment to move where we were always meant to go.

Isn't it time to reteach yourself your loveliness? I, for one, want to see you live you live the life you were meant to live, not just the one you believe you are allowed to have.

Break into Business Writing: Boost Your Income and Creativity

A Workshop with Sage Cohen and PDX Writers

Why think small (and earn small) when you can write for love AND for money--and when each type of writing can benefit the other? A day job that utilizes writing skills can be an ideal way to keep up your chops and fill your inspiration fuel tanks while making a respectable living.

 

This workshop for writers of all genres will introduce a writing for love + writing for money lifestyle mix that can help:

• Earn a solid income that funds your creative pursuits.
• Cultivate skills that benefit writing craft and business savvy.
• Equip you with publishing skills and mindset.
• Make you a great candidate for finding an agent and a publisher.
• Use your time most effectively to accomplish all of the writing (and living) that matters most to you.

Plus, it will offer all of the basics for how to get started as a copywriter--from finding clients to establishing a scope of practice to setting prices to building long-term relationships.

 

Through a series of guided exercises, you'll plant the first seeds of your copywriting future and prepare for next steps. You'll leave informed about what it takes to break into copywriting for businesses and inspired to get started.

Saturday, November 20, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $40.
Location: TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont, Portland, Oregon
Learn more and register.