[Stylist] 2024 Creativity Check-In

[Ann Chiappetta]

The 2024 Creativity Check-In

 

"Rejected pieces aren't failures; unwritten pieces."

 

--    Greg Daugherty. 

 

It felt like a year of rejections. I'd increased submitting my work in 2023,
mostly poems. The 'R' dominated the accepted/rejected submissions column on
my spreadsheet.  

 

It was a pivotal point in my writing life.  I admit I pouted, my husband
remarked I sounded cranky. I asked a few of my trusted friends what they
thought of my poems. In general, they said my poems were understandable,
made them feel something and the imagery and metaphor wasn't confusing or
trite. A good response. But I wanted my poems to be better.  I wanted to
learn how to craft poetry with memorable themes, with a message, once read,
would not be easy to forget. Based on the number of rejections from editors
I was not reaching those goals, at least not yet. I did not want my work to
be "nice", I wanted my work to be "Wow".

 

I was recovering  from a string of serious grief provoking circumstances.
The loss of my job in 2019 and the  death of my first guide dog in 2020
during the height of the pandemic.  Add the emotional toll my husband and I
bore resulting from  the death of my second guide dog in early 2023 and
being estranged from our first-born child for the last five years. It is
understandable I sought  an avenue of expression which also proved cathartic
but did not achieve  the accolades I craved. 

 

The spark of creativity fueled by the last four years of my personal journey
was rich in potential themes. How to plumb those depths became my focus.  I
trolled the interwebs, found poets and writers who felt equally as stuck. It
wasn't writer's block, it felt like I'd taken a wrong turn and couldn't exit
the traffic circle. 

 

Thankfully asking others what they might do if faced with a similar creative
conundrum, through personal conversations and the interwebs, I formed a
plan.  

 

Theoretically I could  submit to as many publishing calls as I fancied but I
first had to write the quality poems  editors and journals sought. The next
thing was to find poetry writing workshops and focused critique groups  with
good mentorship and instruction. A few weren't the right fit. One
instructor, however, offered a structured critique group and it checked all
my boxes.   The groups did not exceed six poets, it was conducted over Zoom,
including written commentary and suggestions for each poem submitted and
the sessions were recorded.   

 

During the first session of a series of workshops in 2023 I shared I felt
lost creatively and I wanted to unplug the emotions using poetry. The kind
and caring attitude of not only the facilitator, john, but also the other
poets, lent me the confidence to focus on  capturing the emotions and
crafting the imagery and metaphoric language. Being open to constructive and
kind feedback from the other poets and providing my own feedback to their
poems encouraged me to become more confident and adjust my assumptions
regarding the messages poets mean to convey in their quest of expression
within their work. What became clear to me was I could address my grief
and the losses I bore using poetic devices I'd previously did not feel
practiced enough to employ. Releasing  emotions, experimenting with and
validating and recording them on a document healed me from within.  

 

By the end of  2023 I'd completed a few workshops and my writing friends
commented positively regarding the shift in style and power of the messages
expressed in my work. A second opportunity developed for a second more
intimate critique group. Two other poets and I began meeting weekly for a
generative fellowship. I loved reading their work. Thanks to their
mentorship,  I practiced how to offer kind and concise constructive
feedback.  A spark of hopefulness morphed into energetic motivation. I began
crafting , improving and sculpting poems evident by the feedback received by
both my critique group and those outside it. I was finally getting
somewhere.

 

It's the end of 2024 and I am happy to share the acceptance rate of my
poetry submissions is much improved. The quality of my poems has also
improved and my friends and colleagues have noticed. The best part of my
development is I feel more in control of my creative effort and it is
conveyed in my work with a confidence and flair I willingly share with both
poets and those who love reading and benefitting from reading poetry. I
discovered other people cared about me and my creative efforts. 

 

John Sibley Williams: John Sibley Williams
<https://www.johnsibleywilliams.com/> 

Behind Our Eyes Writers with Disabilities: www.behindoureyes.org
<http://www.behindoureyes.org>  

 

Find me on bluesky:  @anniecauthor.bsky.social
<https://bsky.app/profile/anniecauthor.bsky.social> - Bluesky

 

 

 

 

 

Ann Chiappetta, MS

President, Friends In Art, Inc.

 <mailto:president at friendsinart.org> president at friendsinart.org
<http://www.friendsinart.org> www.friendsinart.org 

914.393.6605 

 <http://www.annchiappetta.com> www.annchiappetta.com

Trust your dreams. Trust your heart and trust your story. Neil Gaiman

 

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