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Hello out there!

Some of you may know me as The Write Queen (also obvious from how you landed here). Some of you may not know me at all. That's okay. I don't think I know me very well either. I'm someone who is constantly coming up with something and failing half the time.  I am trying...and succeeding at that. I am both sides of the coin.

My name is Christina Denise Rodriguez. I am a writer, a web designer, an emerging arts manager, and soon to be graduate student. That's right...this soon to be 28-years-old will be pursuing her Masters in Arts Management at the Columbia College of Chicago this Fall.

Aren't you from New York?

Yes I am! I hail from the amazing borough of Queens, where the streets are numbered and the trains are packed to the gills. I've only lived in Brooklyn briefly before making it back to my safe haven of Queens county.

Then why Chicago?

Why not Chicago? It's a beautiful city and they have the school with the major I want to study for graduate school.

And you couldn't do that...?

No I couldn't do that in New York! New York has many wonderful schools and programs, but this school, Columbia College caters to my dream. You see I have a company. A little online company called Establishing Artists for Tomorrow Media Group (aka EAT Media)which deals with the development of individuals/groups in the arts industries through web development, marketing, photography, and consulting services. I run this with a group of friends and we try to help other artists set up their brand. 

I want to go much further. I want to go beyond the internet. I have a whole wonderfully huge plan in store. But unfortunately, I cannot reveal what that is yet. This is where grad school comes in. Courses that teach me how to bring my ideas into fruition with a wealth of resources. Plus I want to become a better leader. I owe it to myself and everyone around me to become my best, strongest, creative self.

So at the end of the summer, I am leaving my full time job, my family and friends and heading off to the Windy City. 

So what is #theycalledherbravenewgirl?

A hashtag I used while taking pictures and visiting Chicago to look at the school. I'm about the hashtag culture. It's fun, clever, and it does help you filter out things in social media. It's a marketing tool in some circles, the bane of existence in others. 

But for me, since I am a young woman in the new media world, yeah the name of my blog is going to be with a hashtag. I might integrate hashtags in some of my posts.

This blog is suppose to document my growth as a writer, arts manager, and woman. It's not going to be focused on one thing like my other blogs. You're going to hear it all! Because I am growing. I am learning, failing, trying, and sometimes succeeding. I'm throwing myself out there. I am a brave new girl.

Since I turned 27, my life has been a roller coaster. In addition to all of the adventures I'll be having away from home, I am going to back track a little to some of the amazing (and not so much) things that have happened to get me to this point. 

So in the meantime, sit back and read my other blogs. The second post will be coming soon!

Till next time,

#theycalledherbravenewgirl

I look at pretty girls
and torture myself
with thoughts
of your lips
on theirs.

I find my stomach
wrapping tightly
around the eyes
of your future
muses, seeing you
love the red
of another's mouth.

I see a future
of trembling
hands, clutching
another wrinkled
love letter,
not knowing when
to let go

even when you
push me into moving
cars and tell me to
get home safe.

Hello Write Queeners,

For some reason, others trust me with their work and ideas (what do they think I am, a real writer?). What comes along with this privilege is listening to the stories of doubt and fear. They are writing things that are close to their hearts and they want to convey emotion and craftsmanship, but are scared of the can of worms that will open and if they will fall flat of their expectations.

As a writer, whether I am writing a poem, a blog, or other, these feelings are all the time. As writers we choose to lay ourselves open. We are books in constant creation, edit, and rewrite mode. We are in competition with others (in friendly and not so friendly ways), but more importantly with ourselves. It's easy to get caught up in the politics of writing and the writing life.

But I am here to tell you a lesson that I've learned, but need to reenforce often. The number one rule to writing anything is one simple thing:

GET IT OUT

Forget about editing. Forget about censoring. It's great to have concepts/ideas for some of your work, but if you are getting caught up in that more than actually writing, then you are losing raw material. All you have to do is:

GET IT OUT

Fine-tuning comes later. Just continue with what you have and worry about the details after. If you get it right on the first draft, bless you. You are amazing. Share it with the world. But remember it is okay to take your time with a piece, then share. Hey, you don't have to share it at all if you don't want to. Writing is ours to do what we want with it. You are not going to share everything you write. So remember that no matter that doubts and fears you have, don't let it stop you. All you have to do is:

GET IT OUT

Seems easy right? It's not. It never will be. BUT you will save yourself some grief if you try to remember this one rule.

Till next time, all you have to do is: GET IT OUT!

Hello Poets and Readers!

In my last post, I talked about a couple of reminders you should repeat to yourself while doing the 30/30 challenge. Now that you have that down pact, you might be wondering how you can keep up the momentum. Well don't worry because I have a few tips!

1. Keep it short! - I know that after writing a few longer pieces, the thought of writing another one tires my soul. That's when I switch gears and look into short forms such as haiku, tanka, lunes, the six-word poem, writing a poem via Twitter and more. Keep it simple, make it fun, or use this opportunity to play around with language under limited constraints. Remember that you don't have to stick to the topics that traditionally go with these forms. Be daring and write about what's true to you.

2. Prompt It! - There are so many prompts out there for poets. I love when I find one that immediately starts a fire in me. Here are a few places that I go to for prompts and some new discoveries:

3. It's All About Form! - Trying different poetry forms are a challenge and is extremely fun (if you are into certain forms of mental torture...I kid, kind of). Some of us are creatures of habit and write about the same themes over and over again, so using different forms of poetry can either force us into another topic (some forms are known for certain themes) or makes it seem like we are changing things up.  Here's a couple of starting points for looking into forms: Poets.org and PoetryFoundation.org

4. There's an App for that! - Not the most popular, but poetry apps for your phone or tablet do exist. You won't be creating your most epic poems through apps, but they are fun and can jump start some ideas for more poems. Check out a post from a couple of years ago about a few recommended apps. Look out for a more recent list of poetry apps later on in the month.

5. Reading is Fundamental! - Pick up a poetry book and read! Sometimes the words of others will spark ideas of your own. Take it a step further. Take a random line from a poem in the book and use it as your first line, building from there.

Bonus: Here's a post I wrote last year about Mondegreen, when you misinterpret a phrase as a result of near-homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning - using it as a tool to write a poem.

Hope these tips help you lovely poets out there. Share some results with me in the comments!

Till next time, 

The Write Queen

Hello my fellow poets!

Many of you are participating in the classic 30/30 challenge. Some of you may be attempting it for the first time. From experience, I know how the first timers are feeling right about now. 

If you don't have a lot of time on your hands, you have probably fallen behind already...maybe around Day 3. Am I correct? Maybe it was Day 4 or 5, but you have fallen behind at least once.

Now you are worried about your ability to do this. You may already feel like well I am behind, I won't be able to catch up. 

Guess what? You are getting along just fine. 

It's normal to fall behind. It's normal to have days where you can't write. You may freeze up for the rest of the month. It's okay!

The point of this challenge is to write. That's all. Forget about impressing other poets. Forget about editing a piece to perfection. Forget about missing days and falling behind. Don't be afraid to admit that you are only up to your third poem. Pick up from there, whether you start back up from 3/30 or 7/30. Don't worry if it's not your best. No poet is perfect (okay maybe there might be a few...). Share or don't share. DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, JUST DON'T GIVE UP.

Though if you have to stop the challenge, tell yourself it's okay. There's always next year. AND the beauty of being a writer is that you can do a 30/30 anytime. We have other months of the year.

I have been doing the 30/30 challenge since 2009. One year, I didn't even finished and I was ashamed of myself. All the things I have told you not to do, well I have done it to myself and let me tell you: It doesn't feel good and will do nothing for your writing.

All of this is probably the reason why this year, I decided to do it a little differently. I know my poor overworked brain is not into poetry at the moment(writing it that is). I don't want to pressure of 30 poems. Been there, done that, rewrote and revised the script. 

This year I am challenge my literary journalism and marketing skills by blogging about poetry related things. I always wanted to write about my experiences in the literary arts, but I am not consistent. Maybe this will help me with consistency. Hopefully something I write will inspire and encourage others on the 30/30 and literary journey. Poetry is life and we have to write about the lives we live. And poetry of course (I will write a couple of poems!)

Hope this post was able to lift your spirits (just a little? please?) and move on past some of your doubts. If you need an ear or some help with writing, feel free to send a message my way!

Till next time, write on!

Hello Write Queeners and Poetry Lovers,

Whether you are an avid reader or a writer obsessed with their craft, it seems as though you can never find enough books of poetry. I know that nearly every two weeks, I'm buying another poetry book. How does one support such a bad habit? Barely, but I do in a couple of ways.

In another post, I will talk about bookstores and events that I've been to that have great poetry selections. Right now, I want to tell you about how I support my habit electronically. 

That's right, e-books of poetry. They are not as easy to find like many fiction and non-fiction works, but it's not impossible. You may be able to find them with sites or apps you already use.

1. Amazon: If you are an Amazon Prime user and have a Kindle, you are very lucky. A perk of being a Prime member is being able to borrow and read books for free. Finding poetry e-books that fall under Prime is not easy, but it is possible. If you don't have a Prime membership, there is a wonderful and growing collection of poetry e-books as mainstream publishers and small presses start to see the value of e-books even for poetry. They are usually cheaper than their physical counterparts. 
2. Wattpad: Wattpad is one of the largest communities for writers and readers to come together. You can put out your latest work in parts, letting readers rate and comment on your writing as you go. They have an impressive amount of poetry books in the making.
3. Oyster: This one is one of my new favorites. For $9.95 a month, you have access to hundreds of books. Think about how much you spend on buying a few poetry books in a month. Now think about if you only spent ten bucks a month and have access to poetry, novels, memoirs and more! It's been called the NetFlix of Books. I adore this service and the fact that they acknowledge National Poetry Month with a section of books. If you want to try it out, Oprah has teamed up with Oyster for people to sign up for a two month free trial. Just click the link!
4. NetGalley: For the professional reader who reviews and recommends books, publishers on NetGalley request or invite you to read digital (some physical too) advanced copies. The catch here is that you have to have a blog, be an educator, a reviewer, journalist, etc. in order to receive books. Their poetry section is small, but there are interesting reads. If you have a Kindle, you can have it delivered straight to your device. Or you can download a PDF copy.
5. EBooks.com: Which device do you have? A Kindle, an iPad, a Nook? At Ebooks.com, it doesn't matter because they sell e-books for most devices. They have a wonderful collection of the latest contemporary poetry e-books and more.
6. Free-Ebooks.net: Free books galore with user submitted books. Good way to study the work of other poets.
7. BookRix: BookRix is another self-publishing book site community. BookRix promises to help you self-publish your work and distribute it to all the major book sellers. It is also a community where you can either read from the site or download books to read on the go. With over 200 pages of books, there is a lot to explore.
8. PoetrySoup: PoetrySoup is a poetry community instead of a book site. And all they really do is categorize the links to Poetry books on Project Gutenburg. But hey, if you are looking for classic poetry by category, PoetrySoup saves you the trouble. Plus you can join the community and read their users poetry. It's a win-win for everyone.
   

There is a growing amount of places where you can find poetry e-books. Know any? Leave your recommendations in the comments!

Till next time, 

Christina

I was on Facebook the other day, scrolling past everyone's lives when I came across this link to a very touching video.

If you feel like being a writer is meaningless and not worth it, check out this story. I definitely got teary-eyed. If this guy can touch people through his passion as a poet, then any one of us can too.

Hello everyone!

Events, events, and more events! There's so much happening during the month of April. There's poetry everywhere you turn! I thought it would be swell to have a calendar of poetry-related events to collaborate and share with the community and beyond.

I have created a calendar that anyone can add events to. You can even add an event right now while reading this post! Just click on the day of your event and a pop-up to add event details will come up. You can view events for the day, week, month, as a list, and more. 

As of right now, adding pictures is a little wonky. You have to have the image url in order to add a picture. Your best bet is to take a few minutes and type up the details. If you want to promote a flyer, contact me via the contact tab or on one of my social networks and I'll be happy to share the flyer for your event in this post - I am sure this post will be modified many times.

If you choose to send me event details via social networks, please give me a little time to update the calendar. Priority will go for events coming up within the next couple of days. 

Please share this post so poets, event curators/hosts, and the community can share and go to events that promise to make your hearts sing. Supporting each other is the only way we can keep the arts thriving.

Sharing and contributing this information is free. A little free promo never hurt anyone. 

However, if you would like to work with me for online promotion, photography services, etc. for your event or other reasons on a professional level, please contact me via eatmedia.org.

Till next time loves, 

Christina

Pennsylvania gave us
rest stop kisses,
chicken wings,
and laughs about Victory
pursuing southwest Jewish
boys of Brooklyn.

There were no kisses
on the Ohio Interstate
as toes crossed
snow covered fields,
pushing icicles to
corners of Indiana.

We got a little tipsy
underneath
a patch of stars,
clarity far from
the reach of this city
girl willing to
stick her neck out to
catch a gust of road
in between her lips.