Inside Look

By Kristen Thompson, Associate Coordinator, Bluegrass Writers Studio

     I realized the other day that the title of the magazine "Poets & Writers" draws a distinction between people who compose their thoughts into stanzas and people who don't. It occurred to me that maybe, at the risk of losing hundreds of readers, I should come out and say it: I cross genres. In fact, not only do I write poetry and creative nonfiction, I dabble in fiction from time to time. 

     While I'm a creative person, and I sometimes use colorful language, I'm usually a black-and-white thinker. Life/death, good/evil, right/wrong. By that measure, I should agree with the above magazine, incorporated: you're either writing poetry or you're not.

By Kristen Thompson, Associate Coordinator, Bluegrass Writers Studio

     Many writers have yet to develop a reverence for unseen work. A blank page and a field of white with a blinking cursor are held in mind as precious marble that cannot be marred with misstrokes. But there are many ways to hammer and chisel, and plenty of stone to work with before you get close to the figure within. The angles of the chisel and the strength of the hammer blows must be learned in order to carve the figure once you come to the right place.

By Kristen Thompson, Associate Coordinator, Bluegrass Writers Studio

By Joseph Nichols, Bluegrass Writers Studio

We’ve arrived at the final blog in my series, “Heeding the Muse”.  What follows is both a statement and a warning, from me to you, and, before that, from one of the great authors of our time.  If you have not ever done so, I urge you to do an internet search for Stephen King’s short story, “The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet”.  This, then, is my interpretation of said tale.