Quick Tricks: Working With Syllables in Poetry

Edit (12/6/16): Whoops. In my examples using the word "father," I marked the wrong syllables as stressed/unstressed! Fa- should have a slash, and -ther should have a breve. My bad! ☺

Hey there! Oh, it's been too long. I've really tried my hardest to avoid these post gaps, but I have just had nothing lately. Absolutely nothing in mind. The urge to write is there and stronger than ever, but whew. Creativity has left the building!

It'll come back, though. Eventually. Till then I just ask that you continue bearing with me and my sluggish posting.

But! That brings me to this: I may not be getting posts out as often as I'd like, but I am still writing - and as I recently had to write up a sonnet for a class I'm taking, I felt like sharing with you a little trick that I discovered to be an excellent way to work with meter and the pesky syllables that form it.

Poem: "The Autumn Muse" (First Featured on #WisdomNinja)

Image by Serhio Magpie via Flickr (CC); edited slightly from original

The Autumn Muse

By: Eve Estelle

Sorry I've been gone! Here's what to expect

Good morning, all of you!

Well, it finally happened. I finally had to write up the inevitable "I'm sorry I disappeared" post. Already past the two-year mark and just now having to do it, though? Not too shabby, I think!

I really am sorry for not posting much recently. You have no idea how sad this makes me - October is one of my favorite months to write. I had several ideas for fun fall-themed pieces, and I still hope to get at least a couple of them finished. But life will be life, and as usual that means getting in the way of things.

I am in the midst of my last year of high school, which has drained every ounce of energy from the creative area of my brain since mid-August, and so most of my focus has been devoted to that. When I have actually had time and energy, it was used either to make progress on the early edition of Nightfall that goes out on the 29th or to work on one of the collaborations or requests I've got lined up in my queue. That along with regular writer's block? Ack. Leads to a dry couple of months.

So, that's pretty much where I'm at right now. Felt like I owed you an update or three. I try not to just vanish like I have been off and on for the past few weeks. I can't promise anything, unfortunately, and it will be a little while longer until I have something out. Posts will come out when they come out, but as always, I will do my best to make that happen as often as possible.

Thanks for bearing with me. Hope you are having a fantastic October! :)

Poem: "Black Moon"

"New Moon"
 Image by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center via Flickr (CC)

Black Moon

By: Eve Estelle

In Two Years' Time - Happy Birthday, Edge of Night!

Happy October!

Another summer has come and gone, and I am no longer drowning in the hot, humid air. Thank god for that. I seriously got spoiled with an absolutely perfect fall-like year in 2015, and 2016 made up for it with several streaks of 90+ degree days.

(I shouldn't be complaining - it was warm here, but it was scorching elsewhere; something like 114 °F in the southern US, and record temps of 120° - 125° in India and other places.. But I am. I do that. I complain about the weather when it's hot, and when it's cold. No shame. Okay, some shame.)

* All temps listed are in Fahrenheit, by the way. Here's a basic °F to °C converter, if you're curious enough and in need of one!

October is one of my favorite months, for several reasons - and since 2014, I've had another one to look forward to. October 8th is my blog's anniversary; or, in the blogging world, blogiversary. Today marks Edge of Night's second, and to celebrate these two wonderful years in the blogosphere, as well as to make up for my trigger-happy posting with Nightfall, I have a little gift for you. Details and more below.

The Blogging Olympics & Text Tags

Hey there!

Kanra from The Lunar Descent recently tagged me via Twitter for a couple of tags, these being The Blogging Olympics Tag and The Text Tag. Check 'em out below! :) And make sure to give this wonderful blogger a visit as well - she's got a great personality, posts a lot of great tips and advice, her experiences as a med student, and an assortment of other things. She's also a fantastic writer, as shown by her winning entry in my Campfire Tales contest.

First up:

Poem: "Death's Whistle"

"Through the Trees" by Pat David via Flickr (CC)

Death's Whistle

By: Eve Estelle

"Nightfall" Release Postponed

A good September morning to you!

Most of you are aware by now that I'm working on putting together a poetry collection and plan to independently publish it. If you managed to miss the thousand times I brought this up in various posts and tags, however, or if you're a newcomer here (welcome!), no worries at all - you can catch up on all the details in my cover reveal post.

There were a lot of things that I wanted to mention here, and I'll say a few of them below, but my brain is fried this week, and I didn't like how any of my sentences were coming out. So, I'm just going to cut right to the chase - I'm postponing Nightfall's release date. I just think that it's too early.

I've received a lot of support and encouragement from all of you about this - more than I feel I honestly deserve. In fact, it's due in part to the suggestions made by several of you that such a collection is even on my mind.

Poem: "The Infinity Chain"

The Infinity Chain

By: Eve Estelle

Five Ways I've Found to Get Around Writer's Block

So, we've all encountered this beast before; that nasty little roadblock that eventually every writer hits, that stops them dead in their tracks and leaves them flailing about their room helplessly as they wrack their brain for something, anything to work with.

Yep, hello darkness my old friend - I'm talkin' writer's block!

Usually you'll find your own ways past this little devil (wow, I am just.. cranking out the ridiculous figures of speech today, I am sorry. If you want to know how much I've loosened up since starting this blog, well - I'm not even worried about if they make sense or not lol. Full speed ahead!), but until that happens, you're left to try every possible option, and sometimes seeing how others deal with it can be a big help.

The number of ways to get past writer's block are infinite, and I'm still discovering new ones every time I get hit with it. Here's a few that, for me, seem to work more often than not!

Tell me a tale - Campfire Tales Contest Results!

32 days - another month come and gone! Oh, but it's good to be back. :)

I missed you all while I was on break! How are things? I tried to keep up with some of you, but I wasn't as active among my fellow bloggers' blogs as I would have liked to be. I had hoped to get a lot more done over this break - but I did make some progress, and I certainly came up with a ton of new potential story and poem ideas.

Along with my return to the blogosphere, today also marks the end of my Campfire Tales writing contest that began on July 26th. Although I didn't get overloaded with entries, the turnout was better than any of my competitions in the past, and several of you wrote and submitted some truly wonderful writes. Below, you'll find the results - the victors (one per category), the winning works, and "brief" (my explanations are never brief) notes on why each of them were chosen.

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who sent me their entry! I loved reading your legendary tales!

July 26th - August 26th: CFT Writing Contest & Post Break

Note: This contest has ended. Check the results out here!

Greetings and salutations!

Can you believe that it's already reaching the end of July?? Shnikies. But with the planned (I do want to note that this date is only a goal, not a guarantee) early October release of my poetry collection right around the corner, I need to start putting my time and energy towards updating old poems and getting everything together.

So, from July 26th and until August 26th, I will be taking a post break and won't have anything new to put out aside from any poem rewrites I manage to get done, which I will let you know via my social media. I'll still be around to respond to messages, comments, etc., so feel free to get in touch at anytime!

However, I'm not leaving you with nothing for the next month; I'm also hosting, beginning and ending within the same time period, a new writing contest titled Campfire Tales, and you can find all the details below!

To All Aspiring Writers Still In School

Hey! How's your summer going? Mine has been quite uneventful, and I'm relishing in every quiet, lazy day as I know such things never last forever. (This would be where I give a friendly poke to any of you complaining about boring summers.)

So, I don't post this kind of thing often on my blog here - the rant type of post. But I like to go off track once in a blue moon, and this is something that's actually still relevant to writing. In particular, it's relevant to all of you aspiring writers reading this that are still in school.

There are a couple of things I want to bring up, and to keep this as short as possible, I'm going to just jump right in:

I've seen some bloggers recently who were posting about how their school grades were affecting how they felt about a subject they loved. I frequently see posts talking about how they can't pursue an interest because they can't afford to go to college. I've talked in person to many kids who felt this way, too. I mean, we all have - it's not uncommon. Most of us have probably been these people, or still are. And it's understandable.

But it makes me sad seeing what school does to many kids' passions and interests. And confidence. It makes me sad that, in the age of information, everything still revolves around college, university, and that the majority of people feel that spending thousands of dollars, getting into debt, and earning a degree that guarantees them nothing - that these are the only ways to achieve their goals.

Poem: "Law of the Jungle"

Law of the Jungle

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Troika"

Image via natureworld.ru

Troika

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "The Game of Fate"

The Game of Fate

By: Eve Estelle

The Wisteria Writer Tag

Good morning, afternoon, or night to you! :) Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow readers in the US (belated, but still I hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend)!

Allie Taylor from over at The Depth Of My Faith tagged me for The Wisteria Writer Tag. Some of the questions and responses you may remember from my last tag post, but there are a few new ones as well, and Allie always comes up with great questions to ask.

Let's jump right into it!

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Poem: "Memory Lane"

CC image by Noemí Galera via Flickr

Memory Lane

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Apparition"

CC image by Alejandro (Lì Delfos) via Flickr

Apparition

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Chimera"

"Chimera" by JoeyJazz on DeviantArt

Chimera
By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "The Revelers of Mischief"

The Revelers of Mischief

By: Eve Estelle

The Rising Authors Tag

Hi all, how are you this fine morning, day, or night? (It's currently 2:30 in the A.M. here as of writing this, so I beg your pardon if I start to ramble or just stop making sense completely.)

The lovely gal over at The Depth Of My Faith, Allie Taylor, invented a new and interesting tag recently, called The Rising Authors Tag, and she so kindly added my name to her list. Thank you. Allie! :) I truly do appreciate the thought.

Also, if you've not been to this girl's blog before, make sure to stop by sometime - she hosts a weekly writing contest with some great prompts each week, and she's just completed her first book, Jewel Of China.

Alright, I've got a delicious cup of honey lemon tea here that's bound to put me to sleep, likely mid-sentence, but let's get to work, shall we? 

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Cover Reveal: Nightfall, My Upcoming Poetry Collection!

Hi there! I have some very exciting news to share with you today - an announcement and reveal that I've been dying to make public here for several weeks (can you imagine how hard that was for me? Being such a trigger-happy poster, and not being able to tell you all something like this? Agh, it was torture!).

I probably shouldn't be doing this yet, really. I don't have a ton of juicy details. But I do have a few, and I'll just end up blurting them out in the comments section eventually anyway. So, I'm doing it. Case closed. Don't hate me.

Eeeee! So much excitement! Let's get into it.

Poem: "Reminders of Ruin"

"Eversong Woods" by JJcanvas on DeviantArt

Reminders of Ruin

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Visionary" (Acrostic)

Visionary

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Carvings in the Trees"

Carvings in the Trees

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Mockingbird Red"

CC image by Abhijit Chendvankar via Flickr

Mockingbird Red

By: Eve Estelle

30k Q&A - Answers!

Greetings! We meet again.

Sheesh, these things just fly by. Feels like I posted my original Q&A post yesterday. But you all asked some great questions, and it's time to gather them up! Let's jump right into it, and thank you to everyone who participated!

Questions are listed in the order they were received.

30k Q&A - Ask me anything!

Note: The Q&A has ended. Check out my answers here!

"The sands of time have run out, Son of Durotan... The cries of war echo upon the winds. The remnants of the past scar the land, which is besieged once again... by conflict."

 -- Medivh, Warcraft III

Hiya! A beautiful good morning, day, or night to you, whenever this post finds its way to your screen. The quote above is totally irrelevant to my post here, but I couldn't contain my excitement when I realized that it's just under a month now until the US release of Warcraft, a movie that I've been dying to see made for nine or ten years. June 10th is premier day, and I'm just sitting here feeling absolutely giddy and terrified at the same time. Although, the director is freaking Duncan Jones (creator of Moon and Source Code), so.. I've a feeling it'll be a marvelous film.

Anyway. Sorry. *cough* Back on track.

Sometime on May 10th, my blog's pageview count hit 30,000. This is another small milestone that I am so grateful to have achieved - and only because of you. All of you. You fantastic people. And I like to celebrate the small things. Because what are big things but a bunch of little tiny steps and goals and achievements?

Favorite Classical Author Tag

Okay, so. Recently I've come across some people in the blogging world who had never heard of a certain favorite famous author of mine, and it was one of those moments that make you go, "What?! Never??" That can't be!

So now I've been inspired to spread the knowledge, and I thought it might be fun to do it in a tag format, since you don't - at least I don't - hear people talk about their favorite classical authors very often. To be expected, it's mainly modern names you hear - like John Green, J.K. Rowling, etc.

However, "classic" has a sort of broad definition, and a name that is considered a classic where you're at may not be considered one elsewhere. But essentially I'm using it here to mean any well-known pre-21st century author (preferably 1950 and earlier, but famous works must have been published before 2000).

Let's get into it!
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Poem: "The Price of Cowardice"

The Price of Cowardice

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Tears of Awakening"

"Make it Rain" by CatherineCruz on DeviantArt

Tears of Awakening

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Dandelion"

Dandelion

By: Eve Estelle

Post Break (April 4 - April 25)

Good afternoon!

How's spring going for you so far this year? As is normal for the weather in my area, Mother Nature can't decide if she wants it to be a warm 60 degrees or half that and snaining (mix of rain and snow). Currently, she's chosen to lay down a thin blanket of the white stuff, which is fine by me - I love my snow.

But, in other news, it's time to recharge my brain. I'll be taking another posting break starting tomorrow, April 4th, and won't be posting anything new until April 25th or so. If you need to get in touch with me for whatever reason, I will still be available to respond to comments, messages, etc. :)

Phew. Can you believe it's April already? I know I can't. But then, I say that every new season.

Wishing you all the best - see you again on the 25th!

A Raven's Lullaby: "Creaky Freaky"

Lullaby: Creaky Freaky

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Fields of Fallen Memories"

"Love is Blooming" by emilieleger on DeviantArt

Fields of Fallen Memories

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "The Thunderbird's Shadow"

"Storm Bird" by jaydoncabe on DeviantArt

The Thunderbird's Shadow

By: Eve Estelle

Sing us a song, you're the...

...Piano man...

*Ahem* Sorry. Was gettin' my Billy Joel on for a second there.

Good morning, afternoon, evening, or night!

Those of you who've followed me for a while - or that read the welcome message on my sidebar - know that I love to experiment with different ideas and things. Some are cliche, some are strange; some are dark or melancholic, others are silly, bright, and lighthearted. But all are done in good fun.

The sources of inspiration for my poems and stories vary widely, but a number of them have come from songs. Sometimes it'll be the lyrics, sometimes the melody or atmosphere, that all of a sudden switches the lightbulb on in my head and stirs up a thought or those much-needed words. A lot of the time I'll listen to certain instrumental pieces while writing to help keep me on track mood-wise. Point is, music is full of inspiration - but come on now, I don't need to be telling any of you that.

Series: Tips From a Newbie (#4: The Pretty Little Details)

Please note: The formatting in this post is a bit funky at the moment due to a recent font and design change. I'll be going back through all of my older posts to fix this!

These posts were written in celebration of Edge of Night's 1 year blogiversary to share some of what I've learned during my time blogging. While I love to give advice when I can, this isn't my niche and this is not what I usually post. But if you'd like to read more, be sure to check out my other posts in this series!

- Perfecting Your Posts
- Managing Your Blog
- Your Sphere
- The Pretty Little Details
- Wrap-Up
                                                 

The Pretty Little Details

Blog design - it's the first thing visitors to your page will see, and it's the first thing that will determine if they stick around or not. A good-looking page will catch the attention of your new guests, perhaps pique their curiosity a bit, and encourage them to read what you have to say. Your design should show off your unique personality, while remaining easy-on-the-eyes and keeping to the theme of your site.

Just as crucial, if not more, is that a well-designed blog is also as user-friendly as possible and has good functionality. It should be easy to navigate and free of clutter. Allow your readers to transition smoothly from piece to piece, without a thousand distractions and a load time of approximately ten-thousand years.

There's a lot to consider when it comes to your design and layout (with even more to learn). Thankfully you have the Internet at your disposal! There's no lack of resources for you if you need help, and there are tons of amazing ideas out there. You have all you need to make your blog catch and hold your reader's eye. Now you just have to get creative. At the end of this post, I'll provide a few websites for you that I've personally found to be quite useful.

The Get to Know Me Tag

Hey there!

So, I ran across this little tag from Faith at Stories by Firefly called the Get to Know Me Tag, and I thought I'd give it a go! I'm going to try to keep this one short and sweet today, so let's get right into it...

Poem: "Plata Perseverancia / Silver Perseverance" (Spanish & English)

Plata Perseverancia

De: Eve Estelle

Short Story: Incanter's Library (Companion Story)

"Library" by Peyop on DeviantArt

Incanter's Library 

(Companion story)

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Someday a Memory"

CC image by Sippanont Samchai via Flickr

Someday a Memory

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Zephyr Blades"

CC image by Andreas Wienemann via Flickr

Zephyr Blades

By: Eve Estelle

Poem: "Masquerade"

CC image by Vann Cœuru via Flickr

Masquerade

By: Eve Estelle

The Infinity Dreams Award

Nominated by Faith P.

So, it's nighttime here right now. Every time I write one of these up in the dark hours of the day, I'm always very tempted to say, "Good night, everyone!" But that just doesn't work. I mean, am I greeting you for yet another new post, or bidding you all a goodnight and sweet dreams?

I definitely need to figure out something to use for my nighttime posts. Or just a new greeting in general. Many blogs give fun, relevant nicknames to their readers - perhaps I could start calling you all "Night owls"? (No? Too cheesy? Maybe something more unique and oddballish then. Like.. "Ravendears." Because you're all so dear to me! And, you know, ravens. Gotta add that Poe touch, right?)

...Or I could just steer clear of names for the time being. Let me know what you think, will you? :)

Anyway, on with it, on with it. The fabulous Faith of Stories by Firefly went and nominated me for the Infinity Dreams Award, and so I owe her a big thank you! Thanks so much, Faith. I really do appreciate the thought!

Poem: "Nightmare Bell"

CC image by Anshum Mandore via Flickr

Nightmare Bell

By: Eve Estelle

Post Break (January 21 - February 5)

Post Highlights:

• No new posts until February 5th

• Planning a new writing challenge

• Have an idea for a poem, short story, or something else? Submit it here!

• How's your experience here been? Let me know!

Good evening to you!

So, I was on a pretty good roll there for a little while after my last break, getting posts out in good time. But I think my brain, as it tends to get after every good little run, is worn out now and needs some time to refresh itself.

If you're new here, don't worry - I do this every couple of months. It helps to keep everything exciting, and helps to keep me from getting permanently worn out. I'll be back on the 5th, run through my stash of ideas, take another break, and do it all again.. :)

My break will last from January 21st to February 5th. I'll still be available to reply to messages, comments, etc., so, as always, don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like!

Poetic Pictures: January 2016

Quote 1 by Severus Snape (played by Alan Rickman) from Harry Potter.
Quote 2 from "Space Oddity" by David Bowie.

Poem: "Corazón de Fuego / Heart of Fire" (Spanish & English)

Corazón de Fuego

De: Eve Estelle