April is National Poetry Month.

Poets.org shares a number of different activities, including an emailed poem every day this month. Check out their site at the link above for more ways to participate.

I’ve been reading some poetry this month because I certainly appreciate reading poetry, but I am not a poet by any stretch of the imagination. That’s why this site has been silent, as I’ve struggled to figure out how to celebrate when I certainly don’t feel my poetry is “post worthy.”

However, I’m going to try my hand at some of the “exercises” in style in various poetic forms. I’ll try some in the coming days.

How are you celebrating National Poetry Month?

I recently read Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau (reviewed here on Rebecca Reads). It’s a fascinating look at how changing the style or approach to a story can completely change a story because it tells the same story 99 different ways.

Queneau tells a very simple, albeit boring, story: A man with a long neck and a funny hat on the bus accuses the man next to him of stepping on his toes. When a chair is free, he goes to it and sits down. Later, the narrator sees the man again with a friend. The friend is telling him to move a button. (None of Queneau’s tellings are quite this boring, however.)

Queneau repeats this story 99 times in 99 different styles. Some are very amusing. Some are well done and memorable. Other styles are odd. But the concept still fascinates me. I thought I’d try my hand at some of these too. I think it’d be fun if others joined in.

Ideas for styles: Notation, double entry, surprises/ exclamation, official letter, blurb, analysis, insistence, ignorance, past, present, reported speech, passive, cross-examination, asides, awkward, casual, biased, feminine, parts of speech, proper names, spoonerism, medical, abusive, portrait, unexpected.

I’m going to aim for 99 exercises, but I’ll start with a few at a time, I think. I’ve included four below, and when I do more, I’ll link to my exercises in the comments. These four are probably the most “boring” ones. I’ll try to be more creative in my next.

Feel free to leave your own exercises in the comments, or link to any that you may do on your own blog!

I’d love to have an award for the best submission(s), but I just moved and have no budget for giveaways right now! In the future, I’ll do a link round up of all submissions of clever “exercises in style.” (more…)

In the past six weeks, I packed, moved, and unpacked a house. I feel like I’m home now! This site has seen some strange breaks from blogging, so I’m not going to promise I’ll be back at any regularity.

I’m changing the focus of Rebecca’s Writing Practices. While I want to improve my writing and I’d like to write, my priority is my family. Any other time I have is mainly focusing on reading because that is my main interest right now.

On Rebecca’s Writing Practices, I will still seek out interesting blog articles about writing, I’ll still share quotes about writing and inspiration, and I may participate in some memes about or for my personal writing. I will probably chip in with my random thoughts about writing as well.

For now, since I’m interesting in reading about writing, here are some books on my “to read soon” radar.

Books to Read or Reread

• Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. I’ve heard so much about this book from fellow readers.
• Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey. I loved diagramming while in middle school, but I haven’t done any since then. I’d love to revisit the idea, and this book sounds like fun!
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lammott. I’m only heard great things about this book.
• If You Want to Write by Barbara Ueland. I picked this book up at a library sale.
• Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage. It can’t hurt to revisit this every now and then, right?
• Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. This also deserves a reread.

What inspiring writing or grammar books have you read?