“With nothing more than a pen and a notebook, nature journaling can help you slow down and create a reference you can call upon to bring your reader into the worlds you build on the page.” Excerpted from “How Nature Journaling Can Help Your Writing,” by Maria Bengtson. Writer’s Digest, July/August 2024. Go outside with pen and notebook, get settled, observe, use sensory detail to enhance your writing. Bengtson suggests using these prompts I notice . . . I wonder . . . It reminds me of . . . “Your observations will create a reference that will help you transport your reader from their cozy chair to the world on your pages. Sketch a tree or flower or a critter you see. The work of creating a rough map, schematic, or stick-figure diagram forces you to think about how things are related to one another, and how the environment…
Tag: Sonoma County Poet Laureate
Two places to submit your poetry
Sonoma County poet Nancy Dougherty has recently joined the editorial staff of California Quarterly, a journal devoted to poetry. Since this journal is small and currently off-line, the likelihood of getting published is pretty good. Nancy says, “The California Quarterly truly has a lot to offer in contests and as a link to other state poetry societies, which have similar journals and contests.” The California Quarterly is published four times a year. Submissions are accepted year around. Guidelines: Submit up to 6 poems at one time, include name and address on all pages, self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for response. Submit unpublished poems only. Simultaneous submissions accepted. Send submissions to: CQ Editors, PO Box 7126, Orange, CA, 92863 The California Quarterly is sponsored by the California State Poetry Society, a non-profit organization founded over thirty years ago. It is dedicated to the adventure of poetry and its dissemination. Although located in…