Currently Browsing: Tiel Aisha Ansari
27 Dec 2012
Writing like a Person of Color
See, that was even hard to type. I backspaced over “Colored Person.” Here in the US, that particular phrase carries some bad scobies. “Person of Color” means exactly the same thing, right? Wrong. But don’t ask me why. As a writer, I try to be sensitive to the nuances of vocabulary, but I can’t always explain them. Even, or especially, when it’s an issue that... read more
22 Nov 2012
Ambiguity and the Single Author
Bitter Wells A traveller walked along a desert track surrounded by bare earth and bitter wells. Her water gone, there was no turning back. Mirages shimmered, deadly shining spells. Past rocky hills where Manticora dwells she toiled upward, downward, bent with care over dead plains of dust and barren fells and when she looked ahead– no path was there. Then sank she to the ground in dark despair and... read more
2 Nov 2012
Self-interview
Below is a self-interview I wrote for a site called Nervous Breakdown. Your day job is as a data analyst. How do you reconcile the analytical mindset with the poetic mindset? I haven’t found them to be in conflict. I often approach poems inspirationally to begin with, but the editing and revision process is very analytical, and the rigor and clarity of thought that I’ve developed in my work... read more
16 Oct 2012
Getting it Out There
The market conditions of poetry are different from those of prose. The important differences: 1. The typical unit of publication is much smaller. Most poets will get a poem published here and there, in a journal or anthology, far more often than they will see a book or chapbook published. I’ve had over 100 such publications, but only 1 ½ books so far, and many widely published poets of my... read more
12 Oct 2012
Similes and Metaphors
These are a couple of tools every writer should have in their toolbox. (Well, maybe not every writer. I don’t see them used a lot in instructional manuals.) My first encounter with the distinction between these two figures of speech was in the back pages of The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings: a classic of children’s literature that remains unfaded by time. This particular edition was meant... read more
14 Sep 2012
Some thoughts about humor
Or, in deference to other members, “humour.” Irrelevancy: I grew up in Tanzania, a former British colony, and acquired a fair number of British spellings. I’ve shed most of them since moving back to the US, but the editor/publisher of my first book identified a few: notably, I tended to spell words like “traveler” with a double L. And I still use “theatre,” because... read more
13 Sep 2012
Finishing up
Project 1. Getting published. For most writers, this project will end in one of a few ways. 1. You die. 2. You quit writing. 3. You keep writing, but abandon all hopes of ever being published. For a very few writers, 4. You achieve such status that you can get published whenever you want with minimal effort. E.g. JK Rowling, Steven King. I’m not planning on any of 1-3 any time soon, and realistically... read more
10 Aug 2012
Project update(s)
Project 1: By the time this publishes, my chapbook High-Voltage Lines will have come out, from Barefoot Muse Press. I’m arbitrarily setting a chapbook as being equal to half a book, so this project is now 50% complete. Brief reflection on terminology: A number of people have asked me what a chapbook is. Traditionally, it meant a pocket-sized book, usually very cheap, disposable, and meant for mass... read more
