creative writing – Caroliena Cabada

How I wrote this week’s poems: I turned 31!

I wrote this week’s poems with the idea of learning in mind.

How I wrote this week’s poems: Objects and opposites

Photograph of pale pink flowers; one bloom is whole, the other bloom has holes in the petals.

This tricky love of museums is part of what I’ve been working through in my poems this week.

How I wrote this week’s poems: Lines and spacing

This week, I challenged myself to avoid using my go-to starters (sonnets and golden shovels) and also tried to play with space on the page.

How I wrote this week’s poems: Reliable reminders

Photograph of a lined, spiral-bound notebook open with writing on the left page. Shadows from the spiral binding are cast to the left, onto the writing.

This week, many of the poems I had drafted were based on some reliable prompts I use to help me get started.

Support me through May 30/30 with Tupelo Press!

Photograph of a laptop, some notebooks, and a water bottle on a table with a window view in the background.

During the month of May, I’m writing poems for Tupelo Press’s 30/30 challenge!

How I wrote “Cyanistes caeruleus”

A photograph of a desk with some open notebooks and books, two computer monitors, and a laptop open.

For this blog post, I wanted to talk a bit more about my writing process, since I wrote this poem last semester and I kept some notes about how I wrote it.

When writing begets writing

As I write this blog, I sort of understand the impulse to write so much lead-in. I’ve shared the big news: now where do I go from here?

New Story: “One Fall” in Five on the Fifth

Screenshot of the cover page of Five on the Fifth, Vol. 8, Issue 1

I’m thrilled to share that my short story, “One Fall,” is now published in Five on the Fifth!

New Story: “Swimming Lessons” in Pleiades

I’m delighted to share that my short story, “Swimming Lessons,” is now available online in Pleiades: Literature in Context as an Online Exclusive! I have more to say (about this story, about this being my first acceptance in a while, about this being my first fiction acceptance in an even longer while), but I’ll saveContinue reading “New Story: “Swimming Lessons” in Pleiades”

Hopelessness

A photograph of a watercolor sketch of a landscape scene with a vermillion sculpture in the background.

Near the end of the first-year composition class I taught this summer, one of my students asked, How do you pay attention to the news without feeling totally hopeless?