Haiku Society of America - haiku column 06

Haiku Society of America

.haiku column

Gene MyersThe Haiku Society of America is pleased to host this ongoing column.

.Haiku: a place to share tools available to haiku writers and fellow haiku fans (like how to use Twitter, Facebook and Scribd for building community, self-publishing and marketing). The column will also feature interviews, blog spotlights and occasional multimedia presentations.

Gene Myers


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.haiku column 06


.haiku column number 6 • 3-16-2012

by Gene Myers

Learning about the business side of a writing career

As a budding poet many years ago, I kept notebooks of poems that impressed me. I figured the best way to learn what the poets were doing would be to copy the poems by hand into notebooks. I carried the notebooks everywhere. On this day in particular, I was sitting in a field on my college campus. I was sharing a haiku with my friend, Chris.

moonlit sleet
in the holes of my
harmonica

David Lloyd

“Do you know that he teaches here?” Chris said.

I had no clue. It was just a poem I loved. It was a total coincidence that the poem's author, David Lloyd, had an office that overlooked the very field we were sitting in.

I met Lloyd and we met for lunch soon after. At one point I gave him some poems I had been working on. He called and we met up again. His poem meant a lot to me and he was impressed with my poems. I was thrilled.

He wanted me to sit in on one of his classes. The class was designed to give writers business tools. Many creative people who developed writing skills seemed to be missing the practical skills that would allow them to capitalize on their abilities, he said.

As a result many writers never got out of the gate when it came to writing careers. Lloyd said he liked the images and conciseness of my poems, and he offered to help make sure that my skills didn't go to waste. I could sit in on his class for free. It was a generous offer.

But, I was young and idealistic. The idea mixing business and poetry seemed wrong to me. I fell prey to the very syndrome he was trying to inoculate me against.

He was right about his fellow artists being irresponsible when it came to business. But it's not just a lack of business acumen that hamstrings artists. It's also a misplaced suspicion, a belief that dabbling in business would taint the wellspring that is responsible fort the art itself.

Lloyd died years ago. My fellow writers can no longer benefit from his insight. It took years for me to see his point, but he did make it. Although it's too late for me to thank him, I wrote this column in his honor.

My interactions with Lloyd eventually dwindled down to the red marks he made across my manuscript. But I made the most I could of our conversations through the years. In that way he remained in my mind. Carl Jung said if you trace a coincidence back far enough, you'll find it was inevitable.

I am thankful that I pulled out that poem on that day, and that my friend knew David Lloyd. I am grateful to him for bringing the business side of writing to my attention. Whether it's networking or publishing venues, that is what I'd like to share with you here. To some extent, I'm sure I have him to thank for this very column. Lloyd is probably the reason that I get to write this .Haiku column for you.

Is there something you would like to see in a column? Email me at <poetgene@gmail.com>.

• .haiku column number 6 • 3-16-2012 •

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The Haiku Society of America web site featured a Haiku Column written by Gene Myers. Here is the archive of his columns written from 2010-2017

.haiku column number 37 by Gene Myers • 6/1/17

.haiku column number 36 by Gene Myers • 3/7/17


.haiku column number 35 by Gene Myers • 6/20/16

.haiku column number 34 by Gene Myers • 3/21/16

.haiku column number 33 by Gene Myers • 2/10/16

.haiku column number 32 by Gene Myers • 1/6/16


.haiku column number 31 by Gene Myers • 10/29/15

.haiku column number 30 by Gene Myers • 7/9/15

.haiku column number 29 by Gene Myers • 3/23/15

.haiku column number 28 by Gene Myers • 1/15/15



.haiku column number 27 by Gene Myers • 9/26/14

.haiku column number 26 by Gene Myers • 7/14/14

.haiku column number 25 by Gene Myers • 4/14/14

.haiku column number 24 by Gene Myers • 2/10/14

.haiku column number 23 by Gene Myers • 1/2/14



.haiku column number 22 by Gene Myers • 10/7/13

.haiku column number 21 by Gene Myers • 8/25/13

.haiku column number 20 by Gene Myers • 6/30/13

.haiku column number 19 by Gene Myers • 5/18/13

.haiku column number 18 by Gene Myers • 4/7/13

.haiku column number 17 by Gene Myers • 3/10/13

.haiku column number 16 by Gene Myers • 2/9/13

.haiku column number 15 by Gene Myers • 1/2/13



.haiku column number 14 by Gene Myers • 11/18/12

.haiku column number 13 by Gene Myers • 10/11/12

.haiku column number 12 by Gene Myers • 9/27/12

.haiku column number 11 by Gene Myers • 8/26/12

.haiku column number 10 by Gene Myers • 7/19/12

.haiku column number 9 by Gene Myers • 6/17/12

.haiku column number 8 by Gene Myers • 5/19/12

.haiku column number 7 by Gene Myers • 4/16/12

.haiku column number 6 by Gene Myers • 3/16/12

.haiku column number 5 by Gene Myers • 2/12/12

.haiku column number 4 by Gene Myers • 1/23/12



.haiku column number 3 by Gene Myers • 10/17/11

.haiku column number 2 by Gene Myers • 9/12/11



.haiku column number 1 by d. f. tweney • 10/6/10

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