Novel cover reveal

“The Clerk and the Ink Drinker in the Outer Lands Mission” by N.G. Swett

It surprises me to find that I haven't said much here on this blog about my biggest, longest running project: my novel! I've been working quietly on it for nearly a decade. It's coming out now, ready or not.

Let's begin with the cover reveal! That's what authors do, right?! See front and back covers below, followed by a short cover reveal video.

Thank you to friends and family who helped with the cover design, it made a HUGE difference.

Obsessed! Making art cards

Video | “Floral 1” series art card production start to finish

Exile: its meaning, purpose & tips

I know, it’s an odd topic but hear me out…

Why though?

It’s so simple.

I went to the beach, I found a nice spot to set down camp, and once I had a swim and settled in, I got a feeling of being alone and far, far away.

To capture the feeling and to practice taking wide video and being “on camera” I recorded the scene on my phone. I thought, maybe I could even use the video clips at one point.

With the beach footage in mind, and the feeling it gave, I researched the idea of exile. It’s a subject that’s come up in my own fiction and poetry writing. It’s an interesting subject. The more I found out, the more a video came together.

So this is how I used the beach footage:

Notes on the video

I used:

• smartphone for beach footage, no tripod or mic

• my “Blue Wave” 10x10” mini acrylic painting in lieu of the beach’s water view

• ChatGPT, Answer the Public, YouTube and Google search to shape and research the ideas of the video

• Canva to make the longer, wide version of the video itself as well as shorter vertical versions for social media, the thumbnail, and graphics

• Audio from YouTube’s free audio library, including surf sounds and thought-provoking background music

What I like and what I don’t like

I like that the video felt fresh to me in the sense of experiencing something and within a week putting it into a video and dispatching it out to the world. If people knew more about exile, maybe it would be easier to survive and thrive through it.

I don’t like that the video reveals the kind of subjects that I’m liable to go off on a riff about. I mean, who thinks about exile??

~ Your pal, Nan.

Up To Speed

I should get this car.

Re getting up to speed, it would be fun to do more projects spontaneously. It’s easier to be consistent when what you’re doing is fun and in the moment and not a tedious, discouraging bore. Less packaging work, more using all the cool tools to send messages in the moment.

I’d have to rely on experience, be brave, and have faith…

This radio poems session is a good example of fun, but it’s not quite in the moment, but I’m getting closer.

Why and how to write “radio poems”

• Quick, fun batches of poetry

• Creativity boosting writing exercise

• Spontaneous writing fun

Nan Patience with work in progress. Video made in YouTube shorts (link here: https://youtube.com/shorts/eD1QVLfLoQI)

Following my bliss one day, I sat down to write poems while listening to a favorite radio station. I low-key challenged myself to enjoy the writing, sit and do a solid session, and see what came out on the page.

It was a fun exercise, and I got a whole batch of short poems out of it, too.

Here’s how you can write a “radio poem” to have fun, boost creativity and churn out some work in a fun way.

Step 1: Turn on your favorite music or talk radio station.

Step 2: Get ready to write in the moment, without knowing what’s coming over the airwaves.

Step 3: Start! Listen and jot down random words, maybe not just from the radio, but other words that come to mind, your own feelings, experiences, people, sensory notes, instrumental notes, etc. Anything. Avoid unique turns of phrase of particular artists, original ideas and anything trademarked or copyrighted.

Step 4: Do a whole session, aiming for a batch of (short) poems. Smash out several pages of words and raw poetic notes.

Step 5: Turn off the music and edit, edit, edit. Group words and ideas, try different arrangements, draft titles, rephrase, add context, reword, omit words, add other words, try some rhymes if you want, etc. You have complete freedom.

You can do it anywhere. Here are two radio poems I wrote the other day on the fly when out and about…

Trouble Tonight

by NG Swett

if looks could kill
I’d be in trouble
so out of touch
in my own bubble

the dangerous type
what are you all about
shock me baby
let’s scream and shout

you’re all I desire
don’t play dead
light my fire
you god among men

And another (below). I will say the two poems are nice and short and have an edge of passion that is wonderful for poetry.

Poem At Open Window

by NG Swett

I long to know you’re real

something I can feel

like an old typewriter key

clacking away here

words on a rag breeze

you breathe in and sneeze

“Oh bless you, Darling’!”

Once edited, my radio poems aren’t too far outside of the kinds of poems I’ve written before. One is on the racier side, one on the charming side. Both a little desperate haha!

They would fit into, for example, my first book of poems, HOLD ME TIGHT, a collection of 36 love poems about love and loss in modern times.

I’m working on a new collection of poems to be published by Labor Day, which will be a mix of poems with black and white photo collage illustrations (I think).

Give my radio poetry exercise method a try and see if YOU like it!