I will be speaking to the Rusk County Poetry Society at their March meeting on March 19, 2026 in Henderson, Texas. My topic is “Line Breaks and White Space.” Hope to see y’all there!
Category: poetry
I’ve been very bad about tallying up all of last year’s writing, but I think I’m finally done with it.
- In 2025, I wrote 104,303 words. Of those words,
- 5559 were for this blog (29 short posts),
- 3,660 were in 2 essays
- 26,396 were for my journal,
- 43,436 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (15 lessons),
- 15,692 were on various social media accounts,
- 12,094 were poetry (68 poems – a lifetime record),
- and 7,566 were in short stories (36 pieces of flash fiction).
- If you tally all those numbers up, I wrote 150 discrete items, not counting social media posts and journal entries because those don’t really get published. (So 150 items in 215 days, which means about 1 item every 1 and a quarter days)
- There were only 120 days that I didn’t write anything, mostly due to illness, travel, or moving my kids from house to house. So I wrote on 2/3rds of the days of the year, which basically comes down to working on writing 5 days a week and leaving myself weekends for living, if I were the kind of person that followed a schedule like that. I mean, I try, but there were loads of weeks where I missed several weekdays and wrote straight through the weekends.
- I only submitted about 5 items all year because it was just sooooo much chaos. I had 2 acceptances and the last 3 items are still well within their response timezones (there’s a better word for this, but the phone in the next room keeps ringing and ringing and I cannot think of it). The two acceptances will be published in early to mid 2026.
- I had 15 speaking engagements last year. The vast majority did not pay, but were for a group that both feeds my soul and lets me practice my topics with them. Two were for free for the library (who I love and who graciously supports two of my writing groups), but I got several paid teaching side gigs out of them, so that about broke even in terms of payment, really.
- As for reading, I finished 65 books and read parts of another 13, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF because I didn’t like their take on the topic or the writing style or something.
That’s it! One more year as a writer in the books. 🙂
In November, I wrote 16,268 words! Yay! Finally a good writing month after months and months of delays, trips, moving kids, etc. I’m so happy I finally got to sit down and just write. Of those words,
- 409 were for this blog (2 short posts),
2777 were for my journal, - 1234 were the essay for that anthology I talked about last month,
- 2426 were answering questions to help make my essay for the anthology, many of which did not end up in the anthology because they were excised from the first draft to make way for words that did not sound like they were answering questions,
- 0 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (I reused an old one for the Open Door Writing Group),
- 1572 were on various social media accounts,
- 3327 were poetry (16 poems – a new record!!),
- and 1073 were in short stories (2 pieces of flash fiction).
There were only 12 days that I didn’t write anything, but that’s not bad because I wrote A LOT on the days that I did write. I did host part of Thanksgiving and a board games night at my house this month, as well as building shelves and moving my husband’s entire board game collection from The Living Room to The Library.
Another one of the books I beta read for came out this month, so once again I’m feeling that weird sense of accomplishment about that.
As for myself, I had one piece accepted for an anthology that will come out early next year (probably around graduation season, I’m guessing, since the topic of my essay was “advice I’d give a teenager who wants to become a volunteer coordinator for a non-profit organization”).
As for reading, I read parts of:
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer(audiobook; non-fiction)
- West of Yesterday, East of Summer by Paul Monette (e-book; poetry – I finally got it back on Libby!)
Memory’s Daughters: The Material Culture of Remembrance in Eighteenth-Century America by Susan M. Stabile (hardcover; non-fiction – written by my Women’s Diaries professor at TAMU while I was taking her class) - How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verse by Thomas C. Foster (e-book that I have AND trade paperback at my dad’s house; non-fiction)
- Poetry’s Data: Digital Humanities and the History of Prosody by Meredith Martin (e-book; non-fiction)
…and I finished reading:
- The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (audiobook; historical romance)
- Poetry Magazine Jan/Feb 2025 by Poetry.org (paperback; poetry)
- Let Loose the Dogs by Maureen Jennings (e-book; historical mystery)
- The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie (e-book; mystery)
- The Comfort Book by Matt Haig (audiobook; self-help)
- The Carrying by Ada Limon (e-book; poetry)
- Stargazy Pie by Victoria Stoddard (e-book; cozy fantasy)
I really am trying to finish most of the unfinished books I started earlier in the year. I have finished 56 books so far this year (and read parts of another 12, again mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.).
I’ll be speaking this upcoming Wednesday afternoon at the Tyler Public Library’s Open Door Writing Group. We meet on the 3rd floor of the Tyler Public Library in the Makerspace from 1-3pm. I’ve been asked to talk about “Forms in Poetry” again and I’ve been practicing writing some different forms so I’ll have some contemporary examples for you! I know it’s the day before Thanksgiving, but we’re home this year for it, so I’m taking a chance on others being as excited about poetry as I am. 🙂 Hope some of y’all can make it! 🙂
In October, I wrote 3840 words, which is so little that I could cry. But I was busy! More about that later. Of those words,
- 320 were for this blog (2 short posts),
- 667 were for my journal,
- 0 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (I reused an old one for the Open Door Writing Group),
- 1204 were on various social media accounts,
- 1652 were poetry (9 poems),
- and 376 were in short stories (1 piece of flash fiction).
There were only 12 days that I didn’t write anything. I spent 10 days on vacation, traveling to, then staying in North Carolina, and driving home. I used every morning as a little writer’s retreat and wrote a lot while I was there. I’m still having trouble with my shoulders, so I spent several days either at the doctor, at the physical therapist’s office, or off getting X-rays and a couple of MRIs. I do have an essay that I found out about an anthology for on the last day of October that I’m going to start writing this week (but that counts for November). I still didn’t get any poems or short stories submitted anywhere.
As for reading, I read parts of:
- Let Loose the Dogs by Maureen Jennings (e-book; historical mystery – I’m having trouble getting this book again through Libby, hence taking a break from it)
- The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (audiobook; historical romance)
- Stargazy Pie by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy)
- The Man with Two Left Feet (e-book; I’m not sure the genre)
…and I finished reading:
- The Honey Witch by Sydney Shields (trade paperback; cozy fantasy)
So I have finished 49 books so far this year (and read parts of another 18, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.).
As requested by one of our lovely writers, I’ll be talking about “White Space and Line Breaks” at the Open Door Writing Group this Wednesday from 1-3pm at the Tyler Public Library in the 3rd floor Makerspace. Looking forward to seeing y’all then! #writingcommunity #writinglesson #poetry #whitespace #linebreaks
As requested by one of our lovely writers, I’ll be talking about writing for contests at the Open Door Writing Group this Wednesday from 1-3pm at the Tyler Public Library in the 3rd floor Makerspace. Looking forward to seeing y’all then! #writingcommunity #writinglesson #writingforcontests
I’ll be speaking this upcoming Wednesday afternoon at the Tyler Public Library’s Open Door Writing Group. We meet on the 3rd floor of the Tyler Public Library in the Makerspace from 1-3pm. I’ll be speaking about what I learned at the Poetry Society of Texas’ Annual Conference. Hope some of y’all can make it! 🙂
As requested by one of our lovely writers, I’ll be talking about creating realistic villains at the Open Door Writing Group this Wednesday from 1-3pm at the Tyler Public Library in the 3rd floor Makerspace. Looking forward to seeing y’all then! #writingcommunity #writinglesson #writingforcontests
I hesitated in posting this on April Fool’s Day, but please know that this post is in earnest. 🙂
In March, I wrote 21,346 words, which boggled the mind. Of those words,
- 473 were for this blog (5 short posts),
- 1,564 were for my journal,
- 15,562 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for East Texas Writers Guild and one for the Open Door Writing Group and one for the Tyler Public Library’s Try It Tuesday Class),
- 1,355 were on various social media accounts,
- 894 were poetry (6 poems),
- and 1,716 were in short stories (11 pieces of flash fiction).
There were 8 days that I didn’t write anything, but this month included traveling for Spring Break and two out of town Winter Guard competitions for my kid. I also haven’t heard back from any of the submissions I’ve sent out lately, but all the submitting guidelines said I probably wouldn’t hear back until mid-April or later, so I’m not worried about that yet.
As for reading, I read parts of:
- Concessions by Libby James (e-book; thriller)
- Agatha Arch is Afraid of Everything by Kristin Bair (e-book; mystery)
- The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach edited by Robin Behn and Chase Twichell
- How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy Guide to Sonorous Poetry by Thomas Foster (paperback; non-fiction)
…and I finished reading:
- If Women Rose Rooted: The Power of the Celtic Woman by Sharon Blackie (audiobook; non-fiction)
- Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T. L. Huchu (e-book; fantasy)
- Such a Thing to Behold by Umar Turaki (e-book; fantasy)
- The Midwife (volume 1) by Jennifer Worth (e-book; non-fiction)
- The Truth of Me by Patricia MacLachlan (e-book; children’s lit)
- Storyteller: 100 Letter Poems by Morgan Harper Nichols (e-book; poetry)
- Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman (hardcover; poetry)
- The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser (paperback; non-fiction)
So I have finished 16 books so far this year (and read parts of another 8, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.).
I feel like I’ve finally hit my stride with this year, so of course the next couple of months are going to be ridiculously busy in my personal life, as I have graduating high school senior in my household and another kid who’s applying to law schools and may need help moving. Wheeeeee!
Lisa Holcomb 