Tag: poems

Buying all the poetry books

John Guillen2 Comments

Last night before the Super Bowl Amanda Gorman recited an original poem to honor several people who are making impacts in their communities. Once again I was very much impressed.

Her books are coming soon. But what I’ve started realizing is poetry can have the same effect as any other work. You reading this might think this is hardly a revelation. Up to this point I’ve never found much interest in poetry. Not because of the medium itself, but because I’ve fully embraced fiction.

I’ve constantly told myself to branch out in nearly all aspects of my life when I’m ready. It may seem small, and maybe it is, but I’m thinking in the days to come, I’ll finally open myself up to the world of poetry. And I feel like I have much to catch up on.

Are they any poets you think I should start with?

August is Over, Fall is Near

John Guillen10 Comments

Whew. August is over. Can’t say it was better or worse than any other recent August, but it wasn’t so bad. And some rather interesting things happened along the way. But as always, first with some stats. Previous record in parenthesis.

Posts: 31 (31)

Likes: 793 (837)

Comments: 936 (2121)

Followers: 3205

Books Read: 1 (4)

Poems: 0 (2)

YouTube Videos: 1 (3)

Nothing too spectacular to discuss here. It wasn’t really too bad at all. But it could have been much better. But there were some days that I just didn’t feel like getting on WordPress. I actually did not read a single blog post all last week, I just didn’t feel like it. And I was sleepy. But I’m not going to “catch up” as other bloggers might do. No one writes posts specifically for me to read. I’m sure everyone is just fine with or without me reading their stuff. But I’ll be better this week. I already have been.

The one thing I will say is that I did actually write a poem for the first time in months. And I think it was pretty decent. But it’s not for the blog and I won’t be revealing why I wrote it in the first place, just that I did.

Last thing before I get into some posts. I made the decision about halfway through the month not to make any more videos until September. It was mostly a time thing. I’m not stopping completely. Making videos is actually pretty fun for me.

Now for some posts.

Top Post

Killing Main Characters

Favorite Post

Day 1 at Half Price Books is Done!

Post you may Have Missed

Auto buy Authors

There aren’t too many firsts once you’ve been blogging steadily for more than two years, but something happened for the first time this month that hasn’t happened before. The top post of the month wasn’t written by me. It was written by Amy. I’m calling it luck. Her top post had only four more views than mine. Oh well. I guess it’s finally happened. Someone has posted on my blog and become more popular than me. *sigh* It actually very nearly happened earlier this year when I had my week of guest posts, but I was able to come out victorious. Ha!

And I haven’t forgotten that I started working at Half Price Books about halfway through the month! It’s been fun. And I think I’ll be getting a few more books tomorrow after my shift. I think. I’ve learned plenty and still have more than half of my training left.

So that’s it. My August in a nutshell. Plenty of sleep. New job. And the seventh consecutive month of blogging everyday. Oh, and I made an Instagram account! How was yours?

On this day in 2014 I published The Reader in Me Part II.

 

July, oh, July

John Guillen50 Comments

July was an odd month. It was my worst month in terms of views in about a year and easily my worst of 2015. But the comments and Likes were only slightly below what I’ve come to expect. At first I thought my views were down because of it being summer over here, but the reasoning behind a bit of a slow month isn’t relevant. It happened and I kind of gave up about midway through the month because it was just not happening. Now for some stats. Previous record is in parenthesis.

Posts: 31 (31)

Likes: 782 (837)

Comments: 855 (2121)

Followers: 3152

Books Read: 1 (4)

Poems: 0 (2)

YouTube Videos: 2 (3)

The numbers aren’t bad overall. I still wish I knew why the views were way down for the month. Hopefully August can be a bit of a rebound. I am disappointed that I only managed to read the one book. I kind of attribute that to the book I’m reading now. It hasn’t sucked me in and makes me not want to read. But eh. I’m finishing it today and I’ll have my first book of August out of the way.

Also, my goal for the rest of the year is to read at least eight books a month. It sounds like a lot when I’ve only read three in the past two months combined, but I need to really go after my personal record and goal for the year. Reading eight each month would put me right there on the doorstep. And it’d give me an opportunity to keep making videos. I’m not worried about views on YouTube. I’ve already grown to enjoy the video making process.

Now for some posts.

Top Post

How Many Books Have you Bought This Year?

Favorite Post

Why you Need Half Price Books in Your Life

Post you may Have Missed

If you Could | Book Tag

I’m just a little bit surprised by the top post of the month. On the second of the month I wrote a post about acquiring the rest of the Harry Potter series and it had been the leader in the clubhouse for the entire month, but it was ultimately beaten by one view.

I think that’s all. As always, feel free to tell me about your month in the comments. My only real goal for August is that it be better than July.

On this day in 2014 I published Saturday Selects: How do you perceive law enforcement?.

 

June is the Start of…Well, Something

John Guillen13 Comments

The month of June was a bit of a roller coaster down here in the Lone Star state. Hurricanes. Floods. Power outages. Ugh. But I STILL managed to post everyday, which makes it five consecutive months now! And I finally decided to start my YouTube channel, which has been several years in the making. And I finally broke out of my mini reading slump. I hadn’t read a book since January, but I read a couple this month. But still no writing. And still no poetry. *sigh* Here are some stats. As always, the previous record will be in parenthesis.

Posts: 30 (31)

Likes: 804 (837)

Comments: 1020 (2121)

Followers: 3034

Books Read: 2 (4)

Poems: 0 (2)

YouTube Videos: 3

Obviously two books is hardly anything to even talk about, but it’s something. I’d rather my total for the year be at six than at four. This was the second month in a row that I reached a thousand comments. I actually was on a feverish pace throughout the first half of the month and then slowed down big time in the second half. I’d say mostly because I started working about double what I had been, and that makes discussions a bit more difficult.

My favorite part of the numbers above is the THREE YouTube videos. I hope I can do even better this month now that I’ve found an editor I really like. Let’s talk about some posts.

Top Post

Ursula Le Guin is Clueless

Favorite Post

I Introduce to you…Johnny Reads!

Post you may Have Missed

Amazon’s 100 Books Everyone Should Read: 1984 by George Orwell

The top post of the month is actually the top post of 2015. But it wasn’t because of me, it was because when I linked to her original article my post appeared as a pingback in the comments section and people kept clicking it. But eh, views are views.

June was a solid month here on Write me a book, John! and wasn’t a bad month in real life. Who’s ready for more in July? *raises hand*

What about you? How was your month of June, blogging or otherwise? Tell me!

On this day in 2014 I published The June Bug of Blogging.

 

How Long Have you Been Writing?

John Guillen97 Comments

Simple question.

I’ll say I started writing in May/June of 2013. And I stopped a year later. Ha. But basically that’s true. Anyway, I know some of y’all are in high school with stories to be told later on in your life, but I also know several people on WordPress who have been writing for decades. DECADES.

Which means there’s a mixed bag of writers on WordPress. Some who have accomplished absolutely nothing and others who have more stories or books published than James Patterson. Maybe not, but still. There are some really accomplished people on WordPress and I bet somewhere along the line they’ve come across my little part of cyberspace. Maybe. Wait, James Patterson, are you reading this?! (Let’s see if he responds).

But seriously, I’m just curious to see how long some of y’all have been writing and what you’ve been able to accomplish during that time. Have you been published by a Big 5 publisher? Self published? Maybe you’ve written some collections of short stories or poetry? Or perhaps you’re working on your first major project? Just tell me so I can stand here in admiration.

On this day in 2014 I published 1,000 WordPress Followers and Giveaway!. Currently sitting at 2,813 WordPress followers. Not too shabby.

 

I’m Glad You’re Finally Over, April

John Guillen7 Comments

April reminded me of months from the middle of last year in which I operated the blog exactly the same as I’d done before, and it just wasn’t producing as well as I’d like. This isn’t me complaining, this is a simple fact. I have no idea why, but April was the first month that actually went down in terms of site views compared to the same month in 2014. Which is going to be even worse because May is also going to see a decline in site views compared to last year. How do I know that? Because May of last year still holds the record for most views in a calendar month. BUT all of that is fine because there were some positives to come out of the month. Let’s take a look. As always, the previous record will be in parenthesis.

Posts: 30 (31)

Likes: 765 (837)

Comments: 967 (2121)

Followers: 2712

Books Read: 0 (4) <- this is only for 2015.

Poems Posted: 1 (2) <- same as above.

Everything looks pretty normal from afar, but this was actually the second best month ever in terms of Likes. And it was the best month of 2015 for comments. I was on a pace to finally hit a thousand comments again for most of the month, but ultimately fell just short. With the extra day coming in May I fully expect to hit that number.

My reading is still stuck and I’ve hesitated to post any new poems because WordPress hasn’t been letting me format the text in those particular posts to my liking and each time I post one it’s just a big hassle that I don’t want to deal with. Here are some posts:

Top Post

I’m Going on Vacation!

Favorite Post

Stop Eating While Reading

Post you may Have Missed

If you Could Meet one Author, who Would it be?

Guys, I know I fooled a number of you with my vacation post. So now this is me telling you that it was indeed all a joke for April Fool’s Day. It’s been the top post of the month for every single day of April. I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen before. Anyway, y’all were nice about it and I decided to let it play out. Eh. I’m not sorry. It was all in fun and no one got hurt.

So that’s it! My month of blogging in a nutshell. Tell me about yours, please.

On this day in 2014 I published An Open Invitation. Guys, I’d highly recommend taking a look at the posts I mention in this section this month because there has to be a reason last May was so much better than any other month. Perhaps the posts were just better.

 

January’s Great Start to 2015

John Guillen16 Comments

january_3499c

Photo Credit: The Telecom Blog

I didn’t know what to expect in January. Last year when my blog was still a baby, the entire month of January had a grand total of 38 views. I hadn’t yet adopted my new posting philosophy and I think I still had some posts about my own writing. But last month turned out quite well. It became my third best month ever, only eleven views from taking the second spot. So it was a nice month. Anyway, let’s get on with some stats from the month. I’m changing it up just a bit for the new year. And as always, previous record will be in parenthesis.

Posts: 29 (31)

Likes: 714 (689) New record!

Comments: 604 (2121)

Followers: 2325

Books Read: 4

Poems Posted: 1

Nothing special here. This was actually the first month I ever hit 700 Likes. That’s exciting, but it would be more so if those people would comment instead of just hit Like and move on. Eh. But if you’ve read my previous monthly recaps then you know I’ve added two new categories. I’m going to start including the number of books I read and the number of poems I post in my monthly recaps. It’ll be an easy way to see how close I am to reaching my goal of reading 50 books and posting 25 poems in 2015. Now for some posts.

Top Post

How Helpful are Writing Books?

Favorite Post

Writers, Stop Saying You’re OCD

Post you may Have Missed

Amazon’s List of 100 Books Everyone Should Read: #44 Moneyball by Michael Lewis

And just a quick announcement. I’ll be posting everyday in February. Woo! Cause I know you’re so happy to hear that. I typically only miss one or two days a month anyway, but February is such a short month that I don’t see why I can’t just go ahead and post each day. So I will. AND I’m going to be asking y’all an important question in the coming days. Stay tuned!

How was your January?

Do you Read Poetry?

John Guillen12 Comments

img_5034-0

Photo Credit: Alanah Leger

This post is by no means meant to be disrespectful. Just a question that I’ve been thinking about. See, I can tell you right now that I only read as much as I do because of WordPress. I couldn’t even tell you any prominent poets writing today. I mean, are there individuals who only write poetry as their job? I have no idea. I also wonder the same thing about short stories. Are there short story writers out there still? But that’s a question for a different day and post.

Every other article you read is about the changing landscape of publishing, right? I mean, we’ve all been told how difficult it is for publishers of any size to make money off their books. Hm. If publishers have a hard time making money off novels, then one would assume that it would be a whole lot more difficult to do so by publishing poetry collections.

I’m sitting here trying to think (without using Google) of poets who are writing right now and I honestly can’t come up with one. All the ones I know wrote in completely different eras. Wordsworth. Plath. Keats. Coleridge. Maybe I’m just out of the loop on this one? I don’t know. I’m not going to sit here and say that poetry is dying or anything like that, but could that really be happening? You tell me.

Do you read poetry outside of an academic setting? Perhaps a better worded question is whether or not you buy poetry collections that are traditionally published.

PS: I just tried to find some current poets and it was rather difficult. I could not find anything about poetry on HarperCollins’s website. And the 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning collection has 9 reviews on Amazon. Tell me I’m wrong and I’m just not seeing the light here. Cause it seems to me that poetry may be disappearing.

Something New

John Guillen13 Comments

new

Photo Credit: This Big Happy

Anyone who has followed my blog for as little as a few weeks knows that I’ll pretty much write about anything pertaining to books. You could enter any number of keywords into the little search bar to the right and I’m certain that multiple posts will come up for any of the main keywords you can think of. With that being said, there is something I’ve adamantly left off the blog during my 15 or so months on WordPress. Can you guess what it is? I think my die hards just may be able to.

I’ve never published my own writing on here and even wrote a post about why I’ve chosen to do this. Welllll I’ve been doing a little thinking and I may change my position. But now you might wondering what I’ll even post since most of you are well aware of the fact that I’m not actively working on my WIP. I’ve said this many times in prior posts. So what will I even post on here?

I’m glad you asked. You see, a type of writing that I thoroughly enjoy reading is poetry. I’ll never claim to be a poet or to have any idea what the heck I’m doing when it comes writing poems, but I’ve written a few poems this year that I thought were okay. Now I’m thinking I may write a few more to share with you all. What do ya think? I mean, it’s worth a try. This is not me being one of those people who thinks anyone can write poetry. Trust me, I don’t think that at all. You can think of this more as me testing out the waters of something so very foreign to me.

I don’t have a set schedule for when I might post poems I’ve written, nor do I know when I’ll have my first for you all. But you’ll see when I do and all I ask is that you be respectful. Cause I’m perfectly fine writing my rants on everything books, but posting my own writing on here is a little scary. A little. Okay, not really.

So tell me what you think of this idea. Tell me now.