Dear Readers,
Spring is beginning to sprung, a.k.a. April retrospective.
In April I tried to do some theme-based approaches to writing. I found that setting a theme forced me to think about a particular topic in diverse ways and different perspectives. The April themes were Pieces of Me (Pieces of Me, Dinner Guest, Restrained Art), Spring (Spring Beauty, Birth of a Season, Spring Rains, Life cycling, Coffee in Spring, Spring Octave), Music (Blues Man, Guitar Strings, Lounge, The Crossroads, Misses Jones, Music), and Emotion as a Person (If Hurt Was, If Happiness Was, If Self-Doubt Was, If Love Was, If Anger Was, If Sadness Was, If Wonder Was).
Speaking of themes, it seems like the emotional poems were some of the ones that resonated strongest with readers (If Hurt Was, If Happiness Was, If Self-Doubt Was). I also got a lift from poems shared on d’Verse as a response to prompts (Birth of a Season, Bridge to Dreams). Rounding out the top poems in April was a personal poem (Pieces of Me) discussing the things we give away and the things we keep for ourselves.
The experimental poems for the month were a Mock Epic (The Mock Epic of Blond Beard), an Occasional (Occasional Lesson), an Octave (Spring Octave), and an Ode (Ode to Joan).
I published one short story in April, Fool for Love, a tragedy about love unattainable.
In photography I went down around my town (Spring Colors in the PNW) and over to the University of Washington (Spring at University of Washington) to capture the vibrancy of spring, as well as traveling to Aberdeen, Washington to Kurt Cobain’s home town (Kurt Cobain Memorial Park in Aberdeen, WA).
My advice this month is to set a theme for yourself. I found when I wrote around the same topic multiple times I refined my own ideas and I felt like I got to places that I wouldn’t have gotten to just writing about the idea once and moving on. As an added bonus, if you’re an editor, when you go back to edit, you can pick the prime parts from each of the works to merge them into a megazord of writing awesomeness.
Keep musing and creating!
TJS Sherman
The top posts from April
| 1. | Birth of a Season |
| 2. | Bridge to Dreams |
| 3. | Guitar Strings |
| 4. | Music |
| 5. | If Hurt Was |
| 6. | Spring Octave |
| 7. | If Happiness Was |
| 8. | If Self-Doubt Was |
| 9. | Pieces of Me |
| 10. | Lifecycling |
| 1. | Fool for Love |
| 1. | Kurt Cobain Memorial Park in Aberdeen, WA |
| 2. | Spring Colors in the PNW |
| 3. | Spring at University of Washington |
Leave a comment and let me know what some of your favorites were.
I also appreciate the help you all give from sharing my posts, thank you!
Copyright © 2021 TJS Sherman All rights reserved.
Musing & Creating with T.J.S. Sherman 
If Hurt Was and Fool for Love
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Pain seeking in your reading habits? Thanks for the comment Geoff!
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My favorite was definitely, “If Hurt Was.” It just resonated so deeply with me and after reading back all your other poems, that one still left a lasting impression.
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