Wednesday, April 10, 2019
The creative process in four parts:
The trigger,
The concept,
The first draft,
The finished copy.

The trigger, an email, Dear Colleen, April 7 is the first anniversary of existentialautotrip.com. For your past support, you are invited to the celebratory party; and the acceptance.

The concept: The question of a gift to the Web Meister. What do I know about the Web Meister? From his participation in Room to Write, my writers’ circle, he presented a distinctive writing style that I challenged for several group discussions, ultimately acknowledging its legitimacy.
I can use this sword-crossing: write a poem in his own style.

Let’s see.

Web Meister Responds: Enclosed, the Q&A sections contain Colleen’s first draft and the hilarious finished version, read aloud by Colleen at the dinner party, amidst loud laughter from those familiar with the Web Meister’s manuscript and general admiration from the others.

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Postings Count, Weather Brief, and Dinner
Wednesday, April 10, 2019

My 369th consecutive posting, committed to 5,000.
After 369 posts we’re at the 7.38% mark of my commitment, the commitment a different way of marking the passage of time.

Time is 12.01am.

On Wednesday, Boston’s temperature will reach a high of 52* with a feels-like temperature of 48* under sunny skies.

Dinner of Broiled/Seared Swordfish.

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Question of the Day:
Do you have an example of the creative process?

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Chuckle of the Day:
Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy, an honest lawyer and an old drunk are walking down the street together when they simultaneously spot a hundred-dollar bill.
Who gets it?
The old drunk, of course.
The other four are fantasy creatures.

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Love your notes.
Contact the blog at domcapossela@hotmail.com

This from Colleen Getty:

Good Monday Morning Dom!

I wanted to send you a heartfelt Thank You from George and me for opening your home to us yesterday and including us in your special celebration of words and this road trip we are all on: life. A road trip is never complete without a carload of people.

It was so nice to hear your stories and jokes--reminding me of what social networks used to look like--so much more fulfilling:) Thanks for proving that getting together for the simple sake of it is always worth the effort. So--thank YOU for all the effort you clearly went to putting the gathering together.

Since you asked about the writing process behind the poem I wrote for you--I thought I would attach the final version as well as the very first, rough version to this email so you could see it for yourself. I often write the first draft by hand because I like pen and paper and I like to cross out and all that fun stuff. Also, it is often drafted on whatever random scrap I have with enough free space on it. I took a scan of both sides of the paper that I roughed your poem out on--even though you can already see, faintly, what the other side might look like (a worksheet from my 5-year-old son, Charles). You can also see that the drafted poem underwent additional work before it arrived at it's final state--but that happened on the computer with no traces of the thought process behind it.

Thank you again for your hospitality and vulnerability in letting us all a little closer. It was a wonderful reflection of what good writing is like--at once hospitable and vulnerable.

On a side note, what was the "sweet wine" you served? My husband forgot how much he loves a port and was curious.

Grazie Mille!

Colleen:)

Web Meister Responds: The sweet wine was a forty-year-old tawny porto by w&j Graham.
Colleen, you sparked the party so much I felt I should have paid you for entertainment. Thanks to you and George for making it so much fun. Did I mention that your poem was wonderful? 

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Answer to the Question of the Day:
Here’s a thumbnail of the creative process as per Colleen Getty related to writing a poem on the occasion of the first anniversary of existentialautotrip.com.
First step:

Finding a piece of paper to scribble on:
The other side of this will do:

First Draft:

Prologue:
While this poem may not be focused on the cause at hand for occasion: Dom’s literal road trip. This is more about the commencement of the literal, in terms of writing, road trip that began for me, and in-turn we, when I decided to start a writers’ critique group. Dom showed up to that very first meeting along with a few other writers. 

That every-third-Thursday monthly meeting can be viewed as just one of the cubes of ice slowly dissipating into the gin and tonic that make up the more prominent ingredients in Dom’s life—which, it seems, is really what we are celebrating today. A birthday of sorts. Who is to say that the day we begin living is that one moment when our swollen, slimy face hits the cold air beyond our mothers. 

Let us make love to our tonic and gins—in that, we continue to add cubes of ice to draw out the pleasure of the cocktail we’ve all been given ingredients to make. We can shoot it. We can let it stand and warm and get tossed. Or, we can focus on it, feed it, and enjoy it until its very last drop!

Finished Copy: Dom Cap Poem

Measured gait, tidy frame—
somehow domineeringly enters
he. 

Sitting. Settling. Grin and glance give way—to writing, reading, discussion, 
we.

Comfort, discomfort, acclimate, digest our newly formed community.

A voice to match those written words, unusual—but not distastefully.

A quick study.

Hold your tongue, insists
he.

Impatient, but recovers again, customarily.
Leaves. Returns. Composed. Composition lures. Integrates
he.

Prone to interrupting. Unapologetic she. 
Polite, refined—staccato—dancing linguistically.

Off-balance, spinning but intrigued. Teachable
she.

Focus on words. Lost in language. Letting what’s written take the lead.

Community. Communicate. Compromise.

A bow.

A smile.

Understanding

—almost  completely.

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Good Morning on this Wednesday, the Tenth Day of April.

Today we talked about the creative process.
About the weather, a new spring calendar, and dinner, broiled/seared swordfish.
We posted a new chuckle, a letter from Colleen G, and we watched Colleen take us through the creative process leading to a pretty amazing prologue and poem.
 
And now? Gotta go.

Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?

See you soon.

Your Love