CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

It's amazing what comes wandering up to the back fence. These guys were quite happily foraging for insects until I started taking photographs, and then they became rapidly shy.

This week, we’re looking at a fifth type of cinquain—the Butterfly Cinquain. Again, it uses either a Crapsey Form 1 or a Crapsey Form 2 as a base. For those of you who are new to this series, Adelaide Crapsey was an American poet who was inspired by the rules of Japanese poetry to create her own poetical form, the cinquain. A cinquain is a five-line poem that has a set number of syllables (or word types) per line. Sometimes the title of a cinquain acts as a sixth line. The fifth type of cinquain we’ll look at is called a Butterfly Cinquain. The Butterfly Cinquain is a nine-line verse with two syllables in the first line, four in the second, six in the third, eight in the fourth, two in the fifth, eight in the sixth, six in the seventh, four in the eighth and two in the ninth line . If you look at this verse’s shape on the page, you will see why it’s called a butterfly cinquain. Here’s an example, inspired by the evil nature of trolls: Troll man Beneath th...

I spent the week sick in bed, bar the little bit of writing done last Sunday, and a very brief hour on Wednesday. This week, I hope to do better, but with study and an assignment to catch up on, things aren’t looking too hopeful. Fingers crossed, hey? Overview New words produced: 3,060 Old words revised: 0 Works completed: 0 Works revised: 7 (for inclusion into a longer work) Covers created: 0 Works published: 0 Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Tier 1 Tasks Annual 13: Added 181 words Annual 14: Added 1,713 words Publishing Tasks Created 1 blog post for this blog New Arrivals The following ideas arrived this week: Poem340—Troll Man: about a troll Poem341—Fairy Lights: about fairies; ShortStory255—The Shenzi’s Stain: a piece of flash science fiction about a space wreck ShortStory256—To Rescue a King: a piece of flash fantasy fiction about rescuing a king ShortStory257—The Dead do not Live: a piece of flash horror f...

The trees in our backyard are very popular with the local birdlife - for which I'm very grateful, although I didn't expect to see these big fellows just outside my backdoor. And I guess they didn't expect to see me, either. But this one didn't let the camera clicking interrupt his dinner. Although, he did keep a good eye on me. Probably, thinking bad cocky thoughts about paparazzi spoiling lunch.

This week, we’re looking at a fourth type of cinquain. Again, it uses either a Crapsey Form 1 or a Crapsey Form 2 as a base. For those of you who are new to this series, Adelaide Crapsey was an American poet who was inspired by the rules of Japanese poetry to create her own poetical form, the cinquain. A cinquain is a five-line poem that has a set number of syllables (or word types) per line. Sometimes the title of a cinquain acts as a sixth line. The fourth type of cinquain we’ll look at is called a Mirror Cinquain. This form consists of two five-line verses—a Crapsey Form 1 or 2 cinquain, and a Reverse Cinquain based on the form used in the first verse. Here’s an example, inspired by the day outside my window: Sunlight Reflected on leaves From a sky grey with cloud Rain threatens, wind blows, the sun shines Autumn Some leaves Have turned early Red and yellow highlights Amidst a stormy sea of green Autumn And here’s another one. St...

Another busy week, with four assessment items to be completed over four days—not a lot of writing was completed. Next week, we have a mid-term break, but I have some things I need to catch up on, so there may not be much writing done then, either. We'll see. I can only do my best. Overview New words produced: 2,563 Old words revised: 0 Works completed: 0 Works revised: 0 Covers created: 0 Works published: 0 Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Tier 1 Tasks Annual 13: Added 453 words Annual 14: Added 1,405 words Tier 4 Tasks YANovel18A— added 585 words Publishing Tasks: Created 1 blog post for C.M. Simpson blog New Arrivals The following ideas arrived this week: YANovel18A: about a girl trying to protect her little brother and find him a place of safety; YANovel18B: about a girl searching for her family; Poem337—Death of Dreaming : about life’s disappointments; Poem338—Colour our World : about colours and their...