The Poetteer

Hello Poetteers, In the beginning of the year I announced I would be publishing Her Durian in the fall. The day has come! I’ll be publishing it on November 5th 2019! The Blurb Her Durian is about Islaih’s travels to Malaysia. The poems will make your mouth water with the different foods, fruits and dessert. It covers everything from family and growing up in a multicultural home. Add it on Goodreads .  Sneak Peek It feels like I’m missing something  is this what being homesick feels like?  it feels like my life back home is on pause  despite it,  I’m grateful for my experience in Malaysia  it’s starting to feel like another home. More can be found on instagram .  I’m taking preorders for signed copies of my upcoming poetry book, Her Durian, for $15. Message me if you’re interested. Your purchase will help fund the book cover. Stay inspired,  Fida

Hello Poetteers, There are many different kinds of poetry books and different options on the length of them. Before compiling your own book, research the market for similar pieces to know what you are getting into. Some readers may read all the poems, but some won't. I have to confess that I sometimes skim poems. I usually go for shorter poems and smaller poetry collections. Something has to touch my heart for me to read longer pieces. I'm starting to gravitate towards the thicker poetry books. The average length is 60 to 100 pages of poetry, sometimes 200 pages feel like a lot. I think it depends on how you read. Some people read from cover to cover and others will read a bit of it through a length of time. It depends on the type of the book: 20-30 for a chapbook 50-80 for a full-length book 200-300 pages are the max length. Be careful because it may seem too long. It's about whatever the story and book require. Adjust where needed. The length and format...

Hello Poetteers, I write my own poems. At the end of last year, I started collaborating with other poets. In poetry collaborations, it all depends on the person and the topic. Whether your writing style is similar or different, is there compatibility? It's good if they write similar to you. It makes things easier. But there should be enough difference to challenge your writing. It makes you step out of your comfort zone, to write something else. With the poem collaborations I've done, I've seen you don't need full sentences. Most of the people I worked with wrote longer pieces and it challenged me to write long pieces. I usually keep my poems short. Other people keep their poems short, too, so I'm not alone. I got to see how a longer poem can make a story fuller and more personable. The typical go to when collaborating on a poem is that I write one part of a poem and the other person will the other half. You don’t always have to write like that. Maybe w...

Hello Poetteers, The June prompts are now live!! Share your poems using  #HeartToPoetry  and tag me @poetfida. The prompts are weekly, but I gave you a few extras to choose and play around with the words. All these prompts are up to your interpretation and creativity. Your Words Are:  Belong Trust Observations Heartsick Betrayal Scattered Left behind Hiatus  Stay inspired, Fida 

Hello Poetteers, I love finding poetry books from poets I find online. It's kind of disappointing when half the the poems in their books are poems they have shared online before the book is published. I have to confess I once did the same thing. I'm more conscious of it now. One or two sneak peeks are fine for promotion but more than that and what's the point of getting the book unless the poet's work is something you read and can read it multiple times. They have to be really good to be able to have that. Some poems I read multiple times and it still surprises you. Other poems I've read once and it's enough for that one time because they are simple. It's hard to explain but I hope it makes sense. What do you think?

Hello Poetteers, I was running on the excitement of a new idea and working on something new. But then it wore off and I fell behind. I kept going and at one point I thought I didn't love this idea anymore. I wanted to quit. I told myself no. I still love this idea. I just need a little more wiggle room. So I changed up some things. When I started the project I limited myself to one book but then I let myself use any of my books. As you saw I tried to keep organized by going in order of the book. I switched to doing what calls to me. Drawing the Muslim girls was my favorite part. It felt like I needed to do a new piece every day but I let myself redraw something if I felt the need to do so. I fell behind for a few days and caught up. But I fell behind for a week and caught back up. But then I fell behind again. I saw some people use the progress pictures as part of the project. I decided to try it out and it helped me catch up.  Maybe the structure of the projec...

Hello Poetteers, Challenges come in many ways. Small or big. I'll be stepping outside of my comfort zone and doing something different. All my collections have been self-published. Before self-publishing, let alone the decision to publish, that was outside of my comfort zone. Now that is my new comfort zone. I've been working on a new poetry collection. It's about my journey with hijab and disability. See my journey with hijab. From being naive to seeing the complexities. See how I deal with my disability and anxiety. See how love helped with all of this. My plan for it is to submit it to a few publishers/press. It's scary yet exciting!! Add to Goodreads. But that isn't the only thing I'm working on. As you know I've been creating monthly poetry bundles and now I'm working on a prompt book. It's divided into three parts. The first is of loving your body, mind and taking care of it. The second part is about appreciating culture. The la...

Hello Poetteers, As I was doing my own research for poetry publishers this question popped up on my feed: Does anyone know any publishers that publish poetry books? Later on, while hosting #PoetteerChat I asked what everyone’s plan is for a year from now. Most of you said to be published. I promised a list of publishers, so here’s the top 7 I found. Along with the publisher, I will mention the poets they represent. I want to work with someone I can trust. Seeing familiar names makes them more trustable in my opinion. Andrew McMeel - has published Amanda Lovelace, Lang Leav, Rupi Kaur and more.  Dancing Girl Press - has published our very own Amanda N. Butler.  Bottlecap Press - has published Courtney LeBlanc  Button Poetry - has published Olivia Gatwood, Sierra DeMulder and more.  Two Sylvias Press - has published Jeannine Hall Gailey, Kelli Russell Agodon, Martha Silano and more.  Write Bloody - has published Sarah Kay, Andrea Gibson and mo...

Hello Poetteers, Today's poetry challenge is the letter Q. You can find all the challenges in the April Poetry Bundle . Word Prompt Quit Questions What are you currently trying to do? What did you give up on? Why did you give up on it? Was it a good or bad choice to give it up? Poetry Form Quatern: This poem has 16 lines broken up into 4 quatrains (or 4-line stanzas). Each line is comprised of eight syllables. The first line is the refrain. In the second stanza, the refrain appears in the second line; in the third stanza, the third line; in the fourth stanza, the fourth (and final) line. There are no rules for rhyming or iambics. ( source ). Stay inspired, Fida  Find all the challenges in the April Poetry Bundle . 

Hello Poetteers, As you know the A to Z blog challenge is coming up. April is also national poetry month. Of course, I found a way to combine the two events. Three years ago I wrote original poetry. This year I will be writing poetry prompts. Along with this, I'll be participating in the 100-day project. My project will be sketching my poetry. Follow along in #100daysofsketchedpoems. List of word prompts. For in-depth prompts, check out the April Poetry Bundle .  I won't be blogging every day like the challenge calls for. I will be keeping to my regular schedule of blogging once a week. That won't take away from the content or value of the challenge. You will be able to find all the poetry prompts in the April Poetry Bundle . Talking about the April prompts, this time last year I started #dailypoetrygram . I'm changing it up. I asked you if you wanted daily or weekly prompts and the chosen one was weekly prompts. Stay tuned next month for the change. T...

Hello Poetteers, I'm bringing in the new month with a new set of poetry prompts! These prompts are different. You got a taste of it in past prompts about culture and faith. The others have been fun, random and lighthearted. These are a bit more important, serious and mature. For in-depth questions to help with these word prompts you can purchase the poetry bundle . I'll be participating along side you. The prompts are up to your interpretation and creativity. You can repost my challenge graphic on your Instagram profile for reference. Be sure to tag your poems on Instagram with #dailypoetrygram so we can all see it.Tag me ( @poetfida ) so I can leave some love. Stay inspired, Fida 

Hello Poetteers, I'm grateful for this campaign . When I heard of it before I thought it was great but I thought I had nothing to say. Seeing other posts I realized I have things to confess but I'm scared of saying them. I missed the opportunity. As I shared more original poetry I felt stuck. I couldn't move forward unless I shared behind the scenes and truths. I started the series, Poet Confessions ( blog and IG ). After starting that I felt better. I could finally move forward. This time when The Imperfect Boss campaign  presented itself I jumped at the chance to be a part of it. I felt less alone. I saw myself in many of the fears other people expressed. I came up with more confessions than I shared. More came up as I shared the few you saw. I worried about sharing mine. I worried I would ramble. Maybe I did. I worried if I made sense. After this, I feel understood. Another layer of me was peeled back and seen. I love to reflect on the opportunities I take....

Hello Poetteers, Writing and editing poetry can be simple. You can "hack" poetry. Download the PDF for future reference to use as a checklist. Writing Poetry Hacks Start with a title: I haven't tried it, so I don't know if it works. Write a "found" poem: take words, phrases, & passages from other sources & reframing them as poetry. Word association exercise: pick a word and write everything that comes to mind. Pick your favorites and rearrange into a poem. Choose to write a shape poem. You will already have a subject & visually appealing. Acrostic: Write about the word you choose and you already have a title.  Book Spine Poetry: pick several book titles and arrange them into a poem. "Transcribing poetry from admired masters can help, too, I've found. It's more visceral than reading." from @abetterjulie. Situate yourself away from noise and distractions.  Editing Poetry Hacks Read aloud. Try removing or m...

Hello Poetteers, Don't have time to read right now? Download the PDF version . I loved sharing with you ways to title your poems. Sometimes the title is obvious. You’ll find the perfect phrase within the poem. Other times it’s a bit hard. Here’s my secret to titling poems. Ask yourself and your poems these questions. What emotion does your poem focus on? Find an adjective that describes the emotion your poem is giving.  What is your poem about? Use the topic in your title.  Look for repeated words, phrases and metaphors. Its emphasis within the poem should be shown in the title.  Place the results together. Experiment with the wording and arrangement. Does it reflect your poem? Example: Take a look at my poem, Weary Hope . I repeated the word hope, so i knew it needed to be in the title. The beginning of the poem talks about being drained. Other words for drained are tired and weary, so that was the adjective I needed to add. Together I came up wit...

Hello Poetteers, Emotion is the heart and magic of a poem. As the writer of the poem you want it to feel right in the heart. If it doesn't, it won't send the message. Let's say you wrote all that you could, or think you could. The emotion doesn't come across. Questions can be asked to pull it out of you. To do that you need an outside source. I'm available to help edit your work. Message me with your poem! Also get a pricing package + free editing checklist when you sign up for my Poetteers List.

Hello Poetteers, You have the title of your poem. If you don't, I give three suggestions in part one . Placement of your title is almost as important. You don't want the title to take away from the poem. 1. Have the title on top of the poem. 2. Put your title at the end of the poem. 3. Some poems already have a title placed for you. For example the acrostic has the title on the side of the poem. stay inspired,  Fida P.S. There is a poetry title cheat sheet now available!

Hello Poetteers, Recently I've given a week's worth of poetry prompts to work on throughout last month. I'm kicking it up a notch this month and giving a whole month's worth to do. I'll be participating along side you. The prompts are up to your interpretation and creativity. You can repost my challenge graphic on your Instagram profile for reference, or download the prompt list PDF . Be sure to tag your poems on Instagram with #dailypoetrygram so we can all see it. Tag me ( @poetfida ) so I can leave some love. stay inspired, Fida

Hello Poetteers, It's a new month which means a new set of poetry challenges. It's a week long challenge. You can take the whole week or month to complete it. I'll be participating along side you. The prompts are up to your interpretation and creativity. You can repost my challenge graphic on your Instagram profile for reference, or download the prompt list PDF . Be sure to tag your poems on Instagram with #dailypoetrygram so we can all see it. Tag me ( @poetfida ) so I can leave some love.

Hello Poetteers,  Some authors believe their beliefs in love and life should show through in their writing while others feel that they shouldn't and the beliefs that show up in the story is up to the character. In fiction stories, whether it's the author's beliefs or the character's beliefs, it is understandable but non-fiction is different. You write of your beliefs and your beliefs should shine through. I'm picky about the songs I listen to. When I listen to songs, I stop if they are inappropriate. Inappropriate to me is drugs and sex. Drugs isn't good to do and sex is something that holds a special meaning and should be private instead of being overly described. There is a fine line. You want it to be normal but you don't want it to be overly described that it takes away from what it is. Lots of well known songs talk of a lover. It's romantic but some are too sexual for listeners to think of anything else other than that. If the sex i...

Hello Poetteers, In this series I'd like to highlight my favorite poets. I had the honor of getting in touch with Noor Shirazie and interviewing her for you today. Noor Shirazie is a 24 year old creativity enthusiast and author of ' Mourning Departures '.  When and how did you get introduced to poetry?  I was introduced to poetry through some of my earliest English classes but was more intrigued by my mom's poetry. She's been writing for decades. I was really impressed and blown away by her pieces upon first reading them. She also motivated me because she showed that it's possible to pursue a passion without pursuing it as a career. It was a very important lesson at a time when I was still figuring out which career path to opt for. In my culture, writing isn't the most reputable career, so for her to write passionately, it encouraged me to give it a try as well without worrying about societal or cultural limitations. What is your inspiration behind...