Guest Post - "Haiku and Micropoetry" and "Equinox" by Madhuri Maitra

Moving finger…

The first Enid Blyton I read was "The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage." All of six, I fought sleep to read it through the end, not understanding half of it, but hooked!

As I devoured all Blytons and then many other books, the persistent niggle in the mind was – “I have to write, and write well.” Four decades later, I feel blessed to have two titles - ‘Haiku and other Micropoetry’ and ‘Equinox’ – to my name; and a website www.of-prose-and-poetry.com that I enjoy populating with good reads each week.

What took so long? These excerpts from my piece – A Writer’s Angst (2011) – trace a journey from doubt to self-belief – something many will identify with.

“Somewhere do I fear that my work is not “the best”? Of course it is not, I answer myself. Moreover, I am not in competition – at least not with anyone but myself. Whatever I do, there will always be some worse and some better. So why this unintelligent demand for acclaim! And from whom? And what is it worth in the long run?”

“…not judge myself as I write”

“Too lazy to take the responsibility!”

“I realize I had another bugbear – I am more comfortable with pen and paper – the romance, the fragrance of paper etc. Then it becomes a pain to type all of that. Further procrastination!”

“Poetry is not my forte; that I am sure of. Neither is fiction…”

Famous last words! My first two books ARE poetry and fiction!!

Such needless negative self-talk we put ourselves through!

Do catch the complete A Writer’s Angst only on www.of-prose-and-poetry.com.