Author Archives: Robert Lee Brewer

Robert Lee Brewer

About Robert Lee Brewer

Senior Content Editor, Writer's Digest Community.

Glose or Glosa: Poetic Forms

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I’m loving these Poetic Form Fridays! This week, let’s take a look at the glose or glosa Glose or Glosa Poems The glose or glosa is an interesting Spanish form that reminds me a bit of the golden shovel or cento. The basic premise is that you quote four lines of...

10 Best Love Poems Ever!

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Happy Valentine’s Day! I thought this year I’d share my top 10 best love poems ever written. Of course, this is not an exhaustive (or even overly authoritative) list. It’s just my favorites, and I encourage everyone to share their favorites in the comments below. I guess I should explain what...

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 471

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For today’s prompt, write a language poem. All poems include language, right? But this poem may include a foreign and/or coded language. Or use jargon. And there’s the opportunity to play with a language-based form like a tautogram or acrostic. ***** Build an Audience for Your Poetry! Learn how to find...

WD Poetic Form Challenge: Catena Rondo

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I hope to have the results of the hir a thoddaid challenge in the next week or so, but in the meantime, let’s write the catena rondo! Find the rules for writing catena rondos here. It’s a fun form filled with rhymes and refrains. So start writing them and sharing here...

Imayo: Poetic Forms

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For this Poetic Form Friday, let’s play with the imayo! Imayo Poems The imayo is a 4-line Japanese poem that has 12 syllables in each line. If a 12-syllable line sounds unique for a Japanese poetic form, don’t fret. There is a planned caesura (or pause) between the first 7 syllables...

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 470

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For today’s prompt, write a fair poem. The first way my mind goes is to write a poem that is focused on being fair in how people treat each other. But there’s also the county fair, the state fair, and the (oh yeah!) book fair. There are fair ratings on collectibles...

5 Things Author Websites Need to Find More Success

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When it comes to finding success as a writer, there are few elements more important than a website. This post shares the five things author websites need to find more success. Sure, authors can get more advanced, but checking every box on this list is imperative. Believe it or not, these...

Tautogram: Poetic Forms

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Let’s keep these Poetic Form Fridays rolling with the tautogram! Tautogram Poems The tautogram is best explained by its Greek root words of “tauto” meaning “the same” and “gramma” meaning “letter.” Basically, all words in the poem begin with the same letter. So pick a letter–any letter–and get poeming! Note: A...

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 469

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For today’s prompt, write an encounter poem. The encounter could be a scheduled appointment. Or an unexpected meeting. The encounter itself could be a happy event. Or produce sad, anxious, scary, or annoying emotions. Could be person-to-person. Or person-to-animal, animal-to-animal, or even robot-to-alien (because, why not?). ***** Build an Audience for...

Catena Rondo: Poetic Forms

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After trying out some new forms recently, I’ve decided to start having Poetic Form Fridays (kind of like how I’ve reserved Wednesdays for poetry prompts). So this week, let’s take on the catena rondo! Catena Rondo Poems I found the catena rondo in Robin Skelton’s The Shapes of Our Singing. In...

Best Settings in Literature

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While prepping for the upcoming Virtual Conference for Novelists, it occurred to me that I have my favorite heroes and villains of literature. But what about the best settings in literature? I mean, the Harry Potter series of books would be so different without Hogwarts. Winston’s experiences in 1984 wouldn’t have...

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 468

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For today’s prompt, write a note poem. My first thought is that this is a poem written as a short note to someone. Maybe a list of tasks to perform, a note about the state of the house, or a love note. But there are also musical notes. And I can’t...

Senryu: Poetic Forms

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When I looked over my revised list of poetic forms recently, I was surprised to see that senryu was not on there. It’s one of those forms I assumed was already covered. But I probably just mentioned the form while talking about haiku. So let’s look at senryu! Senryu Poems When...

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 467

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For today’s prompt, write an expectation poem. The expectation could be realistic or unrealistic. It could be expecting a check or payment, expecting a visitor or acknowledgment, or just expecting a nice word. I expect to see some unexpected takes on this prompts. ***** Build an Audience for Your Poetry! Learn...

How Poetry and Journalism Intersect for Me

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From time to time, I feature guest posts on this blog, and today’s post shares how poetry and journalism intersects for John B Lane. Personally, I love looking at how the various forms of writing intersect. John B Lane is an award-winning author and instructional designer, as well as a pioneer...

How to Write a Love Poem: From a Love Expert

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Okay, I’m not a love expert. But I do know how to write a love poem. In fact, I’m surprised I haven’t already written a post on writing love poems. Because that’s like my thing. Every poem-a-day challenge, whether April or November, includes a love poem (and anti-love poem) prompt. And...

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 466

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For today’s prompt, take the phrase “(adjective) (noun),” replace the adjective and noun with those of your choosing, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles include: “Jagged Cut,” “Broken Curse,” and/or “Simple Rhyme.” ***** Build an Audience for Your Poetry! Learn how...

WD Poetic Form Challenge: Rondine Winner

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Here are the results of the Writer’s Digest Poetic Form Challenge for the rondine along with a Top 10 list. Look for a new challenge later this week. Read all of them here. Here is the winning rondine: The Memory Store, by Taylor Graham It’s all swept clean, Main Street seven...

What Is UX Content vs UI Copy? And Why Does It Matter?

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Often, I’m so focused on traditionally published forms of writing (nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and script writing) that I overlook some more professionals genres. Recently, I came across the term “UX Content,” and I didn’t know what it meant. While researching, I found there’s often confusion in UX content vs UI copy....

Best Poetry Posts of 2018

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There are people who like year-end lists, and those who don’t. I happen to like them. And I thought it’d be fun to compile the best poetry posts of 2018 on WritersDigest.com. These posts weren’t necessarily posted in 2018. But they are the poetry-related posts with the most unique page views...

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 465

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Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fun end of the year. Now, let’s get poeming. For today’s prompt, write an exploration poem. There are so many places to explore, aren’t there? Explore the house, neighborhood, or city. Peruse the passions of the heart. Mine the mind to see what...

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 464

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I hope everyone is having a safe and happy holiday season. Believe it or not, this is the final Wednesday prompt of 2018. The next one will be on the other side of the ball drop. For today’s prompt, write a survey poem. Answering survey questions may sound like a boring...

Trenta-Sei: Poetic Forms

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I’m still in the mood to explore new forms (after looking at skeltonic verse last week), so let’s take a stab at the trenta-sei! Trenta-Sei Poems The trenta-sei form was created by the poet John Ciardi. It’s a 36-line poem (the word “trenta-sei” is Italian for 36) that has a rhyme...