I just like to play.

I enjoy the structure of rhyme and meter now and then, so if I'm choosing to tackle a couplet or sonnet or formal poem, I like to go through and think of one word or phrase and then find words and phrases that will suit it. I check meter 500 times. I'm lovely-Rita-meter-maid about it.

I also like blank verse, but that requires a more open mind. I edit those, but often times the first words the open mind leads me to are the best.

I have a tendency to cram many images in a small space, so often I have to go and thin stuff out.

I, also, just like to see how words sound together. Last weekend, we came upon the phrase "noodle duty." Say it out loud. Isn't it perfect? I'd parse the words and sounds in a linguistic way so its perfection would be clearly laid out. But that's geeky enough for the geek-off thread.

I tend to write lyrics more than anything and it is very hard to put into words how I do it. Most of the time, the music comes first. From that, I get ideas rhythmically as to the structure. Other times, the lyrics come first and I write music that (hopefully) compliments them.

Either way, I rarely have an idea beforehand as to a concept, other than possibly a hook that I want to work into the chorus. I find that if I just start writing, eventually things take shape and I figure out what the hell I'm trying to say.

My biggest problem is that I don't do it often enough. When I am in practice, I can write very easily. Take too much time off and I spend a lot of time staring at a blank screen and generally discard most of what I write. I used to force myself to write for an hour a day. I should probably start doing that again. It gets my mind in the habit of thinking of lyrical structure.

I don't have a style because I hate to write. Hate it hate it hate it. When I do write (journaling, professional) I tend to just go with it. I hate editing (my stuff only) even more. I'm actually a great editor of other peoples' stuff.

I find it VERY ironic that, these days, I do the majority of my communication via IM or message boards although the phone is still an important part of my life. Yay phone!

But, you'll never see me wasting my time on creative writing. It's like masturbation to me - fun at the time but, ultimately not very fulfilling.

Maybe you should attach a pen to the end of your Hittachi Magic Wand. You might enjoy writing more.

HA! No, I should attach a pen to my mouth.

I just sit in front of blank paper and see what happens, wait for whatever the keyboard or pencil helps me produce.

Always like the haiku threads and my haiku usually start with some phrase that gets forced into the syllable stucture and the rest falls into place.

Another one of my favorite things to do is sing with the radio while I drive and change the words to all the songs. It's usually some potty humor, sex humor or a rhyme about the talentless hack singing the song but it's another outlet for the same kind of creativity as poetry writing to me.

Okay, I'll start with the guilty disclaimer that I'm not writing any poetry right now and haven't for several years but I when I do I tend to have something worked out in my head before I sit down to write anything out. I spend a lot of time in my car and I compose a lot in my head while driving. (That led to a lot of poems about driving in my car...) Unfortunately when I try to write my masterpiece down it suddenly turns into a plodding pile of words that don't make any sense. When I finally get something on paper I edit it to death, take out any unnecessary words, look for the perfect image. Sometimes there's something left.

I don't attempt rhyme or meter. I find that when I'm reading poetry or involved in a writing group, everything in my life feels like it should be a poem. Ode to the car wash, anyone?