Allan Douglas Writes!

Self described as “an author, writer, prattler, dreamer” Douglas Allan Bittinger (pen name Allan Douglas) has been writing articles, short stories, poetry and novels since the late 1960's.

Three of his books have been published so far; a fourth book is in progress. Stories about his life as a mountain man wannabe are posted on his blog, Simple Life Prattle. He also blogs about writing at The Write Stuff.

Welcome to Writers in Business! Let’s start off with an overview of your experiences and they have become part of what you write.

I have blogs that share what I've learned as a woodworker, as a gardener, as a writer, and as someone who has learned to live a less frantic lifestyle. I have been a real teacher: I've taught many woodworking classes at Rockler Woodworking, taught 5th grade computer science, I was a pre-school teacher for many years, taught gymnastics, and I currently teach a young adult Sunday School class.

The Write Stuff is a way to inform others but was conceived as a marketing tool for my books for writers. The other blogs have no such ulterior motives - yet. I am working on my Mountain Man's Gardening Guide, which would be featured on one of my other blogs - and mentioned frequently in my column for Grit Magazine: Of Mice and Mountain Men.

You are a man of many talents! Tell us about your Simple Life Prattle blog.

Easy to understand, deal with, and use. Not elaborate, ornate or complicated. Free of deceit, unpretentious. Humble. Those are our favorite dictionary definitions of the word Simple and they express our vision of The Simple Life.

We are accomplishing this by moving closer to nature and being aware of the Earth, by seeking God’s will for us, embracing the good things and happy times that are here for us right now, and by uncomplicating our lives. We can not (yet) claim to be minimalists, but we do embrace many of those precepts.

We moved from St Louis MO. to the Great Smoky Mountains in 2001 to begin our pursuit of simplicity. We live on 5 acres of wooded, steeply sloping mountainside land. Mountain side living can provide a few challenges, but it is serenely beautiful here, the air is clean and fresh and we love living where the clouds recline for the night. The articles offered in the blog posts are snippets of our journey and discoveries we have made along the way.

The articles I have read on your blog are inspirational. I admire the simple, uncomplicated way of life and hope someday to follow that path. Your other blog is for writers, the Write Stuff.

The Write Stuff is a collection of articles on the topic of being a writer. Some apply to blogging, some to writing for magazines, some to writing a book, some to marketing your work, and some to the life, frustrations and blessings of being a freelance writer.

I am not a world famous author, nor a teacher of creative writing. I am just a guy sharing what I’ve learned. If you are wondering if I’m just parroting what others have said or actually know something to talk about, check out the About The Author page. I think you will see that while I may not be on the NYT Best Sellers list, I *do* have some experience.

While exploring your web site and blogs, I read your article Writing for Profit or Pleasure: Where (and how) to Publish and was impressed by the amount of information it contained. Useful tips, thoughtful suggestions and concise instruction. I understand you share details in your book, Writing for Profit or Pleasure; Where to Publish Your Work. Can you tell us more about it?

Yes, my book is 146 pages, 30,000 words of concise, insightful information about where and how a writer can achieve publication of their writings. Whether you write for income or for the joy of it, whether you aspire to write on-line or for print, this book has a wealth of information to help you find and secure publication.

It can be purchased through Amazon as a print book , in Kindle format and for the Nook .

Can you share a tip with my readers?

In my view, blogging and social media are about quality not quantity. By that I mean that gathering a group of 2,000 people who are actually interested in what you say and will read your stuff is far more valuable than 10,000 people who ignore you. Big numbers may look impressive, but are of little use other than impressing people who don't know better.

Very true words of wisdom! Thank you for visiting us at Writers in Business! Readers, you can learn more about Allan Douglas by visiting him online at Allan Douglas.com.

Sage Cohen on Poetry and Writing the Life Poetic

Please extend a warm welcome to award-winning poet Sage Cohen, author of Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry published this year by Writer’s Digest Books, and the poetry collection Like the Heart, the World. Sage received her BA in Comparative Literature at Brown University and MA in English, Creative Writing from New York University. She feels the real learning laboratory is life!

Her web sites Writing the Life Poetic , Sage Said So and blog Writing the Life Poetic are filled with her creativity in both the literary and artistic realm. I just love her original illustrations!

~How does poetry make the world a better place to live?
I think poetry fills the gap left by the so-called objective truth that dominates our media, science and legislation. Many of us want to comprehend and communicate the complexity of human experience on a deeper, more soulful level. Poetry gives us a shared language that is more subtle, more human, and—at its best—more universally “true” than we are capable of achieving with just the facts.

~ How has integrating the reading and writing of poetry into your life impacted you?

I will risk sounding melodramatic in saying that poetry saved my life. I stumbled into a writing practice at an extremely vulnerable time in my early teenage years. Poetry gave me then, as it does today, a way of giving voice to feelings and ideas that felt too risky and complicated to speak out loud. There was a kind of alchemy in writing through such vulnerabilities...by welcoming them in language, I was able to transform the energies of fear, pain and loneliness into a kind of friendly camaraderie with myself. In a way, I wrote myself into a trust that I belonged in this world.

~Why did you write Writing the Life Poetic?
While working with writers for the past fifteen years, I have observed that even the most creative people fear that they don’t have what it takes to write and read poetry. I wrote Writing the Life Poetic to put poetry back into the hands of the people––not because they are aspiring to become the poet laureate of the United States––but because poetry is one of the great pleasures in life.”

~What sets Writing the Life Poetic apart from other poetry how-to books?
The craft of poetry has been well documented in a variety of books that offer a valuable service to serious writers striving to become competent poets. Now it’s time for a poetry book that does more than lecture from the front of the classroom. Writing the Life Poetic was written to be a contagiously fun adventure in writing. Through an entertaining mix of insights, exercises, expert guidance and encouragement, I hope to get readers excited about the possibilities of poetry––and engaged in a creative practice. Leonard Cohen says: “Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” My goal is that Writing the Life Poetic be the flame fueling the life well lived.

~Is it true that your book and your baby were conceived and birthed at the same time? What did you learn from this process?
Yes, I often refer to my son Theo and Writing the Life Poetic as my multi-media twins! I found out I was pregnant with Theo about two months into the writing of the book and I was making final edits to the book in layout two weeks after he was born. It was fascinating to have two of the most potent creative processes I’ve ever experienced happening in tandem. What I learned is a great respect for the birthing journey; it is one that has completely rewritten me along the way.

I am writing a monthly column this year for The Writer Mama zine titled “The Articulate Conception” which chronicles my journey of becoming an author and a mom. Through the course of ten essays, I am exploring this double-whammy birth trajectory--from the twinkle in my eye to the bags under my eyes. The first column is available here: Articulate Conception.

~I’d love to conclude with a poem of yours. Would you be willing to share one?
Of course! Happy to!

Leaving Buckhorn Springs
By Sage Cohen

The farmland was an orchestra,
its ochres holding a baritone below
the soft bells of farmhouses,
altos of shadowed hills,
violins grieving the late
afternoon light. When I saw
the horses, glazed over with rain,
the battered old motorcycle parked
beside them, I pulled my car over
and silenced it on the gravel.
The rain and I were diamonds
displacing appetite with mystery.
As the horses turned toward me,
the centuries poured through
their powerful necks and my body
was the drum receiving the pulse
of history. The skin between me
and the world became the rhythm
of the rain keeping time with the sky
and into the music walked
the smallest of the horses. We stood
for many measures considering
each other, his eyes the quarter notes
of my heart’s staccato. This symphony
of privacy and silence: this wildness
that the fence between us could not divide.

Sage writes four monthly columns about the craft and business of writing and serves as Poetry Editor for VoiceCatcher 4. Sage co-curates a monthly reading series at Barnes & Noble and teaches the online class Poetry for the People.