Hello Pubbers,

I hope all of you have had an amazing week!! For those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving, we want to wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving. All of us here at the Pub want every one of you to know how grateful and thankful we are to have you!

Lets jump right into announcements!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Biggest Competition Ever is still in it's judging phase, but here is a list of the winners so far:

Week 1 Winner – A Moment In Time – By @MystresMyna

Week 2 Winner – Father – By @meahrey

Week 3 Winner – Reminisce – By @glassEyed

Week 4 Winner - Kiss - By @ArcadiaM

Week 5 Winner - Dido of Carthage - By @AmbergrisJane

Week 6 Winner - Lesson - By @TheGeekestGirl

Week 7 Winner - Dreams - By @Andrewagreen

Week 8 Winner - A Lifetime of Advancement - By @RichardHigley

Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you again to everyone who participated.  Check back soon for the finally results. Also all of the winners need to let us know if you will be competing in the Pubber of the Year competition.

It is coming down to the wire to get your submissions in to the Poets Pub 2016 Collection.  We have received some amazing entires!  When you have a chance head over there and peruse them; I am sure they will give you the inspiration to write a wonderful piece to add to this collection.  The 2016 Collection can be found here:  http://my.w.tt/UiNb/Yi7AEfoZmy

We are also still accepting submissions for A Pub Christmas, which can be found here:
http://my.w.tt/UiNb/KNQr8zhZmy

OLD BUSINESS:

The 200 poem challenge is still in full swing! Our very own @BillTemple1957 has reached the goal of writing 200 poems and has now set out to see if he can make it to 400 poems by December 31. Let's all throw our family support behind him along with everyone else that has taken on this challenge.  Show them some love by stopping by their profiles and checking out their progress.
Here is a list of those who are participating:

@BillTemple1957
@MystresMyna
@Ms_Meg
@MeghanBarnhouse
@Anjalisinha
@AutumnElf555
@TheWizardStyles

a note from Bill : I know this challenge looks formidable to most. But the point of this challenge was not to have you pulling your hair out to complete the 200 poems. It was about learning to use all and any inspiration that was available to you. It was about looking around and writing about whatever came to mind. Finding the hidden inspiration in ever speck of dust in the sunlight, to children playing in the garden. Learning to write with no editing, no second guessing. Just whatever came to mind.

But most of all, it was simply about writing Poems. No matter if you wrote 200 or you only wrote 20. At least you were writing. There is still a month left to be a part of this. Join us and challenge yourself to one (12 line) poem a day.

NEW BUSINESS:

This week I would like to feature the Japanese style of poetry known as the Haiku, which is the subject of the Poets Pub Collection -

Tanka/Haiku/Senryu,
which can be found here:
http://my.w.tt/UiNb/rt6TUVAFBy

Last week we discussed the limerick which has a specific rhyme pattern, however the haiku has a specific syllable count.  The haiku is traditionally a poem about nature with 3 lines and the syllable pattern of 5-7-5.  The original incarnation of this elegant form of poetry was called the waka and it consisted of 5 lines and 31 syllables broken down in to a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern; this form dates back to the 7th century.  In the eighteen hundreds the haiku as we know it, was born when the poet Masaoka Shiki revised the waka and focused on the first three lines, wanting to bring perfection to this short poem.

Our very own Poets Pub collection of haikus has a wonderful sampling of this beautiful poetic style. It is well worth your time to give it a read.

I recently came across a new twist to the haiku, called a haiku train or a haiku crown.  These are created by taking the last line of the first haiku and using it as the first line of the next haiku.  When you chain several together it becomes a haiku train and if you can bring it back around to where the final line of the last haiku is the same as the first line of the first haiku then you have a haiku crown.  It  may sound complicated but it really isn't once you get going.

So this weeks poetry prompts are to write a haiku, haiku train and/or a haiku crown to add to our collection.  Take a moment and look around at the gifts Mother Nature has given us and let them inspired you. 

As always please Private Message any submissions to @PoetsPub and be sure to include the collection you want it to be included in, your screen name, and the poem title.  If you have further questions please refer to "Behind the Bar" or please do not hesitate to ask.

In closing I would like to remind everyone to go check out the @Storytellers_Saloon, Poets Pub's sister sight, when you have a chance.

Busted Gulch Vol. 3:
http://my.w.tt/UiNb/qKQ1BoI3py  

The continuing story of this dusty western town is well under way and things are heating up, Beloved Betsy, the town cow has gone missing!!! So stop in and see how the folks in Busted Gulch are dealing with this latest mishap, be sure to read the comments as well.

The Storytellers Saloon is still looking for submissions for:

Stories Around the Globe
http://my.w.tt/UiNb/f3mEyXh4py

It is a collection of short stories form around the world, written in the native language of the author, so if you think this might be something you're interested in please head over there check it out.

Well I think that is all for this week, please feel free, as always to hang out and meet someone new, make a new friend or read a new poem or two.

Until next week I wish you all happy writing!

Cheers from your Mystres Of Chatter

@MystresMyna

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Mystres for another wonderful and interesting Chatter.

I just have a couple things this week.

I would like to see the Chatter become more personal, so if you have a birthday, an anniversary of some kind, birth announcement, engagement, graduation ...

You get my point. Drop us a private message and I am sure our wonderful Mystres of Chatter would be pleased to include it in the Pub Chatter.

I had an incident this week with a new Poet, who made a submission to the Pub.

This Poet became very perturbed with me, because of the way I handled her Poem. The Poet was upset that I did not present the Poem in the format she wanted and i was accused of editing the Poem without permission.

I was ordered to take down the Poem immediately.

I did so, but informed this person that future submissions would would not be accepted.

The Poet then became irate with me and blocked the Pub.

Why am I telling you this, instead of quietly letting it slip on by?

Simple.

There are 3 of us that run the Poets Pub at this time.

Sona does a lot of behind the scenes work, Myna looks after the chatter and helps Sona with covers and such.

That leaves me to do most of the posting, organizing and general running of the Pub.

All new Poets are asked to read our guidelines before submitting Poems and we have said on many occasions that we simply do not have the time to organize and edit some Poems to meet the format at which the Poet wants it presented.

We do our best to accommodate, but time restrictions often apply. I simply don't have time to spend 10 - 15 minutes, fighting with Wattpad's posting program, to get the Poem the way the Poet wants. I apologize, but that is simply the way it is.

As for editing, I did not edit the Poem in any way. Although we have the right to edit any Poem or refuse any Poem (because of content), we rarely do.

I like to exercise Poetic freedom here, but we do need guidelines.

Bottom line is simple ...

We do our best here and I personally spend many hours of my free time here at the Pub, helping to promote a atmosphere of inspiration, dedication and support. It is not always an easy or fun job and it does cut into, not only my personal life, but my writing life as well.

BUT ....

I do this because I love it.

And above all else, I do it because I love to see Poets blossom here on Wattpad and to succeed.

Poetry is often a forgotten literary form here on Wattpad.

I personally think it is the most wonderful form of writing there is and one of the most versatile.

I will run this site for as long as I can and I will surround myself with the best people I can to help.

But we are not perfect and I will continue to run this site, as I feel it should be run

And, once in a while, I am sure I will piss off a few people, but I believe that overall, most everyone here is happy.

If I am wrong, please let me know.

Bill