Brian Trent dot com

I like to think of a writer’s struggle in military terms… the quest of a lone warrior against a mighty empire. Robert E. Howard would have enjoyed the metaphor.

This summer I decided to step up the attack: I have pitted my work against a medley of contests, magazines, publishers, and various competitions. There are two ways of looking at writing; you can do it quietly, on the backs of envelopes like Emily Dickinson, and not really care about connecting to the world beyond your four walls. Or you can actively campaign in public arenas, with the publishing world’s equivalent of Roman Emperors watching from above.

I’ve just been informed of two small achievements. My poem “A Library Died” just won 7th Place in the Writer’s Digest International Poetry Contest. I wrote it about my great-grandfather, Frank Cipriano, who passed away at the age of 96, and could still remember the streets and sites of his native Naples. At family gatherings, he could sit off by himself, and take mental tours of the Italy he knew.

The other news is that my Travel piece “Mountain of Ghosts” won Honorable Mention in the Best Travel Writing Competition. You can see the list here.   It is a recounting of my hike up Mount Fuji, throughout the course of a night, to reach the peak in time for sunrise. My friend Alice snapped a pic of the moment, which you can see on the About the Author Page here.  Japan is an amazingly beautiful and unique country. What’s most interesting is that in spite of all the hyper-industrialization there, it still manages to retain its mystical spots, wreathed in mist and time, for people to enjoy. Japan doesn’t exist in the present; depending on where you go, you’re either in yesterday or tomorrow.

Across thousands of miles, it is impossible not to write about it. But then again, for a writer, it is impossible not to write.

The Connecticut Muse asked me to comment about writing once. “You know you’re a writer,” I said, “If the poetry book on your kitchen table was a pile of napkins last week.”

You don’t choose to write. It chooses you, and you obey.

Random Fact:

Gunpowder was invented by accident by Chinese alchemists 1,100 years ago. They were trying to make an elixir of eternal life.

Quote of the Day: “We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.” Titus Livius