500 Sonnets

A little over eleven years ago, I decided to do something different when writing what was going to be my third poetry book. This was going to be the second poetry book that I would self publish on Smashwords, and I wanted to do something different. My first self-published poetry book, titled “Recurring Dream” was a potluck book, showcasing various styles of poetry. It was all over the place, and that seemed fine for my first online poetry book. For my second self-published poetry book, I wanted to do something consistent. I wanted a book where all the poems were written in the same style, and I was a big fan of sonnets so that was an easy decision to make: I wanted to write a book filled with just sonnets. Putting together poems that rhymed was never an issue for me, so I set forth to create what would eventually become a book titled “50 Sonnets”.

I really enjoyed writing that book so after writing anther mixed poetry book titled “Poèmes du coeur” which was my first and currently only poetry book written entirely in French, I decided to write another Sonnet book. I had considered doing the same thing, just write fifty more sonnets and titled it “Another 50 Sonnets”, which doesn’t sound so bad. Instead, I choose to add a new fifty sonnets to the fifty already written, and call it “100 Sonnets”, which I released three days before my 40th birthday in October of 2015.

After taking a small break and writing another small potluck poetry book titled “Book And Ink”, I set forth to write another book of sonnets. Like the previous book, I started off with the sonnets already written and just added another hundred.  Yet during the three years it took to write the new sonnets, a lot of big things happened. My divorce had become final, my mother had passed away, and I had a stroke. Despite all the setbacks, I was able to post the new volume of sonnets, titled “200 Sonnets” in October of 2018.

When the previous sonnet book was released and making some decent sales, I had no doubt that I wanted to write another but what I was unsure about was what number I wanted to shoot for next. The lazy part of me just wanted to add another hundred and stick to that pattern. Another part of me was tempted to double the number of poems again, going from two hundred to four. Then there was the crazy part of me that said if we’re going to go as far as four hundred, why not just go for five? It took five years to complete, but that’s exactly what I chose to do. Four days ago, I released my newest poetry book on Amazon, titled “500 Sonnets”.

This book and all 500 poems within in is a volume of work that took a little over eleven years to write. My actual goal was to finish this book by my 50th birthday, but I managed to finish it with two years to spare as I turn 48 next week. I am very proud of the work that I just released, as 500 is an amazing number that looks so great on the cover. While part of me was still tempted to stop at 300 and even 400, I pushed on and that effort all seems worth while to see that impressive number on the cover.

What’s even more impressive is that while I was writing all these sonnets, I was also writing comic books for River Comics and also creating and self-publishing novels at the same time. Yes, I’ve been keeping myself busy, but this is what I enjoy doing so zero complaints from yours truly.

If you’d like to purchase an electronic copy or paperback of “500 Sonnets”, you can do so by going to the clicking on the box below:

So, this is what I’ve been up to lately. I always love to post something new just before I start a new Nano in November. This is going to be my 17th “National Novel Writing Month”, which is a 30 day marathon to write 50,000 words. I’ve successfully crossed the finish line every year except one, but that was the year I had the stroke so I’m not so hard on myself about that year. I’ve got a great novel idea that I am eager to write next month so I’m excited to get started the moment the month begins.

I hope this entry finds everyone doing well, and I’ll be back soon… possibly in November to update you on my Nano quest.

Until then, take care!

Peter