Homophones and Consequence Poetry

Writer’s thought for the week: “Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice.”  ~ Cyril Connolly

Homophones are words that sound identical but are spelled differently.  Think bored and board or foul and fowl.  If we choose the wrong one, a spell-checker is no help.

Working with a critique group, I’ve noticed that some writers, myself included, tend to make the same mistakes with these words.  To and too are common mistakes, as are for and fore. To weed out embarrassing mistakes before hitting “send”, we need to be aware of this pitfall. 

A good tactic is creating a list of words you frequently misspell to develop your own private checklist.  You can start by reviewing a list of the 100 most common homophones.

Consequence Prize in Poetry
http://www.consequencemagazine.org/poetrycontest.html

Deadline: October 1, 2011 (received)

This prize recognizes exceptional work addressing the consequences of armed conflict or social injustice. The award for best poem includes a cash prize of $200. The winning poet and three finalists will have their work published in the Spring 2012 issue of CONSEQUENCE Magazine.

There is no entry fee and you may submit up to three poems of any length.