I have a very difficult time writing sonnets. This would probably explain why I have only written two. I don’t have much problem with meter or rhyme, but its that damn iambic that sticks me each time. I’d be much more competent writing in dactylic pentameter or hexameter. I think I tend to speak in dactyls. I always have trouble with content. My second sonnet [found below somewhere] was bitchin’ in its initial free verse form. Perhaps the way I go about writing them is my problem. Once I get the idea I jot down the main theme, using the right words for what I’m thinking of. My problem lies in execution, because most of those words won’t work in iambic pentameter. I also write my lines backwards starting with the fifth foot [I’m confident this has something to do with the dactyl thinger].
Long before I am finished with the damn thing I cannot tell whether a line is correct iambic pentameter or not. I’m just happy if it has ten syllables. I think I’ll write ten syllable rhyming sonnets for a while and then try to ease myself into some sort of meter, most likely dactylic somethingerother. The good thing about writing sonnets is that you must make each word count. I still have too many cheapos in there, although sometimes a properly placed ‘this’ or ‘that’ can rock the party.