Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

A Stanza of Poets, a Revision of Writers

By L.L. Barkat 18 Comments

Zebras Playing Writer Nouns
Long-time friend of Tweetspeak, Sarah Elwell, started something on Twitter that’s more fun than anything I’ve seen in that space for… a long time.

If you don’t know Sarah, she’s a brilliant and quietly-witty writer and photographer. We suggest you pay her a visit at Knitting the Wind and consider following her on Twitter.

What She Started: A Procrastination of Writers?

Sarah asked for a little noun camaraderie on January 8, and, last I checked, her question yielded 268 likes, 48 retweets, and 131 comments.

Any thoughts on a good collective noun for writers?

eg
an articulation of writers
a blurb of writers
an introversion of writers
a procrastination of writers#writerscommunity

— sarah elwell (@SarahElwell_) January 9, 2019

I played along. A few times. Or more. (And I loved Rick Wiedeman’s reply to my “a whiteout of writers.” See below.)

A revision of writers

— Rick Wiedeman (@rickwiedeman) January 10, 2019

If you are a writer in need of some procrastination today, why not add your ideas to Sarah’s thread? Also, this would make a marvelous family dinner time, lunch date, or writer’s group prompt. As one tweeter noted, you could dig further down and customize for your own nomenclature needs—for instance, nouns for journalists, poets, novelists. But why stop there? You could name a set of family members, friends, or work-related groups. (A chalk of teachers? A wall of politicians?)

There are so many procrastinating writers having fun with this that an entrepreneurial one took notice and floated this proposition to Sarah: copyright the tweet. That sounds like an issue for Jane Friedman to weigh in on. As for me, I’m trying to refrain from yet another idea…

a proposal of writers.

See?!

It’s addictive.

And that is something to seriously consider if you join the flock, the herd, the gaggle—or, the procrastination, as the case may be.

Photo by Tambako the Jaguar, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by L.L. Barkat, author of Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing

***

Speaking of fun on Twitter…

Join us for a night of fast, fun poetry writing. One hour straight. Tuesday, January 15th, at 8 pm ET.

We’d love to write with you! 🙂

 

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
L.L. Barkat
L.L. Barkat
L.L. Barkat is the Managing Editor of Tweetspeak Poetry and the author of six books for grown-ups and four for children, including the popular 'Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing.' Her poetry has appeared on the BBC and at NPR, VQR, and The Best American Poetry.
L.L. Barkat
Latest posts by L.L. Barkat (see all)
  • Poetry Prompt: In the Wild Secret Place - January 6, 2025
  • Journeys: What We Hold in Common - November 4, 2024
  • Poetry Prompt: My Poem is an Oasis - August 26, 2024

Filed Under: Blog, Literary Humor

Try Every Day Poems...

About L.L. Barkat

L.L. Barkat is the Managing Editor of Tweetspeak Poetry and the author of six books for grown-ups and four for children, including the popular 'Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing.' Her poetry has appeared on the BBC and at NPR, VQR, and The Best American Poetry.

Comments

  1. Sandra Heska King says

    January 10, 2019 at 4:36 pm

    You’re on a roll since you put down your books. 😀

    Reply
    • L.L. Barkat says

      January 10, 2019 at 4:42 pm

      Proof is in the writing pudding. 😉 Yes!

      Reply
  2. sarah says

    January 10, 2019 at 4:49 pm

    Aww, thank you so much for the kind words <3

    Reply
    • L.L. Barkat says

      January 10, 2019 at 4:50 pm

      My pleasure. I’ve always loved your work, as I hope you always remember. 🙂

      Reply
      • sarah says

        January 13, 2019 at 1:52 am

        I remember that you were one of the first people to support me, many years ago, and I will never forget how much that support meant to me. <3

        Reply
        • L.L. Barkat says

          January 14, 2019 at 11:46 am

          Oh, that makes me smile. I’m glad, Sarah. 🙂

          Reply
  3. Maureen says

    January 10, 2019 at 5:24 pm

    Late to this and don’t know if it’s been used yet but I added:

    An emendment of writers

    Reply
    • L.L. Barkat says

      January 10, 2019 at 5:45 pm

      (Are they friends with the amendment of politicians? 😉 )

      Glad you joined the word party!

      Reply
  4. Donna says

    January 11, 2019 at 7:29 am

    Oh what fun! Thanks for pointing this out!

    I added a palette of writers
    and a pallet of writers
    And even a pallet of palettes of writers 🙂

    Reply
    • L.L. Barkat says

      January 11, 2019 at 10:54 am

      Ha! 🙂

      I could see you and Joe trying this prompt out with other careers, say, artists and physicists. 🙂 (A rainbow of artists, a superconductor of physicists? 🙂 )

      Reply
      • Donna Falcone says

        January 11, 2019 at 10:56 am

        HA HA! I like that. I’ll run it by him!

        Reply
  5. Sandra Heska King says

    January 11, 2019 at 7:55 am

    I had added groups from the animal kingdom…

    a colony of writers
    a murder of writers
    a gaggle of writers
    a pandemonium of writers
    a bloat of writers
    a prickle of writers
    a charm of writers
    a family of writers
    a team of writers

    Reply
    • L.L. Barkat says

      January 11, 2019 at 10:51 am

      I’m liking charm. 🙂

      Reply
      • Sandra Heska King says

        January 11, 2019 at 12:55 pm

        It’s better than murder. 😉

        Reply
        • L.L. Barkat says

          January 11, 2019 at 5:36 pm

          We save that for the crime writers among us. 😉

          Reply
    • Katie says

      January 11, 2019 at 11:57 am

      Like how you think, Sandy:)

      a revel of writers
      a world of writers

      Reply
      • L.L. Barkat says

        January 11, 2019 at 5:35 pm

        I love the sound of “a revel of writers.” And, it makes me want to have a writing party! 🙂

        Reply
        • Katie says

          January 11, 2019 at 11:01 pm

          Thank you, Laura:)

          Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our May Menu

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

The Graphic Novel

"Stunning, heartbreaking, and relevant illustrations"

Callie Feyen, teacher

read a summary of The Yellow Wallpaper

meet The Yellow Wallpaper characters

How to Write Poetry

Your Comments

  • Donna Hilbert on Poets and Poems: L.L. Barkat and “Beyond the Glass”
  • L.L. Barkat on Poets and Poems: L.L. Barkat and “Beyond the Glass”
  • Poets and Poems: L.L. Barkat and “Beyond the Glass” - Tweetspeak Poetry on Love, Etc.: Poems of Love, Laughter, Longing & Loss
  • Glynn on World War II Had Its Poets, Too

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2025 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy