Category: About Me

Five on Friday

1. A moment of wild rumpus for Maurice Sendak.

2. June 3, 2012, 7 pm, at University of New England, Portland campus, Taylor Mali, poet, performer and poetry slam winner will be reading. His poem “What Teachers Make,” went viral on YouTube a while ago and with the release of the poem in book form, it’s sure to start turning up again. Send it to your favorite teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week (May 7-11). Proceeds from the show go to help the Cobscook Community Learning Center. Also reading are Gary Lawless and Elizabeth Peavey. You can get ticket here.

3. This past weekend the family who lives on the Darthia Farm hosted the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance writer’s retreat providing a safe place for the participants to learn more about their craft. On Monday morning the farm buildings, hay, and livestock were destroyed in a tragic fire. The effort to rebuild this  iconic Downeast Maine organic farmstead please click here.

4. The good news: Four months of deployment done. The bad news: This week has been particularly difficult with the rain. I couldn’t manage to find any motivation– not for exercise, not for revision. I’d say I need a swift kick in the pants but what I really need is a shake. It feels as if there is a cloud all around me that’s hard to push through. The good news: Instead I dove head first into historical fiction by Phillipa Gregory. Twenty more pages of THE LADY OF THE RIVERS, then I’m coming up for air and revisions. The bad news: It turns out to be the first of a series and I might have to read the next one.

5. The good news: I’m starting to entertain thoughts about our trip to Florence and Tuscany to meet up with my husband.

On the road to the NESCBWI conference: Part 3: Friendships

If you’ve been following my April break journey here, and here you’ll know that I was in New Jersey yesterday. I had a lovely time visiting Meg Wiviott, talking writing with my VCFA friends, and lunching with a friend from my DC days.

The drive to Springfield from NJ was bearable because he gave me CD’s from hilarious comedians. I listened for as long as they lasted– sadly not the entire three hour drive but they got me through a traffic jam when everyone was rubber necking at a non-accident.

The rest of the way, I was able to contemplate friendship and aging and other existential concepts. My friends are far flung. I’ve met them in summer camp and college, through volunteering and in Vermont. Some I’ve kept from the old DC neighborhood. My book club and writing friends have been in my life the longest.

Social networking sites have certainly helped me reconnect with many and  stay in touch with most but I often close out a session on Facebook feeling more lonely then I when I started checking everyone’s status. In my current situation, with hubby deployed, it is difficult to make the time to see people in person. This week I took the time to refuel with friends face to face. I laughed and hugged, and sipped tea with people who stimulate my mind, reflect my emotions, and give me the kick in the butt I need to keep going.

Today, I’ll be swamped with hugs and handshakes. There will be over 500 attendees at the Annual Spring NESCBWI Conference. To each, I extend the following challenge– meet five new people each day. You never know, that person sitting next to you at the keynote speech, may just be a new friend.

Hello, Springfield, Mass. We’ll be here all weekend!

The road to the NESCBWI Conference: Part 2: Moving on

If you are a parent, you may remember the exhaustion that accompanied those first months with a new born. However, as with the pain of childbirth, dirty diapers, and ear infections, you may have forcibly siphoned those excess memories (ala Harry Potter and the Pensieve) to make room for other more important thoughts. I had. Or thought I had.

For the last two days I watched my sister-in-law exist in the zombie state that is the milk machine, sleep deprived way of a woman with a child under two and a new born. She is my hero. Despite her situation, she was grace and kindness and patience in a way that I don’t remember ever exhibiting.

She is willing to embrace toddler time in a way I never could. You remember toddler time right? We will eventually get to that-there playground 20 yards away but only after we pick each dandelion along the way. No, I  hoisted the kiddo and off we went. This doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate toddler time, the magic of discovery, or the pleasure of the teachable moment– I’m just not practiced in its workings at present. That is, in some ways, what this vacation is about. Trying to slow down long enough to pick the dandelions along the way.

Nevertheless, it was time to move on and leave the Cutie Cutes and their wonderful mother and father behind. Time to get behind the wheel and drive to the next stop.

Meg Wiviott is the author of Benno and the Night of Broken Glass (SLJ best picture books 2010, Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards Gold Medal for Multicultural Books, CCBC 2011 Best Choice List , and the Gelette Burgess Children’s Book Award for Multicultural Picture Book) AND lucky for me she is a dear friend. Today and tomorrow we get to catch up a bit in her home state of New Jersey. We will talk about books and writing and friends. I will nap. I will read. I may even go for a run. All in my own good time.

On the road to the NESCBWI Conference: Part 1: Toddler’s Eye View

Yesterday, I put my children on an airplane to visit my in-laws in Florida. I hugged them, kissed them and bid them farewell. Then I watched the plane leave and cried. I’m not a good flyer myself so transferring my phobias to this situation was par for the course. Also, (with my husband deployed) the three of us have gotten to be quite the team. The separation was a little like ripping a couple of bananas from the bunch. Nevertheless, I wiped my tears and got on with the business of being on my own and enjoying a week’s vacation. First stop without children? My sister-in-law’s home where she just had a new baby. She also has a cutie, cute toddler. I know– crazy.

But in a way it isn’t crazy at all. As soon as I walked in their house, I was transported back to a time of sitting on the floor, and bubbles, stones, squirrels, and sidewalk chalk, and putting things in, and taking things out, and bath time, and “what does the cow say?” It was a toddler’s point of view and it reminded me of why I got into the business of writing and illustrating in the first place.

Inspiration! It’s grand.

(PS: It also means short blog posts because someone always needs something– NOW!)

Five on Friday: Festivals, Events and Blogs, Oh my!

1. Maine Festival of the Book

The Maine Festival of the Book is a literary extravaganza taking place tomorrow, March 31st. Workshops, presentations and readings are scheduled throughout the day and take place at various USM locations including the Abromoson Center and Glickman Library. Children’s and Young Adult authors and illustrators including Jeannie Brett, Anne Sibley O’Brien, Brenda Reeves Sturgis, Lynne Plourde, Reza Jalali, Maria Testa and others will be present.Click here for a complete schedule and specifics!

2. 

If you liked my review of CITIZEN SCIENTIST by Loree Griffin Burns, you’ll probably love Anastasia Suen’s blog hosting creation Nonfiction Monday. Different bloggers agree to host a round of Nonfiction Reviews from blogs all over the kidlitosphere. Take a look!

3. We are on the cusp of April National Poetry Month! I hope you have events in your area. Here in Brunswick, I’m one of the organizers of Poem in Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 26th. Please take a look at our Poem In Your Pocket-Brunswick Facebook page for events throughout the last week of April. It’s also a great place to find links to just the right poem to fit your mood. We’ll be putting up posters next week and distributing stickers to local businesses and libraries over school vacation. Look for them!

4. Speaking of poetry…and blogs

At Jama’s Alphabet Soup, she has a wonderful round up of Poetry events all over the kidlitosphere here (click on image):

and a list of all the Poetry Friday Hosts here (click on image):

If you haven’t seen allaboutlemon, it’s a blog where the creativity just flows. Every 3rd Saturday, the author invites people to write haikus inspired by her collaged photo. For the Love of Haiku

Here’s mine:

Middle class captive
Blind to horrors far away
Our valley is lush

And here’s the picture:

Wild, right?

5. What’s coming up on Book Review Wednesdays? I’ve got a bunch of nonfiction and poetry that I’ll be sharing round-up style throughout April. Some new, some not as shiny but just as precious. Hope to see you here all month long.

Five on Friday: Early Spring

1. Today I’m excited to attend the Maine Poetry Out Loud finals. Over 8,000 high school students representing schools from all over Maine started competing many months ago, and now there are only ten. The winner, the runner up and Cumberland County finalists will be invited to participate in the Brunswick, Poem in Your Pocket afternoon event at The Little Dog Café on Tuesday, April 24th.

2. El Niño? La Niña? Global warming? Whatever it was, I was thrilled to don my short-shorts and tshirt to enjoy the 80 degree weather in Maine this week. Look!

Daffodils in March! Crazy, but I’m not complaining.

3. Beautiful weather = Anna outside training. I got in two longer bike rides this week and a long walk with a friend at Pinelands. Today, I’m in the pool again doing laps. Nevertheless, I’m feeling good about the upcoming UNE Nor’Easter. At first, I thought I’d just do it as an early training exercise, but now I feel as if I might beat some of my previous times. We’ll see.

4. Despite the beautiful weather, and my training, this week has been extremely productive. Every day I’ve been forcing myself inside to chip away at the revision of my WIP. I’m thrilled to report that the end is near. (26 pages away) I’ll be sending it to first readers next week– meeting my self-imposed April 1 deadline. My momentum is slowed only by my own fears.  Will my generous first readers get half way through and decide that my writing sucks? That the story is trite? The characters two dimensional? I can only hope that they have (as one of them told me this week) “a sharp pencil and a soft heart.”

5. So with all that productivity something has to slip, right? My kitchen is a total mess and we’ve eaten out about three times in the last seven days. The messy kitchen is actually out of character for me. Even if the rest of the house is a pit, my kitchen is usually clean. I just haven’t been able to rise to the challenge. I’m trying to give myself a pass on the guilt. It will get done. I have food in the freezer. Yesterday at Pinelands, I got fresh veggies. Salmon with zucchini and brussel sprouts are on the menu tonight. What’s for dinner in your house?

Have a good weekend! On Member Monday– Looking forward to the NESCBWI spring conference. An interview with Joyce Johnson, conference co-director

Five on Friday: PI Day edition

1. We just got back from an elementary school “Ensemble and Solo” concert. It’s always great to be in a school setting and just watch kids interacting. There’s the anticipation of going on stage, the side conversations (some mouthed across the gym with accompanied hand motions and facial contortions), and the performances.  I was so impressed by how brave all the kids were.

2. If you missed it, Wednesday, March 14th was PI day. That’s right 3/14…3.14. Young son is a huge fan of PI. He has a PI t-shirt and can recite PI to 26 digits. We had a Geektastic PI celebration with all round food: hamburgers, applesauce in round containers, and smiley fries (the fact that I got them shows what a special event this was). For dessert we made NOT one BUT two pies. One chocolate, peanut butter pie and one apple pie with walnut crumb topping. We invited over our wonderful new neighbors over to help us eat all the sweet treats and I gave a “what is PI anyway”- demonstration. It was an all-around (ugh) good time!

3. I submitted two book review queries this week and I’m working on some poetry for submission. It feels good to be finally getting something off my desk even if it isn’t my WIP. Sometimes I just need smaller projects to work on. A revision is so much easier to handle when the entire word count fits on a single page.

4. Thanks to my VCFA friends, I have made a bit of progress on my WIP revision. I already have a few work periods scheduled next week and feel confident that I will be productive.

5. I bit the bullet this week and plunked down the money for the July VCFA mini-rez. I’ll get to see my dear friends, and get a dose of inspiration in the form of fabulous faculty.

How was your week?

How are you?

I won’t lie. I like a little sympathy. Go ahead and give me a pat on the back, a hug, an invitation to dinner or lunch. If you are really feeling generous, ask to take my kids for a couple of hours, the day, a week. Whatever you do- don’t ask me how I am. The questioner can mean so many things that I have to wonder: Do you really want the answer?

Do you want to know the stats on my laundry pile, my dirty dishes, the volume of dog hair in the corners of the room? Do you want the low down on the cost of four new tires and two new sets of brakes? How bout my rant about the military system called DEERS which is supposed to keep track of the fact that my children and I exist and are entitled to health care but didn’t– so now I have to spend a day of my life trying to convince them that we do and that they should indeed pay for that ER trip a month ago.

Probably not. You want to know about my emotional state. Here’s the thing… if I stop running this crazy deployment race long enough to think about my emotional state, I will cry and I know you don’t want that.

Instead, I’ll tell you this:

  • My first triathlon is on April 15th. I’m training three days a week now, which is not enough but it’s what I can do.
  • Poem in Your Pocket Day is at the end of April, things are coming together but I’m finding it hard to get my tasks done so I feel as if I’m letting down the other organizers.
  • I’ve set a March 15th deadline for the revision of my WIP but I don’t think I’ll make that either.
  • Teaching is going well. My adult students turn in their first 500 word essay on Tuesday. If they come. If they do the work.
  • RA work takes a lot of time and would take a lot more if I could give it. I’m trying to pull together a couple of ideas for Northern New England for the summer. The conference is fast approaching.
  • I’m trying to figure out summer camp schedules so that both kids are away at the same time and I can get some respite.
  • With the help of the amazing people at AAA Northern New England, I’ve planned a two week trip to meet my husband in Florence and Tuscany in August.
  • The kids are definitely sad, but they are troopers like me. I see that more and more these days.
  • The swim season is over. Hallelujah! The drive and conflicting schedules between kids was a source of constant stress.
  • Baseball season is starting. Egads.
  • My children are wonderful musicians which is a source of constant pride.
  • We are all healthy and safe and that is what matters.
  • I saw my first robin yesterday and feel confident that spring will indeed come.

How are you?

Five on Friday: Flurry and Snowe

1. This week has been weird political whirlwind that included the Maine Democratic Caucus, Republican Senator Snowe’s retirement announcement, a flurry of speculation regarding new candidates and a March 1st snow storm. I had collected a bunch of signatures for Chellie Pingree’s 1st District Congress seat and was then happy to learn that I should be prepared for another set of papers any time now. I’m crossing my fingers that she decides to run. At this writing, she has not confirmed or announced either way. Also pleased to say that the Blunt amendment was blocked.

2. I wish I could say that the snow day let me get a bunch of work done on my WIP. Sadly, no. Instead I caught up on my volunteer efforts for the Junior High Music Boosters, did laundry and watched a movie with my kiddos.

3. I am training in earnest again. My first tri of the season is in about 7 or so weeks. The Nor’Easter a backwards triathlon. I’ve started the multisport class at the Y and had a blast getting my butt kicked by our drill master instructor, Jen on Monday. If I don’t finish this blog soon I’m going to be late for the Friday class. Eek!

4. My second “Book Review Brigade” class (hosted by Maine Writers and Publishers) is tomorrow. I stayed up late working on four different book reviews for the class (adult fiction) and didn’t get to post my kidlit Book Review Wednesday. I apologize and will double up next Wednesday.

5. Two months officially down on this deployment and about 10 months to go. There are good days and bad days. The worst days have me screaming like a banshee. The best days  include small intimate moments with my children. Day by day, folks. Day by day.

Home Again Friday: Puerto Rico in Pictures and Poems

The last little piggie may have cried, “wee-wee” all the way home, but on our way home from Rincón, Puerto Rico my boys and I just cried. After an amazing week of surf, sand, sun, snorkel, and scuba, the last thing we wanted was to come back to the bare winter of Maine. There are no palm trees in Maine. More important, in Maine, we don’t have the attentive care of my parents who lavished us with food and fun.

Today, a slide show and two intimate-moment-Mama poems.

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Our Son
by Anna J. Boll

gentle eyes,
easy smile,
gorilla arms,
fuzz on upper lip

in him
i see you,
frozen in photos,
boy to man

he catches me
staring,
shakes his head,
disowns
a crazy mother,
full of pride

Sunrise
by Anna J. Boll

House lights twinkle
on dark island hills.
Wind,
 like maracas,
shakes palm fronds,
and chills the air

Long ago,
I wrapped two hands
around my big belly.
Now,
I wrap a blanket
around us both.

Coqui peep,
roosters crow,
dogs bark,
we wait.

We expect
purple,
fuschia,
and orange
to tint the clouds.

But the light
creeps.
The sky
blues.
No show stopping
performance.

Just you,
and me,
and a moment
together.