Tag: about me

Poetry Friday

This week Paul B. Janeczko visited Brunswick, Maine. Specifically, he visited my son’s classroom. Now you’d think that a mom who was so involved with poetry, and the children’s book industry, and her child, would know that Paul B. Janeczko– poet, anthology editor, and author was visiting her child’s classroom this week.

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I did not. I knew he was coming but did not know when. Perhaps this is a notice-rumpled-at-the-bottom-of-the-backpack situation. Or it could be a notice-buried-under-the-piles-of-papers-on-my-kitchen-counter situation. Either way I missed it. Luckily, my son was there and here is his brilliant acrostic poem from the visit and workshop.

Enjoys swimming
Tennis too
Has an intrest in math
Also in architecture
Not a nerd

Five on Friday

1. This has been a good week. First of all, my revision is moving along. (Thank you Cheryl Klein!) While I might not be on schedule to complete the next draft by my self-imposed deadline of February 15th (next Wednesday), I’m confident that it will get done. This mood is quite different from the pity party I had for myself a few weeks ago. “Woe is me…” (I said to myself,) “all my writing and for nothing! I may be able to bang out a draft, but a real writer knows that 90% of writing is revision. I’m never going to finish. I’ve let down my family. All my VCFA friends are going to get published and I’m not. I should just give back that stupid MFA.” I know. It’s pretty annoying stuff. Please don’t tell me that I’m the only one that has these pity parties. Please. In fact, write me a comment telling me the silliest negative thing you ever told yourself.

2.  I’m busy reading for upcoming Book Review Wednesdays. On deck are Cynthia Levinson’s new nonfiction We Got a Job, and the graphic novel Friends With Boys. I’d love to know… How far in advance do you want to know about a new book? On its launch date? A month before? Leave me a comment and any titles you’d like to know more about. If its on NetGalley, I can try to get it.

3. This is also a good week because Frosty’s Donuts is having a grand re-opening! Frosty’s Donuts are like a piece of heaven, glazed and with a hole. These donuts are so light, so melt-in-your mouth amazing, they are a symphony of sugar and lard. I do not frequent Frosty’s. If I went their frequently, I’d be as round as a donut. Frosty’s closed when June Frost passed away and this week, a new sign appeared. Grand Re-opening in three days. (That was Wednesday.) Now the big day is tomorrow. The place is getting all spiffed up with new paint (no more Jesus pamphlets), but they’ve retained the original baker. You can bet, I’ll be in line tomorrow to support them. Frosty’s donuts. A little less Holy but still amazing.

Frosty’s Donuts from Don Bernier on Vimeo.

4. I’m getting new neighbors!!! Nuff said.

5. We are going to Puerto Rico next week to visit with my parents. Sun. Warmth. Fewer items of clothing. Love. Childcare. Nuff said.

Have a good weekend!

Five on Friday and a Poem

1. The SCBWI Conference was a great break from the studio. I’m back, and working with the ideas from the Revision Workshop with Cheryl Klein. I’d like to report that I’m moving forward at great speeds but that would be a lie. I spent the week writing a letter to myself, processing the good, the bad, and the ugly about the manuscript. I also wrote the flap copy and tried the “summarize your novel in one sentence exercise.” Perhaps I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. I urge my own students to spend time on prewriting to make the writing easier– this is all necessary pre-revision work that will save me time later on.

2. I’d be less hard on myself if I wasn’t aware of all the time I “wasted” this week. As you can see, I’ve moved my blog to WordPress.com in part because of the page building aspect of the site. My website was terribly outdated and I appreciate the ease with which I can change things in WordPress. However, like everything, there is a learning curve (with all of its fumbling, backtracking, exploring, searching) takes time away from writing. Also, most of it goes on when my children are asleep which means I am up too late and tired through the day. This too, slows production and puts me on shaky emotional ground. Yesterday, just before I had to pick up a kiddo  I thought I had lost all my work. I rolled up to the school 15 minutes late, exhausted, and weepy. “What am I doing?” I asked my very wise yet young son. “This stupid website is supposed to advertise my writing. If I’m not a writer, what’s the point?!” He patted my shoulder, “Shhh. You are a great writer. You just need a nap.”

3. My efforts with two other members of the Brunswick community to make April 26th Poem in Your Pocket Day is moving along nicely. We have a variety of events that are being planned including a community poetry open mic night, and a presentation by Wesley McNair our Maine Poet Laureate. We are applying for grants to cover the cost of flyers, school visits/programs, and stickers. On April 26th people are encouraged to wear the sticker and carry a Poem in their Pocket to read to others. Please visit our newly minted Facebook page and “like” us.

4. The deployment is officially one month down. I’m humbly accepting Sunday dinner invitations for my family.

5. The triathlon season is just around the corner. First tri, April 15th. Writing down publicly makes it much more real and imminent. Happily, I signed up for a spinning class that fits my schedule perfectly. The teacher said she’d also be teaching a tri prep class on Mondays and Fridays. While I could train on my own, I know that I’ll be much more consistant if I join the class.

A Prayer
by Anna Boll

Oh, Dear Tech Gods,
let technology help me today.
Allow me to be more productive,
not less.
Watch over my computer
do not let it crash.
Keep my documents safe.
May my website, web
my downloads, load
my plugins, plug
my widgets, widge.
As I tweet
and blog
and update
and friend,
grow my platform.
Protect me from hackers
so I may keep my identity
to procrastinate another day.

Happy Groundhog Day- Blog host change…again.

The Groundhog has spoken.
Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter.

Today is Groundhog Day which reminds me of awesome books for kids…


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But it also reminds of Bill Murray…

Who is trapped reliving the same day over and over until he can get it right.

I feel a bit like that today. I stayed up until about one am today moving my blog from Livejournal to WordPress. The change had been coming for a while. I was frustrated by the lack of simple, clean themes on LiveJournal, and I was spending a lot of time deleting spam comments about purses. I also wanted to be able to write posts one day and schedule them to publish another day. So here I am on WordPress.

My website has sort of fallen by the wayside as well and in preparation for the April 20th-22nd NESCBWI Annual Conference, I wanted to revamp it. Wordpress gives me the ability to expand. Over the next few weeks I’m hoping to add links and my portfolio. I’ll still be posting Member Mondays and Book Review Wednesdays. I know. I’ve missed a couple of Wednesday now, but I’ll be trapped here week after week trying to get it right. 

I’ll also be adding back in my About Me Fridays in case anyone is interested. It will be more personal, poetry and process oriented. I hope you’ll follow the blog and link to it often in your tweets and facebook updates.

Bundle up. Six more weeks of winter.

Day Off

Thanks so much for visiting. I’m taking the day off for my birthday. Book Review Wednesday will return next week.

Please feel free to check out the review archives especially the post for Melissa Sweet’s, Balloons Over Broadway which just won the Nonfiction award at the ALA Mid-Winter conference.

On Monday I’ll post a round-up of the SCBWI New York conference.

Have a great weekend!

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Five on Friday

1.This morning I braved our first frost and went on a bike ride. I came back with numb toes and fingers, but it was just beautiful. Perhaps it's time to move my bike riding inside. I'm amazed by the people who commute by bike all winter long.
2. My kids have a four day weekend. Today is a teacher furlough day, and while I'm happy to have my children home, I'm unhappy that our teachers are loosing pay.
3. With kiddos around there will be cleaning. Beware all you piles of dog fur in the corners! Stand back pile of laundry! We will defeat you.
4. I had a few wonderful writing days this week with high word counts, and dramatic scenes. I can really feel the forward movement of the manuscript (profluence, thank you Sarah Aronson). Very exciting to be climbing out of the muddy middle.
5. Monday, October 10th is my 18th Wedding Anniversary.

Five on Friday

1. I just finished marking up and responding to six-one page letters from my pre-college English class. Two more will arrive over the weekend via snail mail. I marked up each one in Word then wrote a one page letter back to each of them. My head is pounding from the exercise. I can't even imagine what it is like to get 40 pages from an MFA candidate. God bless my VCFA professors. I can't believe how lucky I was to have each one of you.
2. This is the end of week one. Sixty three weeks to go. I'm so tired already. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, send me a private message.)
3. Rowed twice this week. No running, no biking, no swimming. Must figure this out. I need it to clear my head. Two new swimsuits arrived in the mail today though. Here's a picture of the suit for our "Angry Kitties" all girl (and allies) Triathlon group.

4. I had a pretty good week of writing. Not perfect but about three out of five days. One day was especially productive and lovely where all the ideas flowed easily. I'll try and make up for it this weekend.
5. Exciting things going on this weekend if you are an illustrator. First, Hazel Mitchel is meeting foks at the MOFGA Common Ground Fair in Unity Maine for a meet-up/sketch crawl. You can message her on Twitter @TheWackyBrit. The Massachusetts Independent Comic Expo is going on this weekend info here. And the Maine Illustrators' Collective meeting is Sunday the 25th. More info here.

What are you doing this summer?

Even though it is raining and in the mid 50’s I can’t get away from the question, "What are you doing this summer?" Yesterday was the last day of school for my students so I got to answer the question time and again. My summer is packed with trips and events. The first exciting event is my graduate residency at Vermont College of Fine Arts. The year of the thesis (Critical and Creative) has been extremely demanding and the graduation will be a chance for me to celebrate my own efforts and cheer on the fellow members of my class: The League of Extraordinary Cheese Sandwiches. As always it will be ten days of community, learning, and love but from a very different and special perspective.

After graduation I’m headed to LA to attend the SCBWI National conference. I’ve never been and can’t wait. If anyone else is going please say hi in the comments and we can email each other. I’m hoping to add a new feature to my blog for the summer and fall. "Member Monday" will be a reposting of interesting goings ons at SCBWI as it affects New England from Headquarters and around the globe.

Later in August, you’ll find me traveling through the Adirondacks and Western New York attending a family reunion and camping. Hopefully, there will be a few quiet days reading at the beach, gardening, biking, and running. I’ll be finishing the novel that I’m turning in for my creative thesis and then September brings the infamous– Hunt for an Agent. (More about that later.)

What are you doing this summer?

3am Ramblings

I’ve been eyes-wide awake in my bed for two hours and now that I’ve finally gotten up, this stupid blinking cursor is teasing me. It is 3:30 in the morning and in one way I could thank my lucky stars that I’ve finally gotten up early enough to write. On the other hand, I’m not feeling well, I’m going on a weekend vacation and the last thing I need is to be sick for a plane ride and a cruise. The funny thing is that I’m the best sleeper in the world. I can sleep anywhere. I love naps in sunny spaces. I go to bed early. Maybe it is taking me a little bit to get used to Daylight Savings. My brain is just awake. Of course, once my brain is awake in the middle of the night, I think about all the things that are stressing me out that I try to push away during daylight hours (some of which I can talk about here and now and some of which I can’t).

This is about the time in the semester when I start having my crisis of confidence. I miss my VCFA community. I so wish there was a mid-term residency. Just a short one. A weekend maybe. A time to get back together to say, "Yes, this is important. Our stories are important. You should invest this time in something that will probably never pan out financially because you are a writer and writers write. Because your story needs to be told. Because someone out there, some teen, some child somewhere needs this story." Okay. Tears now. But remember that I’ve been up since 1 am and that my throat hurts and that I’ve got gunk where gunk shouldn’t be.

I’m a little concerned too, that my grad lecture has the potential to turn into something much bigger than the 35 minutes of brilliance that it needs to be. I won’t know until I spend some concentrated time on it and the concentration of time is very hard to find.

The current political situation in our state and country and the disasters abroad certainly don’t help. How do we move through our lives in relative safety when a major part of a major country has been all but wiped out and is facing a possible nuclear melt down that will affect us all? How do we communicate to our own leaders that cutting 42 billion in vital programs and jobs while allowing 42 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest people in our country is unacceptable?

Moreover, and on a note much closer to home, how do I communicate to my almost 12 year old that he doesn’t have to see me as his antagonist for the next six years? Oh my, God the arguments are wearing me down!

And how do I do all this when I am alone? When my husband is away for work for extended periods of time? When I live in a place that requires a lot of driving? When I don’t want to impose on my friends too much? How do I get a break?

So yes, I guess I can’t sleep because I’m stressed. It certainly seems that way. At least I get a vacation this weekend and… would you look at the clock, 4 am… time to write.

Five on Friday

1. Friday is supposed to be my writing day and I’ve failed miserably. After many self-admonishments to keep Friday’s sacred for writing I spent most of the day editing the newsletter for my paying job. I know, relax, right? Money is a necessary evil and I had all of Wednesday to write because of the snow day and I’ve been keeping up with my early morning writing sessions. In fact, I’m at a point where I should just print what I have and revise through the weekend. My deadline is Tuesday and I want it to be good. So I should just chill.
2. Snow. A lot of it. It’s beautiful and a heck of a lot better then the mud that’s sure to follow. Enough said.
3. The NESCBWI conference registration opens on the 15th of February. Go to the website and check out information about schedule and special offerings. This is New England’s 25th anniversary conference so there’s tons going on. Get your manuscripts ready for Quick Queries, and Critiques.
4. I’m excited that I have some books lined up to review for the spring. March is Women’s History Month and I’ll be reviewing Women of the Golden State written by Linda Crotta Brennan and others. Later in the spring, J.L. Powers will be joining me in the Chaos for an interview regarding her book This Thing Called the Future which is due out May 1. I have a couple of others up my sleeve if I can get to them.
5. My boys are amazing, smart, and talented and that’s just my unbiased opinion. I’m taking them to Blue Man Group on Sunday to celebrate report cards, swimming races, and performances. I am so very lucky to be their Mom.