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Today, I continue our Teaching Authors “What Are We ‘Plotting’ for 2015?” series. Deadlines loom for two educational publisher projects as well as a couple other things I hope to accomplish soon, so I promised myself I would keep this short. What I’m plotting is mostly more of the same: more writing, more submitting, and—this is the new part—more sticking my neck out.
On the first of the year, I wrote about my schedule for 2015. I blocked out more time to exercise and added in some time every week to focus on long-term goals. I have been walking more, which is good for my writing because something about the rhythm makes me think differently. I find myself jotting down notes and dictating text messages to send to my email. When I get home, surprise! Ideas!
 |
| my walking companion, Bea |
One way I hope to stick my neck out is by participating in Poetry Friday more often. Today, I posted a
poem on my blog in response to a challenge
Joyce Sidman issued last week in an interview with Michelle Heidenrich Barnes on
Today’s Little Ditty: a “Deeper Wisdom” poem, modeled after Joyce’s thoughtful “What Do the Trees Know?” in her gorgeous new poetry collection,
Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold. I really enjoyed the process, especially with such an inspiring model poem.
I’m also researching editors and trying to submit more manuscripts more regularly. I’d love to participate in conferences. And my web site desperately needs updating. I’d better get to work!
JoAnn Early Macken
P.S. Today's Poetry Friday Roundup is at
Live Your Poem. . . with Irene Latham. Enjoy!
The Poem that Will Not Endby Joan Bransfield Graham
illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker
Two Lions, 2014
Like many new nonfiction picture books, this book has lots going on on every page. There is the main text -- the poem-story of how Ryan O'Brian's brain is taken over by rhythm and rhyme -- accompanied by the poems Ryan O'Brian writes as he goes through his day. There are detailed and entertaining illustrations that elaborate on Ryan O'Brian's adventures. At the end of the book, there is more information about the different forms (19 in all!) and the different voices (narrative, lyrical, mask, apostrophe, conversational) he uses in his poems.
So, in the same way that a multi-text nonfiction book can be read and re-read for many purposes, this is a book that readers can return to again and again. It will be interesting to share this book next to a nonfiction book in a minilesson in reading workshop on text structures. In writing workshop, I can share it as a resource for examples of poetry forms and voices. On Poetry Friday, we can be entertained by the main story, or any one of Ryan's poems.
Lots of possibilities here!
Last January, the book launch blog tour began with Sylvia at
Poetry For Children. Check the links at the bottom of her post for other blogs on the tour.
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I just read the beautiful book, Firefly July, full of super-short poems (I LOVE super-short poems) celebrating the seasons. Our own April Halprin Wayland is in there, and Joyce Sidman, and so many other fantastic poets.
Here's one of my favorites. I adore both cinquains and fall, so this poem really hits me every time! This is by Adelaide Crapsey, who invented the cinquain form of 2-4-6-8-2 syllables.
November Night
Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.
--by Adelaide Crapsey, all rights reserved
It's Poetry Friday, and the very generous Jama Rattigan at Alphabet Soup has the Roundup today. Head on over and check out all the lovely poems!
We're talking about writing clippings here on Teaching Authors, so I will share a few of mine. I collect mostly two kinds of things: 1) bits of text from other books (usually fiction) that I think might make a cool jumping off point for my own poetry or picture books, and 2) articles I tear out of science magazines or bookmark that I think are good topics for assessment nonfiction or poetry passages.
Here are 3 random ones:
1) "serpentine spaghetti" - highlighted in a book I was reading on my Kindle. That has got to make it into a poem!
2) "We see their flights as perfect forward motion, but nothing could be further from the truth. In truth, every flap is followed by a tuck and a sweep, hasty and high stakes; hot on the heels of every flickering gain in altitude comes a small, heart-thudding drop." - a description of bird flight, also highlighted in a book on Kindle. I love this concept. No idea how I might use it in my writing, but I love it.
[I don't know what books the above came from. I just started saving highlighted quotes in a Word document a couple of months ago. I'm realizing that I need to also note what book they came from!]
3) http://discovermagazine.com/2012/oct/16-things-you-didnt-know-about-cars - Here's an article I read in Discover Magazine. Then I searched for it online and saved it as a bookmark, because my paper files are so overstuffed! I thought these nifty facts might spark a nonfiction passage for older readers.
Happy reading, writing, and clipping!
--Laura Purdie Salas
P.S. I'm in New Orleans for IRA and beignets! So I likely won't be able to respond to comments for about a week. But I'd love to hear from you:>)
P.S.S: From Carmela: If you haven't entered our current giveaway yet, don't forget to check out Jill Esbaum's post about her most recent publication, Angry Birds Playground: Rain Forest (National Geographic Books), and enter for a chance to win your own autographed copy.
Today, I was supposed to continue our series of posts in honor of National Bullying Prevention Month. Instead, I've decided to dedicate this blog post in memory of my friend and fellow writer, Laura Crawford, who died on September 30 at the much-too-young age of 46. And since today is also Poetry Friday, I've included a poem at the end of this post inspired by Laura.
Those of you who've been following this blog for awhile may recognize Laura's name--she was our very first "Student Success Story" interview, posted back in 2009. At that time, I had no idea Laura had been diagnosed with chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL) the year before. As she wrote on her CaringBridge page, her disease was managed effectively with chemo and treatment until this past May, when it became more aggressive. That's when Laura chose to finally share the information about her illness with her many friends in the children's writing community. We were all shocked at the news. Laura was such a vibrant, energetic, optimistic person. You can get a sense of her vitality in the photo below, which is how I always picture her--bright-eyed and smiling. It was hard to imagine that she'd been dealing with cancer for five years.
 |
| Photo courtesy of Jennifer DuBose |
But after the shock wore off, we still had hope, mainly because Laura herself sounded so hopeful. She was preparing for a bone marrow transplant. On September 22, she posted the following on her Facebook page:
"had a FANTASTIC weekend! I feel normal...and that is saying a lot. Thanks for all the visitors, laughs, treats, jello, ice cream and support of the new 'hairdo.' I'm so very blessed."
Like so many of Laura's friends, I was heartbroken when she passed away eight days later. It didn't seem possible. Even now, nearly two weeks later, my eyes fill with tears at the thought that I'll never see her smiling face again, at least not in this life.
We have a custom on our
SCBWI-Illinois listserv to share "good news" about our writing and illustrating projects at the beginning of each month. Given the timing of Laura's death, Lisa Bierman, the Illinois chapter's co-regional advisor, invited members to share a short memory of Laura instead. Laura was a long-time
SCBWI Network Representative for the Geneva, IL Network and a regular volunteer at the annual
SCBWI-IL Prairie Writer's Day, so she was well-known throughout our writing community. The email tributes poured in. It was amazing, and uplifting, to read about how Laura had touched so many lives.
In my email to the listserv, I talked about how I first met Laura as my student, when she took my College of DuPage class in Writing for Children back in the summer of 2001. As I mentioned above, she was also our first
"Student Success Story Interview" here on TeachingAuthors. After her death, I reread that blog entry and heard again Laura's exuberant voice. I also recalled how she almost hadn't made it into my class because it was filled before she registered. She'd called the college and asked if there was any way she could still register for the class, and my supervisor contacted me. I normally don’t make exceptions regarding maximum enrollments because I want to allow enough time for manuscript critiques, and I returned Laura's call planning to tell her so. I remember sitting in my home office talking with Laura. I could hear the enthusiasm in her voice. She told me how much she wanted to take the class, and that, being a teacher, she didn't have time to do so during the school year. When she asked me to please let her join the class, I couldn’t say no.
J
I’m so grateful I made the exception to include Laura in the class. It was the beginning of a long, rewarding friendship. As it turned out,
Cathy Cronin was also in that class. She, too, became a "
Student Success Story" and a friend to both Laura and me. On Wednesday, October 2, Cathy and I drove together to attend Laura's wake and say a final good-bye. We learned from Laura's sisters that she'd kept writing and editing up until the end--she was optimistic that after her bone marrow transplant she'd be well again.
That evening, I decided I wanted to dedicate this blog post in Laura's memory, and to write a poem in her honor. I'd saved all the tributes posted on the SCBWI-Illinois listserv with the idea that I might write a "found poem" from what people had shared. Member after member wrote of Laura's warm smile, infectious laugh, generous spirit, amazing optimism, welcoming nature, and fun sense of humor. I soon realized I didn't want to write a "sappy" poem--Laura wouldn't have wanted that.
Then I thought of what Laura said in her Student Success Story interview about being a "math and science person." That gave me the idea to write my poem in the form of a “Fib,” a 5-line, 20-syllable poem with the number of syllables per line based on the Fibonacci sequence: 1/1/2/3/5/8. I thought this form would be especially appropriate because the Fibonacci sequence is often found in nature, and Laura loved nature. Plus, "Fibs" tend to be rather playful. [To read more about Fibs, see
this blog post by Greg Pincus, author of the recently released middle-grade novel,
The 14 Fibs of Gregory K (Arthur A. Levine Books).]
The Fib that follows was inspired by all the comments to the listserv, but especially by what Cathy Cronin wrote:
"I will always treasure her friendship. Her bright spirit will live on in all the hearts that she's touched and in all of her wonderful books. I am keeping a picture of her by my laptop as a reminder to 'Live like Laura.' She knew what was important to her and spent her time well. "
I agree with Cathy. Laura lives on in the hearts of all who knew her, not only the members of the children's writing community, but also the students she taught in her 20 years at Sleepy Hollow Elementary School. You can read more about how she touched their lives
in this article.
Finally, here's my Fib poem in memory of Laura.
To Live Like Laura
by Carmela Martino
Smile
wide.
Embrace
everyone.
Laugh with gusto.
Leave us grateful to have known you.
poem © 2013 Carmela Martino. All rights reserved.
Happy Poetry Friday, all! The poem I'm sharing today isn't my best, but it's near and dear to my heart. See the end of this post for a link to today's Poetry Friday round-up.
In case you missed it, in her last post, April tagged me in the brand new Children's Poetry Blog Hop (CPBH). I'm writing this post in advance because of other commitments, so I haven't yet seen Janet Wong's CPBH post, also scheduled for today. I hope you'll hop on over to the PoetryFridayAnthology.blogspot.com and/or PoetryForChildren.blogspot.com to read it when you're done here.
In April's Sept. 6 post, she introduced Mortimer as the CPBH meme:
And she also explained how to participate in the CPBH:
1) Make up three questions you've always wanted to be asked in an interview about children's poetry and then answer them on your own blog;
2) Invite one, two or three other bloggers who write poetry (preferably children's poetry, but we're broad-minded) to answer any three questions that they make up on their own blogs (they can copy someone else's questions if they'd like)
3) In your post, let us know who your invitees are and when they're are going to be posting their own Poetry Blog Hop questions and answers...if you know the dates.
4) You do not have to use Mortimer, the CPBH meme.
Pretty simple.
I've tagged two fellow children's poets to participate in the
Children's Poetry Blog Hop:
Laura Shovan, a children's author and poet-in-the-schools who blogs at
Author Amok, and
Tabatha Yeats, author of nonfiction children's books as well as poetry, who blogs at
The Opposite of Indifference. (As you'll see below, Tabatha is hosting today's Poetry Friday round-up.) Be sure to hop on over to read their CBHP posts next week. Laura will share hers at
Author Amok on
Tuesday, Sept. 24, and you'll be able to read Tabatha's at
The Opposite of Indifference on
Friday, Sept. 27.
Now for my three (actually four) CPBH questions:
1) When was your first poem published? Would you share it with us?
2) Who was your first poetry teacher?
3) What poetry forms do you like best?
And here are the answers:
1) When was your first poem published? Would you share it with us?
I began writing poetry when I was in sixth or seventh grade, and my first poem was published when I was in high school (I won't tell you what year!), in
Crystals in the Dark: An Anthology of Creative Writing from the Chicago Public Schools. I was immensely proud to have my writing in this collection (which you might guess, since I still have my copy of the book.
J)
However, I had to resist the urge to edit the poem as I typed it up. Here it is, in original form:
My Sanctuary
If I could find a place far away from the world and its sounds,
Distant from the din and clatter of civilization;
Far away from pollution, politics, and people,
Away from worry, death, sorrow, and pain;
The only place that I could think of where I would be
undisturbed, tranquil, and at peace,
is within myself.
© Carmela A Martino. All Rights Reserved.
I went on to have several of my poems published in our high school yearbook,. After that, though, I pretty much gave up on writing poetry until many years later, when I began writing for children. Which leads into my second question:
2) Who was your first poetry teacher?
In high school and college, I studied poetry only as a reader, not a writer. While I did participate in some workshops on using poetry techniques in fiction at
Vermont College, I didn't take my first poetry-writing class until 2002. That's when I attended a four-week workshop by poet and author
Heidi Bee Roemer, "The ABC's of Children's Poetry.
" I learned so much from Heidi in that short time. The weekly assignments challenged us to write poetry in a variety of forms. And that leads into my third question:
3) What poetry forms do you like best?
The poems I wrote in junior high and high school were usually either free verse or rhyming couplets. It wasn't until I was in Heidi's class that I dared experiment with other forms, including triplets, quatrains, limericks, terse verse, and shape poems. Thanks to the confidence I gained in Heidi's class, I went on to have a terse verse poem published in
Pocket's magazine, and a poem in two voices published in
Chicken Soup for the Soup: Teens Talk High School. Since then, I've tried my hand at list poems, found poems, diamante poems, sonnets, and just about any form that strikes my fancy. Heidi's class, along with poetry-related posts by my fellow
TeachingAuthors, and inspiring posts by members of the Poetry Friday community, have opened me to new poetry worlds.
That's it for today. Now hop on over to the
Poetry Friday round-up at
The Opposite of Indifference .
Happy Writing!
Carmela
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 12/14/2012
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Howdy, Campers ~ Happy Poetry Friday!
...and if it's at Jama's it's sure to be tasty!
For my last post of 2012, I'm going to break from our series on publishing opportunities (see
Esther's last
two posts and
Carmela's post, with more to come!)...
I've been thinking about my family and our, well,
interesting year (especially the part about
my husband dying of a heart attack and being brought back and now being completely and miraculously fine); about hard times and hope, about sunrises, candles, glowing kitchen windows at night, and about the dark of winter and the glint of winter sunlight.
WINTER SOLSTICE: GIRL TALKING TO THE SUN
by April Halprin Wayland
On a hard day's chill,
when my heart stands still,
Sun, oh, Sun, where do you disappear?
Then Sun answers me,
answers quietly,
Look around, little girl, I am here, I am here.
© 2012 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved
I am Jewish; I just recently learned that the fifth night of
Hanukkah (which can be
spelled many ways) is the first night in which there are more flames than darkness, more candles lit than unlit, and represents the triumph of light over darkness.
I love that.
Okay...ready for today's writing workout, Campers?
WRITING WORKOUT: A Light in the Darkness
1) Take a cozy moment to scribble ten ideas triggered by the phrase, "a light in the darkness" or by the 1:06 minute video above. Jot down memories, images, or the name of someone in particular who helped light your way in a dark time.
2) Consider imitating the rhyme scheme of the poem above:
A/A/B
C/C/B
3) Or write a 100-word story.
3) Or write forget #2 and #3 and write the poem or story you were meant to write today.
4) Write like a little kid who is so jumpy-excited to get a piece of paper and a pencil she can barely sit still. Give that little kid a chance; let's see what gift she creates for you this holiday season!
And speaking of gifts, don't forget to enter to win a gift for yourself or for some lucky teacher in your life: an autographed copy of JoAnn Early Macken's, Write a Poem Step by Step. I have her book and it's terrific! See JoAnn's guest post for details.
Not actually in Southern California where I live,
but in Phoenix, several years ago.
Still, a pretty note of light and hope
with which to end the year...
Happy Holidays One and All!
First, a huge THANK YOU to those readers who linked back to our Two Weeks of Thanks-Giving posts and/or wrote thankus of their own:
Linda at
Teacherdance.
Betsy at
Teaching Young Writers.
Linda at
Write Time.
Ramona at
Pleasures from the Page.
Margaret at
Reflections of the Teche. And a
second post.
Leanne at
Leanne Pankuch - Children's Writer.
Stacey at
Two Writing Teachers.
And Jan, thanks for sharing your thanku in our comments section, too.
Woot! So fun and inspiring to read all of your lovely and touching thankus. We appreciate your participation.
Gosh, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm having a hard time believing that tomorrow is December 1st. What happened to November?! Well, one good thing about flipping the calendar page is that tomorrow is "
Take your child to a bookstore day." So please visit a local bookstore, if possible, and spread the love.
This is my last post for awhile, so have a happy holiday season and a beautiful and blessed 2013.
Happy writing!
Jill Esbaum
Howdy Campers!
Carmela did a fine job of wrapping up our First Annual Ten Days of Thanks-Giving this week. Yay, Carmela!
Today was my monthly hike with the women I've fallen in love with as we leaped from rock to rock to cross creeks, dripped sweat up impossible hills, walked quietly under arched tree ceilings, and been photographed with in front of waterfalls, oceans and boulders. So today I write a thanku to the universe for giving me my hiking buds:
THANK YOU...
...for hard trails up to
egg-blue skies, for red leaves, for
six sweaty friends.
~ April Halprin Wayland
Here the last few thankus or simple thank yous:
From Joyce Ray:
I'm pretty late, but want to share my Thanku to my granddaughter Lindsay for terrific help in revising a poem recently.~you oiled mired wheelspushed my poem from its rutyour words, my words - WOW BEAUTIFUL, Joyce.
And Jan Godown Annino is the last in with this fitting contribution to our First Annual Ten Days of Thanks-Giving:
~Grateful to the 10 Days (catching it at the tail end. was in a cave of thesis-writing.)Grateful to be able to try to learn to say Thank You in many languages.
This includes some of the
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 10/7/2011
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Add a tag
~
Howdy Campers and happy Poetry Friday! Today's poem and Writing Workout--a poetry prompt--are below.
Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Mary Ann Scheuer
over at
Great Kid Books. Thanks, Mary Ann!
(Yes, I have poems in both anthologies--but that's not why I'm jumping up and down about these two books--they are brilliant and original and poetry tag is a game you can play with other poets and your students!)
And now to today's
TeachingAuthors topic of the week. After five terrific posts on
First Drafts: Quieting the Internal Critic, it's my turn to wrap up this topic--for now. Just so you know, my internal critic is going nuts right this very minute because I am writing something that someone is going to actually read.
Like JoAnn, I enjoy first drafts. Mostly. First drafts aren't promising anyone anything. First drafts are splashing around, figuring stuff out. First drafts are swirling paint onto the page to see if I can convey what was dancing in my brain last night.
And like
Jeanne Marie, I am good at starting and not so good a
x
Howdy, Campers! Happy Poetry Friday!
Poetry Friday is hosted by Secrets and Sharing Soda this week.Thank you, Katie!
Our topic this week is REVISION, inspired by The International Reading Association (IRA)'s "Revision Week"--September 5-9, 2011. Visit the IRA's Engage: Teacher to Teacher Blog this week to read/hear comments about revision from several well-known children's authors, including Cynthia Lord and Kate Messner.
We've written LOTS of posts on revision, because, of course, we're always revising. ALWAYS. Also, ALL WAYS.
Oy.
12 Comments on Revision! A LINGO poem! Poetry Friday! and a Play Doh exercise!, last added: 9/10/2011
My friend (and 30 Poets/30 Days alumni!) April Halprin Wayland has come up with an intriguing new poem form: the Lingo. The definition of the form, from April, is simple: A Lingo is poem based on the lexicon of a particular field of interest.
The possibilities seem endless. I might swing for the fences and see if I can force out a baseball example. Hope doesn't turn out foul....
Whatcha think? You gonna lingo?
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 8/12/2011
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Howdy, Campers! Happy Poetry Friday!
Poetry Friday is hosted by
Karen Edmisten this week.
Thank you, Karen!
I was fiddling and with dactyls and double dactyls this week. A dactyl contains three syllables: one stressed followed by two unstressed (/ - - ). So, for example, the word
marmalade (MAR-ma-lade), which we say with a stress on the first syllable, is a dactylic word. The phrase,
"Talk to me!" is also a dactyl.
The rhythm of a dactyl makes you want to dance. It's light and suits playful topics.
Dactyls remind me of pterodactyls. But that's not where I went. Instead, I took out a handy can of Play Doh and opened it. WOWZA!
I read a bit about Play Doh's
inventor and
history and then, in honor of
National Play Doh Day, (September 18th), I wrote this poem:
AN ODE TO DOH
by April Halprin WaylandPlay Doh, invented by Joseph McVicker,
is putty that's squishy and spongy and soft
and supple and yielding and malleable colors--
its bouquet bewitches, it lingers, it wafts
across much of our planet--
over two billion sold!
There's even a
fragrance (and who wouldn't want it?)
a perfume in honor (it's fifty years old!)
The recipe's classified--
water and flour, and a sprinkling of salt?
I can fiddle with Play Doh for hour after hour
and if I'm not writing, it's McVicker's fault!
poem (c) 2011 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved
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Your poem says much in those few words, Carmela. I like especially, "grateful to have known you"-says much, doesn't it? What an amazing person your Laura must have been, and I'm glad you shared so much of your connection to her these past years. I'm sorry for her passing, but glad she had such wonder in her brief life.
Thanks, Linda. Laura was an amazing person. She will be missed by many.
Ah, reading this has me tearing up. Laura came to Iowa in April for our conf, and she was her usual cheerful, wise-cracking self. It was such a shock to hear that we lost her a few short months later. Beautiful post (and poem), Marti.
Jill
I only met Laura online, but I was also saddened to hear the news of her death. Your poem is a lovely tribute, Marti.
Oh, lord. What a beautiful, heartbreaking post and tribute. Hugs, Carmela, and thank you for sharing Laura with those of us who didn't know her...
Your poem is beautiful, Carmela - Laura would have loved it! She will truly be missed!!
What an amazing tribute. I'm reminded how few words we need to honor a life and all the things that exist in the universe.
Thank you, Carmela. Laura's spirit shines in your anecdote of her determination to register for your class. She was hard working, generous, charming and determined - she was going to become an author and she worked so very, very hard to perfect her manuscripts. She was such a great author, teacher, critique partner, and SCBWI-IL ambassador!
Thank you Carmela, this was perfect.
What a wonderful spirit your friend had - your poem honors her memory.
Thanks Jill and JoAnne. Laura, thanks for your kind words and hugs. I appreciate your taking time out from your busy day to comment.
Lori, I hope Laura would have loved poem . Actually, I hope she IS loving it. :-)
Thanks, Julia. Yes, Laura was all that you say and more!
Thanks, Louann, Tara, and everyone else who read this post. It does my heart good to share this poem with so many people, both those who knew Laura and those who didn't.
Condolences.
Your tribute is perfectly beautiful.
This tribute touched my heart. The fib poem is just perfect. I want to keep it close as a mantra. Now Laura's spirit has touched even more people through you.
Thank you, Carmela, for sharing this eloquent tribute with us.
Thanks for the condolences, Mary Lee. Margaret, it's comforting to know that Laura is still touching people's lives. Thank you, too, Tabatha, for taking time to read it.
What a lovely poem for a lovely spirit. When I first started connecting to the SCBWI community, Laura welcomed me in and made me feel like an old friend. She is truly missed.
Oh, my, Carmela. I can feel "Laura's exuberant voice" breathing in every line of your post.
This poem is golden--it's utterly personal and also movingly universal.
Thank you for letting us in.
The Fib poetic form serves Laura's life and loves perfectly.
I know she would have loved your words, Marti.
Laura sounds like a real firecracker and you've honored that spirit well. Thanks for sharing her story with us.
Thanks so much, Mary Jo, April, Esther, and Michelle. I appreciate your comments, and knowing that you tool my poem to heart.
I'm sorry about Laura. It sounds as though many people were touched by her life, and are missing her now.
Thanks, Ruth. Yes, Laura is missed by many.