THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Don't you just love the light in this one? Lynn took it last November when we were at Cloudland Canyon State Park in the mountains of Georgia. Thanks, Lynn!

Meanwhile, one of the comments in the margin of my manuscript: "recast - things are always 'catching the light.'" We are what we write, aren't we. :)

"Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

GUILTY PLEASURE

Okay, some folks watch Survivor, others Beauty and the Geek... give me The Bachelor. I love this show. Seriously. It intrigues me what people want in relationships, and this bachelor (from London) in particular seems really in tune with who these women really are and how they might "fit" with him.

I like him. I especially liked last night when he said, "I was gutted."

Oh the heartache! Been there...


“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

- Maya Angelou

THE BEATING HEART OF COURAGE

So, in between a trillion other things during National Poetry Month, I've been cranking along on this revision (due at the end of May). And I just now realized what THE WITCHES OF GEE'S BEND is really about: courage.

All this time I was thinking it was about love and belongingness, and yes, it's about those things too, but at its heart, at its core, it is about one girl's courage.

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."

- Atticus Finch, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Gertrude
origin: German, meaning: adored warrior

An unbeliever,
she makes love
with the lights on,
her room a bunker
with no windows.

She undresses
her wounds first,
tells tales of civil
wars fought
but never won,

her skin tastes
like gunpowder
and smells like smoke.

She says
not to worry,
she eventually releases
all prisoners.

She pulls your
mouth to hers
captures your hair
in her fingers,
then pushes you
past enemy lines.

Stretch marks
are trenches
in the fierce light,
she sees them, dares you
to call her beautiful.

- Irene Latham

Know someone named Gertrude? Or someone who SHOULD be named Gertrude? Her strength inspires me.

"If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water."

- Ernest Hemingway

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

This one is a gift from my sister Lynn, taken at Cape San Blas, Florida. I could look at it for days. (A good choice for the ceiling at the OB/GYN? I'm just saying.)

"See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.

For in truth it is life that gives unto life - while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

And you receivers - and you are all receivers - assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.

Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;

For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father."

-Kahlil Gibran

WHEN PAPA COMES TO TOWN

How appropriate that Alison should choose today to give me this sweet award! Isn't it adorable? Alison is adorable too and absolutely a gift to the world. Thank you, and right back at you.

The reason it's especially appropriate is because today I am posting about my father's visit. Papa lives in Bismarck, North Dakota, so visits are few and far between. But oh when they happen, they are wonderful! We talk and laugh and share pictures and stories... and the boys are sweeter and more affectionate when Papa is here. I treasure the small moments and really hate seeing him go.



Papa being here also gives us an excuse to see other folks we love, like the girls in this photo. Meet my sister-in-law/best friend from high school Jennifer and my three oldest nieces Rachael, Katherine, and Sarah. (That's my Eric on the other side of Papa. I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the giggling at the supper table. :)

Aren't they beautiful??

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.”

- Albert Einstein

ALABAMA BOOK FESTIVAL

You gotta love an event that makes poetry a top priority. Why, we even had our own tent! Big thanks and congrats go to Jeanie Thompson and everyone else who worked so hard to pull the whole thing off. It was a pleasure to share some of my own poems as well as meet new-to-me poets like Doug Van Gundy of West Virginia (we must meet again!) and enjoy old faves like Willie James King (what a sweetheart!) and Natasha Tretheway. And hey, even Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe were there. Seriously! Talk about a party! And me without a camera. Sigh.

I really missed my family at this one. There has got to be a way for me to bring them along on these adventures. If only Paul didn't work on Saturdays... sigh again.

So many great folks in one place... authors and book lovers of all sorts. Including my mentor in the kidlit world, R.A. Nelson. Great job, Russ! And did I mention the weather was simply gorgeous?

"Respect the masterpiece. It is true reverence to man. There is no quality so great, none so much needed now."

- Frank Lloyd Wright

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Posting a short one today, because I am still recovering from yesterday's Alabama Book Festival. (more on that tomorrow) This poem is not from WHAT CAME BEFORE, but a more recent one that originated in response to one of Liz Reed's painting of the Grand Tetons (and also just appeared in Birmingham Arts Journal).

Tetons

blurred world
suddenly sharp

peaks rise
like prayer

boot after
clumsy boot

we climb

- Irene Latham


"A good book is the purest essence of a human soul."

- Thomas Carlyle

WHAT THE HECK DOES "STET" MEAN?

Found this notation in my manuscript, and because I hate to ask stupid questions (a serious character flaw), I looked it up online instead.

Here's what I found at Buried in the Slush Pile:

Stet - Latin for let it stand. Editors and proofreaders place the word stet in the margin of a manuscript to indicate that a marked change or deletion should be ignored, and the copy typeset in its original form.

Well, hallelujah! And here I was thinking it was something really bad...

"This morning I took out a comma and this afternoon I put it back again."

—Oscar Wilde

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Isn't this the sweetest pic? It's my sister Lynn's youngest children, Matt and Anna.

Lynn says it was just a lucky shot -- their dog Jackson approached and this is what happened. Luck or skill or kismet or whatever, I feel lighter and more carefree when I look at this one. Plus I love these kids. And their mother. (SO MUCH!)

Precious, huh?

"What one loves in childhood stays in the heart forever."

- Mary Jo Putney

FOR THE LOVE OF WORDS

Big thanks to Danielle and the Writing Club at Jacksonville State University for a lovely poetry-filled evening last night! Yes, it was COLD... but the fire was nice and what better than poetry to warm a girl up?

Thanks for making me feel so welcome -- it was an honor to speak to such an eager (and talented!) group.

Now back to my revision...

"Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself."

-Truman Capote

AT THE MOVIES

Over the weekend we took our youngest scientist-son to see the movie he'd been dying to see: Nim's Island. (Big brothers called it a "chick flick" and had no interest. Hmmmm....)

I really didn't know anything about the movie going in, except that Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin were in it. My ignorance is probably part of what made it so delightful. Also, I think maybe we Lathams have all been a bit sensory-deprived as we've been grieving, so everything in the movie just seemed to pop in an extra-special way.

Essentially the movie is about courage. About being the hero in your own story. About how often we let things get in the way of our ability to be all courageous and heroic, even in mundane everyday life. And the movie is also about experiencing the wonder of the natural world, and how that, in and of itself, is an adventure.

Check it out. You won't be sorry.

"The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by."

- Felix Adler

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

To the Boy I Kissed in Four States But Didn’t Marry

I remember you.
I remember Georgia
and Kentucky
and Tennessee.

Once, we loved each other
in Alabama
and I remember
it rained

and your arms
were stretched
above your head,
your whole body spread

out for me
like a sugar-shore.
This is the only
way back

to how many times
we’ve kissed
and where,
how every time

it was like
floating
and sinking,
the two of us

like spun glass
hung
from a string
and dancing.

I don’t remember now
all the reasons
you went your way
and I went mine.

But there are highways
I know
like I still know
every curve

of your lips
and mouth
and tongue,
and some days

I just get in my car
and drive.


- Irene Latham


“It's all right for a perfect stranger to kiss your hand as long as he's perfect.”

- Mae West

ADDING TO THE LIFE LIST

During the time my mother-in-law was sick, people kept asking us if she had a "life list." (I guess this is the same thing as a "bucket list," but I prefer the other terminology.) She didn't. I think this is because she had already done the things she wanted to do in her life. Also, she was sick, so travel or other adventures were not exactly do-able in her condition.

Anyhow, I've been thinking about my own life list. And I've got something to add: I want to learn a foreign language. Trouble is, I haven't decided yet which one! Not French - got my fill of that in high school. Spanish? It would certainly be practical. Mandarin Chinese? That might work. Or maybe Italian, although it never crossed my mind until I read Elizabeth Gilbert's EAT PRAY LOVE.

I guess I've got some deciding to do. And probably I should wait until I get past this novel revision deadline??

"If we really want to live, we better start at once to try."

- W.H. Auden

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

I love old graveyards. There's something so holy about them. Probably because all those words engraved on the markers and headstones represent such love.

This one can be found behind the Presbyterian Church at Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I took the pic two days before my mother-in-law died. When I look at it, I feel really connected to her, as if it represents HER, not the person it actually is intended to remember. Isn't that crazy?


"The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

- Douglas Adams

LOVE LIFE BY RAY KLUUN

Last month a new glossy magazine appeared in our office -- called Lipstick. So I cracked it open and found a "Book Club" page where they were asking readers to check out Love Life by Ray Kluun. It's a memoir set in Holland about a guy who is chronically unfaithful, even as his wife is dying of breast cancer.

Intrigued?

Well. It's a bit of a train wreck. Atrocious writing in places. But the cancer parts were right on. And my curiosity demanded I stick with it long enough to see how it all ended up between Mr. Kluun and his wife and all these various other women.

In the end, I'm glad I read it. But I can't exactly recommend it. Know what I mean?

"If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves."

-Lillian Hellman

ON TIME AND HOW WE SPEND IT

Seems like I am forever in a rush. It feels good to be accomplishing stuff, but I do get tired and stressed out sometimes. You know, on days when it feels like there is not enough time?

Sometimes I need to remember to slow down.

Which is why I love today's quotes. Yes, that's quotes, as in more than one. Think of it as a two-for-Tuesday like they do on the radio. And even those these may seem at odds with one another, they really aren't.

"Everywhere is walking distance if you have time."

- Steven Wright

"If the doctor told me I had only six minutes to live,
I’d type a little faster."

-Isaac Asimov

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

Remember these books? My 11 year old has just discovered them.

And last night as he busily looked up the word "abominable" in his handy dandy bedside dictionary (my boy's a word lover! Woohoo!), I was thinking the Choose Your Own Adventure series is a great example of literature that breaks the fourth wall.

Check 'em out! Meanwhile, I'll be plugging along on this revision...

“A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.”

-Steven Wright

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Anniversary

The morning after
there is a peach
on the nightstand

your forehead gleams
in the tender light
and I see a whorl

in your hairline,
the place your mother
must have kissed

when you were new
and I want to
kiss it too

that dark tornado

I want to kiss it
and remember you
this way -

ripe and still,
as if we are just
beginning.

- Irene Latham


I love peaches. And not just because I was born in Georgia! They are such a sensual fruit - no wonder they are always popping up in my poems. Wishing everyone a peach-y day today... and Paul, Happy Anniversary to Us!

"There are two versions of every story and twelve versions of every song."

- Irish proverb

FIRST PERSON, PRESENT

So I've read and re-read my editor's comments, and I'm just about ready to dive into the latest revision of THE WITCHES OF GEE'S BEND. Currently the book is written in first person past POV, but now I'm considering a switch to first person present.

I love the immediacy of first person present, how it really makes you feel like you are right there with the character inside the story. But do I really want to do all the work it would take to make that switch? Do I even have time with my fast-approaching deadline? And would it make enough of a different to be worth it?

I'm not sure yet. So I'm thinking I'll tackle the other must-do issues first then decide. I'll keep you posted.

“We must plan for the future because people who stay in the present will remain in the past.”

- Abraham Lincoln

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

If you drive down the coast from San Francisco on Route 1 (and the road isn't washed out) you'll see this lighthouse at Pigeon Point. Even on a grey day it's a beautiful sight.

"Tough times don't last; tough people do."

- seen earlier this week on a church billboard in Dallas County, Alabama

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

I don't know who exactly decided April should be National Poetry Month, but wow, what a great choice. April is the perfect month for poetry. It is also the perfect month for picnics and first kisses and long walks in the woods.

I will be celebrating National Poetry Month in all sorts of ways. I've got four school visits lined up, three speaking engagements, Alabama Book Festival, and Limestone Dust Poetry Festival. All this on top of my usual poetic endeavors. Catch me if you can!

If you'd like to get in the spirit of poetry, try this.

"Ink runs from the corners of my mouth
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry."

- Mark Strand

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Monsoon

Ants march across the empty
clothesline with eggs in their mouths -
they know what's coming.

Children take no notice
till the sky is grey as a turtle's back
and their mothers call from the doorways
and still they wait for the first raindrop
and later look from the window,
tracing rivulets, toes begging
for the taste of mud.

We weren't expecting this,
so the windows were left open,
the shutters thrown wide.
We stand in the center of the room,
vow never to forget
the fury of these days, the smell
of glisteing skin, the simple
wants of rain.

- Irene Latham

"Happiness only real when shared."

- Christopher McCandless

WORD UP!

This afternoon I will be joining a bunch of other word lovers at a poetry slam for high schoolers. This isn't any ordinary slam -- this is one presented in conjunction with The Big Read. Our library chose TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD as its book, so all the performances today will somehow relate to the themes and characters set forth in that novel.



I am so excited to hear what these kids have come up with! What words will they choose? How will their words represent their experience with the novel? It's gonna be FUN! Especially for me, the scorekeeper. :)



"Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell, and when you get angry, be good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough."



- William Saroyan (another Zen calendar quote)

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Have you ever seen a more beautiful sunrise? I fall in love every time I see this pic. MJ, you rock!

"Everything you do right now ripples outward and affects everyone. Your posture can shine your heart or transmit anxiety. Your breath can radiate love or muddy the room in depression. Your glance can awaken joy. Your words can inspire freedom. Your every act can open hearts and minds."

- David Deida (as quoted on a little Zen calendar)

HAKUNA MATATA

How long has it been since you watched Disney's THE LION KING?

We pulled it out last night to watch as a family because we thought it might be good therapy for the kids, especially Eric who was very attached to his grandmother (and young enough that he missed the whole LION KING craze).

It's the love song/scene "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" that slays me. In a good way. And when I think about what I want in life, that's it: More love. Life is too short for anything else.

Not interested in movie therapy? Try this.

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

- Albert Einstein

THREE THINGS

1. The best part about a funeral is seeing all those folks you never see except at funerals. To all you Lathams and Holcombs out there, thanks for being there. And wow, what a good-looking bunch of kids!

2. Jumping back in the saddle today and heading to the microform room at The Birmingham Library. (At what point did people start calling the Great Depression by that term?) I've got to nail down a couple of particulars for my THE WITCHES OF GEE'S BEND revisions.

3. What a tease spring can be. Last night temps dropped again below freezing. Those poor little buds on the azaleas are just waiting and waiting...

“The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend
-after viewing the exhibit at the Whitney Museum

They hung like Jesus on bare walls,
far from the curve in the Alabama River
where they were born. Crowds gathered
and gawked as the quilts looked on,
silently accepting their fate
while the lives of their makers
were examined stitch by stitch.

There is no death for some things,
no story so simple that it can be told
without color or form. See
the edges where wildflowers grow?
The sides lined with bands of corduroy
marching against the grain?
The bars of crimson rising like Hallelujah!
in a church on Sunday morning?

The spirit emerges with or without
resurrection and lives in the denim
strips salvaged from worn work pants.
If you listen, you can hear them whispering
their prayers for the children
they have held and helped conceive,
the sick they have nursed
and the dead they could not save,
for nights spent chasing dreams,
days spent snapping in a breeze.

- Irene Latham

This poem was the start of my obsession with the quilters of Gee's Bend. Four novels later, I am still fascinated. And the reason I have chosen to post this particular poem today is because it was a favorite of my mother-in-law. She and I shared a love of quilts.

“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.”

- Claude Monet

CIRCLE OF LIFE

No matter how prepared you think you are, there are some things you just can't anticipate.

My mother-in-law died yesterday after suffering from liver cancer. And even though we knew it was coming... eventually... none of us was quite prepared for it coming yesterday, or for the overwhelming feeling of the finality of death.

So now my husband joins the ranks of all the other orphans of the world, those who have lost both their parents. And we continue to grieve and ask ourselves again and again all those unanswerable questions that come up in times like this.

We also linger in gratitude for the honor and privilege it has been to know and love this particular human so long and so well. She will always be with us, here in our hearts, where it matters most.

"The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms."

~Oliver Wendell Holmes

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

What is it about windows? This one has a story to tell, I am just sure of it. So lonely on the outside, but what's inside could be something totally different...

Keep 'em coming, MJ!

“When the itch is inside the boot, scratching outside provides little consolation."

- Chinese proverb

EAT, PRAY, LOVE

Okay. Just back from the Smoky Mountains and gotta say something about this book. It's one of those I so did not want to end! This girl (Elizabeth Gilbert) loves her words (and her pasta!), and I was just totally taken with her story. Give it a read... you won't be sorry. And keep an eye out for Felipe. Ooh, baby!


"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [wo]men."

- John F. Kennedy

SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Mrs. Noah

Once the doors were nailed shut
and the rain was pounding the roof
how she must have wept for the children
she watched the water swallow.
How she must have held her own to her breast,
their stink and the animals’ stink
reassuring and warm. How she must
have blamed Noah for her plight,
hating him for believing in a god
that would make her Mother of All
and he their keeper. When the dove
came with its tiny branch, how Mrs. Noah
must have ached to snatch it from its mouth,
to take something
for all that had been taken from her.

- Irene Latham

WHAT CAME BEFORE (2007, Negative Capability Press)

Even though I didn't know it at the time, this poem was the start of my historical women project. And this is cool: friend and fellow writer Teresa was so intriqued by Mrs. Noah after reading this poem that she went on to write a 100,000 word novel about her!

"You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

- Jack London

LA DOLCE VITA

Just thinking today about The Sweet Life. Seriously, how sweet it is!

As of 3:00 pm this afternoon, school is out and it is officially Spring Break here in Shelby County, Alabama. And with temperatures in the mid-70s and blue skies and Bradford pear trees just beginning to bloom, it's time to put on the flipflops and pack a picnic and be very glad to be alive.

I want to thank Alabama Media Professionals for being such a fun group to talk to today. You guys were a great audience, and I enjoyed the time we shared. Also, I want to give a shout-out to two writer service-oriented blogs: Author Visits By State hosted by picture-book author Kim Norman and Funds for Writers blog hosted by C. Hope Clark. Both these gals are not only fabulous writers but also writers helping other writers! I love that unselfish writer spirit. I want to be just like them.

We've got some grand adventures planned for the school break, so my writing life will not involve time at the computer. Can't stop those gears cranking in my head, though! When I do get back to the computer my fingers will be tripping all over themselves trying to keep up with my brain.

In the meantime, wishing everyone blue skies and sunshine!

"The buds swell imperceptibly without hurry or confusion, as if the short spring day were an eternity."

- Henry David Thoreau

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

This is the bridge to Port St. Joe, Florida, one of my most favorite places on the planet. It's situated on the Gulf Coast between Panama City and Appalachicola, near Cape San Blas, where the sand dunes are mountainous and snow white. It's truly truly one of the most gorgeous places. But that's not why I love it so much.

I love it so much because it's where my grandparents have lived for over sixty years. No matter how many times my own family relocated, we always came home to Port St. Joe, to the house Granddaddy built with his own two hands, to the kitchen where Grandma made sour cream cake and chocolate pies and hoe cakes in an old iron skillet, to the weedless garden, the toilet that wouldn't flush, the furniture still covered in plastic.

Thanks, MJ, for thinking to take this pic.

“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn."

- David Russell

COMING SOON TO A BLOG NEAR YOU

You know what's cool? This award I got from one of my favorite writer-mamas Alison. Visit her and you'll see why they call her "queen of the cliffhanger." Thanks, Alison, for shining your light. And thanks to all you readers out there who read this blog! I send this award out to all of you. Because your presence here brings me great joy. And if you've been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that my word for 2008 is JOY.

Okay, so what have I learned from my fellow writers and readers? So many things! You guys are great. And because several of you have asked, and one of my goals in life is to say "yes" as much as possible, I will introduce a new series I've decided to call SHOWCASE SUNDAY. Sunday posts will feature excerpts from my own books, both published and unpublished. I'll start with my book of poems WHAT CAME BEFORE.

Let me know what you think! (By the way, Karen, the first one I dedicate to you. :)

"A smile is a curve that sets everything straight."

~ Phyllis Diller

TRIAGE FOR WRITERS

So you've got a first draft. Congratulations! Feels good, doesn't it? What an accomplishment it is just getting from the title to "the end."

Go ahead, take a moment to pat yourself on the back and/or raise a glass of wine. Feel very very pleased with yourself. Then ask youself this question: What now? Because, as Sol Stein says in his book STEIN ON WRITING, "the biggest difference between a writer and a would-be writer is their attitude toward rewriting."

If you're gonna make it in this writing business, you've gotta be willing to revise. And Stein offers a great way to do it: triage. Basically it involves addressing the most serious issues in your manuscript first.

Don't start at page one, start with the place you know in your gut is not up to speed with the rest of the book. Keep doing this until you have repaired the major arteries then go back for the small stuff. Stein says this will keep you from growing cold on your own manuscript.

And he's right: right now I am in the tent performing a sex-change operation. My main character is a girl, and traditional wisdom say surely her best friend is also a girl. So I wrote the whole first draft that way. But then I got to thinking more about this girl, about who she is and what she wants. The way I've written her, she would not have a girl best friend. It's got to be a boy.

The quick-fix, of course, is the character's name. Check. Next there's all those sneaky little pronouns. Check. But most important? the mannerisms.

I wonder what surgery I'll be performing next??

“If the doctor told me I had six minutes to live, I'd type a little faster.”

- Isaac Asimov

ON ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Have you heard about the recent legislation in California requiring parents to be certified teachers in order to homeschool their children? As if one needs a degree to be an adequate teacher. As if one cannot educate oneself or one's children without a little piece of paper (or two or three).

This really bugs me. As a mom who has homeschooled her kids in the past and learned a thing or two about all the ways public education fails children, this really really bugs me. I applaud parents who choose to invest that much time and attention in their children. Studies of standardized test scores support the argument that these parents most often do a very good job. Why take away that freedom?

Next thing you know someone is going to be telling me I can't write books because I don't have a formal degree in writing. As if!

"If I had my life to live over again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner."

- Tallulah Bankhead

JUDGE ME NOT

For the second year in a row I have been asked to judge a writing contest as part of Etowah County's Big Read program. Last year students were asked to write a short story in the same vein as Daniel Wallace's BIG FISH. This year students were asked to write an essay addressing the theme of "gifts" in Harper Lee's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

I am no stranger to judging contests. What's interesting is how many entries must be rejected right of the bat for not following the guidelines set forth. This go around I had to set aside some really wonderful essays because they didn't address the specific subject matter of "gifts." The guidelines were written for a reason, folks!

People always ask how one arrives at a winner, so I'll tell you. The best work is well-organized, well-thought out, and original in some way. The winning essay in this contest had me from the title. And the author followed through on what was promised by thos first four words. Something else I liked about this particular entry was how the author used quotes from the book to support his ideas. None of the other entrants did this.

How wonderful to meet a young up-and-coming word-lover!

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway, and you see it through, no matter what."

-Atticus Finch, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Okay, so this is not a photograph in keeping with what I usually post on Thousand Word Thursday. But I have great news, and I gotta share!

Yesterday I got a letter in the mail from Alabama State Poetry Society announcing that WHAT CAME BEFORE has been selected as 2007 BOOK OF THE YEAR!! How cool is that?? I am so thrilled and honored!

"Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is."

-Mark Twain

IN WHICH I RELATE TO THE MAD BLUEBIRD

This writer business can be really tough sometimes. Let me tell you what I mean.

A few months ago I received from an editor (we'll call him Editor X) a letter that really irked me. I have submitted poems to Editor X before, and he has asked for revisions. The first time I thought, wow, cool! He likes my work enough to give me feedback! I was seriously thrilled. Of course I made the revisions.

Well. A few months later he rejected the revisions, but asked for even more revisions! Not being one to give up without a fight, I revised accordingly. Do you think Editor X accepted my poem for publication?

Big fat NO!

All that time! All that effort! Not to mention the stamps.

Time passed and I sort of forgot about it. (But not really.) When I got the latest issue of Editor X's journal, I pored over it, nearly memorizing some of the poems. I realized I still really really really wanted to be in that journal. And I thought, maybe now I'll get lucky, because haven't I established a relationship with Editor X now? Won't he eventually have to publish me, just because we've had so much correspondence?

I crossed my fingers and sent him all new poems.

Guess what? Editor X promptly replied with a request for revisions. Again! I crumpled his letter into a ball and sent it flying across the room. I decided nope, not this time, I am not revising. Which turned out to be the right thing, because what do you know, those very same poems got picked up as they were by other journals.

But still, I kept thinking about Editor X and his journal. How I wanted so much to have a poem appear in those pages. Still.

I couldn't help it, I sent the man a new batch of poems. Which brings us to the letter from a few months back. Editor X admonished me for not sending in revisions! He said he thought I was a poet he could work with, and was I opposed to revisions? Uh, hello, did I not revise TWICE only for you to reject in the end?? I shoved the letter back in the envelope and vowed no matter what, I wouldn't submit to Editor X ever again. Never ever ever.

Then today I ran across the envelope and had to open up and re-read that letter. And you know what? All of a sudden his suggestions make perfect sense to me. So I've made the changes and first thing in the morning I am popping that envelope in the mail. Maybe, just maybe, this is the envelope that wins Editor X's heart.

"Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern
resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind."

-- Leonardo da Vinci

FROM WHERE YOU DREAM

The shelves at Barnes & Noble are bulging with books on writing, and many of them are useful, depending on where you are in your writing life. Then there are those special few books on writing that are useful no matter where you are in your writing life. From Where You Dream by Robert Olen Butler is one of those books for me.

If you are not familiar with Robert Olen Butler, check out his Pulitzer prize winning collection of short stories A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. Those stories are full of sensual detail that plug right into your emotions and make you feel. And isn't that what it's all about? Feeling?

What Butler urges writers to do is let their unconscious speak. Think about what you, in your heart of hearts, want more than anything. Forget about the market and what you think you should write. Write from where you dream.

Me, I dream of this little cabin in the woods. And what happens inside.

"Yearning is always part of fictional character. In fact, one way to understand plot is that it represents the dynamics of desire. It's the dynamics of desire that is at the heart of narrative and plot."

- Robert Olen Butler

GOD OF FORGE

Meet Vulcan, Birmingham's very own Roman god. My sister and I paid him a visit Saturday night, and on the elevator up we could see the city outside and our reflections inside... it got me thinking about forging and melding and how some people in our lives are truly truly inside us, in our very cells, along with the city and night and sky and the lights and everything in the world we can't even see.

Lynn is one of those people for me.

We laughed like little girls when we went out on the observation deck and saw the sprawl of Birmingham, a place each of us has lived and loved, a place that has shaped us in all kinds of ways. Then one of us got dizzy and decided we should go down. :)

“Nothing splendid was ever created in cold blood. Heat is required to forge anything. Every great accomplishment is the story of a flaming heart.”

- Arnold H. Glasgow

LEAPIN' LIZARDS!

I won, I won!! The very excellent storyteller Alison over at RDHMom had a girl scout cookie contest, and I won Thin Mints! How very cool. Thank you, Alison, for making my day leap.

I've always thought it would be cool to have a February 29 birthday. Kind of like being left handed? Something a little off, but in a good way? So happy birthday to all you Leapers out there.

And welcome home to my poet-friend Seth who returns today from a month at Vermont Studio Center! Can you imagine a month in a house with other writers and artists with snow and readings and all that uninterrupted time to write? Seth completed his manuscript for a book of poems, and I couldn't be more thrilled for him. Maybe in my next life I'll be able to escape like that for a month.

Meanwhile, I am escaping this weekend for one night with my sister. No kids, no laundry, just me and Lynn eating and talking and shopping and sleeping. What a great way to start a new month!

“When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.”

- Cynthia Heimel

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Where, do you think, this suitcase, has been? What would it look like smell like feel like if you opened it up? What do you think is inside?

There's a story there, I just know it. Thanks, MJ, for the provocative pic.

“Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier.”

- James F. Kettering

GPS FOR WRITING

I got a new toy: a GPS for my van. Which is great, because I am often dashing here and there. And this spring it seems I have quite a few adventures planned. So now I won't have to cuss Mapquest or stop on the side of the road to examine my poor beat-up atlas that is missing very important pages (like the eastern half of Tennessee) or, god forbid, stop to ask for directions. (I really like to figure these things out for myself.)

And it's got me thinking (of course) about my writing. I guess the GPS for writing would be the outline. You will find all sorts of opinions about this from all sorts of writers. For me, I find at some point, in order to plot a novel with effective narrative and character arcs, I've got to have some sort of plan or outline. But before I can get to the outline, the story has to live inside my head for a while. Like months or years even. Then I write a chapter by chapter outline and off I go.

The key is to leave yourself room for veering off course. Because how many times has the best most meaningful part of any adventure happened as a result of getting lost? I'm thinking every now and then with my new GPS I might just type in some random address and see where it takes me. Or turn it off completely. Then, when I'm ready, I'll turn it back on.

Same with the writing.

"A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."

- Lao Tzu

TELL ME A STORY

My children, particularly the middle (and most word-loving) Andrew, adore it when I tell them a story. This is far different than reading a story from a book, this is a living breathing thing that changes and grows depending on the moment of the telling.

I wish I was better at telling stories. I wish I had that gene that Kathryn Tucker Windham has. Or the one my father has. You know that one that lacks all self-consciousness and uses voice and inflection and suspense to really make a story come alive?

Well, I try. But I much better at putting words on a page than pulling them out of the air. If I could, I would totally take this class!

"No one in the world knew what truth was until someone had told a story."

-Rudyard Kipling

BE YOUR OWN PROTAGONIST

I've been thinking about these words ever since I read them at Frozen Toothpaste. Be your own protagonist. I mean, how empowering is that? It's a phrase that fits with so many of my other favorites, like "just do it," "be the change you want to see in the world," and "life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself." And it suits not just the writer in me, but the reader as well. Because isn't that the mark of a really great book? A protagonist whose skin you would like to inhabit, someone you would like to BE, if only for a little while?

Be your own protagonist. I like it a lot.

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

GETTING UNDER THE SKIN

Of all the mysteries in the universe, perhaps the most amazing is the human body. What do we look like under the skin? How do all our parts work together so wonderfully?



This exhibit is currently parked in Mobile, Alabama, just four hours from my house. Apparently it is not for the faint of heart; it is for the brave and curious.



I gotta see it!



"The final mystery is oneself."



-Oscar Wilde

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

I'm not sure what fascinates me more about this pic, the way the glass gleams in the light or the fact that someone out there thought to stick those bottles on the broken branches.

Beautiful, isn't it? Thanks, MicaJon, for another great shot. It almost makes up for the fact that there was no lunar eclipse to be seen in Birmingham last night. We kept going out to check, but the clouds just kept getting thicker and thicker. You can bet we'll be out there trying again December 20, 2010.

“It is strange how often a heart must be broken before the years can make it wise”

-Sara Teasdale

BLOSSOMS OF ONE KIND AND ANOTHER

The jonquils are blooming in Birmingham! This one is called Narcissus Sweetness. How can you not love a flower with that name? Plus it is very fragrant. Be careful, though, because these blossoms are kind of fragile. Once I mailed one off in a Pringles can, and it turned into a mushy mess. Ah, well. The things we do for love.

"Let us be grateful to people
who make us happy;

they are the charming gardeners
who make our souls blossom."

-Marcel Proust

WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE

See this little girl? Her name is Artelia Bendolph, and this photo was taken by Arthur Rothstein in 1937 when Artelia was ten years old.

Rothstein titled the photo "Girl at Gee's Bend." It is this photo that I turned to again and again as I came to know Ludelphia Bennett, the main character in my novel THE WITCHES OF GEE'S BEND. In my mind, this is Lu. No matter what art winds up on the cover of the book, this is the girl I see.

My image of the main character in my latest novel ESCAPE FROM FIRE MOUNTAIN is not nearly so clear. I know she's got long unrurly dark hair that springs up around her face in the humid island air, but her face is still vague. I have a feeling it will be a "know it when I see it" kind of thing.

“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.”

- Maya Angelou

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE MOON

According to Space.com we will have a wonderful opportunity Feb. 20 to view a total lunar eclipse.

I don't know about you, but this thrills me. I am fascinated by space, and it is constantly popping up in my writing. So this is a big deal to me. You can bet on the night of the 20th (this Wednesday!) I will have the camera in my hands and the kids snuggled up in quilts beside me on the trampoline.

Then I wll write about it.

"In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe."

- Carl Sagan

POETRY WORKSHOP

Today the Big Table Poets will meet to share and critique poems. We've been working together for nearly six years, and it amazingly still feels like a fresh new thing. Many people have asked how we have pulled this off, and the truth is, I don't really know.

But I am aware of an element in our group that I don't see in a lot of other groups: a decided lack of hierarchy and organization. No one is in charge. No one is the leader. We have a core group of five who show up most consistently, but we also have a revolving door of poets who come for a while then drop off. Everyone is just as important as everyone else, regardless of how skilled they are as writers. We operate on the tenet that everyone has something important to write about, something only he/she CAN write about. Therefore every piece of writing is valuable no matter how raw or polished.

However, you've got to have tough skin to sit at our table. We are there to work. So you've got to be open and ready to hear suggestions for improvement. And then ultimately you have to sit with yourself and own your writing.

Today I am workshopping two poems: The Final Prayer of Klara Hitler and In my mother's dream. I have a feeling it's going to be brutal. I'll let you know. :)

"Kill your darlings."

- has been attributed to William Faulkner, Mark Twain, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. If you know who really said it, I'd love to know!

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES WRITING

Last night we listened to author Carl Hiassen speak about his writing career.

The first thing Hiassen did was bring out a very thick file full of newspaper clippings. He then proceeded to share headlines and stories that have inspired plot and character in his novels. Most of these came from The Miami Herald where Hiassen has worked since he was twenty-three years old.

He tagged his books "satire" (for those of you who thought he was just plain funny and perhaps a little odd) and was delightfully self-deprecating. He had much to say about the dumping ground that is his home state of Florida, and he told story after story of the unsavories that somehow find themselves in the state. In fact (he claimed), the most challenging part of his writing is staying ahead of the weirdness curve of actual happenings in Florida.

So there you have it, folks. The trick to being a NY Times Bestselling Author is right there in black and white served up with your morning coffee. Start clipping, and start writing!

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

- Oscar Wilde

THIRTEEN

Meet Daniel, age thirteen.

Yesterday morning we put him on a plane (with 74 other 7th graders) to Washington, DC. What a fizzy feeling it is, sending your baby out into the world. I've heard writers say it's a similar feeling when they launch a book. I might even have said this when WHAT CAME BEFORE was released. But it's not true, not really.

I'm way way more proud and worried and enthusiastic about this thirteen-year-old. And I miss him. Think he's remembering to brush his teeth?

Aw, who cares. :)

“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

- St. Augustine

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

Here is another pic, courtesy of my very talented brother MicaJon. These gears are part of an old printing press. When I look at it, I think about the way words fit together, the way people fit together, both emotionally and physically.

Every now and then there's bound to be a jam. But what this picture makes me think of is all the times things go so smoothly, it feels like together you are one big thing instead of entirely separate parts. When things feel so right, it's as if you were placed on the planet for just that purpose: to love and share space and become.

I crave moments like that.

"That is happiness: to be dissolved into something complete and great."

- Willa Cather

WHAT FEEDS YOU?

I've been thinking the past few days about this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye:

Hidden

If you place a fern
under a stone
the next day it will be
nearly invisible
as if the stone has
swallowed it.

If you tuck the name of a loved one
under your tongue too long
without speaking it
it becomes blood
sigh
the little sucked-in breath of air
hiding everywhere
beneath your words.

No one sees
the fuel that feeds you.


How true is that?? Each of us has something that keeps us getting up in the mornings and helps us be the people we want to be. No one else has to know what it is so long as you know.


"I love living. I have a home on a river in Nova Scotia and I watch the water coming and going. Being a poet is not a choice. It is a way of life. It comes to me like the water, from some invisible well or source."

- Joanna Harris

LIFE IS TOO SHORT FOR MEDIOCRE

I woke up this morning thinking a bunch of things, first and foremost, hey, I'm not immediately diving for the kleenex and my thoughts aren't the mushy mess they have been the past few days! I think good health is probably the number one thing I take for granted in my life, so these weeks have been a real reminder.

So I wallowed in gratitude for a few minutes, then started thinking about all the piles I've got to wade through at some point, starting today: the house is a wreck, my briefcase is stacked with unfinished work I need ready by tomorrow, I have a poem due today... also my editor said to expect the final revision packet mid-February, so any day now I'll have to re-enter the world of 1932 Gee's Bend and make sure to get it JUST RIGHT...

Oh and there's all this other stuff I want to do, too, now that I feel a bit more human, like write and read and love the ones I haven't loved enough in the past days or weeks or years, and what I was thinking was, mediocre isn't good enough. Not for any of these things. Well, except maybe the laundry. If there's one place in life to be mediocre, I'm thinking that's it :)

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars."

-Les Brown

THE YEAR OF THE RAT

So I was telling a friend about the awful time we've had at my house with sickness this year, and she said, "we've entered the dreaded Year of the Rat." Dreaded, I'm thinking?

I figure you can look at rats two ways, and probably more. They can be nasty little critters, but aren't they also amazingly resilient survivors?

On a day like today when I am so ready to kick this flu out of my life FOR GOOD, I am going with the survivor argument. Thanks to those of you who have been so kind as to check up on me. It helps so much.

“Life is hard. After all, it kills you.”

- Katharine Hepburn

THOUSAND WORD THURSDAY

My brother took this one on a recent trip to Florida. Don't you just want to scramble right over that gate?

Let's do it. Let's go right over it.

"Still round the corner there may wait,
A new road or a secret gate."

- J. R. R. Tolkien

BREAK OUT THE ICE CREAM

The cherry on top of my day yesterday was receiving this award from Alison. Thanks, Alison, for making my day!

Now for some more calorie-free fun:



And hey if you don't like mine, you can make your own!

"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."

- Mark Twain

A BOOK A DAY

My father is a voracious reader. He reads on average a book a day. He also loves listening to books and confessed to me recently that just for fun, he tried to see if he could actually read and listen AT THE SAME TIME.

Well, it didn't work. But you gotta admire the reading spirit going on there.

Of the five kids in our family, I am the only who inherited the reading gene. I can't claim the numbers my father's got, but I do read with a hunger. And it's got me thinking about why I read, about what it is I get from the reading experience.

For me, I think it's mostly about discovering new worlds and finding myself in the characters. I keep a reading journal of quotes and passages from the books I read --some of these find their way into my own writing, but mostly they represent a glimpse of myself, a little peek into my internal world. I love it when writers put things I've felt or experienced into words I never thought to string together. There is this aha! moment, this recognition, like looking into a lake on a sunny day and seeing a shimmery reflection.

Katherine Paterson, a writer whom I admire greatly, has a little different take on this. She says in her book The Invisible Child that the reason kids need books is to prepare them for the emotional experiences they will later encounter. She tells a story of someone thanking her for the book Bridge to Terebithia, because a child's best friend had died, and the book helped her in some way to deal with that loss. Paterson's response was, "too late, too late!" She believes children need these books BEFORE they know they need them.

So I wonder: what books most prepared me for my life? What books gave me some tools to help me survive the traumas and heartaches I've experienced? What books taught me to recognize the joy and love?

Well, I'm thinking. Meanwhile, here is a quote from my reading journal:

"He thinks how strange life is with its frayed edges and second chances; and though by morning he will have forgotten that he ever thought it, Gerard feels as though he is being followed, that there are voices he can’t hear, that the footsteps on snow on the window are just that, and like Lucy’s conception - life is a string of guided and subtle explosions."

- from The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy

ADVICE FROM THE U.S. POET LAUREATE

Charles Simic is the poet who currently holds the post as U.S. Poet Laureate. It's a one year appointment that begins in October and carries with it a $35,000 prize. The poet also gets to hang out in the Poetry Room at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Usually the poet will adopt a cause of some sort for the advancement of poetry -- I don't know what Simic is doing, but maybe it will be something special like Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry.

What's cool about Simic is he is an immigrant from Yugoslavia, and he offers the following really excellent advice on writing poetry:

1. Don't tell the readers what they already know about life.

2. Don't assume you're the only one in the world who suffers.

3. Some of the greatest poems in the language are sonnets and poems not many lines longer than that, so don't overwrite.

4. The use of images, similes and metaphors make poems concise. Close your eyes, and let you imagination tell you what to do.

5. Say the words you are writing aloud and let your ear decide what word comes next.

6. What you are writing down is a draft that will need additional tinkering, perhaps many months, and even years of tinkering.

7. Remember, a poem is a time machine you are constructing, a vehicle that will allow someone to travel in their own mind, so don't be surprised if it takes a while to get all its engine parts properly working.

He's also a funny guy - check out this interview.

And to get a taste of his work, here are 29 poems . There are only two in the bunch that I really like, but taste in poetry is quite the individual thing. Here's one of the two:

Watermelons

Green Buddhas
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.

- Charles Simic

THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEKEND

When you're two, there's nothing much more fun than a water spray bottle. And it tastes good, too!


When you're one, laundry is still fun! And you just don't really know what a thing is until you put it in your mouth. (Fortunately BrenLeigh is just like a little chipmunk storing things away in her cheeks without any real desire to swallow them.)

There really isn't anything much better than that feeling you get when sliding down a slide. Okay, maybe watching HIM get that feeling.

What fabulous wonderful children these are! And what a full-time job! I can't believe all the stuff I've forgotten. I also can't believe how PEACEFUL my house feels now that the babies are gone. Wow, we've come such a long way. And it is really so different being an aunt than being a mom... it's like getting all the joy and amusement without worrying about teaching this or that, or considering the lifelong consequences. I like it a lot.

“Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow.”

-Helen Keller

THE BABIES ARE COMING!

My brother and sister-in-law wanted a romantic weekend, so I said, bring those babies to me! They live in Tennessee and are currently on the way to my house. I've dragged the high chair and pack-n-play up from the basement and plugged up the electrical outlets. I don't know if the houseplants will survive all the attention, but we are all excited to have 2 year old Levi and 15 month old BrenLeigh. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful here, so I am planning to get them outside. I promise to take lots of pics, which I will post here. Don't you just love little kids?

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.

-Franklin P. Jones