ME AND THE GOVERNOR

Still no "official" photo from the Governor's people, but, before you've completely lost interest, I wanted to go ahead and share the ones from my camera.

Here's me and Ginger Rue.
Not only is Ginger an amazing author and speaker, she's also a member of Black Belt Action Commission. Love her AND her books! And she totally saved me... I didn't know I was going to have to speak at the event, and she was like the most awesome publicist ever: gave me some key points, and I ran with them. Plus she dashed around introducing me to people she felt like I needed to meet. Seriously. I need a Ginger at ever event!

Now. Here's one of Governor Riley accepting the Commission's gift to him: a Gee's Bend quilt, of course!

I also got to see Sulynn from Blackbelt Treasures at the event. Wow, seeing her sweet face in the audience sure helped to ease my nerves!

And finally, here's me and the Governor in the same shot at least... Ginger was able to snap this as we were parting ways after the presentation of LEAVING GEE'S BEND. I was so relieved at this point... mission accomplished!


Will share the "official" photo as soon as I have it. Meanwhile, I've got a school visit tomorrow -- my first of 2010-11 school year. I'm excited!

CLIMBING THE CITADEL

Have I mentioned before that my youngest son pretty much HATES to read? Yep. It's enough to break a book-loving mama's heart.

But. He LOVES to be read to. So I still read to him. Every night. And I have to tell you about his most favorite book from our summer reading: BANNER IN THE SKY.

Now I should say right up front that our actual mountain climbing experience is limited to a climbing wall at the mall AND this one time my rock climber brother took us to the Palisades near Oneonta, Alabama, where I slipped and dislocated my elbow. Rock Climbing Brother is also a nurse, so he bravely, miraculously popped the bone right back in place, but still. A pleasant memory this does not make.

But THIS time, we climbed from the comfort of Eric rock-n-roll bedroom. And it was awesome! We felt like were were on that Swiss mountain, breathing that thin air, searching for fingerholds with our poor bleeding fingers. There was adventure, conflict, danger, sweetness, everything.

And now son wants to do the real thing so badly that he spent his hard-earned summer money not on his original plan, but a new one: climbing rope, boots, gloves. And right now, as I type, he is drawing a picture of the Citadel. Fun!

MAKING ART IS CHANCY

Okay. How many of you out there have ever put down your pencil, closed your computer and said, "That's it. I'm done." ??

Well, guess what?

IT'S JUST PART OF THE PROCESS.

Again, from ART & FEAR by David Bayles and Ted Orland

"Fear that your next work will fail is a normal, recurring and generally healthy part of the artmaking cycle… In the normal artistic cycle this just tells you that you’ve come full circle, back to that point where you need to begin cultivating the next new idea."

So. IT'S OKAY TO GET STUCK. It just means it's time to move on to the next thing.

And what if the next thing is so BIG, you feel completely overwhelmed?

THAT'S OKAY TOO.

"Vision is always ahead of execution – and it should be. Vision, Uncertainty, and Knowledge of Materials are inevitabilities that all artists must acknowledge and learn from: vision is always ahead of execution, knowledge of materials is your contact with reality, and uncertainty is a virtue."

Did you hear that, brain??? UNCERTAINTY IS A VIRTUE.

Also: "What’s really needed is nothing more than a broad sense of what you are looking for, some strategy of how to find it, and an overriding willingness to embrace mistakes and surprises along the way. Simply put, making art is chancy – it doesn’t mix well with predictability. Uncertainty is the essential, inevitable and all pervasive companion to your desire to make art. And tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite to succeeding."

PERFECTION, BEGONE!! Remember:

"What you need to know about the next piece is contained in the last piece. The place to learn about your materials is in the last use of your materials. The place to learn about your execution is in your execution. The best information about what you love is in your last contact with what you love. Put simply, your work is a guide: a complete, comprehensive, limitless reference book on your work."

Want more? Buy the book!

AUDIENCE COMES LATER.

So I've been revising my work in progress. To help me along, I picked up a few new books. For the next few weeks, I'd like to share some of the words that have spoken to me.

First, from a book called ART & FEAR by David Bayles & Ted Orland.

"Fears about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about your reception by others. In a general way, fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work."

Just for fun, let's talk about that second family first -- the fear about your reception by others.

This is a fear I know. I've written about it lots of times, most recently here. Now check out this quote, particularly that last sentence:

"Making art provides uncomfortably accurate feedback about the gap that inevitably exists between what you intended to do, and what you did. In fact, if artmaking did not tell you (the maker) so enormously much about yourself, then making art that matters to you would be impossible. To you, and you alone, what matters is the process: the experience of shaping that artwork. The viewers’ concerns are not your concerns (although it’s dangerously easy to adopt their attitudes.) Their job is whatever it is: to be moved by art, to be entertained by it, to make a killing off it, whatever. Your job is to learn to work on your work."

I LOVE THAT!! (Attaching to my bulletin board as we speak...)

"The lesson here is simply that courting approval, even that of peers, puts a dangerous amount of power in the hands of the audience. Worse yet, the audience is seldom in a position to grant (or withhold) approval on the one issue that really counts – namely, whether or not you’re making progress in your work. Theyre in a good position to comment on how they’re moved (or challenged or entertained )by the finsished product, but have little knowledge or interest in your process. Audience comes later. The only pure communication is between you and your work."

And guess what? I AM MAKING PROGRESS IN MY WORK. So happy!
Wishing you progress too... more of this to come.

KATHRYN ERSKINE VISIT

We had so much fun with Kathy and daughter Fiona while they were in Birmingham! We took them to Yogurt Mountain and Vulcan, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and John's City Diner. And we got to see lots of writer-friends and others at Kathy's signing at Little Professor: Joan Broerman, Jo Kittinger and Kerry Madden.

It was especially great to see again some of the mothers and daughters from the book club! Next I dashed off for Girl's Night at Flip Burger Boutique. LOVE those ladies! And YUM.

Oh. We also made a quilt top for Fiona to take home as a keepsake from her big adventure with her mom. Fun! And, just as they were leaving, Fiona mentioned an ARC she has read twice: JUMP by Ginger Rue!! I was like, Oh! I love Ginger! She's my friend from way back in high school! So, yeah. Small world. JUMP is coming in September, btw. Can't wait!

ON QUILTS AND BOOKS AND THE END OF SUMMER

Isn't it awesome to be around creative folks? I mean, it really gets the brain cells moving. Which is why I am absolutely itching to write/quilt/anything after the quilt show at South Fulton Arts Center in Atlanta. Not only did I meet a bunch of great Atlanta-area authors, but I also got to enjoy the quilts on display. Big thanks to Clara Ford Foundation for inviting me to be part of the festivities!

Here I am with O.V., Merva, Michelle and Myra! Thanks, y'all, for making me feel so welcome at the Hammonds House!

Eric's favorite quilt was the optical illusion one above... mine was the African princess one below. Eric also had fun with some hand drums. And can I just say that I am so going to miss having Eric with me on book events?? Summer has been AWESOME, in part because I've had such a great traveling companion on my book adventures. Alas. Tomorrow is the first day of school for one boy, with the others soon to follow. By next week all three will be back to homework and morning carpool madness. Sigh.
I also have to mention an unexpected surprise at the Atlanta events: I got to meet Farah, who is a former (long-time) Penguin employee and friend of my editor... she just got married and moved to Atlanta, and sweet thing that she is, she came out to meet me! (That's the two of us pictured above.) What a sweetheart. THANK YOU.
Now. Onto more exciting goodness: Kathryn Erskine comes tomorrow! She'll be signing at Little Professor on Tuesday, 4-6 pm. Then, on Wednesday, Kerry Madden will be signing at Alabama Booksmith, 4 pm. Y'all come!

LUDELPHIA AND THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

When my dear friend Susan said, "read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," I thought, really?

Yes, it's a phenomenon at this point, and seems like everyone is reading or has read it. But it's not really my genre of choice.

Then Susan said this: "No matter what happens to the girl in the story, she's not a victim."

And I thought, hmmmmm...

So I'm reading. And Susan's absolutely right.

Then yesterday, an acquaintance who has read LEAVING GEE'S BEND said how much Ludelphia has in common with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He said that the stories may be completely different in terms of setting, genre, etc., but both of them feature strong female characters.

And I thought, cool...

Now for winners of the Poetry Friday Giveaway:
Congratulations, Mary Ann Scheuer -- you've won BORROWED NAMES by Jeannine Atkins! Congratulations, Theresa at Looking for the Write Wrods -- you've won THREE RIVERS RISING by Jame Richards!! Please email me with snail mail, so I can get these out to you.

Happy reading!!

POETRY FRIDAY GIVEAWAY!

Happy Poetry Friday!! I lovelovelove to host this roundup -- please see below for what incredibles ye ole internet has to offer us today. Then add your own!

To make things even more fun, leave a comment by midnight, Sunday, Aug. 1st to win one of these two really awesome poetry books. I've read both of these more than once. And come on, in this day and age, that's saying something!! Even if you don't win, DON'T MISS THESE BOOKS. They're awesome.

by Jame Richards


by Jeannine Atkins

THE HEART OF ART

Sarah Frances over at PLOT THIS just wrote a fabulous post about how art is art, no matter what the medium.

Sarah Frances is pretty darn fabulous herself, and she's on vacation, where she watched some dancers. SF is also contracted for her first picture book as author AND illustrator (Viking!). So she's pretty much an expert in this subject.

I, too, have been known to dabble in all sorts of art forms -- not just writing. And the other night (a few weeks ago actually. Maybe even a month.) -- on THE BACHELORETTE of all shows -- there was a bit of genius that caught my ear.

They were meeting with the director of THE LION KING show on Broadway. I've seen the show, and there is this one scene, the love scene of course, that I completely LOVE. And wouldn't you know it, that's the scene Ali and Roberto got to leap into?

Anyway. Here's the genius part: the director chose Roberto. And when he was telling the cameras WHY he chose Roberto, he said he cast him in the same way that he casts all shows. He looked for the person who exhibited




and



And I thought, yes! That's it! That's exactly what we strive for as writers. Courage and truth.

So there you have it folks... the heart of art. Now go out and CREATE!

THE ART OF LOSING THINGS

Happy Poetry Friday! Roundup is at Language, Literacy and Love. And come back next Friday, when Roundup is HERE! I'll be giving away some volumes of poetry for all you word-lovers out there.

So, onto today's poem.

I've been losing things lately. At first it was little things like a novel left in a hotel room. Or my cell phone case (who knows where). Then I very nearly ran out of gas. (Ummm, distracted much?? That hasn't happened since I was a teenager!) And now I've graduated to bigger things I dare not mention here.

Tell me, dear readers... what is the most important/valuable/silly thing you have ever lost?

And now, in my attempt to reframe things, I give you a most famous villanelle by Elizabeth Bishop. Enjoy!

ONE ART

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.


--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

LONG LIVE TAYLOR LAUTNER

What I found after almost-thirteen-year-old-niece-who-is-beautiful-and-precious-and-amazing left the house:



Adorable, huh?

FIVE FOR FRIDAY

1. This week I visited the art museum in Myrtle Beach, where the quilts of Gee's Bend are currently on exhibit. What a lovely museum and fabulous staff! Here's museum director Pat Goodwin introducing Carla, a museum volunteer, who gave an introduction of my book that pretty much left me tear-streaked and watery-eyed the rest of the day. Simply lovely. THANK YOU.


2. I put in some stiches! The museum had this quilt set up as a community project, so after my presentation, my auht Ruth Ann, cousin Judy and her two boys Nathan and Wes along with me and Eric got right to work. What a great excuse to see extended family! And it certainly goes along with the theme of the quilts.


3. I put my toes in the Atlantic Ocean! Eric, of course, put in more than just his toes. He had such a good time with third cousin Nathan.


4. Gadsden Public Library has been officially awarded "Best Food For An Author Visit." Sausage balls! Sweet tea! Peach cobbler! And more. Son Eric was most impressed. AND I got to meet the President of my Street Team, Glenda Byars. And all the other wonderful library staff like Carol, Amanda, Heather, Dee... Seriously. AWESOME. (Here I am with Eric and niece JuliAnna, who is staying with us a few days.)


5. On Monday, I'll be on the radio! Tune in at 4 pm EST here for my interview on Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Radio. I haven't talked to her yet, but her blog is tons o' fun. I'm excited!


And, BONUS: It's Poetry Friday!! Roundup is at my juicy little universe. Enjoy!

EMBRACING MY INNER BARBIE

You might have guessed by the fact that I wrote a book about a girl who wears a sack dress and no shoes that fashion is not quite my thing.

In fact, I don't think I owned a Barbie doll ever. I was a baby-doll kind of girl and never really understood my friends' fascination with Barbie. I was too busy pretending to nurse my babies and rocking them and pretending with my sister that we ran a daycare and one day none of the parents came back, so the babies were ALL OURS. And that was a good thing!

If I knew one thing about myself as a young girl, it was that someday I wanted to be a mother. And I really do love being a mom.

But back to Barbie. I've seen TOY STORY 3 twice now, and Barbie is a new edition to the cast of toys. She's the stereotypical "dumb blonde" in a lot of ways. She's silly at times and dramatic at others. And she vacillates between being all about fashion to being all about Ken.

Only she isn't just that. Wait a while, and her good heart and independence and loyalty shine through. She's cool and gorgeous and makes a difference at Sunnyside Daycare. She's a 21st century woman. And she delivers the best line in the whole movie.

All this to say I don't feel so heated anymore in my argument against Barbie. I will ALWAYS love baby dolls, and given the choice, will cuddle one in my arms over dressing Barbie in legwarmers any day.

But I celebrate Barbie's independence and image-sense.

Watch out Lindsey Leavitt and Rachel Hawkins: I might start reading SEVENTEEN magazine next. :)

DRINKING WHITE THOUGHTS

Welcome to another edition of Poetry Friday! Roundup is at Carol's Corner. Check it out... I promise it will be a white-hot spot in your day.

Speaking of white-hot... wow, some pretty intense heat this week. As we sat out last night in the front yard watching the fireflies dance, I thought of this poem:

Back Yard

by Carl Sandburg (1916)


Shine on, O moon of summer.
Shine to the leaves of grass, catalpa and oak,
All silver under your rain to-night.

An Italian boy is sending songs to you to-night from an accordion.
A Polish boy is out with his best girl; they marry next month;
to-night they are throwing you kisses.

An old man next door is dreaming over a sheen that sits in a
cherry tree in his back yard.

The clocks say I must go—I stay here sitting on the back porch drinking
white thoughts you rain down.

Shine on, O moon,
Shake out more and more silver changes.


Wishing everyone white thoughts and silver changes!

CHARM QUILT UPDATE

So I've been working on my 2010 quilt project. Youngest son Eric and new kitten Maggie have been helping A LOT. We decided to go with a diagonal color wash, which I really love. The final square count will be 729.

Bad news: I ran out of fabric!
Good news: Eric and I went to Hancock's yesterday and will hit Joann's today. :)

Don't you love it??

LIVE YOUR POEM

Happy Poetry Friday, everyone! Roundup is at The Poem Farm.

I haven't been writing poetry in the past few weeks because I am hard at work on another MG historical novel about an orphan boy and an orphan dog in the 1880s.

I have, however, been honoring my little bedside plaque that says, LIVE YOUR POEM. Are there any wiser words? I love those three syllables so much.

What have I been doing?

Hanging out with my family.
Washing the dogs.
Holding the new kitten.
Piecing my charm quilt.
Cooking. Using a new recipe book I got from a favorite restaurant: THE LANDMARK.
Eating. Cheese fritters, anyone? Dark chocolate? Yummmm...
Reading. Today: THIS I BELIEVE (a collection from the NPR series by the same name)
Exercising. Heard of the CD series INSANITY? I am on day 13. Out of 60. I feel stronger already!
Buying odd items, like new pillows.
Cleaning odd places, like the bathroom sink drain. (You do NOT want to see what I pulled out of that thing! Looked like a RAT in there!)
Reconnecting with friends. Like my kids' Best Babysitter Ever! Now she has the cutest 2 1/2 year old of her own... and a gorgeous step-daughter.
Other fun stuff.
Napping, when possible.
Thinking.
Dreaming.

Good stuff...

LIVE YOUR POEM.

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

Hey, remember that drought we had a few years back?

Well. Not this summer. And I for one am pretty happy about that. Even though it made for a wet evening at THE MIRACLE WORKER. It also made it an adventure complete with umbrellas and wet britches and frizzy hair. We had a blast!



And who remembers being young and dashing out into a late afternoon gullywasher? I've written poems about just such a scene:







And what about fun in a creek? These pics were taken at Butler Creek where the rocks are slippery, the water warm and the leeches only a little bit thirsty... Eric, who lives by superlatives, said it was "the best creek ever." And the adventure contined when Ronnie went to back the truck out of there and the wheels spun and spun, then sank into the river gravel... yep, took a boom truck to get that baby out. Fun!! Big thanks to Pat for making it such a memorable time. xxoo

HELEN KELLER FESTIVAL, HERE I COME

So. Lots of fun stuff in store this weekend, thanks in large part to dear writing friend Pat Weaver.

Pat's an amazing gal. And I love going to Florence to visit her, even when nothing else is going on.

This weekend I'm taking the whole family with me -- first to eat supper with Pat and her husband Ronnie and niece Amy, who is a new high school graduate and an amazing writer. I'm super-pleased to be publishing one of her poems in an upcoming issue of Birmingham Arts Journal!

Then we're seeing THE MIRACLE WORKER, at the ampitheater that sits behind Helen Keller's childhood home (called Ivy Green).

Saturday morning Pat is cooking a big country breakfast for us -- anyone out there had biscuits and chocolate gravy?? Anyone out there had PAT'S biscuits and chocolate gravy? Mmmm-mmmm, good!

We'll visit the barn and hang out at the festival and then in the afternoon I will join some other fabulous authors at Cold Water Books for a signing.

I'm excited! And you know what else is cool? Ludelphia and Helen Keller have a little something in common. Those of you who have read LEAVING GEE'S BEND know what I'm talking about...

MY FATHER, ON HOPE AND FAITH

For nearly two years my father has been living with cancer. Emphasis on LIVING.

He's an inspiration, and I am so proud he imprinted me with the philosophy found in the piece of writing that follows: an essay written by my father that will soon appear in the Bismarck Cancer Center newsletter.

Thanks, Papa, for so graciously allowing me to share it here. I love you, and Happy Father's Day!

Faith and Hope…Choices?

It’s not at all strange that those of us who are cancer survivors generally report that we have found great comfort and encouragement in words and concepts like “faith” and “hope.” In fact, it is clear that both the quality of our lives and, often, the degree of our “healing” is tremendously impacted by our ability to tap into the unlimited reservoirs of strength, fortitude and peace provided through “faith” and “hope.”

However, as important as these words and concepts are to our healing, they quite often fail to convey a critically important truth—You don’t just catch faith; you aren’t simply given hope. Instead, you first have to consciously make the decision to live, and, having chosen life, then you must choose to live your life with hope by faith.

As odd as it is, many people never get to the point where they make the distinction between merely existing and really living. How many people do you know who tend to simply tolerate their day to day lives while they long for something that will happen in the future?—they’re just marking time until they can go on a trip, meet the ideal mate, win the lotto, buy something expensive, become cured of an illness, travel, retire, etc. And what about those who live in the past or worry constantly about the future? It seems to me that all these folks are so busy just waiting to live some vague notion of “the good life” that the lives they’ve been given will probably be over before they get around to it. None of us has asked to be born. Our lives are a gift to us…and, like all gifts, if life is to be meaningful, it has to be fully accepted by the recipient—and that’s a choice.

So how do we seize the moment, how do we choose to really live, even in the face of something horrible, like cancer? Well, for one thing, we’ve got to get past the unpleasant but inescapable fact that life isn’t always fair. One of my favorite songs is by the Eagles, called “Get Over It.” Not everyone likes it—the message is a bit uncomfortable. It includes the lines: “…Victims of this, victims of that, your Daddy is too tall, your Mama is too fat…Get Over It!...” Not a soft, sweet, comfortable message, is it? But, realistic it is. Life is sometimes unfair, bad things do happen to good people, and we sometimes feel powerless to do anything about it.

But that doesn’t give us license to sink down into despair. We can choose to savor life—by focusing not on the routine, “getting by” stuff, but by concentrating on the people we truly love, the things we are passionate about, the beauty that surrounds us, the things that bring joy and happiness. I think that living—and especially living with cancer—involves accepting responsibility for our lives by making those choices necessary to ensure that in each and every moment given us we experience life to its fullest. We won’t be perfect, but we will endeavor to do the very best we can, by repeatedly choosing to feel the very best we can, to savor the good and the joyful, and to uplift those around us…And our lives will be enriched and those around us will be blessed because we choose it to be that way!

Living life to its fullest is a choice. You can choose disappointment or contentment. You can choose to focus on the people and things you love or the things you detest or fear. Leave no room in your life for anything that does not bring fulfillment…and, if you’re fighting cancer or any other horrible circumstance, choose faith and hope!

- Kenneth E. Dykes, Sr.

CELEBRATE GREAT SUMMER READS!

Good news: computer is back in black! Or blue, as the case may be... and I am woefully behind on celebrating the successes of some of my fellow Class of 2k10 classmates and Tenners whose books are now seeking readers everywhere. Congratulations to all of you!

Starting with the ones I've read and loved:




And now for a few that I am dying to read! Don't these look delicious??