WHERE'S THE MADNESS, ROSE?

So I was reading in Smithsonian Magazine the other day this profile on Roseanne Cash by Ron Rosenbaum.

That's Roseanne, daughter of Johnny.

It's a great article about love and physics and songmaking. Which means it's about me and you and what it means to live and create in this world.

One of my favorite parts in the article really speaks to me right now, when I am working working working to get a story just right:

Then she remembers something her mentor told her about songwriting. John Stewart "always said, 'Where's the madness?' You know, if I would try to write a perfect song. 'Where's the madness, Rose?'"

Wishing all you your own brand of madness, whatever your creative endeavors!

HOMESCHOOLING: BEST & WORST

As many of you know, I've spent the last calendar year homeschooling my youngest son.

Educating him has been an adventure from the start: he spent K-3 in public school and 4-5 in a Montessori school. When we became aware of his passion for percussion (about 3rd grade), we set our sights on Alabama School of Fine Arts, a specialty public school for grades 7-12 that requires an extensive audition process and only accepts about 1/3 of applicants into their music department.  With that as our goal, we chose to spend this last year, 6th grade, homeschooling.

I've homeschooled in the past, so I wasn't fearful about the legalities or curricula. I learned the first go-around that unschooling is the best approach for our family. While I did print out the Alabama curriculum standards for 6th grade, I did not worry one iota about testing. That's right: Eric has not taken a single test the entire last year. Our goal has been learning. And given Eric's interests, it should come as no surprise that the majority of his learning has been in the area of music.

Great news: he auditioned for ASFA and was accepted into their program for next year!

For his final homeschool assignment, I asked him to write a paper about the best and the worst parts of his homeschool year.

On his worst list: "no friends"

On his best list: "being able to triple my abilities music-wise"

And here is my most favorite part of his paper:

"Otherwise, I have created myself into me."

He went on to explain all the things he learned about himself. The paper sounds like it was written by a college student. This has been a year of self-discovery for him. And how thrilled am I to have been such a big part of that??

For me, the best part has been spending time with my kid, getting to know him better, all the great talks while driving in the car. The worst part has been feeling like I haven't quite been able to give him everything he needs. He's beyond me in so many ways. And I worry some about how he will adjust as he moves back to a traditional school setting after all the mad freedom of this year.

He loves music so much, I have to trust he'll be just fine.

I know this for sure: I wouldn't trade this past year with him for anything.

PROFOUND THOUGHT FOR MEMORIAL DAY

Most Memorial Days we are on family vacation.

Last year we were in Washington, D.C.

It was hot.

It was crowded.

We were miserable.


Did I mention it was hot?


We were so miserable we cut our trip short and went home a day early.


Which is why, I guess, that this year it feels like a vacation not to be on vacation.

It's quiet.

Even Hwy. 280 is relatively empty.

I've had like 14 naps.

Everyone seems happy.


This may be our new Memorial Day tradition! Hope whatever this day holds for you is exactly what you want. xo

ECLECTIC BLOGGERS UNITE!

The other day lovely, gracious, talented Lori Degman honored me with a "Versatile Blogger Award."

Thank you, Lori! (sweeping bow here) I'm honored. and I'm so pleased to know you. Readers, you'll want to know her too. She's awesome. And she too wrote a zoo book! That's right: the award-wining picture book 1 ZANY ZOO.

And the whole thing got me pondering that word "versatile." According to the Free Online Dictionary, it means  
"1. Capable of doing many things competently. 2. Having varied uses or serving many functions"

I like it. It's about what one is able to offer the world.

It seems closely related to another word I like even better: ECLECTIC.

Again, according to the Free Online dictionary, it means
 "Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles"

 I don't know why I like this word better. Maybe because it's more artsy, less utilitarian-sounding? Eclectic, to me, feels like getting to the source of things.

Eclectic feels like a centerpiece whereas versatile feels like something you store in the kitchen drawer and pull out from time to time.

 And as I was having this conversation with myself about the difference between the two words, I thought, hmmm. Lori is exactly the kind of person who would appreciate the difference. And there are a number of other bloggers I can think of who would too.

So in honor of that, I hereby take the liberty of altering this award. I'm giving it a new name and altering the "rules" ever so slightly. Because that's what we versatile/eclectic bloggers do!

The new rules:

•  Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy. 
•  Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.  
•  Next, select 5 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. 
•  Nominate those 5 bloggers for the Eclectic Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site. 
•  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 5 things about yourself. 

 For those of you who care about such things: the original rules said to select "15" bloggers and tell "7" things about yourself. Ummmm, I'm introverted, okay? Even "5" (of either thing) is a bit of a challenge for me.

So. Here's the five bloggers I would like to recognize for their amazing eclectic-ness:

Pat Weaver at Writer on a Horse: Pat writes about gardening and getting older and horses and chicken hawks and you just never know what! She makes me laugh and cry.

Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference: Tabatha's blog is an artsy feast of music and visuals and written words. I always leave inspired.

Linda Baie at Teacher Dance: Linda has got to be one of the most gracious, generous spirits in the blogosphere. I love the real-life things she chooses to write about... teaching, living, saying goodbyes, bullying... really good stuff.

Team Swagger: Okay, to be fair, it's easier to be eclectic when you're a team. I love all the voices here and suspect you will too!

Another blog I want to mention even though it's food-centric, so not exactly eclectic, but the person who's writing it certainly seems to be and I have enjoyed the heck out of it since discovering a short while ago:

So Delushious!: Here's the tagline: "personal random ramblings from a girl who loves bacon and can't be fat." This blog is written by model Chrissy Teigen. There's something about that contradiction: model who loves to eat and also love spicy language and Pilates and taking up-close pics of food that really appeals to me. Warning: SPICY LANGUAGE.And try the chipotle marinade. Yum!

And now: FIVE THINGS ABOUT ME YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW

1. Once upon a time I gardened. Not anymore.That's because I realized I don't really like it. I don't like the sun, the heat, the weeds, chiggers.... so if you've got extra veggies, I am happy to give them a plate to momentarily rest upon!

2.  I'm thinking about taking a comedy/improv class. It scares me. Which is the biggest reason I want to take it.

3. I'm also thinking about taking an iron casting class at Sloss Furnace.

4. I dream about a country road like this one:

5. I love to rearrange the furniture.

.

YOU SCHMOOZE, YOU MUSE

Lucky me: the past two weeks I have gotten to hang out with traveling authors!

First, Vicky Alvear Schecter, author of CLEOPATRA'S MOON.

Pat Weaver, Vicky & me, on my back deck

Vicky with Drag Queen Cleo at Little Professor Books

Everyone listening to Vicky talk about her book

Book Club: Lori, Jaime, Phyllis, Vicky, Martha & Carol

Two things especially stand out to me from Vicky's talk:

1. Characters need agency. What the heck is agency? It has to do with action, forward motion. It's the character doing something to move the story, not something happening to the character. (Right, Vicky?) Vicky learned this from working with her editor, Cheryl Klein.

2. If you have a manuscript ready to go and you're looking for an agent, consider asking your published SCBWI friends to provide for you an email introduction to their agent. (This is NOT a referral or recommendation. Simply an introduction.) This is how Vicky "met" her agent.

Next up, Sarah Frances Hardy, author of PUZZLED BY PINK:

Sarah Frances with a young reader at Little Professor Books. In the background Lori Nichols, whose first picture book will be published next year!

me, Pat Weaver, Sarah Frances & all the way from California, Tina Coury, author of newly-released HANGING OFF JEFFERSON'S NOSE. Yep, that's how popular Sarah Frances is. :)

Pat & Sarah Frances on the overlook at Vulcan, Birmingham's monument to the god of forge

Sarah Frances is so cool, she presented her talk on her ipad. My favorite part was when she talked about an encounter with one of Maurice Sendak's people, who looked at her work, and said it was TERRIBLE. But Sarah Frances kept on going, kept working, kept getting better. And now here she is!

Also, Sarah Frances sings the praises of Doni Kay, southeastern sales rep for Penguin -- a sentiment I share! Doni was great to work with when scheduling book signings for LEAVING GEE'S BEND. And it's a great reminder to all you authors out there: get to know your regional sales rep. These people are passionate, hard-working and know this industry.

And now we are just days away from summer vacation here at Casa Latham. I am super-excited about the abundant white space on my calendar. Perhaps I can use the inspiration generated by these schmoozes to address, improve, complete some of my works-in-progress ??

And it's a longgggg summer... thanks to a new Alabama state law, kids won't go back until August 20!

What does your summer look like?

LAST SCHOOL VISIT OF THE YEAR

...and at one of my favorite schools with some of my favorite teachers!

Thank you, Inverness Elementary students, Mrs. Bramlett, Mrs. Young, Mrs. Beavers and Mrs. Price for reading LEAVING GEE'S BEND to the kids year after year. Thanks also for the lovely gift. I appreciate you!  (here I am with Mrs. Bramlett's class)

FIVE FOR POETRY FRIDAY

1. Welcome to Poetry Friday Roundup! Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave your link and name with description (there is only one space to put all the info you'd like us to know) in the handy dandy inlinkz form below.

2. Tonight is Book Club, at my house. We've been reading CLEOPATRA'S MOON by Vicky Alvear Schecter. And Vicky will be joining us for our discussion!

For those of you who don't know about this book, it's about Cleopatra's only daughter Selene. Imagine having a mother like Cleopatra -- a mother who chose the love of Egypt over everything (and everyone) else.

Haven't I said before that the mother-daughter relationship is the most complicated one ever?

Yep.

3. I've added tabs to ye olde blog. Now our Progressive Poem has its own resting place. If you haven't had a chance to see how it turned out -- including a wonderful title provided by Kate Coombs, please read!

4. Also check out the "How to Live Your Poem" tab. This is something I'm working on. Basically, it's a list of personal and resonant-to-me directives pulled from poems. I'd love your suggestions for additions to the list!

5. Finally, allow me to share one of a gazillion quotes I'd like to share from A GOD IN THE HOUSE:  Poets Talk about Faith from Tupelo Press:

"So I discovered poetry is an amoeba: It has an eye for witnessing, a foot for leaving traces, and a flexible form.”

-- Dunya Mikhail

MY SECRET WEAPON IN THE KITCHEN

Tony Chachere's ORIGINAL CREOLE SEASONING.

We put this on EVERYTHING: meat, veggies (toss with olive oil and roast in the oven), mac-n-cheese, everything!

Try it. You will NOT be sorry.

And hey, if you have a secret weapon in the kitchen, do tell! I love to eat, love to cook, love to try new things...

I'VE STARTED WEARING A WATCH AGAIN.

For a number of years now, I have used my cell phone as a watch.

Except it's awkward, digging around in my purse to find the darn thing. (Imagine the time I have wasted, doing just that?)

For speaking engagements, I bought a cheap-o bracelet-style "Grandma" watch at Walmart. It's nothing fancy. But it works to help me find the "I'll take two more questions, and then our time is up" moment at the end of presentation.

A few months ago I spied in Sundance catalog the bold, inspiring watch that appears beside these words.

 But I don't NEED a watch. I've got the cell phone, remember? And the Grandma watch. So I've resisted the splurge.

And then I was dusting, looking at this family photo, circa 2002:

Do you see that watch on my wrist? (Hard to see at this size, but I promise you, it's there.) It was a gift from my husband. I wore it ALL THE TIME.

I couldn't remember what happened to it. Was it broken? Lost?

I found it in my jewelry box. As I held it in my hand I remembered all the reason I loved it. It's flat, light-weight, silver AND gold. Not flashy, but nice.

So I took it to the jeweler, and for five dollars and a quarter, fitted it with a new battery. And I've been wearing it ever since. And I love it! No more digging around in my purse!

And it feels so rebellious, so retro, like I am going my own way in a techno-world.

I like it. And it's validated other choices I've made, like no smart phone, no tablet, no Facebook. I feel so self-sufficient, so in-the-moment.

Sometimes all it takes is a tiny little thing to change your life. (Isn't that a lesson we have to learn and learn and learn again? Sigh.)

PARENTS AND WRITING WORDS THAT HURT

Today I've posted over at Smack Dab in the Middle "On the Importance of Parents in Middle Grade Fiction."

In honor of that, I wanted to share a picture (circa 1991, and yes the bride is me!) of my parents, whom I have always considered one of my biggest blessings. I mean, you don't get to choose who you're born to. I was lucky.

But my relationships with them hasn't always been peaches and cream. I was reminded of this on the panel last Saturday in Monroeville when someone asked a question about what do you do when you've written about real people in your life, how do you handle hurting their feelings?

My answer is simple: DON'T DO IT. I've written many poems about my parents that will never be seen by anyone. That's because I value the relationships with them over the desire to get published.

It's not worth it to hurt them.

Truth is not the most important thing.

And truth is relative anyway.

Only the writer can decide. But, please, remember this: despite what the old playground rhyme says, words CAN hurt. And often those wounds never go away. Especially when they're in print somewhere to haunt forever and ever.

Good luck!

And thank you to my wonderful, amazing, inspiring, supportive parents, who have given me a life worth writing about.

PROGRESSIVE POEM ENDS HERE

Dear Friends,

What a wonderful journey we've shared with our Progressive Poem! I have enjoyed so much watching this poem grow little by little, all the bold strokes and gentle touches, how each line adds a new layer, a new voice.

One of you commented about how it's been a lovely way to experience delayed gratification in our current sound-byte, instantaneous, rapid-fire world. I love that!

I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but I think I imagined a more haphazard result, a poem less cohesive. And now I read it, and I think, OF COURSE. Because that's the kind of community this is: loving, inspiring, supportive. Thank you, all of you, for sharing in this experience. I totally want to do it again next year!

And now for what I've done with the poem, as a way to wind up our adventure. I've used a technique that works for me again and again as I try to find the heart of my own poems. I've gone line by line and pulled out one word or one phrase and recrafted them, in order, to kind of distill the essence of the poem.  And then I've added my own bit at the end to provide some closure.

You can use this technique on your own poems, or on famous poems. In a way, it's a form of "found" poetry. It's also just an excellent self-editing exercise. And what's interesting here is that if each of us was to address this particular poem, we'd wind up with 29 similar but different poems, as we each are drawn to different words and phrases for different reasons.

Here's my take:

Note to Self

If you are hungry,

kick off a spell.

Dry your glass

secrets. Spill

out, breathe in.

Now, wish:

inside,

unfold a waltz.

How do broken veils

feed your heart?

Soul of coriander

and moonshine,

beware of too much

cushion. Trust

silver-tipped poetry.

Here: speckle

your life. Feast

on dream-dust.

And here's the uncut version, still title-less (suggestions, anyone?), but with a few adjustments to punctuation. Also, I tried the poem in triplets, and I really like the result:

ETA: Title courtesy of Kate Coombs!

Advice for a Dark Day

If you are reading this,                                                            

you must be hungry.

Kick off your silver slippers,

come sit with us a spell.

A hanky, here, now dry your tears

and fill your glass with wine.

Now, pour. The parchment has secrets,

smells of a Moroccan market spill-out.

You have come to the right place, just breathe in.

Honey, mint, cinnamon, sorrow. Now, breathe out

last week’s dreams. Take a wish from the jar.

Inside, deep inside, is the answer…

Unfold it, and let us riddle it together,

…Strains of a waltz. How do frozen fingers play?

How do fennel, ginger, saffron blend in the tagine?

Like broken strangers bound by time, they sisterdance…

their veils of sorrow encircle, embrace.

Feed your heart with waltzes and spices.

Feed your soul with wine and dreams.

Humble dust of coriander scents your feet, coaxing

seascapes, crystal sighs and moonshine from your melody.

Beware of dangers along the path of truth

and beware, my friend, of too much bewaring–

strong hands cushion you, sweet scents surround you—now leap

without looking, guided by trust. And when you land

on silver-tipped toes, buoyed by joy– you’ll know

you are amazing, you are love, you are poetry—

here, you rest.

Muse. Up ahead, stepping stones speckle the stream, sturdy now.

May your words roar against the banks, your life a flood of dreams.

by 

1 Irene at Live Your Poem

2 Doraine at Dori Reads

3 Jeannine at View from a Window Seat

4 Robyn at Read, Write, Howl

5 Susan at Susan Taylor Brown

6 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

7 Penny at A Penny and her Jots
8 Jone at Deo Writer

9 Gina at Swagger Writer's

10 Julie at The Drift Record

11 Kate at Book Aunt

12 Anastasia Suen at Booktalking

13 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

14 Diane at Random Noodling

15 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

16 Natalie at Wading Through Words

17 Tara at A Teaching Life

18 Amy at The Poem Farm

19 Lori at Habitual Rhymer

20 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

21 Myra at Gathering Books

22 Pat at Writer on a Horse

23 Miranda at Miranda Paul Books

24 Linda at TeacherDance

25 Greg at Gotta Book

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Linda at Write Time
28 Caroline at Caroline by Line
29 Sheri at Sheri Doyle
30 Irene at Live Your Poem

Oh, and if you get a chance, I'm a guest over at Katie Davis's blog, talking about 5 reasons why you should write poetry. Stop by!

ON VOICE AND HOPE AND WHIRLWINDS

April is a whirlwind for me every year.

Part of me loves it.

But all the whirling can wear a gal slap out. So think of me braving the last brazen days before lovely, placid, peaceful May.

I have been reading GRAVE MERCY by Robin LeFevers and loving it! You may know Robin from her slew of books for middle grade readers (Theodisia, anyone?) or from the Shrinking Violets blog. (Not much going on at SV lately, and now we know why! Robin has been busy promoting this new book after its many starred reviews! BIG congratulations, Robin!)

And I am here to add my accolades to the pile. It's historical. It's romantic. It's got strong Ismae (a nun assassin) and lots of adventure and court intrigue. Love the atmospheric words like "mayhap" and "sorely." Expect to finish the book later today. And if you get a chance, see Robin's amazing post titled

"The Writer's Life is Full of Second Chances

or Abandon Despair all Ye Who Enter Here" 

 at Writer Unboxed about finding the crunchy bits in yourself that you should totally be writing about (instead of for the market).

That led me to Barbara Samuel's worksheet on finding your voice. It's got me remembering my crunchy bits! Like how much I love love loved books by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss during my late teen years. Oh romantic me!

Another post I love is over at Smack Dab in the Middle by Dia Calhoun about delayed gratification and what's the point of writing and includes some words I really needed near the end. Go. Read.

In other news, I'll be traveling tomorrow to Harper Lee Land, otherwise known as Monroeville, Alabama, for Alabama Writers Symposium. I'm looking forward to seeing some writing friends there like Kerry Madden and Rachel Hawkins. AND (this is the best part) my father will be there!!!

There are SO MANY literary and art events happening this weekend. If someone would just develop a means of teleportation I'd be one happy gal.

Look for Greg's addition to the Progressive Poem sometime today over at Gotta Book!

I'll be working working on this wip. Getting there!

Happy day to everyone.

WHAT'S YOUR SECRET LIFE?

Every year during National Poetry Month, I like to share the poem " A Secret Life" by Stephen Dunn.

That's because, for many years, writing was my secret life. And so this poem remains one of my all-time favorites:

A SECRET LIFE

by Stephen Dunn 

Why you need to have one
is not much more mysterious than
why you don't say what you think
at the birth of an ugly baby.
Or, you've just made love
and feel you'd rather have been
in a dark booth where your partner
was nodding, whispering yes, yes,
you're brilliant. The secret life
begins early, is kept alive
by all that's unpopular
in you, all that you know
a Baptist, say, or some other
accountant would object to.
It becomes what you'd most protect
if the government said you can protect
one thing, all else is ours.
When you write late at night
it's like a small fire
in a clearing, it's what
radiates and what can hurt
if you get too close to it.
It's why your silence is a kind of truth.
Even when you speak to your best friend,
the one who'll never betray you,
you always leave out one thing;
a secret life is that important.

So now I have a new secret life. And I hope you do too!

In other news: you can win a copy of my latest collection of poems THE COLOR LOST ROOMS at Writing With Cheryl!

And while you're there, get to know Cheryl. She was the one who taught the class (on freelance writing for magazines) oh about a dozen years ago that got me on the road to publication of my poems and stories!

Conference planners: Cheryl is a brilliant teacher. Hire her. Your attendees will thank you!

Now go visit Diane at Random Noodling for Poetry Friday Roundup! And the fabulous Heidi has added something humble to our Progressive Poem over at my juicy little universe.

OH. And my video is up at Renee LaTulippe's No Water River! Renee is pretty amazing. I am in awe of her technoskills and enthusiasm for poetry. She has done SO MUCH this month to add to the growing canon of work on the web by poets for children. Thank you, Renee! I'm thrilled to be included.

Happy day, all!

GIRAFFE ENCOUNTER, BIRMINGHAM ZOO

Last night I had the fabulous opportunity to attend a Sundowner at the Birmingham Zoo.

What is a sundowner?

 Well, it's a term used in Africa, that sort of means "Happy Hour." Basically after a day of safari-ing, the game driver will pull off somewhere, unload the libations and munchies, and everyone will watch the sunset. (I've never actually experienced this, just heard about it.)

The big news at the Birmingham Zoo is this great new exhibit called GIRAFFE ENCOUNTER. (Grand Opening: April 25, 10 am) And let me tell you: encounter, it is!

Perhaps you've done a giraffe feeding before, where you stood on a platform and reached up to feed the giraffe.

In this exhibit, the enclosure is designed so that the humans and the giraffes are at eye level. And wow, it makes all the difference! You just cannot appreciate a giraffe's heavily lashed eyes or that swirly dark tongue any better way than this.

Oh, and I learned something, thanks to my friend Cissy, who is so very generous and amazing and the reason I was at the event in the first place: you can tell the males from the females from a distance by the fur on their antlers: females have fur, males don't. (Males would, except they tussle and fight, and the fur gets rubbed right off.)  Fascinating, isn't it?

We also got to get up close and personal with the rhinos (we brushed them!), one of the new bull elephants, and the lion family, which for the moment includes five (FIVE!) cubs. (I say, for the moment, because the cubs are nearly a year old and will soon be shipped out to other zoos, according to the SSP (Species Survival Plan).

I really loved the whole thing -- humans and animals. I was especially excited to meet Bill Foster, who is the CEO of the zoo, and Clay Hilton, VP, who asked me what my favorite zoo animal was, and I was like hmmm, what IS my favorite animal? Whit in DON'T FEED THE BOY loves the giraffes... I have a letter from when I was a young child that says my favorite animal was also the giraffes.... but now?

I told Clay, "red pandas." He told me the pair at the zoo were not eager to mate as everyone had hoped. And I don't know if what I meant was red panda or Bornean sun bear. Or if it's some other animal entirely. I'm thinking...

what's YOUR favorite zoo animal?

Don't forget: Progressive Poem can be found today with Lori at Habitual Rhymer!

And Lovely Laura continues her 30 Habits of Highly Effective Poets with a contribution by me. What a great series.

Man. So much good stuff this month!

ON METAPHOR IN POETRY, WITH LAURA PURDIE SALAS

One of my favorite tools in the Poetry Toolbox is metaphor. I love the challenge of saying something IS something else rather than just “like” something else. It’s much more difficult to carry off!

And one of my all-time favorite responses I’ve ever gotten at a poetry critique session is this:

“The overarching metaphor fails.”

While that is not a good thing, isn’t it great when someone can look at you and deliver those words in such a grave manner? I do love poets.

And I do strive to make my metaphors succeed rather than fail. Which brings me to Laura Purdie Salas’s BOOKSPEAK!

There is much to love in this collection of poems about books and writing. But the two poems that spoke most fervently to me are simply awash in metaphor, and Laura gave me permission to share them here. AND she was gracious enough to offer comments about the use of metaphor in poetry as it relates to these specific poems. Enjoy!

1.

 WRITTEN IN SNOW

Snowy pages,

steady track.

Tiny footprints

dipped in black.

Through the blizzard

stories roam.

They tiptoe bravely

out, then home.

Laura Purdie Salas: “Metaphor is really at the heart of so much poetry. When you look at one thing and you see another, the connections you make between the two things can be startling, scary, lovely…all big pluses in poems.

"At a school visit a few weeks ago, a teacher had been reading BookSpeak! with her students, and she asked what “Written in Snow” was about, specifically. Well, isn’t that a good question! I rarely remember specifically what was in my mind as I wrote a poem. The original title for this poem was “Tracking,” and I do know I was inspired by footprints in the snow on our deck. All this wildlife coming right up to our suburban house, and we never see it. I think when I wrote it I was picturing stories as small rabbits, timidly venturing through the cold, hoping someone would be observant enough to recognize them. Or maybe that’s just the spin I put on it now! But the core metaphor was definitely stories as secretive, silent, lovely creatures that aren’t necessarily jumping in your face—sometimes you have to make an effort to find and love them."

Readers, me again: Don’t you love that idea of stories as small rabbits in snow?

2.

 SKYWRITING

Line after line of inky black birds

forming the flocks that shift into words.

Page after page of tales winging by,

singing a story against a

white sky.

 Laura Purdie Salas: "For 'Skywriting,' the metaphor is overtly birds as words. I love seeing birds lined up on telephone or power lines, looking like letters lined up on notebook pages. And, of course, I am not nearly the first poet to make that comparison! And I also love seeing murders of crows or flocks of swallows zooming against the sky. I especially love when there’s a huge swarm of them in a big chaotic mess. Then something shifts and they are all swooping and looping in this orchestrated fashion. It’s amazing! And that’s kind of what happens to me in a poem. You have all these elements, words, sounds, and they seem separate. Then something gels and some alchemy happens and zap--you have a poem! I love the way the illustration also calls to mind a musical staff, and the poem  has the birds “singing their story.” So even though I didn’t have that metaphor strongly in mind as I wrote this, I think a story/music comparison (or collaboration) emerged in the melding of words and art.”

Me, yet again:  I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS POEM!

Okay,  now for more fun stuff. Laura has set up a Goodreads giveaway in conjunction with this post!

So, go now, ENTER!

I will actually be the one to send the book out (donated from the publisher) and Laura will send an autographed bookplate. Good luck! And if you don’t win, READ THIS BOOK.  It is a delight.

And don't forget to check out the progress of our Progressive Poem, now at Tara's A Teaching Life, for line 17!

ART AS AN EXPERIENCE

Except for some speaking engagements, I've been very ostrich-like this month, working hard to complete the first draft of a new novel.

Which is why I didn't know about Montevallo Art Festival, which was yesterday, at beautiful Orr Park, on a gorgeous April day. Thank goodness my son loves art and adventure as much as I do, and was SO SWEET to text me with pictures and a commanding, "you'll love it, you gotta come!"

And so I did. (To those who have heard me preach about Living a Life Worth Writing About: me dumping the computer and ignoring the day's word count in a favor of an experience is a perfect example of what I mean when I talk about this.)

Some of the art exists in the park year-round:

 

Don't you love those faces?! And here's some of the art I bought:





egg-shaped gourds that have been painted and designed with a wood-burning tool and will be gifts

another funky art-piece gift (for a funky art-boy)

a colorful music-themed art gift (for a colorful music-boy)

...and a fun life-motto (for a non-status quo boy)

As if that wasn't enough art for one day, oldest son went with friends for art/music-inspired PAINT THE TOWN RED while rest of us went to a play at Hoover Library Theatre called WOODY GUTHRIE: WHEN THE CURFEW BLOWS. It's a one-man show about Woody's life and times as told in 1952 from the psychiatric ward.

Great show from a talented and enthusiastic up-n-comer actor/writer Rob Tepper.

 Nice touch: they banded us all as psychiatric patients and Woody addressed us as fellow residents in need of meds. :)

And now: MUST WRITE.

Don't forget to check-in with Ruth to read the progress of our progressive poem! Half-way there now... I love it!

DON'T FEED THE BOY GALLEY GIVEAWAY!

Look what the stork brought:

It's almost a real book! And wow, am I excited to deliver one Whit Whitaker to the world. He's quite a kid. And the animals are pretty great too.

Big thanks to the lovely, generous, amazing Kathryn Erskine, winner of the National Book award for MOCKINGBIRD, whose blurb graces the cover:

"Don't Feed the Boy" is a delightfully satisfying blend

of action and emotion, tension and heart.

Everyone should have a best friend like Whit."

*Mwah,* Kathy!

Now for the fun stuff: wherever you are in the world, you can win this ARC for yourself. I'll even autograph it. And you'll have the pleasure of knowing you were one of the first readers ever!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Don't Feed the Boy

by Irene Latham

Giveaway ends June 12, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

WRITING GOALS VS. WRITING DREAMS

So I was going to write this post about goals and dreams -- about how we've got to remember the difference because otherwise you will end up feeling like a huge failure.

For example: your goal can't be "win the Newbery Medal." Because you have absolutely no control over that. That involves being picked, chosen.
Which is up to that very specific committee of librarians.

Winning the Newbery is a DREAM. And hey, it's a lovely, lovely dream. And no way will that dream ever come true if you don't first write THE BOOK. Maybe LOTS of books.

So, there's your goal: write a book. Then write another book. And another.

But. Turns out I don't need to write this post because Lindsey Leavitt, who, like her books, is a vessel, vessel, I say, for Humor with Heart. READ LINDSEY'S BOOKS. You'll see. And readers, wait till you see Lindsey's 2013 book! AWE.SOME.

 Also, FYI: It's Seth Godin's manifesto STOP STEALING DREAMS about how education in our country needs an overhaul that got me thinking about goals and dreams in the first place.

The latest line in our Progressive Poem can be found today at Kate Coomb's blog. I LOVE IT.

MOVIE MONDAY: WE BOUGHT A ZOO

Confession: I was scared to watch this movie. That's why we didn't see it in the theater.

Why, you ask?

Well, I've got this little novel coming later this year that's set in a zoo. Part of my research for DON'T FEED THE BOY included zoo books, particularly ones told from the zookeeper perspective. Or from anyone living at the zoo. I was looking for animal facts, daily care facts, animal escape stories --anything to enrich my story.

Lo and behold, I stumbled upon WE BOUGHT A ZOO by Benjamin Mee. Honestly I don't remember the storyline of the book. I was only really interested in those research tidbits. And while I did a whole filing card system to catalog my research, I couldn't off the top of my head recall which, if any, facts from that source landed in my story about Whit.

So it was with some trepidation that we fired up the movie. I was prepared to hate it. The commercials looked full of melodrama, and there was one line delivered by the Thomas Haden Church character that I was already braced for-- because it is a sentiment deeply shared by Whit:

"I like the animals. I love the people."


But. It was a great story! I loved it! Sure, Matt Damon and Scarlett Johannson were a little too beautiful, and holy cuteness, the kid who played Benjamin Mee's daughter is quite the charismatic little redhead. The story really was about the humans, not the animals. The animals were just the hook.

Which, in my opinion, is exactly as it should be.

I liked the movie so much that I will probably use it as a promotional tool. As in, if you liked WE BOUGHT A ZOO, then you'll like DON'T FEED THE BOY. I might even include the dvd in some giveaway packs. Fun!

And now a question for you wonderful readers: any other zoo tie-ins come to mind? Books, movies, music, etc. that's zoo-related?

Oh, and do kids still like these animal bracelets? Might be fun swag...

Please share your suggestions! Thanks.

And y'all: don't forget to check in on our Progressive Poem. Today's line comes from Gina over at Swagger!