Let It Snow...Let It Snow...Let It Snow: Repetition in Poetry

When I’m writing, I do my best not to repeat myself. I try to vary the way I begin my sentences. I try not to use the same words over and over again. There are times, however, when repetition can be used to great effect in poetry.
I wrote the following poem It’s Raining last April. I was inspired to write it after experiencing a long period of rainy days. It just kept on raining and raining and raining…and sometimes pouring. It seemed as if the rain would never stop. In my poem, I tried to capture the voice of a child who feels his/her world has been inundated with rain.

**********

It’s Raining


It’s raining…
Raining all around.
It’s raining puddles
On the ground.
It’s raining
On my booted feet.
It’s raining
Rivers in the street.
It’s raining cats.
It’s raining dogs.
It’s raining ponds
For polliwogs.
It’s raining
Drop by drop by drop…
A billion trillion—
It won’t stop!
It’s raining buckets
From the sky.
Don’t think the earth
Will EVER dry.



In the past month, we’ve had a LOT of storms where I live. Most of the storms deposited a significant amount of snow. It seemed we’d no sooner shovel ourselves out from one storm when we’d hear that another one was headed our way. The snow is really deep around here! It’s as high as an elephant’s eye—maybe even a giraffe’s eye!


Because of all the storms, I’ve been housebound more than usual this winter. I started taking pictures from inside and outside of my house. The pictures and the “serial snowstorms” inspired me to write poetry.

Here are two snow poems in which I used a lot of repetition. As in my rain poem, I tried to capture a child’s voice in these snow poems.




It Snowed and Snowed
It snowed all day.
It snowed all night.
It snowed and snowed.
Two feet of white
covered everything in sight.
Our yard,
our deck,
our walk,
the road
don’t look the same
because it snowed…
and snowed
and snowed
and snowed
and snowed.
I dress up in my winter wear
And step out in the frosty air.
I look around and what I see
is a marshmallow world
waiting for me!







It’s Snowing Again!

It’s snowing again.
It’s blowing again.
It’s snowing and blowing.
The traffic is slowing.
I watch the drifts growing and growing and growing.
It just keeps on snowing
and snowing and snowing.
I don’t think it’s
EVER
going to end.

At Wild Rose Reader, I have an original fairy tale poem written in the form of a classified ad titled Apartment for Rent.

You'll find the Poetry Friday Roundup at Great Kid Books.

Seven Tips to Grow Your Mailing List

This week the indomitable Katie Davis has agreed to fill in for Grace (who is on a 2-week school visit marathon). Katie Davis has published nine books and appears monthly on the ABC affiliate show, Good Morning Connecticut, recommending great books for kids. She produces Brain Burps About Books, a podcast about kidlit, a blog and monthly newsletter. Smart about marketing, books and balance, we're so glad Katie has agreed to share some of her insights with us here:



In my last guest post I talked about all the different things I do in my career as a writer and illustrator and how I balance them. I know a lot of people who read like that just shut down, overwhelmed by everything that could be done. Either that or their heads spontaneously exploded. So let’s pick just one thing you can do to promote yourself and your career.

Let’s get you a mailing list. You are going to grow your audience and then stay connected. (No, that is NOT two things. I promise. Besides, after you’ve collected a mailing list you will want to stay connected and it won’t even feel like a second whole thing. Think of it as part two of the first thing. It’s the psychology of just doing ONE thing.)

Here are tips to grow your list:

1 - Every time you make an appearance as an author, bring your guest book. Whether it’s on your iPad or in a spiral notebook, ask people to sign up. I’ve brought my guest book to school visits, book festivals, conference appearances …wherever people are gathering to celebrate their love of children’s literature, I bring it. Ask only for their name and email address. Make sure they know you won’t share that list, and, though this seems obvious, ask them to print clearly.

2 – When at professional functions, ask for people’s business card and then ask them if it’s okay to add them to your mailing list. At ALA I collected almost 100 cards and only one person told me he didn’t want me to add him. I separated that card from the rest and wrote myself a gigantic note on the card so I wouldn’t include it by accident.

3- Sign up on your site. Make it easy to find, right at the top of your home page (I’m in the midst of a huge overhaul of my site and I’m definitely doing this one!)

4- Don’t abuse your list. Send out things of interest that isn’t just about you and your books. Write articles, include info about other books, or include lesson plans.

5- Give to get…

Elizabeth O. Dulemba grew her list by establishing “Coloring Page Tuesday” which is when she posts a new downloadable coloring page. She has over 2,500 subscribers and over 1.5 million page views of her site last year. That doesn't even include RSS subbers, facebook followers, etc.

Dianne de las Casas sends a monthly newsletter that includes activities that link to her books, but also suggestions about things to do with kids, her tour schedule, interviews with reviewers and sometimes even a recipe or two!

My own newsletter (sample) has book recommendations and unique information from authors about their books, links to my podcast interviews with other authors and experts, videos and occasional tips. On my new site I plan to have a weekly drawing for all new subscribers.
On your site include a “Tips for …(writing non-fiction for kids/making friends on Twitter/whatever you are good at!” or “Secrets to…” article to download. The key to get the download is your visitor’s email address.

I contacted one of the most successful and well-known children’s literature bloggers, Cynthia Leitich Smith, creator of Cynsations to ask how she increased her mailing list. She actually doesn’t have one, because as she told me, “Email addresses change.” However, I’m not sure at her level she needs a mailing list. After all, she gets 80,000 views per month. She can put her message out on her blog and basically, a bazillion people will see it.

She also told me, “While nailing down specific reasons is about as effective for me as reading tea leaves, I suspect the following are factors: (1) the blog is hosted and mirrored (reproduced) at more than one location for greater outreach and subscription options; (2) I tweet links to the posts and feature them on my facebook author page; (3) I've been blogging for a long time--since 2004--which has allowed ample opportunity to build both an audience and create back links that continue to attract traffic; (4) Cynsations builds on the success of my already popular children's-YA writer and literature resource site, a portal to the world of creating, reading, marketing, and publishing books for young readers; (5) the content is of consistent quality, offered on a regular basis, and features notable voices and visions from throughout the field.
Building on the last point, the content is not only regular and substantive, it's consistently positive, with a focus on inspiring and informing the youth literature community, especially writers. While I may highlight, say, links about supporting library financing, I don't share the particulars of my own political beliefs or otherwise delve into matters beyond the world of books. Consequently, my blog readers know what to expect. At the same time, I do personalize it a bit. While I don't, for example, go into any detail about my Valentine's Day plans, I will be sharing a photo of the flowers I received. It creates a (hopefully) warm and inviting online destination, offering real value to visitors.”

6- Put your signup link in your email signature.

7- Freebies! It’s always nice to offer something for an email address. How about a weekly drawing? I met a guy on Twitter who actually gives a tee shirt for every email address he gets. That’s a big expense if you’re getting a lot of sign ups! Just giving a signed copy of your book would be a huge prize, and would get your book out there. Other great prizes would be, if you are an established writer, to offer a critique to any unpublished writers who sign up.

This isn’t brain surgery, I’m not saying anything new, and if you google “how to increase your mailing list” I’m sure you’ll find even more ideas. The thing is to do something. And my most important tip of all, which should have it’s very own category: once you start building that list, use it for good, never for evil.

local book buying

So I adore my local bookstore, Porter Square Books (they almost always keep a supply of my books--love the "on our shelves now" listing!) but before they were my local bookstore, I lived near Harvard Square and shopped (and worked) almost exclusively at the Curious George Goes to Wordsworth. However, now, I have some pangs of regret not shopping (and working) here:


Though I am glad I don't have to experience this anymore (amazon had just taken off when I stopped being a bookseller):



Ah, the memories!

Sweet things

Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day yesterday! We made a visit, at last, to the incredible Tartine Bakery down the street from where we're staying in San Francisco. I've been hearing about this place for some time, but every time we've tried to go there was a line down the block to get in. So yesterday we headed out early and thankfully made it through the door. It every bit deserves its reputation for having the best sweets in the city. We had chocolate croissants still warm from the oven, apple brioche bread pudding, and these delicious chocolate hazelnut tarts.

After arriving home I got some sweet news. Disappearing Desmond has been included in the Cooperative Children's Book Center's best-of-the-year list. Hurray! I am truly honored to have Desmond on the list. Grace is on there too with Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.

The complete list will be here on March 5th. Congrats to everyone!













Lastly baby made some sweet progress this weekend. For the very first time she lifted her head up during "tummy time"! These days you have to give babies time on their belly, since its not considered safe to let them sleep that way, so they can learn to lift their head to prepare for crawling. Normally Wren cries the whole time, but this weekend she not only smiled through it but got some lift! I am a very proud mama.

Photo Shoot

As I mentioned last Monday, last Wednesday was the photo shoot for the yet-to-be-named cover. On Monday, we reviewed the photos of our top choices from the model call. It was interesting to see that the one model I had thought was gorgeous did not photograph as such. One of the photographer's and designer's faves from the model call also did not photograph well. But our other top choice had absolutely lovely photos--she clearly knew how to model, and her poses were expressive and natural. There were a few other strong options as well. However, the problem was that we only had a "second hold" on our top choice, meaning that someone else had also really liked her and was considering her for a Wednesday job. We decided to challenge the first hold, and as of Tuesday morning, we thought we had her booked.

In the meantime, we were also searching for a male model. We had two top choices from Monday, but were told right away that one had been booked. We wanted to see more options, and so the model agencies told us they were sending two male models to the office.

Only one ended up showing up--it was a little surreal to have this tall, good-looking male model with us in a publishing company's conference room. When I saw him, I thought he looked a little familiar, and as I was flipping through his portfolio, I recognized a shot of his (that happened to be a shirtless photo--hee hee) from Friday.

"We've met you before, haven't we?" I asked him. He looked at me a little confused. "Were you at the model call on Friday?" He didn't remember. The models go to so many different calls that I guess I couldn't expect him to remember us.

At any rate, it was good thing we saw him again, because we realized that we liked his look over the other model we had chosen from Friday. We booked him.

It was all set. We were sent the schedule. And then, around 3:30 on Tuesday afternoon, the day before the shoot, we were told there had been a mix-up with the female model and that she had been booked elsewhere. After a flurry of phone calls, we decided to book our second choice, who luckily we still had a first hold on. Whew.

The day of the photo shoot was a busy one at work, and I knew I couldn't be there for the whole day. The designer, Alison, would be there the whole time to art direct, so I knew everything would go smoothly, but I did want to a least stop by to see how it all worked.

Bethany and I stopped by the studio at 10:30. The male model's call time was 9 am, so his make-up was done by the time we arrived. The female model's call time was 10 am, so she was in a robe about the sit down in the make-up artist's chair.

Alison and the stylist showed up the rack of clothing the stylist had picked out for the girl, ranging from leather jackets, to tank tops, textured dresses, slouchy sweaters, skinny jeans, leggings, etc. There was also a table of accessories. Awesome. "Everything's for sale, by the way," the stylist told us, "selling it would mean there's less for me to return later." Tempting, but I managed to resist.

The photographer started shooting the male model while the female model was getting her hair and makeup done. Different poses, different lighting, two different shirts, sitting standing, etc. Various assistants milled around helping with the lighting. Alison and the photographer discussed the different angles and what effect they wanted to achieve. It was fascinating. I love watching other creative professionals at work--it's rare that I have that opportunity (aside from reality television, that is).

Alas, we had to get back to the office before they started shooting the female model, but I was able to see her finished eye makeup before we left. We had asked for a dramatic eye, and we certainly achieved that. Can't wait to see the photos this week!

If all goes well, I should be able to unveil the cover at the beginning of May.

To be continued...

A Charming Prince Has Second Thoughts: An Original Fairy Tale Poem

This is not exactly a love poem for sharing on Valentine's Day! It's another of the poems I wrote for my unpublished collection titled Excerpts from the Fairy Tale Files.

A CHARMING PRINCE HAS SECOND THOUGHTS

Listen…Sleeping Beauty snoring
Sounds just like a lion roaring!
If I kiss her cheek, she’ll rise
And look into my deep blue eyes.
She’ll fall in love with me no doubt.
I’m the only prince hereabout.

Should I kiss Beauty? Should I not?
In this dilemma I am caught.
If I wake her now she’s mine—
This roaring, snoring valentine!
I know they say that love is blind,
But it’s not deaf. I’m disinclined
To rouse this maid. I’ll let her snore
And dream of me forevermore.





At Wild Rose Reader, I have a new fairy tale poem that I wrote yesterday titled Farewell, My Lovely.

Rasco from RIF has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

school visit photo album: Jackson, MA

I've been in the Chicago area and in Jackson, MS for a two-week school visit marathon (survival tips here)! This last week has been great fun because at the start of the week I taught the kids how to draw tigers:


But by the end of the week, we were drawing rabbits!


That is because I spent Chinese New Year in MS! And while doing a school visit is not the traditional way to celebrate the holiday, it was still quite festive.

One school welcomed me and the Chinese New Year with a little performance inspired from my book Bringing in the New Year:


And at another school, a real rabbit had her home decorated for the new year:

And students were wearing in their good-luck, Chinese red outfits:

But, of course, the most fun for me was seeing how much the students liked my books:



And the great projects the teachers and librarians did to prepare them for my visit:

This says: "I would ask the Old Man of the Moon, 'Can I get an iphone 4?'"

This says, "I would ask the Old Man of the Moon if my brother would ever be nice to me."

Unfortunately, on the last day of my visit, school was canceled due to the weather which made this student-written fortune extremely apropos:

This says, "You will soon meet Nature's destructive powers."

Luckily, it didn't continue to stay true and I was able to make my airplane flight home...Thanks so much for having me, Jackson, MS!

What she likes

As I mentioned in this post, while I've got plenty of picture books on the shelf (though I have yet to determine which will be allowed into little hands and which will stay in perfect condition), I've never collected many board books. Now that I have a little one our board book library is increasing, thanks in part to your suggestions.

While baby clearly has little idea why we keep holding these boxy little pages in front of her she does seem to have some preferences. What they say about babies being attracted to high contrast images must be true, because she loves looking at this book:

By the same token Hungry Caterpillar always keeps her transfixed (I guess its a classic for a reason!). I think the bold shapes are easy for her to see, and the colors very appealing.

Here is another favorite, which I quite adore. Like I posted here, the story is so sweet and the artwork so delicate and beautiful. I love the combination of graphic shapes with collaged textures.

Lastly as a side note, when she's not looking at books baby just loves to look at her birds. She just stares and stares. Remember when we found them on a BRG weekend at Libby's? That was very lucky because they are baby's very favorite thing to look at. We first hung them in the living room and began to notice her gazing at them. When we brought her up close they would never fail to produce a grin, so we moved one string above her changing table. Now every time we change her, she looks up at them and smiles ear to ear.

Model call

On occasion, publishers do photo shoots to get just the right shot for a cover image. Because photo shoots can be pricey, they're generally only done if the right stock photo can't be found.

I've never worked on a book where we've done a photo shoot for the cover...until now.

I won't mention which book it's for just yet, as I'd rather wait until the cover is final, but I was absolutely fascinated by the process, and thought I'd share.

This past Friday was the model call.

The designer takes care of setting everything up (in this case we used a coordinator who scheduled everything), so all I had to do was show up. Before the model call, model agencies send online portfolios of the models that meet the criteria that we've specified (age, height, hair and eye color, etc.). The designer and the photographer will both review the portfolios individually and pick which models they want to show up at the model call. As the editor, I was given the option of reviewing the portfolios as well, but I chose to just look at a sampling to make sure that the designer and I were on the same page. We were.

The model call was in a very simple, spare room. The designer and I (and my assistant for part of it) sat at a table near the entrance. The photographer set up his equipment. The coordinator of the shoot was out in the hallway with the models, taking their names, studio, and giving them numbers on stickers to wear so that we could keep track of who we liked. One by one, the models would come into the room, we would greet them, and look through their portfolios quickly. Most of them had tear sheets we could take and number to remember who we liked. Two had their portfolios on an iPad, which was a cool use of technology, I thought. Then the photographer would take some shots of them at different angles, highlighting the type of shots we would most likely be doing at the photoshoot, making sure to get the important angles. He spent more time with the models he liked.

It was fascinating! And really, really fun. Although it was exhausting, too. I felt like I was a judge on America's Next Top Model--the theme song "you wanna be on top?" kept running through my head. I found it interesting that neither the designer nor the photographer felt the need to take notes--they were both visual people, and remembered the models they liked and didn't like. I took notes, and felt really judgmental as I did: "Nose too big. Nice skin. Neck too short. Too awkward. Not pretty enough." etc. Although, of course, they were all beautiful in different ways. Some were just obviously not right for this project. Some had the right look, but didn't take direction well, didn't know how to pose.

"You must be the editor" the coordinator said to me at the end of the day. "Yes, how did you know?" "You're taking notes. You're into words." Ha.

For the most part, we were all on the same page, although there was one girl that I liked that the others didn't as much. I thought the model was gorgeous. The photographers thought others were better suited. "Her beauty feels a little too generic, a little cheap" the photographer said. "Not unique enough." I could see what he meant.

We chose five or so girls that we were most interested in based on what we saw during the call, although we won't choose officially until we review all the photos the photographer took. I plan on sending our top choices to the author to weigh in, too. The coordinator immediately emailed the agencies to put holds on the models we liked, and got a message back saying that one of them was already booked. The models were going to model calls all day, for the most part. One told us that she had been to eight that day alone. Apparently there were a lot of fashion week calls.

Overall, it was a fascinating look into a part of the business I didn't know much about.

The actual photo shoot is this Wednesday. More next week!

from the BRG archives: Sometimes it's easier than you think

Last week, I sent in a ms. for a children’s book – my name won’t be on it, and I’m not getting royalties, and the publisher probably wouldn’t want me to name it here anyway. So I won’t. It’s the second book I’ve ghostwritten for this artist and publisher (and of course, but I better say it anyway, the artist is not one of the BRGs! They write their own books!).

My usual method is to procrastinate and agonize about that and (once I finally settle down) write most passages over and over – but for some reason I didn’t do that with this project. I just calmly did the research at odd moments here and there (well, maybe it wasn’t quite THAT effortless, but that’s how it seems now)….and when I was ready to write, I did. (I put that in bold because I think it’s important.) I didn’t fiddle or fuss, when I knew something I wanted to say, I poured it into my laptop or Neo. Once, I think. Maybe I wrote some parts a few times, and I did a clean up at the end, but the point is that I didn’t agonize over any of it. I thought about what was interesting in the research and then wrote it down when I was in the mood to do so. I alo told the artist the main idea I had for the fictional part of the story and she loved it – and it was fun to talk about it with her, too.

When I was done with the ms., the artist and I went over it together (I thought if we did it together it would be easier and go faster. It did!), and amicably crossed things out– my goal had been to get rid of half. But:
“I LIKE the page about Lincoln!” she said. I said we could at least take out the fact that the statue of him in the Capitol is missing the left ear (that was its state when Lincoln died and the sculptor decided to leave it unfinished.) “I think that’s really interesting!” she said, sketching it. There were a few conversations like that, but we did take out a third of it.

I went home, rewrote a few things the next day, and the day after that, rewrote a little more and sent it off. I liked it; but had a (slight) sense of unease. It couldn’t be THAT easy, maybe it was all garbage, was I deluding myself? (etc.) But about a week later I got an email from the editor saying she loved it and thought kids would be “really excited” about it.

I’m going to remember this incident. Maybe it can always be this easy – and even if it can’t, agonizing doesn’t help! So, I have some new rules (as if I need more rules!). But these may really HELP me and I believe in the almost-magical power of writing things down or saying them out loud. This blog is both. So – although these may be incredibly obvious to others, here’s what I’ve learned.
1. Don’t wait to write until I have “enough time,” or a long stretch of uninterrupted time. That will never happen. (Until I really get into it and then no one CAN interrupt me, because I won’t hear or notice them.)
2. DO wait until I know what I want to say and am sure it’s interesting to me.
3. Don’t rewrite as I go along – just keep going and clean it up at the end.
4. Don’t worry about what other people will think of it: just please myself -- at least until the first draft is done! Don’t even worry now about what I will do then -- hey, maybe I’ll read it over and like it a lot!
5. Maybe when it’s time to take things out, get someone to sit with me the way this artist did? It made it SO much easier and more relaxed to just sit there in a café together, crossing things out and talking as we did it…

I hope I remember these things and act on them – it really boils down to trusting myself to know what I want to say and then just saying it.

Once ( a long time ago!) I made a list of things to avoid in future boyfriends and showed it to a new friend who, instead of commending me, started laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“That you would have to remind yourself of stuff like this.” (I don’t remember what was on the list but I can imagine). Maybe these writing rules are equally obvious to others….but I DO have to remind myself of them – WANT to remind myself!

This is a really long post…but no one has to read these things! And I do promise to make my next one shorter. But I won’t edit and rewrite: I’ll just pick a shorter topic.

Originally published Aug. 23, 2006

Problems an editor can't fix

In addition to writing children's books, I do a lot of editing, and when it comes to fiction (non-fiction is completely different in this way) I've concluded that there are some problems that an editor just can't fix.

An editor can take a good idea (even if the person can't write at ALL) and help the author make it better. She may even be able to help the author find the story. But she can't make a dull story, or point of view, interesting, or turn well-written description into a story -- she can't give the author something to say.

When it comes to something to say, people either have it or they don't.....you can help them write it, or even figure out what it is (I've done this with illustrators, and it's fascinating and inspiring -- to me, anyway!). But you can't give it to them or teach it to them.

I'm mentioning this because I think this pretty basic idea -- having something to say -- is often lost in the discussion of 'story arcs' and the like. What do I mean by something to say? An angle of vision-- a way of looking at other people and the world that's your own -- fresh and original -- deeply felt (or I guess very amused or just fascinated could count too?). If you want to write fiction, an editor can help you craft that into a story with a beginning and a middle and an end and all the other things that make books satisfying for readers. It's a lot easier for the editor if you have those three already, but even if you don't, an editor can help you find them.

And she can suggest ways of making the story more intriguing or faster-paced. She can suggest how to make it richer or deeper by adding add a secondary plot or more characters; or suggest that a different point of view might work better.....but the sad fact is that not everyone who wants to write has something interesting to say.

It has to start with that, not with wanting to have a book published. There's a big difference between those two points of departure!

fixed!

I fixed the part one of the interview below. Now the questions are in! I hope that makes it easier to read.

more Q&A WITH the questions attached. my attention problems...

Hi all, here are some more of my mom's comments WITH the questions first! I HOPE this makes more sense to all of you!

ME: When was did you first notice that I had attention problems?

MOM: I began to notice that you had a little attention deficit when you were pretty young. But I would not have used that term. I just remember being aware that it seemed noteworthy that I had to ask you a half dozen times if you wanted orange juice or tomato in the morning. I recall being sort of astonished that you wouldn't answer. You were always pretty wired at home. Do you remember asking us to count laps as you ran around the house? Your uncle Ted was probably the first one to comment on your temperament. You were tiny, I mean maybe just weeks old when he held you and said, wow she is very alert. Your hair stuck up like you had been electrocuted. I mean you were wired. You were well behaved in school but let it all hang out at home. You were never mean or destructive, just lively and we did enjoy you.

ME: Was this apparent at home or just in school?

MOM: Your fourth grade teacher (who had a hyperactive son) was the first professional to mention it to us. Or maybe the third grade teacher said it in a very vague soft way. But Mrs. A. referred you to a neurodevelopmental pediatrician

ME: I remember going to a doctor to be tested but I was never told what it was for. I thought it was some sort of intelligence test. It really stressed me out. Why didn’t you guys explain what it was for? Or did you and am I just not remembering?

MOM: I am afraid I don't remember what I told you about why you were going. I usually try to explain things so I would imagine we said it was because the teacher thought you were having trouble paying attention. The funny thing is, that you were first referred for a test to see if you had auditory processing problems. That came up negative. And the Dr. who wrote an evaluation on you, left it up to us, to decide if you should be tried on stimulant medication.

ME: Bridget was a huge bookworm. I really didn’t like reading all through school. I don’t remember you forcing us to read but I do remember having to read a number of books during the summer months as a requirement to get into the next grade. I always tried to get the smallest book possible. You really can’t make someone be a reader I guess! Were there any tricks you tried on me? Or did you just let me be?

MOM: I do think I tried to get you to read. We went to libraries and bought books and encouraged you to read during the summer for fun. But it just wasn't fun for you. I wonder if you would have liked books on tape when you were younger. You seem to enjoy them now. You could have listened while you did other things. I would tell parents of kids who don't seem to enjoy reading to try that.

Things to Do If You Are a Mole: An Original List Poem

I’ve written dozens of “things to do” poems. One of them, Things to Do If You Are a Pencil, was published in the anthology Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems, which was edited by Georgia Heard.

Things to Do If You are a Pencil

Be sharp.
Wear a slick yellow suit
and a pink top hat.
Tap your toes on the tabletop,
listen for the right rhythm,
then dance a poem
across the page.

I enjoy writing "things to do" poems….thinking about what life might be like for inanimate objects, animals, elements of nature, etc. The poems can be thought of as poems of address--apostrophe--in which I speak to pencils and moles and the rain and the sun...or just as someone daydreaming about and personifying the subjects of the poems.

**********

I’ve selected one of my personal favorite “things to do” poems for posting today.

Things to Do If You Are a Mole

By Elaine Magliaro

Make your home
in the damp darkness
underground
unknowing of snow
and stars
and summer breezes.
Live among roots
and rocks
and sleeping cicadas.
Excavate tunnels
in the moist brown earth.
Listen for the soft music
of seeds sprouting,
worms wiggling,
rain pattering on your grassy roof.
Spend your days in a world
of unending night.

**********

Here are three “things to do” poems about space that were written by my elementary students in 1998:

Things to Do If You Are the Sun
by Teddy B.

Explode your fiery volcanoes.
Reach your flaming arches
millions of miles into space.
Show off your sunspots.
Heat up your solar system.
Shine on the planets for
billions of years.
let your light give life to Earth.
Spin all the planets around you.
Don’t let the planets
get lost in space.


MOON
by Joey G.

Spin around the Earth.
Come out in the evening.
Put on your silver dress
and dance in the night sky.
Shimmer like a pearl.


What to Do If You Are the Sun
by Lila M.

Shine on the planets
and their moons.
Give Earth dawn and dusk.
Stretch out your arms of light
and wake people up in the morning.
Hug Earth with your warmth
and help living things grow.
Show off your glorious crown
during a solar eclipse.

***************

At Wild Rose Reader, you find my post Shadows on Snow: Revisiting an Old Poem.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Dori Reads.

MY LACK OF SKILLS FROM BACK THEN...

I have to say... I learned a lot about myself from asking my mom all sorts of questions. I think the way I'm going to do my mom's interview is post little bits per day. Here's a good bit:

Question:
I remember when I asked you to read my first attempt at a novel. You said something like: “Bridget is the writer in the family. You should stick to art,” or some such. You later explained why you said that. You really thought my writing would be terrible and was trying to save me from embarrassment. But this is why I ALWAYS ask you for advice on my writing before anyone else--because you are honest and I value your opinion. I think we have the same taste in writing and art. Sometimes honestly is hard to swallow, but it always works out for the best. What did you think of my early writing attempts? You can be honest. I won’t cry.

I think you struggled with writing in school for the same reason that sometimes made it hard for me to figure out what you were trying to tell me in everyday conversation. You tended to start telling me something as if I was inside your brain. I remember having to ask lots of questions to figure out where your ideas were coming from. This is a really simplistic example; "Mom, she was there when it happened." And I would be totally puzzled and have to say, who what where and when. Consequently your writing was confusing. I think you also had trouble organizing. Remember your little index card to help with a math test. You were allowed to bring one index card with some helpful facts to a math test. You filled both sides with microscopic letters and numbers with no spaces between them. It was like looking sanskrit . Your notebooks came home with huge holes where you must have erased right through the paper. I used to marvel at them. Basically your attempts to help yourself learn, produced chaos. So I was astounded when you began to write coherently. when you were in your twenties. I think that part of your brain just matured late."

For some more questions and answers you can read them here.

INTERVIEW WITH MY MOM

I did a little interview with my mom about getting us kids (in particular me) to read and other things. For whatever reason she sort of stuck a lot of the answers to the questions together so I'm going to post this without the questions. To make this make sense, Bridget and Kaila are my sisters. Bridget is 2 years younger and Kaila is 7. I'll be posting the rest of the interview on my blog in the coming days. I hope that my "story" will give kids with attention problems hope!


--------------
PART 1

ME: I remember you used to read us a lot of picture books. Can you name us some of your favorites? What were some of Bridget and my favorites?

MOM: One of my favorites was Chris Van Allsburg's The Wreck of the Zephyr. I can still picture the illustrations even though it has probably been twenty years since I have looked at the book. I also loved the sense of mystery and wonder it provoked. It's funny but something about it reminds me of a picture of an imaginary scene we had hanging in my childhood home. I used to stare at it and imagine going there. I called it "babyland". I guess the connection was just that it stirred my imagination. We did not own picture books with colorful illustrations

You of course loved the wild and wacky, In The Night Kitchen. And when I was desperate to get you all to sleep, I would choose the lilting refrain of Goodnight Moon. I loved the colors in those illustrations.


ME: Was there anything you got sick of reading?

MOM: The only books I used to get bored reading were the ones which I guess were supposed to teach kids vocabulary. I remember one that was given to you that was sort of like a picture encyclopedia, with pictures of everyday objects and little bears thrown in to make it more kid friendly. I really avoided books with crappy illustrations.

ME: Kaila (my third sister and seven years younger) seemed to be a little different than us. What were some of her favorite books? I remember she liked a book about a bear by himself. It doesn’t seem like a book that Bridget and I would like. Perhaps this is because we had each other and Kaila WAS by herself… in a way?

MOM: Bridget loved the Berenstain Bear books. I think Kaila did too. Kaila did love Bear by Himself. It was such a quiet little book. I liked it too, I guess because I agreed with the message, which was that sometimes you are your own best company. I think so many kids think they are "losers" when they are alone. But this book put a real positive spin on being alone.

ME: I remember that you read both picture books and novels. It was a mixture. I really loved that. Why did you decide to do that?

MOM: Bridget and Kaila both liked to collect the Berenstain Bear books. Bridget especially loved reading chapter books together. It probably took us quite awhile to get through some of them. I think she liked looking forward to the next chapter. We read the Roald Dahl books, BFG, and Witches. We also read Robinson Crusoe and another book--So Far from the Bamboo Grove--together. She remembers that Aunt Carol got us a signed copy of that one. Bridget did think that made it special. I think going from picture books to novels was a natural progression as you got older and developed bigger vocabularies. Its funny, you didn't like to read on your own, but you did have a good vocabulary and always did very well on standardized tests.

ME: Dad also used to make up stories sometimes and I think both Bridget and I loved that. I think it really encouraged us to be creative. Do you remember that? Did you ever participate?

MOM: Yes, Dad did enjoy making up stories. He would be a natural at that. He is the best one in both of our families at recounting funny things that have happened to him , in a very entertaining way. I think you are too by the way. You have a knack for mimicking people. I did make up stories too, but I think Dads were more memorable. You may not recall this, but I did tell you a made up story about walking upside down. i really used to love looking at the ceiling and pretending to walk on it.

ME: Did your parents read to you when you were little?

MOM: My mother always read to my brother and I. We had an old anthology of children's literature. I think I just loved the fact that we were all snuggled up together peacefully. We had her undivided attention in such a positive way. I could tell that she was enjoying it too. That is what I enjoyed most about reading to my children. The stories in those old books were less memorable than the time spent together. However, I do remember the first book that was ever given to me..

ME: I know there wasn’t a good selection back then and books were only printed in 2 or 3 colors, but do you have any favorites from then?

MOM: My sister gave me Eloise. I just loved it. I think it was the first book that I could call mine. It had a lot more illustrations than the old books and they were colorful and funny.

How to Achieve Balance Between Your (Sheesh, I Hate This Word) Platform and Your Writing

This week the indomitable Katie Davis has agreed to fill in for Grace (who is on a 2-week school visit marathon). Katie Davis has published nine books and appears monthly on the ABC affiliate show, Good Morning Connecticut, recommending great books for kids. She produces Brain Burps About Books, a podcast about kidlit, a blog and monthly newsletter. Smart about marketing, books and balance, we're so glad Katie has agreed to share some of her insights with us here:


Don’t freak out when you read what I’m about to write. I’ll tell you the trick in a second.


My platform consists of my blog, a monthly TV appearance on a local CT morning show to promote kidlit, a monthly newsletter, and a weekly podcast. Then there’s the usual tweeting, emailing, book promotion, and Facebook distraction. I also write and illustrate books, do a bunch of literacy-based volunteer stuff, and I have two teenagers, a very easy husband, and Mango the Adorable Dog.

When people hear about all this stuff I do they usually say, “Where did you get those extra hours in your day?” or “Well, you have more energy than I do!” or “You are insane.”

One of those comments is true but I’m not telling which.

I do get a lot done, but it’s not as much as I make it seem. I know how to do the whole smoke and mirrors thing. It gives the impression that I’m doing everything ALL the time.

To answer the question set up by my title, think REPURPOSE. It’s my new favorite word. Actually, Grace Lin inspired the subject of this post when she asked this very question on my podcast. She queried whether it was okay to re-use the same material for a blog post and a newsletter (or something like that). I believe it is definitely okay. And therein lies the smoke and the mirrors.

Even though it seems like I’m doing a lot – and don’t get me wrong, I am – I’m trying to make the most of what I do by getting more use out of each endeavor. I had a college friend who used to call this time-deepening.

How does this work? Here are the steps:

Say my Good Morning, CT gig is coming up. I’ll read the books I’m recommending (duh), then grab the covers off the internet. I send my producer the covers and blurbs about a week in advance so they know what images to show while I’m on. While I’m doing that, I have my newsletter open, and upload the images there, entering in the blurbs. I used to write my own copy for each book, but now with the added demands of the podcast, I’ve given that up and simply use the publisher’s description. I send an email to the authors, illustrators, and sometimes the publishers telling them I’m taking the book on TV and could they please send me a unique bit on the book’s creation for my newsletter. I offer writing prompts to facilitate that, and sometimes get some great “interviews” that way. Often I’ll also interview that same author on my podcast, so now I’ve time-deepened my reading and prep efforts once via the TV show, once, the podcast, and once through the newsletter.

I’ve also repurposed for my blog via my podcast because I write show notes for every episode and use them to help me with the accompanying blog post once the episode is ready to upload. I have started to time-deepen my podcast editing session by doing non-thinking activities while listening. When I hear something that requires cutting, I’ll click back over to Garageband, do my editing as necessary, and whenever any linkable comment comes up, I’ll go back to the open blog post window and make the bulleted note (because I always write up what’s in the episode so people will know what I covered…in case they especially do or do not want to listen)!

Because this post is so long, and I’m writing in detail what I do, it seems like a huge complicated effort, but because I re-use content across my various delivery systems it’s not as overwhelming as it seems. I’m not trying to be disingenuous, I do know it’s a lot, it’s just not as much as it appears to be.



If you are going to repurpose your content, there is one important point to stress. I think it’s crucial to include unique material in each category so, though you’re repurposing, you’re just overlapping. In other words, my podcast will give listeners something new that, if they also subscribe to my newsletter, they won’t have read. Or if someone reads my blog there is always something unique that they won’t see or hear in the podcast, the TV clip or the newsletter.

Doing all this re-using gives me time for my writing and illustrating. I get up and answer the bulk of my email first thing, over coffee. I try to schedule my time by tweeting only in the morning and evening (the operative word being try). I don’t always succeed. But I love doing all this stuff. It’s fun for me. When I feel overwhelmed, I remind myself that I don’t have to do it. Or I let something slide. Because in the end, what really matters is doing what I love, which is writing for children. Oh, and promoting other people’s books. Oh wait. Also supporting literacy and…

I think I’m going to need to repurpose my repurposing

Ten weeks

A big thank you to Rebecca for blogging in my absence over the past couple months!

Its been ten weeks since I had a baby and I think its fair to say life as I knew it has been turned on its head. There are of course the obvious changes: the day is now structured around the needs of a tiny, hungry, brand new person who doesn't care much for my to do list. I'm lucky if I can get one errand done in a day.

Time has slowed to a snail's pace when it comes to cooking and laundry, but its also flying by. Baby grows and changes at light speed. She's gone from 6 pounds 11 oz to almost 13 pounds in her short life, from seeing only a foot in front of her to being able to track me from across the room, and most remarkably gone from a distant, sleepy gaze to broad faced grins like these:

The grins are the best. They make my heart explode with happiness. I would do anything for them.

But the biggest change that first hit like a mac truck and has since been winding its way through my thoughts has to do with the way I think of myself. Like most artists and writers, I've always leaned pretty heavily on my work to define who I am. Its what makes me feel different and special and unique, the thing that I have to offer the world. Strangely that is shifting. Having a kid is perhaps the most commonplace thing a person can do. It doesn't make me different at all, if anything it makes me more like everyone else. But it feels so profoundly beautiful in all its commonness.

There is a quote from one of my new mom books that I love:

"A few weeks ago, my baby gave me a flower. Never mind that ... it was missing a few petals, or that he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to let it go. It was-and is-the most gorgeous flower ever given or received. Silver and gold wouldn't buy it from me ... These aren't just my hands anymore; they belong to a lineage of mothers a planet wide and millenia old. I was a woman on an April evening in a kitchen in my corner of the world, catching time between the pages of a baby book, and at the same time, I was my mother, her mother, a mother somewhere on another continent carefully tucking a flower into the pocket of her shirt, a flower you couldn't buy from her with silver or gold. We don't know each other, but all over the world and all through time, we're gathering up wilted flowers and misspelled love notes, and every single one of us knows the singular ache that's love and pride and sadness all mixed into one."

-The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding

Part of me feels sad that the life I had is gone- no more staying up all night to finish a painting or feverishly devoting every waking thought to a story idea. Now my time is scheduled and my job is to make the most of the time I have in front of the computer, when I have it. But I also feel deeply excited about this new life. Mother love is fierce and unending. As I find my way back into making books I do so with a wilted flower in my pocket.