Breezing through Facebook tonight, I happened upon a link a friend posted to Upstart Crow Literary . Agent Michael Stearns has written an excellent piece on Agenting Picture Books v. Agenting Novels. It’s one of the most insightful posts I’ve seen on the subject of picture books – both the art of writing them and [...]
Read full post...Bugs of the Computer Variety
Today is one of those days when I…
1) *wish* I hadn’t updated to the latest version of WordPress and
2) wish I knew enough about HTML to be able to help myself.
The best I can figure out, after scouting around the internet, is that the WP 2.8 version has some bugs [...]
The last two weeks have been crazy busy BUT I love Tricia’s – of The Miss Rumphius Effect – poetry stretches. So I couldn’t let this week go by without attempting – another first for me – a Tritina!
The thing about writing to the poetry stretch, is that it’s a bit uncomfortable for me [...]
“Window Sijo” was this week’s poetry stretch – a first attempt at sijo, as described by Linda Sue Park in Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems).
Heat was on my mind: a hot weekend in Death Valley and more hot weather at home.
This week also brought the audio of Peony in Love by Lisa [...]
Here are my attempts at this week’s poetry stretch at The Miss Rumphius Effect – a bite-sized sonnet.
I had no idea I would spend so much time on this tiny-sized version of a sonnet. The truth is, it’s just not that easy. At least for me… I did many many versions until I arrived [...]
I’ve added a new page: PICTURE BOOKS: ART AND CRAFT. Click here or on the GREEN tab in the banner above and take a look!
Read full post...The other morning as I skimmed through the current issue of the Horn Book while doing morning face prep at the sink, I flipped open to a review of Joyce Sidman’s latest poetry collection: Red Sings from the Treetops: A Year in Colors.
I love many of Sidman’s collections (particularly Song of the Waterboatman and Other [...]
I discovered Marilyn Nelson’s powerful stories and amazing poetry -
Carver: A Life in Poems , A Wreath for Emmett Till, and Fortune’s Bones – several years ago.
I’m so pleased to see Nelson’s work spotlighted on The Brown Bookshelf’s: 28 Days Later, 2009 campaign (including her latest, The Freedom Business, which I have yet to read) [...]
Stephen Fry in The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within has this to say about writing poetry:
“It can take weeks to assemble and polish a single line of poetry… poems take time… they are to be lived with and endlessly revisited.”
Fry could easily be talking about picture books. They take ages to polish and [...]
I've lived and traveled around the world, but now make my home in California.
By day, I teach; evenings and many weekends, I write.
My teaching, reading, and writing eventually led to a degree in Language and Literacy, and later, an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.