Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Quote and Question - March 26, 2013

In honor of Robert Frost's birthday, I offer these quotes:


In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.

I'm not confused. I'm just well mixed.

I never dared to be radical when young for fear it would make me conservative when old.

I had a lover's quarrel with the world.

******

My question to you is...which of these three quotes resonates with you the most and why?



Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Birthday Bash Contest Reminder

Hi, everyone!

I just received notification that an autographed copy of RJ Clarken's book, Mugging for the Camera, will definitely be offered as a prize in the Birthday Bash Poetry Contest. If you haven't entered, that should be incentive enough to get you writing. RJ writes some delightfully silly poems. She also writes serious work, and it was just announced last night that RJ won the Pantoum Poetry Form Challenge at Writer's Digest. Congratulations, RJ!

There are still four days left to enter the Birthday Bash Poetry Contest. CLICK HERE to go to the original post listing the guidelines.

I have enlisted the help of my daughter and husband to help with judging. As poems come in I copy and paste them (excluding name) into a file. After the deadline I will print a copy of the file for each judge. The two winners will be notified by the end of March.

Several of the contest entries are listed in the comment section of the original post. Others have been received by email. We currently have about 20, but keep 'em comin'. The more poems, the more difficult it is to decide and the more I can torture my two judges (insert evil smirk here). But seriously, just send them in, because I love reading them. It sure beats housework.

Well, since I don't have any entries to read at the moment, I guess I will tackle the ironing.

HELP!

       Please.

              Send.

                     Poems.




Pretty please.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Overcoming Adversity


Nick Wilford has put together an anthology with seventy stories of both fiction and non-fiction as well as poetry about overcoming adversity and is currently selling it as an eBook (It will also be available in print soon.)

The anthology is part of a fundraising effort to send Nick's stepson, Andrew, to a specialist college in England. Andrew has cerebral palsy, and is a remarkable young man with a promising future. However, the free further education options offered in his own country (Scotland) no longer challenge him nor and allow him to progress. In order to access the education he deserves, Andrew will have to pay exorbitant fees.  You can help by purchasing a copy of the book and by sharing this post with other. I know I will.

If you are in the U.S., the price for the Kindle Edition is only $3.54. Just CLICK HERE to go to the page on Amazon.

To order on Amazon in the United Kingdom, CLICK HERE. The cost is
£2.03.

It is also available on SMASHWORDS and GOODREADS.

Oh, and did I mention that it features work by great writers such as E.J. Wesley, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Kyra Lennon. There's even a short piece by me. So why not buy a copy? It's a win-win situation. You get great reading material and Andrew gets one step closer to his educational needs.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Birthday Bash Poetry Contest

This post might be sort of rushed, because I just came up with this birthday bash contest about half an hour ago. In fact, I haven't even sorted out all the details yet but there isn't much time to think. I just need to type, type, type and figure it out as I go, because tomorrow is the big day.



Those who know me well know that though I have a February birthday, mine has already passed. So whose birthday are we celebrating? I'll give you a hint. He wrote one book, two books, three books, four, five books, six book and a whole lot more. He had red books, blue books, yellow, tangerine, and a very famous book about eggs that are green. He wrote rhyming books that brought him great fame. By now you probably all know his name.

That's right. Tomorrow (March 2) is the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, otherwise known as Dr. Seuss. Other pen-names include Theo LeSieg (LeSieg is Geisel spelled backwards) and Rosetta Stone.

In honor of his birthday, I am holding a poetry writing contest. The rules are as follows:

1. The poem must rhyme. After all, Dr. Seuss is best remembered for his ability to write appealing rhyming stories that both children and adults enjoyed reading.

2. The poem must use one of the following four titles.

     The Pig in the Wig
     The Cow in the Towel
     Goats in Petticoats
     The Mouse and his Spouse

Yes, I know. You could probably think of quite a few more titles, maybe even more exciting ones, but those are the four choices. That means there should be no poems entitled Turkey and the Beef Jerky or The Monkey and his Junkie or The Squirrel and the Epidural. If you do send me something like that, I admit that I will probably take great pleasure in reading your work. However, it will not be eligible for the contest.

Also, the poem itself must focus on the title chosen. By that I mean, if you pick The Pig in the Wig, the poem must revolve around a pig who is wearing a wig. You can't write about a boy who is grumpy all day and his parents use all sorts of failed methods to get him to smile and then in the last few lines have him smile because a pig in a wig goes trotting by. 

3. The poems should be rated PG-13 because my daughter will be one of the judges.

4. There is no restriction on how long or short the poem should be. It doesn't even need to be funny. Though we do love funny. Just make sure it has some sort of rhyme scheme. AND you can enter up to 4 times-- once for each title.

5. The deadline is March 16 (that gives you two weeks) and the winners will be announced by March 31. You may post your poem directly in the comments section of this post or if you prefer to send your poem by email, write "I wish to email my poem" in the comments section and I will contact you regarding how to do so. However, please note by entering the contest you give me permission to post it later, because the winning poems will be made public when I announce the winners.

6. Since I just came up with this idea less than an hour ago, I haven't sorted out the prizes yet, but there were be at least two winners. Since this is a poetry contest and I have several friends with poetry books, I am thinking of providing the winners with a list of books available as prizes (or perhaps non-poetry books as well).For instance, I might send them a list of six books and they each get to pick one. And if all else fails, there is always German chocolate. Of course, if anyone has further ideas for prizes, I am open to suggestions.

7. You don't need to be a follower of my blog to enter, but it sure would make me happy.  :-)

I think that's about it. If I've forgotten any details, feel free to ask.

Now go embrace your inner Seuss and start writing. You can write your poem in your car. You can write your poem at the bar. You can write your poem with a magical gnome or write your poem with your dog at home. You can write with pen and ink. You can type your poem by the sink. You can write your poem here or there. You can write it anywhere. Just write it.

And have fun.