Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Weekend Window #5 on Tuesday

I did it! I finished the latest revisions of a picture book I am writing. It started as a silly poem. Then my friends said, "Hey, that would make a fun picture book!" So I wrote it into a story. Then I revised. And revised some more. And once again. Then I had an idea of how to make it even better/more marketable. So I totally rewrote it. New POV. New angle. Changes in the plot. Different ending. I like the way it turned out. I went back and looked at each sentence. I made my final revisions this weekend-- just in time to submit to the SCBWI work-in-progress contest. But because I was so busy working on my manuscript, I forgot to post my Weekend Window links. Sorry! So, here they are... on Tuesday.

The fabulous Jessie Carty has started a new online literary journal (called Then and If) which is similar to her old one (Referential). A piece of writing (flash fiction, poem, or non-fiction) or photo is posted and writers response to it with their own related piece. I am curious to see how this site develops. If this sound interesting to you and you won't to take part (or just want to read) here is the link:

http://thenandif.tumblr.com/

Also, since I am posting a link to Jessie's new site, I thought it might be nice to link to one of Jessie's poems. I found her short poem Hospice has been made into a video at "Moving Poems".

 http://movingpoems.com/2014/09/hospice-by-jessie-carty/

and here is one of Jessie herself reciting one of her poems

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bqt_nlEJCw

OK. That's all for now. I'm off to prepare for RhyPiBoMo and April poetry month challenges.




Saturday, March 21, 2015

World Poetry Day 2015 is today!

Today is World Poetry Day!
 
To celebrate I am posting a few links to poems that I've come across the past week. (This post doubles
as my Weekend Window  #4)

The first one is "Light in the Fig Root" by Lori DeSanti (featured at Words Dance).I've been discovering more and more of Lori's work in literary journals and I like her style.

The second is by Matt Rasmussen, winner of the 2012 Walt Whitman Award for his poetry collection titled Black Aperature. I happened upon his work accidentally while doing a search for something else. This poem speaks to me because a few months ago I lost someone dear to me due to suicide. This is the poem "Aperature".

The third is a poem I was introduced to in elementary school and one of the reasons I became interested in poetry. Here is Carl Sandburg's "Fog". It showed me how poetry often looks at things from a different perspective.

And lastly, I want to say that if you are like me and like both poetry and writing for children, you might get a kick out of the work that has been posted recently in the March Madness Poetry competition this year. Participants are given assigned words and must write a poem for children. Poets compete in several rounds until a final winner is chosen based on votes. I've been reading and voting (and enjoying a few laughs as well because many of these are humorous poems) and you can take part in the voting process, too. If there is a child in you who likes to smile and giggle, head on over to the Think, Kid, Think! site.

Oooooh, and I almost forgot. Have you heard some cafes around the world are offering a free coffee to people who hand in one of their poems? Yes, it's true. Get more information here:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/mar/20/poetry-coffee-pay-with-a-poem-cafes-world-poetry-day

Coffee or no coffee, I wish you a perfectly poetic day.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Short Note for Today

Two of my writing friends are currently competing in the March Madness Poetry contest. I met Rj through Poetic Asides years ago. Her work often utilizes clever word play and her rhyming is spot on. Dean Damon just took part in the PB14:14 blog challenge which I just finished posting about and he also frequents a few other sites I take part in.

Please show them some support and vote for their poems so they can move to the next round. You don't need to register. Just click the voting circle at the bottom of the posts. IMPORTANT NOTE: voting is today only, so get to it! (pretty please)

Here are the links:

http://www.thinkkidthink.com/2-bode-vs-15-indoctrinate/

http://www.thinkkidthink.com/3-cull-vs-14-pastiche/

THANK YOU!