Hiking Up My Socks

I decided to hike up my socks and get to work polishing a picture book manuscript I have been working on-and-off for a long time.

So, last week I pulled it out of the draw and something interesting happened. That same day I had two different volunteer groups come to me and basically say, 'We'd like to use your writing skills. Can you help us? Would you write..." I don't mind helping and of course I said 'yes' but I find it funny that these requests come to me as soon as I decide to put all my focus on one of my bigger personal writing projects. My analytical mind now starts to wonder why this has happened and if there is a bigger meaning?

I think the bigger meaning is, 'you need to write...more...now.' I have finished one of the requests already and the client was very happy. Surprisingly, it wasn't as tough as I thought it was going to be. The other project will not happen for a while.

For now, I am looking to submit some smaller works, mainly poems, to magazines and web sites while I continue to work on my picture book manuscript and get it agent ready. Yay me!

Fun Challenges For November

November is a busy time for an author. Well it's busy for an author who is up for a challenge. As many authors know, November is the time for NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. Other than learning how to properly say the acronym, the object of the challenge is to crank out 50,000 words of a novel by the end of the month. No reviewing. No editing. Just write. More information about NaNoWriMo can me found here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

But what about those authors who don't write novels? What challenges are available for picture book authors or poets?

Two challenges I am participating in this November are the November PAD Challenge run by Robert Lee Brewer and PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) run by Tara Lazar. It's not too late to join in on the fun!

November Poem-A-Day Challenge - Every day in November Robert Lee Brewer posts a prompt and a poem. Join in by writing your own poem inspired by the prompt. At the end of November you will have a collection on 30 poems. Use December to edit, revise and organize the poems into a manuscript to be submitted to Robert and his wife in January. A winner will be selected by February 2nd. There may or may not be prizes but who cares? You'll have a manuscript at the end. Isn't that a great prize? Robert also leads a Poet Tuesday chat on Twitter on, well, Tuesday. I have found this chat very useful during this challenge.

PiBoIdMo(Picture Book Idea Month) - The goal of this challenge is to have 30 picture book ideas by the end of November. With the help from some wonder guest bloggers Tara Lazar has a blog entry every day in November to help inspire that perfect picture book idea. Plus if you participate you get to put a cool badge on your website or blog. PiBoIdMo is a perfect preparation for NaPiBoWriWee the first week of May.

OTHER CHALLENGES:

NaPiBoWriWee (National Picture Book Writing Week) - It's crazy! It's fun! It's NaPiBoWriWee! 7 picture book drafts in 7 days. That's right, seven! NaPiBoWriWee is run by Paula Yoo and is the first week of May. I participated in the first one in May 2009 and had a great time. I was amazed what I accomplished by the end of the week. I know it's not done in November but I thought it was important to mention here.

The month is still young so join in the fun. Don't be afraid. The only way you can fail is if you don't try.

My Name In Print

It's November which means a new issue of Scifaikuest and this one has my scifi tanka in it!
I do not have my contributor's copy yet but there is a picture of the cover of the new issue from their website.



Take a close look at the bottom of the cover. See all those names? The last one is mine! I like seeing my name in print...or at least a picture of the print in this case. Can't wait to get my copy to see my poem in print as well. Issues can be ordered at http://www.genremall.com/zinesr.htm#scifaikuest

A Halloween Poem - JACK-O-LANTERNS

JACK-O-LANTERNS

Jagged tooth grin
And nothing to say.
Candy he guards,
Keeping ghouls away.

Orange, cool armor he wears. His

Life, an internal light.
Armed with an eerie glow and the
Natural darkness of night.
Triangular, flashing eyes
Examine the area for miles.
Relentlessly protecting the sweet treats but
Never forgetting to
Smile!

Photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Poem: Boys And Girls

Time for a quick poem.

BOYS AND GIRLS
by Auntie Flamingo

Boys make noise. Drums they smash.
Play with cars and make them crash.

Girls love curls and frilly things.
Squeals of joy for diamond rings.

Parents groan with heads that ache
From all the racket children make.

The Other Manuscript

"Ok Auntie Flamingo, on March 27th you said you submitted another manuscript but you have only talked about the poetry book, IF MY FISH FEET . What is the other book and why haven't you talked about it?"

This is true. I have only been talking about one of the books. Like Mother Goose, Auntie Flamingo is known for her poems. Though the other unpublished book is in rhyme it will probably be published under my 'other' name and not Auntie Flamingo. However, I will talk a little about it here.

In a CANSCAIP interview by Lucy Falcone, author Arthur Slade said, "And there's no such thing as 'normal'. Even if there was, who wants to be normal anyway?" Every child, at some point, will feel abnormal about something. For me it was my height. As a child, playing house in kindergarten I was always the mother but was never allowed to play the role of the baby, I was always in the back row for class pictures and my pants were often a half inch too short. ANNALEE is a story about an unique young woman who is nowhere close to being ordinary. Many of the things she does is upside-down, backwards or just a little crazy. The town's people of Normalville tolerate her antics until the day the media arrive looking for someone to place in their magazine. Fearing ANNALEE's weirdness will ruin their chances the town's people cruelly tell her to go home on the outskirts of town. Will ANNALEE get her chance to try to impress the photographer and reporter?


Now grown, I see what a gift my height really is and I have realize how being different opens doors. This is something very difficult for a child to understand.

Comments on the story? Is there something you are/were insecure about? Isn't is nice to know that you are not the only one who feels this way?