I also wrote a couple of poems for the workshops at The Miss Rumphius Effect and poet Laura Salas's blog. Sometimes those workshops are my best tool for not letting the poetry slide!
Still grappling with revision issues in Cheating the Dog, but I think I have a new solution. Wish me luck...
And it's just 6-7 more weeks till the ocean poems come out--what a nice, bookish spring I'm having!
- Mood:
sleepy
But never fear, I haven't left the coast behind entirely. My hedgehog book (the Grimms' tale, Hans My Hedgehog) is coming out in January--it's getting a starred review from Kirkus next week, woo-hoo! And yes, then there is my collection of ocean poems, Water Sings Blue, that's coming out in March/April. So what I've been doing is working with my website designer, the inimitable Barb of Jaleroro Designs, to create new pages for the two books. I went around photographing all of my seashells for a couple of weeks, and Barb's creating a setting for my seashell gallery. Pretty stuff! Now I need to read some more about hedgehogs. And write some poems. And work on my rewrite of Cheating the Dog. And put up some Christmas lights!
- Mood:turkey-filled
I am trying to think of ways to publicize them together... Hmm. The story of a boy who's half hedgehog and two princesses, not to mention a lot of pigs. Along with a collection of poems about ocean animals (and water and sand). A bit of a conundrum. Perhaps if I pair the sea urchin poem with my hedgehog boy?
- Mood:puzzled
- Mood:
ecstatic
Well, I take that back: I haven't been working on one of my middle grade fantasy projects, but I have been writing poetry. Poetry is actually my first love.
On the novel front, I've decided to rewrite Cheating the Dog in first person, a project I started a few years ago and then dropped when I started a new book. As I revisit the manuscript, I find that the rewrite was working really well.
But first, I need to finish packing, since I'm moving to Utah next week. Hopefully I'll find some creative rejuvenation with the life change I'm making.
- Mood:
nostalgic
I pruned the roses out front, with good results. In particular, I completely butchered a little rose tree I have, and it has rebounded with fresh, happy leaves and oodles of pinky-orange blooms.
There's obviously a metaphor there for writers--revising, especially cutting scenes and passages, can feel painful, but look how it improves a manuscript!
On another note, last weekend I attended SCBWI's L.A. Writers Day and got to hear cool people like Rachel Cohn, Bruce Coville, Susan Patron, and editor Margaret Miller. More than anything, what I get out of workshops and conferences these days is not so much techniques as a feeling of creative renewal.
Aaaah.
Still in poetry writing mood; I guess National Poetry Month is somehow contagious. Next week I will be featured in Jama Rattigan's Poetry Potluck with poems and a recipe. Very nice! I think it will be on Thursday if you want to stop by. Here's the link, which LJ is refusing to let me insert properly: http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com/
- Mood: content
I'm in a poetry mood, which is perfect, since it's April. Happy National Poetry Month!
Poetic thought for the day: the moon looks like a fingernail clipping.
- Mood:
quixotic
Or I feel like a Slinkie, but not one that's actually in motion.
It's not exactly having writer's block so much as feeling that I'm almost going in circles, but not quite. I'm not stuck, yet I feel somehow ineffectual on the page...
Happily, I've been finding my way out of the spirals in the last day or two and getting a sense of forward motion again!
- Mood:non-linear
As I mentioned, I recently found out that my picture book Hans My Hedgehog won't be coming out till January 2012 (versus this summer). However, I was very pleased to get the page proofs in the mail today. They're even prettier than I imagined! The art is wonderful, and so is the design, with all kinds of nice little touches like silhouette-style spot art and textured-looking backgrounds. Plus there's this cool prickly heart motif. Hooray for John Nickle, and the design team, too! The book's going to be gorgeous. Maybe even... worth the wait!
- Mood: cheerful
Oh. Um. Okay. Good to know.
(Ow.)
Did I mention the vagaries of the publishing business?
- Mood:deflated
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