It’s been awhile so I thought I’d give a little update on…
WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING LATELY:
-Going to the library LOTS! Reading LOTS of picture books with
my kids, and sneaking in the occasional MG book for when I have the smallest
sliver of “free time” in my day, which has been especially meager latterly because
I’ve been ….
-Going to bed super early lately! This is something I’ve
been trying to do better for a long time and I know it’s what I NEED to do in
order to be a good Mom for my kids, have energy, patience, and the ability to
get through another day, etc. It’s also because my husband and I are doing a
little friendly compact. We have both agreed to do certain things to be
healthier. His end of the bargain is to exercise more, while mine is to go to
sleep on time. It’s left me with, like 30 minutes of spare time at night, but
somehow, I’ve still managed to keep…
-Writing whenever I can! I’ve been focusing on rhyming and
poetry lately. In the last couple weeks, I wrote a humorous rhyming poem about
converting to vegetarianism (which is partially/kinda/sorta a true story of my
life right now), a rhyming picture book about venturing into the woods after
dark, and a non-rhyming serious poem exploring how words/thoughts/actions
define who we are. It’s been so
satisfying to get new projects done! Now if only I could figure out what to do
with them all. Speaking of which, I have been…
-Querying here and there! Getting lots of rejections back,
applying for different writing opportunities I find on twitter, submitting a
poem or two to a magazine, waiting for a positive response, you know how it is.
I’ve also been…
-Attending writing groups! I’m now a part of three different
groups, (actually four or five if you count one-on-one exchanges with random
writing friends). Anyway, it’s so nice to have feedback and support with my
projects...
And that’s pretty much it folks. Just trying to do what I
can when I can. Here’s one more thing I can share with you before I go though: Our favorite books we’ve
read this summer! So here we go, the books we’ve loved…
Picture Books:
THIS IS NOT MY HAT by Jon Klassen
THE LITTLE HOUSE by Virginia Lee Burton
SEVEN BLIND MICE by Ed Young
BLIZZARD and BLACKOUT by Jon
Rocco
BUGS GALORE by Peter Stein
GOSSIE by Oliver Dunrea
LUCKY DUCKLINGS by Eva Moore
There’s a lot more we’ve liked, I
just can’t think of them off the top of my head, so moving on…
MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS:
THE CROSSOVER by Kwame Alexander
THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON by
Kelly Barnhill
ONE CAME HOME (LOVED THIS!) by
Amy Timberlake
Have you noticed a lot of these
are Newberry/Caldecott winners? That’s because at the Wyoming Writing
Conference I attended in June, when I attended Eugene Gagliano’s “Writing for
Children” workshop, he handed us a list of all the award winning books from the
last few years and challenged us to read as many as we could. So that’s been my
goal for the summer. Along the way, I’ve picked up any other award winners I’ve
come across. We’ve enjoyed so many of them! I also feel like I’ve learned a lot
about what makes picture books successful in general.
Anyway, I better call it quits since I’m far too late going to
bed tonight (my husband’s been sick and since he can’t exercise I guess that
means I don’t have to go to bed on time??…It's not very good logic and know what you’re thinking – she doesn’t
stick to this going-to-bed-on-time rule very well, does she. But I just want to
say that I’ve been SO good for the last month, with tonight being the only
exception! :D
That’s it for now. More
soon!
