Seasons change and last year's summer, fall, and winter will soon give way to spring.  My favorite season of rebirth.  A time when I am finding new drive and energy.  A time to renew written word. This weekend I took my family to a SCBWI Dakotas fundraiser at the local bookstore.  We enjoyed hearing read aloud classics and learning how illustrators start with a shape to draw faces.  Inspired by fellow SCBWI Dakotas writers and illustrators, I've brought out an old favorite I wrote early in this journey.  I'm revising it with their feedback and preparing it for a new possibility.  A chance in the sun after a long winter's rest.  If it grows some day, I'll put it in the blog "vase" here for all to enjoy!  Happy spring thaw!

#scbwiwritethis

Write This!    

 Many of our most memorable experiences of childhood or teenage years center around being left out. In 100 words or less, show us how it feels to be left out. Practice voice!

All entries due May 20. Send entries to scbwiwritethis@scbwi.org 

“How do you plea?” demanded the freckled mock court clerk.  My thrift store turtle neck tightened as I gulped, “Not guilty.”  “Was the dog with you at the time of the incident?” grilled the metal mouthed defense attorney.  As planned, I claimed, “No, it wasn’t with us.”  Smoothing her designer skirt, the other defendant smiled and answered the same.  The conformist middle school social studies class jury declared, “Bridget – not guilty, and Tessa – guilty.”  With flushed face, I felt accusatory eyes on me.  The high-brow court decided she perfectly could do no wrong and I was guilty of being unpopular.

Spring Conferences

Recently, I attended parent/teacher conferences where, get this, I heard my kids need to work on their writing!  Good advice for me too.  My conference will be coming up this June when I attend the SCBWI Dakotas 2016 Conference: The Business of Writing and Illustrating.  https://dakotas.scbwi.org/

I'm cultivating stories to bloom soon!

April showers bring rhyming powers!


https://angiekarcher.wordpress.com/

Steady As She Goes...

The locomotive chugs and whirs.  As it picks up steam, it moves.  Slowing climbing, steadily on a track, it modulates speed with the turns, hills, valleys, and stops along the way.  So goes my writing in 2015.

I finished The Complete Picture Book Submissions System which was a great easy to follow guide to publication.  I queried away and also again entered this year's local sidewalk poetry contest.  No passengers jumped on the train, but it keeps on moving.  I'm excited to give PiBoIdMo 2015 a try next.  I'm never short on ideas and this will be a fun way to collect some more.

Enjoy my 2015 Sidewalk Poetry submissions.

Training Wheels

Concrete under feet,

Gravity pulls down.

Carry me on my way,

Stabilize my ground.

A block to know, a world will grow.

Ready, steady, pedal slow,

Hold me close; then let me go.

Sweethearts’ Walk

A step to take, towards the sun.

A hand to hold, you are the one.

A path ahead, with bending lines.

Loving smiles, and twinkling eyes.

A whispered hope, a bended knee.

Heartbeats skip, a gasp of glee.

A yes! A kiss. Our love’s journey.

Write Foundation

In bits and pieces, like the drip of a mineral deposit, I'm laying the bedrock of this writing thing.  So now, almost a year later, blog post #2.  Briefly, in 2014, I met some writing goals.

I was published in Reader's Digest!  Well, it was a response to a social media request to share about a favorite story while growing up, but there it was in the July 2014 issue - 2 sentences about being born during an Iowa farm blizzard and my byline!  I'd forgotten about it until a colleague at work asked if I was a published author indicating she'd read it.  I was ecstatic!  Not only was I published, I had a fan!  I was on cloud 9 for at least the next 24 hours, and when my mom called after seeing it in her subscribed copy.

Then, I ran across a local poetry contest and decided to give it a go.  I labored on creating a just right poem, and then went to the website to submit and found the guidelines.  Of course the contest closed at midnight and it was an hour away.  Like Cinderella at the ball, I jammed out a revised much condensed version meeting the character limitations, pressed submit, and went back to life cleaning up messes.  (Did I mention I have children?)  As seems to be the norm, life went on and I forgot about it.  Then low and behold an email arrives letting me know I got third place!  Yippee!

The Cathedral District Sidewalk Poetry Contest (first annual) was a fun endeavor.  There was a presentation about how the contest came to be, where the top 3 winners read their poems, and where the attendees walked to the sidewalks to view the imprinted poems.  What a change of pace to the norm of my life.  It was a lovely time and I was thankful to have my family with me to enjoy the day.

Hopscotch Delight

(The Sidewalk Version)

Beneath the trees - you and me,

Chalk on hands and dirt on knees.

Light breeze cools hot sticky sun,

Toss a stone, it lands on number 1.

Take a big leap, laugh with glee!

Hopscotch fun, 

Skipping happily.

I ended the year making my residence official by joining the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.  Soaring on to 2015 to grow more writing adventure!

Write Seeds

I was going to be a writer until I thought it wouldn’t pay the bills.  Then I decided I’d get an MBA and make a living managing the work of others for various business industries.  I got married, had two boys, and had a crisis of identity leading me to realize writing would keep calling me until the end of time – paying gig or not.  I'm jumping in whenever I can listen to the call to write and hope readers connect to my words.  The seeds of inspiration and ideas are forever a spring in my life where words are beautiful - write flowers.  Welcome to the garden.