The Editorial Staff at The America Library of Poetry Would Like to Publish MY Poem

While I was away visiting my family, I received a letter from The America Library of Poetry. I entered their annual poetry contest in April so, as you can imagine, I was very excited to hear from them. However, the winners of the contest will not be selected until the end of September. So why did they send me a letter?

In the meantime Brooke, I have even more exciting news for you. The editorial staff at The America Library of Poetry would like to publish your poem "Fishing For A Living" in a special book of student poetry entitled Accolades. Scheduled for release in the fall, this particular compilation is generating a lot of interest as it will feature only a very select cross-section of this year's submissions. Again, I congratulate you on an outstanding accomplishment. You should be very proud, especially when you consider the many talented authors who may never be discovered or have the opportunity to see their work in print.

They want to publish my submission. Isn't that awesome?! Even if I don't win, I feel as if this contest has been a great success for me. This will be my first publication where they picked me. Two of my prior publications were blogosphere volunteer projects and the third was a collection put together by my OSAI class. ACCOLADES feels different. It feels like validation.

I'll keep you all updated, both on the contest and ACCOLADES. Until then, I've got an author release form (squee!) to fill out and Camp NaNoWriMo to win.

Celebrating the Good Things with a Giveaway

I love New Year's because it feels like you get to start over again. All the mistakes you've made in the last year are packed in a little box and placed on a shelf labeled "Occasional Shameful Nostalgic Thoughts." There are only things to look forward to, the potential productiveness of the upcoming days not yet marred by procrastination and failure.

Blogiversaries sort of have the same implications.

These dates bring forth the possibilities of all the posts you have yet to write and all the things you'll do to have even more to write about. It makes you speculate about all the blogs you'll read, the blogs you'll discover, the people you'll meet through those blogs.

However, with this post I wanted to let speculations of what will happen rest and focus on what has already happened. It's been two years since I first posted on this blog. I've done a lot of things in that time.

I finished my first rewrite of THE LULLABY which was my main goal when I began on this Internet journey. I've completed the first drafts of THINKING OF YOU, SHADOWMAN, and GHOST SISTER plus gotten ideas for plenty of other projects. I've become a two-time winner of NaPoWriMo and wrote a short story almost every week for a year with the Chrysalis Experiment. Three pieces of my flash fiction were published in an anthology called CAMPAIGNER CHALLENGES 2011. I've experienced my first few rejections and started working on my first round of revisions.

What have you accomplished in the past year?

In celebration of these things, I'm hosting a giveaway. I went through my bookshelves and picked out three books for the occasion. They're all been read, but are still in great shape.

Girl Meets Boy edited by Kelly Milner Halls

What do guys and girls really think?

Twelve of the most dynamic and engaging YA authors writing today team up for this one-of-a-kind collection of he said/she said stories - he tells if from the guy's point of view, she tells it from the girl's. Stories of love and heartbreak, like the good-looking jock who falls for a dangerous girl and the flipside of the toxic girl who never learns to be loved; a basketball star and the artistic (and shorter) boy she never knew she wanted; and a gay boy looking for love online and the girl who could help make it happen, teach that us that relationships become complicated because there are two sides to every story.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long - up until last November, when everything changed. Things have been awkward ever since, but when Josh's family gets an America Online CD-ROM in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto Facebook...but Facebook hasn't been invented yet. Josh and Emma are looking at their profiles fifteen years in the future. Their spouses, careers, homes, and status updates - it's all there. But it's not what they expected. And every time they refresh their pages, their futures change. As they grapple with the ups and downs of what their lives hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right - and wrong - in the present.

The List by Siobhan Vivian

An intense look at the rules of high school attraction - and the price that's paid for them.

It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Annie's Special Day by Clarike Bowman-Jahn

BLURB:

In “Annie’s Special Day,” a little girl celebrates her birthday with an adventure every hour. It is a basic concept book about time and clocks.







REVIEW:

There is a pretty set rhythm throughout the book that will be pleasing to little kids' ears. It will also help direct them to pay special attention to the words when the pattern is not used. This is good as it differentiates around the most exciting part of the book: the sleepover!

I enjoyed the descriptions that were usually in the third sentence on every page as well as the creatively different ways the author found for Annie to know the time. Annie's day seemed pretty normal, something any child could relate to. The ending made me smile and it will make you too as you read it to your young one. :)

Find Clarike At: Blog | Facebook | Twitter

About Clarike Bowman-Jahn: Clara Bowman-Jahn worked as a registered nurse for thirty-two years, finally trading that job for her true love, writing. Clara’s short stories have been published in the anthology Campaigner Challenges 2011.

When Clara is not writing, she does volunteer work for a local elementary school and her church. She also likes taking long walks with her husband, blogging, and reading books. She is a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Pennwriters, Bethesda Writer’s Center and Round Hill Writer’s Group. She lives in rural Loudoun County, Virginia, with her humorous husband, a senior dog and two cats. And she is the proud mother of two wonderful grown sons and the proud grandmother of one delightful grandson.

Don't forget about the giveaway for a copy of Annie's Special Day!

Annie's Special Day by Clarike Bowman-Jahn

Think back to when your love of books first began. Some of you will remember your MG years. Some of you will travel back to high school. But for me, and many others, it started at a very young age with children's books like Toestomper and the Caterpillars and The Funny Little Woman. So I am proud to be hosting a children's book and its author today.

Annie's Special Day -- Children's Book

eTreasures Publishing

In “Annie’s Special Day,” a little girl celebrates her birthday with an adventure every hour. It is a basic concept book about time and clocks.

Kids will love watching the clock with Annie as her special day unfolds and her friends join her for a slumber party that is so much fun she doesn’t want to miss a minute of it. Parents be prepared to read this book over and over as your child delights in the idea of staying up all night while effortlessly learning the basics of how to tell time.

-Barbara Simpson Carducci, Author of Storee Wryter Gets A Dog

Take a delightful romp, hour by hour, through a very special day in
Annie's life. It's her birthday, and every hour brings a new adventure.
Join Annie through a day of celebration into the dark of night and finally
sunrise in the morning. What great fun!

-Suzanne L. Walls, Author of Backyard Birds of the Piedmont

If you think this would be a good book for your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, etc., you're in luck because Clarike has been nice enough to offer a free copy of Annie's Special Day for me to give away on my blog. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter then keep reading to learn more about Clarike and her writing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

MORE ON CLARIKE BOWMAN-JAHN'S WRITING

Brooke: Why are children's books important to you?

Clarike: Children's books are important to me because they usually explain something complex simply. Often the author tells something very basic and profound in the most simple terms available to the English language. And kids learn complex fundamentals through osmosis.

B: Why did you chose to write children's books?

C: I chose to write this children's book because I wanted to record how birds sound in the early wee morning hours of the day. As I rewrote and edited it, that part got taken out but now I have a published book. I chose to write for children because I have something to tell them and it is a challenge to speak in their own language.

B: What do you believe makes a good children's book?

C: And my answer to what makes a good children's book is in the above answer. Something important said in their own language so they can understand it on a basic level.

Find Clarike At: Blog | Facebook | Twitter

About Clarike Bowman-Jahn: Clara Bowman-Jahn worked as a registered nurse for thirty-two years, finally trading that job for her true love, writing. Clara’s short stories have been published in the anthology Campaigner Challenges 2011.

When Clara is not writing, she does volunteer work for a local elementary school and her church. She also likes taking long walks with her husband, blogging, and reading books. She is a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Pennwriters, Bethesda Writer’s Center and Round Hill Writer’s Group. She lives in rural Loudoun County, Virginia, with her humorous husband, a senior dog and two cats. And she is the proud mother of two wonderful grown sons and the proud grandmother of one delightful grandson.

Come back on Friday for my review of Annie's Special Day!

Mother May Know Best. Doesn't Mean She Doesn't Like Opinions.

My mother doesn't always understand the importance of writing in my life, doesn't quite get how seriously I take it. At least, it can feel that way.

But when Campaigner Challenges 2011 went up for sell, no one was more ecstatic. (It might not have been humanly possible.) I tried to tell her it was no big deal, that anyone who participated in the challenges and said they wanted in, got in, but that didn't stop her from calling every single person she had ever come in contact with. (Seriously, I think she phoned up her whole graduating class, plus the one she was supposed to be in [she graduated a year early], plus my dad's.) And you should've seen what she did to get hard copies of that thing.

She was just as excited (well, maybe just a little less) when I got accepted into OSAI. I mean, she didn't even wait for me before she opened the acceptance email. (Though I guess the unexpected screaming of "You got in!" from across the house made up for it a bit.) So of course she came to my performance. A poetry reading.

Often she has told me about her own poetry, one poem in particular. Those stories never failed to end with "I wish I could find..." After my reading, she decided to go looking one more time. You totally know what I'm going to say, right? Right? Well yeah, she found them. Way to state the obvious. ;)

Now we finally get to the point of this post. (See, this is why I try so hard not to info dump.) She wants someone to look at them. But she doesn't really want anyone she knows to look at them. That's where all you lovely people come in. -bats eyelashes- I know from experience that you all have mad critiquing skills and I'm very, very politely asking you to use them on the two poems I'm about to show you, one of which is that one particular poem. Enjoy.

(And yes, I'm totally exploiting my blog audience for my mom. Aren't I just the sweetest?)

Waiting for the Sun
by Angela Busse
(11-5-95)

A seed it once was planted
Deep within the ground.
It grew from fertile soil,
But was withered up and brown.

For the sun it never reached there
Within the shadows deep.
Happiness avoided it,
The flower, once a seed.

The flower it grew ugly,
But stronger day by day.
Or maybe it was weaker,
The strength was all its play.

Deep down the flower wanted
A true friend all its own
But found none in the forest
Where only weeds had grown.

When the shadows reached their darkest
A sunbeam it was sent
To help the little flower
All weather beat and bent.

The flower it mistrusted
The sunbeam in its room
And although it often told him
He was not to be removed.

Bit by bit the sunbeam,
He brought it back to life
He made the flower pretty,
He made its colors bright.

Now of course the little sunbeam
Was devoted to this cause,
But he was called away again,
The darkness bared its claws.

The flower didn’t know it,
But the sunbeam made it strong.
The darkness it was held at bay
Through a battle hard and long.

The flower it still held the hope
The sunbeam would return
For in the flower’s hardened heart
A love began to burn.

The flower waited longer
Than a normal flower could,
For hope it keeps our hearts alive
Much longer than it should.

The day the sunbeam did return
Brought the flower back alive.
For without a little sunbeam
A flower can’t survive.

Of Better Things Remembered
by Angela Busse
(2-25-95)

I search the darkest corners
And they seep into my mind.
They twist and then they turn on me
And it's him there that I find.

The darkness as it lifts away
Will leave us in the past.
Back to the haunting memories
When I thought it all would last.

We used to talk and speak of things.
The things we'd seen and felt.
He told me of his thinking place,
The place where family knelt.

He taught me how to look at life
I find that good and bad.
For all the doors I know it opened
I walk through what we had.

But on the grander scheme of things,
I ask a question..., "me or him?".
I think of all the memories made
Knowing I will cherish them.

As the darkness it returns
And then it fades again
I know that I will let him go
Just not exactly when.

What's Up With Me

Lately, it feels like all my posts have been scheduled. By this I don't necessarily mean written ahead of time then set to post on a certain date (not that I don't do that), but posts we all knew were coming. Think of my NaPoWriMo posts or my NYR Updates. Any posts that weren't expected were well thought out and planned way ahead of time. For instance, my recent post comparing dresses to writing. It's been forever since I've just talked to you guys, told you what was going on in my life and with my writing.

I think we all know where this is going...

COLOSSAL UPDATE

On March 3, I drove to Ardmore, OK, to audition for the Oklahoma Art Institute's summer creative writing program. On April 10, I got my email saying that I had been accepted! This is especially gratifying because, not only does it mean I get a full scholarship besides the $250 acceptance fee, only fifteen people were accepted.

The camp is from June 9-24. I don't know if I'm going to have stable Internet access while I'm there so I may be gone during that time. I'll keep you updated. Right now I'm waiting for the information packet. It should be here any day.

Not-So-Colossal Updates

Remember, way back in October, when I told you I entered the Seventeen Magazine 2011 Fiction Contest? Well, I thought you might like to know how that turned out. I did not win. I didn't even make it into the finals. At first I was a little upset, because it is disappointing. However, I quickly got over it. I even included a slightly revised version of my entry in my writing portfolio for my OAI audition.

Another thing you may remember, my publication in Campaigner Challenges 2011. Cat, the wonderful woman who put this anthology together, has recently donated the proceedings to the "Help Harry Help Others" research fund. However, you can still purchase the book and your money will still go to the charity. You can find all the information about the book and where to buy it on my publications page.

Also, I just want to thank the judges who chose my entry for the First Campaigner Challenge and everyone who stopped by to congratulate me. I won fourth place if you didn't know. Thanks as well to Lady Gwen, Julie Maughon, and Jennifer Chase for donating the prizes I won.

I am still waiting to learn the results of the “Imagination begins with you…” - Annual High School Short Story Contest. They should be announced within the month.

Oh, and for anyone who is on Pottermore. My username is NifflerPixie19163. We can be friends. Just let me know that it's you in the comments. And yes, I am a Slytherin. I think I'm slowly getting used to it.

Now you know what's up with me, what's up with you?

YAK Fest - Afterword

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Over the past few months I have mentioned here or there in comments that I would be going to my first author signing soon. Ellen Hopkins would be coming within three hours of me. On Saturday, January 16th, I went to meet her at the Young Adult Keller (YAK) Book Festival.

BUSINESS CARDS

My business card.

During the signing period of the festival, my mother bought my sister a T-shirt. While she was doing this, she told the shirt vendor about my flash fiction pieces in Campaigner Challenges 2011 (you may have noticed she does this a lot). The saleswoman was a teacher and wanted to know if I would like to speak to her class about writing. She asked if I had a business card. I didn't, but you can bet my mom made sure I got some as soon as possible.

We used Staples. You go online and choose one of their templates. You type in your information. If you don't like the font color, size, style, or simply the placement of the words, change it. When you're happy, you place your order and the cards are delivered to the nearest Staples location.

SCHOOL SPEAKING

As mentioned above, while at the festival a teacher asked if I would speak to her class. I don't really know how I feel about this. On one hand, it would be great exposure and marketing. On the other, what am I even marketing? I don't have a book published. I'm just a girl with a blog. What would I even talk about? How would I even speak?

If given the opportunity, should I speak to this teacher's class?

COLIN GILBERT (again)

Lizzie's copy of The Mattress Parlor plus note.

As mentioned in Part 3, by the time Alisha went to buy her copy of Colin Gilbert's The Mattress Parlor he had sold out. She ordered one as did Lizzie (though she never paid). Recently, those books came in, along with a free CD of his poetry (which I will eventually steal from Lizzie, shh).

Does anyone else find it hilarious that he thinks Lizzie is the writer?

I hope you've had a fun time reading about my experience at the Young Adult Keller Book Festival. How was your first author signing? What do you think of the authors I have mentioned throughout the series?

YAK Fest - Part 2 [Ellen Hopkins]

Part 1

[Note: Part 2 is chronological within itself, but is not when compared to Part 3.]

Over the past few months I have mentioned here or there in comments that I would be going to my first author signing soon. Ellen Hopkins would be coming within three hours of me. On Saturday, January 16th, I went to meet her at the Young Adult Keller (YAK) Book Festival.

THE REALISTIC FICTION PANEL

A little late, we found the lecture hall where the Realistic Fiction session was being held and took our seats (after a slight scuffle over who was going to go in first). The five authors were sitting at a table in the front discussing swear words.

From left to right: Charles Benoit, Beth Fehlbaum, Kelly Milner Halls, Ellen Hopkins, and Lori Aurelia Williams

Mr. Benoit said that he did not use curse words in order to reach a wider audience (ie. Catholic schools). Someone, I believe Ms. Fehlbaum, spoke of a reviewer who counted the number of cuss words (77, including "crap") in her book. Ms. Hopkins expressed her opinion that swear words, especially the word "fuck," should be used only when needed, not to give a shock factor. She used an example from her novel Crank, where the main character says "Fuck you" to her mother. She remembered saying that to her own mom and how emotional it had been.

After the moderator (who sat next to Ms. Williams) asked a few more questions, the Q&A was opened to the audience. While I didn't have any questions myself, Jess did ("Do you think of your readers as you write?"). My mother was also very excited and interactive, asking not only questions on publishing (which I should have appreciated more) but for the authors of books that the panelists recommended. She even took notes.

THE BOOK SIGNING

Lizzie, my sister, and myself waiting in line for Ellen Hopkins.

We got in line around four o'clock. If you'll look at the picture to your left, you can see us, right there at the end (and surprisingly, very in the center, seeing as the YAK fest photographer randomly snapped this). And don't we just look close to the front! But you see those people behind us, and the people behind them? Yeah, they're all standing in the same line.

But I waited. Through a curve.

And a normal sized line.

And a curve.

And a normal sized line.









When we got to the front of the line, my mom showed Ms. Hopkins the copy of Campaigner Challenges 2011 she has on her Kindle (hence the first signature). Ms. Hopkins then asked me what I write. I think I muttered something along the lines of "Um, uh, a lot of things?" Luckily, my mother stepped in to save me.

Was it worth it? The three hour drive, the argument with my mother (again, I should have been more appreciative, I blame morning brain), the almost-hour in line, the embarrassment of freezing when talking to one of my favorite authors? I think it was.

Myself and Ellen Hopkins

More On Ellen Hopkins:

Ellen Hopkins is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass, Identical, Tricks, Fallout, Perfect, and Triangles. Her novels are praised by teens and adults alike and she has been called the "bestselling living poet in the country" by mediabistro.com. She lives with her family in Carson City, Nevada. Learn more about her and her books at ellenhopkins.com.

Part 3 coming soon.

What We Should Remember

We writers often complain that no one understands us. People look at us strange when we profess writing as more than a hobby and yet have nothing published. Family members clammer for attention on all sides just when we finally sit down for some solid writing time. They don't comprehend how much time and work go into revising, editing, querying, and then the publishing process itself, that it's like raising a child.

We look at all of this and forget about the positive things they do for us. They sit and listen to us ramble on about something that doesn't make a lick of sense to them. They let us push the dishes back another hour and bed, too. Or they make their own dinners when they hear the clack of the keys. They offer encouragement and support through texts and shipments of notebooks.

Recently, I posted about getting three flash fiction pieces in an ebook, no big deal seeing as it was a collection of Campaigner challenges and all three pieces were Campaigner challenge entries, but my family was pleased as a plum. My mom spent two hours (Two hours!) on the phone calling and texting anyone and everyone who would listen. All who could immediately went and purchased a copy. And then, on Thanksgiving, I got the picture you see above. Though I wasn't even there (my parents were too sick to drive six hours), the maternal side of my family had erected a banner in my honor. The feeling of love and being loved still fills me when I think about it.

And that's what really counts. Those are the the things we should really remember.

Help Harry Help Others by Purchasing Campaigner Challenges 2011

So, you remember Rachael Harrie's Third Platform-Building Campaign, right? And the challenges we had to do (1, 2, 3) along with my entries for them (1, 2, 3), right? I knew you did.

Ms. Katharina Gerlach has been so kind to put all of the challenge entries (the ones she had permission for, anyway), including mine, into an eBook cleverly titled Campaigner Challenges 2011 (at Amazon here and at Smashwords here). This eBook costs $2.99 and all proceeds go to Help Harry Help Others, an organization dedicated to helping those with brain cancer.

The book went up 3,000 places in the rankings for the Kindle Store in just one day and currently stands at #9,777! I challenge all of you to buy this book, and tell as many people as you can to buy this book. Let's see how high we can get those rankings. Let's Help Harry Help Others. (I've already done my part. My mother spent at least two hours on the phone yesterday calling relatives to tell them I'd been published. -rolls eyes-)