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My Writing Life: Sketches!
One of the most exciting (and, let’s be honest, scariest) things when you’re a picture book writer is for your editor to say, “I have sketches!” It’s that moment when you see how’someone you don’t know (usually) has envisioned the words you struggled with into a book. Will the artist have surpassed anything you could
Pause for a Writing Tip from the Olympics
Watching the men’s gymnastics competition last night, I was struck again by how much I like a good pause. Check out a great one here. In the Olympics, on So You Think You Can Dance, in a drum corps show…sometimes the best moments in the entire show are when a performer (or a whole field
Finding My Writing GPS
Yesterday I wished for a GPS for my current wip. Afterward, I realized I already had one available: mentor texts. Sometimes when I’m at sea and disoriented, choosing a book as my mentor text, my guide, helps me find a direction and answer the questions in my head. I don’t know why I hadn’t yet
Bus Writing to Connecticut
I was on a bus trip from Minneapolis to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and back from Thursday afternoon to Sunday night with Minnesota Brass. Here we are in the full retreat portion of the show we were in Saturday night. To say it was a long bus ride each way is
Poetry Friday: World (lyrics by John Ondrasik)
I was sharing one of my favorite songs, “100 Years,” by Five for Fighting (John Ondrasik) with a friend this morning. I’ve shared those lyrics here before, so I’m going to share another Ondrasik song instead. World Got a package full of wishes A time machine, a magic wand A globe made out? of gold
Powerlifting Poetry
I presented at a Young Authors Conference all last week, and I thought I’d share a brief version of my lesson plan with you. First, here’s a less-than-1-minute slideshow: The theme of the conference all week was “Writing with Muscle,” and my session was?“Poetry Powerlifters.” We worked mainly on getting rid of extra words, filler
Reprinting!
I am SO excited! I blogged recently about some concerns I had about BookSpeak’s availability, and it turns out it was all for a very good reason. My agent got confirmation today that Clarion/Houghton is reprinting BookSpeak! Yay! I also realized that I should have asked my editor at Clarion/Houghton directly rather than wonder about
Minnesota Book Awards!
I just realized I never blogged about the Minnesota Book Awards! After BookSpeak! Poems About Books won the Children’s Literature category, it was a whirlwind of email and Facebook congratulations (and I’m still afraid I missed thanking some people). I just wanted to share a few pictures from this wonderful night and say thank you
Daisy Chain Haiku by the Poetry Sisters
The Poetry Sisters and I did a quick collaboration a couple of weeks ago. I am out the door in three minutes, so I’ll just share the verse. To see who’s who and read a bit of the background, please visit Andi Sibley and show her some poetry love! The Poetry Sisters’ Daisy Chain fall
Poem-a-Day: #30
mittens and sunscreen vacation mates in coach class– leaving Chicago Whew! Day 30–I did it! Happy Poetry Month!
Poem-a-Day: #29
retrievers frolic– make friends with Lake Michigan, forgive its coldness? –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved —————————————————- I had a wonderful poetry event at the Evanston Public Library today celebrating the winning poets of the Jo-Anne Hirshfield Memorial Poetry Award. It was just so cool to see a room full of people of all ages
Poem-a-Day: #28
Quarters rub shoulders. Plastic ice cream bucket swings in homeless man’s hand. –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved
Poetry Friday and Poem-a-Day: #27
Gutter ball dinner Potato chips weigh heavy– Greasy bowling ball –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved Not a thing of beauty, is it? Dinner last night did not turn out well, and I ended up eating some noodles and a bunch of potato chips. Ugh. Now my stomach is not feeling very happy. On a
Poem-a-Day: #25
each darkling drop– even distant curling current– fuels ocean’s tides? –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved There is so much poetry deliciousness going on right now, and I’m missing most of it. That makes me partly sad, but it also gives me such a feeling of abundance, that there’s all this great poetry available–so much
Poem-a-Day: #24
black ink jumps off page somersaults, bounces, leaps high– royalty statement! –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved I just got my April royalty statement, and attached was the first royalty check I’ve ever gotten. It’s not a big check, mind you. A week of working at Target would pay more. But it means some people
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Are You Looking For?
Go to my Poetry page for:
- National Poetry Month projects through the years
- Small Reads Roundups (poems grouped by topic)
- Introductions to several favorite poetry forms