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Poem-a-Day: #7

new pen ink rushes like snowmelt from spring mountains– quenching winter’s dry throat –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved  

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Poetry Friday and Poem-a-Day: #6

she waves her red stick– goalie in matador pads– welcomes charging bull –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved Happy Poetry Friday! My daughter Maddie had lacrosse tryouts recently, and she’s going to be goalie for the varsity team. Yikes. It’s nerve-wracking watching her defend the goal–but she loves it. Robyn Hood Black at Read, Write,

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15 Words or Less and Poem-a-Day: #5

I interrupt this regularly scheduled 15 Words or Less post to direct you to David Harrison’s blog, where he is featuring BookSpeak today–thank you, David! Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! Sorry for the delay, you earlybirds–computer issues this morning! Photo: Dietrich Krieger I think horses are just about

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Poem-a-Day: #4

regal lion suns, soaks spring from weathered veldt: beagle on the deck –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved I love watching our beagle, Captain Jack Sparrow, sun on the deck right outside the window where I’m writing. He just soaks up the sun out of the planks of the deck. Cheryl Wilke sent me the

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Poem-a-Day: #3

eyes–dry, sandy beach packed down by day’s heavy feet– welcome high tide’s sweep –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved —————————————————————————————————————- I know more and more poets (including me) are at least thinking about e‑publishing as print publishers buy fewer and fewer poetry collections and anthologies. Terrific poet David L. Harrison has fought in those trenches

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Poem-a-Day: #2

leafy whiskers sprout on beech’s smooth, pale bark chin– no shaving ’til fall –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved I’m also at Laura Shovan’s Author Amok blog today with a villanelle and a post about my poetry-writing rituals. Hope you’ll drop by and say hi!

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Poem-a-Day: #1

pond wears white swan gown velvet folds, feathers flutter– dragonfly pin shines –Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved April is always a busy month for me, and this year that’s truer than ever. But I hate to see National Poetry Month just slide by without doing something particular to celebrate it. Liz Garton Scanlon, one

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When Writers Go to Conferences That Aren’t for Writers

I went to the Hubbs Children’s Literature Conference Saturday, which has an audience of mainly librarians and teachers. Here’s a quick slideshow: I debated going. I was exhausted and had work to do. And it’s not aimed at writers, so the practical me wondered, “What will I get out of it?” But?I went and had

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Writing Rhyming Nonfiction

A Leaf Can Be…, my first rhyming nonfiction book Bloggers have been so kind about sharing A Leaf Can Be…, and I haven’t posted every single time because I felt awkward constantly saying, “Read about me! Read about my book!” And because I’ve been blogging on autopilot the past couple of weeks with family medical

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Storytime at the Red Balloon

Saturday morning, I spent storytime at The Red Balloon Bookshop, a wonderful indie children’s bookstore I don’t get to often enough because it’s across town. They invited me to do a storytime to help celebrate I Love to Read month. Here’s a 1:26 minute slideshow of what we did. The kids at storytimes are generally

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Thoughts

Fiction for Hire–Second Try Is the Charm

Almost a year ago, I posted about my first fiction for hire book, which ended up getting accepted by the editors but rejected by the set creators/reviewers (that only happens to about 2 in 100 books in this line, so it was kind of crushing). I decided to give it another try. I submitted a

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CLN’s Books for Breakfast and the Funny Things Children’s Writers Say

Saturday was the Children’s Literature Network’s annual Books for Breakfast event. It was a blast! Here’s a very brief slideshow to give you a taste of what it was like: pictures, laughter, door prizes, food, goody bags, a contest, authors, illustrators, and–most of all–books. Wonderful books! Twenty-five writers and artists had two minutes each to

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wholly to be a fool for Randy

My husband Randy and I have been married 24 years today, which is pretty hard for me to believe! I am not good at love poems to people (somehow it’s much easier to write a love poem to a cranberry bush or a snowman or a pencil), so I’m sharing this e.e. cummings poem instead.

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Getting Crafty With Promo Items (BookSpeak luggage tags)

I’ve blogged recently about promo items I’ve been creating through Vistaprint.com?(note: that is an affiliate link for me–please only use this link if I’m giving you helpful information!), and I thought I’d share how I made the luggage tags that I’ll be including in the swag bag for my table mates at the Children Literature

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Reviews–Do They Matter?

I hope so, because BookSpeak! is definitely getting more buzz than Stampede! did. But Stampede got some lovely posts online from wonderful poetry people, a nice review in Booklist, and was a Minnesota Book Award Finalist. And it didn’t matter, sales-wise. I’d pull out my royalty statements for proof, but they’re so tear-stained I probably

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