Here is the travel story I submitted to the Facebook group, We Love Memoirs' travel story contest. Alas, it didn't win, but I thought I'd share it here anyway. It was fun to put together. Also, our African safari in the fall of 2013 was amazing. As usual when I travel, my goal is to write a poem a day. A Travel Story in Poems Preparing to Go Even while I am on the elliptical reading my New Yorker I wonder: should I add more shirts? should I pick out some silver jewelry? do I need a pair of high heels? While my Pilates trainer says my form is excellent, I visualize the piles of shirts, pants, undies, jackets on the sofa, shoes scattered on the floor, and stuff bought especially for this Kenya and Tanzania trip: insect repellent, bite itch eraser, and a new camera with built in telescopic lens. Even while I do my last stretches I know I have more to do: put my toiletries in travel containers, get out my contact lens solutions, lay out my travel … [Read more...]
Writing work resolutions for 2015
I'm finally back to real work after a nice long new year's holiday rest. And it's about time. Of course I didn't stay exactly idle. I've thought long and hard about how to proceed with my writing life this year, and I've made a preliminary list. I'm sure I'll add more things in the weeks and months to come. Keep slugging away at my novel revisions. I'm about to start Chapter Six only Twenty-one chapters to go. In other words I'm on page forty-one of one hundred and seventy-nine single-spaces pages. It's going to be a long haul. Write blog pieces for Choices that are more about my writing work and writing advice for others. Write for other websites: Naturally Savvy, Aging Bodies, and Cate Russell-Cole's CommuniCATE Resources for Writers website. I feel so honored that she asked me help her out while she works on her own memoir. Write more poetry. In the last few months I've let my poetry writing go by the wayside in favor of working on my novel that's not good for my … [Read more...]
Poems and photos from Africa trip
While I've been awaiting comments on my novel from my beta readers I've been editing poems and gathering photos to illustrate the poems from our trip to Africa last summer. I know I have a long way to go, but I thought I'd try a few out on you. Your comments are most welcome. And I hope you enjoy the photos. Boni A young person greets us at the airport in a light blue and red two-piece dress and hair tied in long tight braids at the back of his neck. So many beads in primary colors adorn his head, neck, wrists, and fingers, at first I think he is a girl. He introduces himself as our guide Boni, as he drives us to the lodge. He will lead our game tours during our stay in Kenya's Samburu district, promising we'll see this area's big five: lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and lions. Boni's forte is tracking. As he drives he looks out the right side of our truck for footprints and fresh dung on the bumpy red dirt roads, clues to which animals we're … [Read more...]
