My new poetry chapbook, called Moving On, published on January 30, 2021, arrived in my mail box this week. Here it is: It's kind of cool how this book came about. I wasn't looking for a publisher. In fact that was the last thing on my mind while my husband was so ill and since his death. Instead the publisher - Cyberwit.net - from India - sought me out. He had read one of my poems in a Story Circle Network journal in the True Words section and offered to publish sixty to seventy of my poems in a chapbook. How could I turn that down? Because of what was happening in my life I took longer that he wanted to get the poems together, edit them, and send them off, but finally I did it. I love this description of Moving On: "The poems are full of lyrical force and show freshness of style. No doubt, this is a significant work. The poems have great power of observation and originality of imagination." Here's a little sneak peek: Buddha “The dead we can imagine to be … [Read more...]
Three new published poems!
I'm very proud to let you know I have three poems in this new anthology that just came out from the Story Circle Network. Living on COVID Time: Sharing Stories, Sharing Lives in Prose and Poetry from Story Circle Network (Real Women Write) Paperback - January 3, 2021 by Story Circle Network(Author), Susan F. Schoch(Editor), Brooke Warner(Foreword) As its Amazon page says: Real Women Write: Living on COVID Time is Volume 19 of this annual anthology of prose and poetry by members of Story Circle Network, an organization supporting women writers and asserting the importance of women’s stories. But it is a volume unlike any other. The 52 authors of the 80 pieces in this collection were writing in response to an unprecedented global pandemic. The virus spread through a year filled with many other profound challenges and changes, while these women were writing about their lives, engaging with experiences and emotions that were uniquely their own. These selections capture … [Read more...]
Keep writing and keep submitting
This has been a good couple of months for my poem submissions. Story Circle Network accepted my poem, "Reaching for a Star," to include in its 2018 anthology, Real Women Write: Sharing Our Stories, Sharing Our Lives to be published in January; three of my poems – "Stop and Go," "The Lesson," and "Underarm Dingle-Dangle" will appear in the Poetry Salon anthology to also be published in January, and Story Circle Network’s True Words section in its December journal accepted my poem, "The Wishing Dream," to be published this month. The main lesson is – keep submitting your writing. That’s the only way to make sure your words get out there and get noticed. I won’t publish any poems here that haven’t been published elsewhere before, but since the Poetry Salon asked for previously published work (highly unusual), I can share a couple of those. I wrote Stop and Go while at Esalen at Big Sur, California a couple of years ago and edited it extensively while in a Poetry Salon … [Read more...]
Got poem?
It's been a while since I've shared some of my poetry with you. The following pieces have been published in the Story Circle Network's True Words section of their quarterly journal. I've had a wonderful response to my poems from Story Circle, certainly motivating me to keep submitting. And, as I've said before, I'll only post poems here that have been already published so as not to lose an opportunity to get any unpublished ones accepted. So many contests and journals won't accept poems if they have been published elsewhere - even on a personal blog like this. I hope you enjoy these four: Nadia We sat across the table covered with a crisp white cloth. Her face glowed in the light, her radiant smile punctuated by deep, long dimples in each cheek. Simply dressed in black slacks and a white sweater she looked comfortable in her own skin. She spoke confidently in English. And, when speaking her native Italian, she spoke slowly so we could understand her words. At … [Read more...]
Leaving an island paradise
Blog Editor, Linda Hoye, recently asked Story Circle Network's One Woman's Day contributors to consider a place they hold dear and to write about a special day they spent there or, perhaps the day they left. I accepted the challenge and wrote about the bittersweet leaving of our family's home in the South Pacific. Here's my story, recently published in the Story Circle Network's March Journal: Leaving An Island Paradise From January 1977 to September 1978 I lived with my family on an island in the South Pacific Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. The island is a military base, and my husband Bob managed a military-funded program there. We had a slow and easy life on the island, filled with all kinds of beach and water activities. When we arrived our sons Paul was five and Ben was two and a half. When we left Paul was seven and Ben four. Ben was glad to leave; Paul could have stayed forever. However, when we first stepped off the plane (a military carrier with no … [Read more...]
Tips for leading a conference workshop
Since I participated at the Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference as both a workshop leader and panelist the end of June, it's time to share a post I wrote for The Memoir Network's Writers Blog in early May on this subject. I very much thank The Memoir Network's founder Denis Ledoux for inviting me to write for his great memoir website. Here's the post verbatim: Promoting yourself as a writer Participating in writing conferences, either as a panelist, lecturer, or as a workshop leader is a great way to get your name and book out in public and to network with other writers like you Being a presenter comes with tasks, but the challenge is not impossible. I'd like to offer you some guidelines to help you be as successful as you can be to: Respond to a presenters' request for proposal, Adhere to a list of conference presenter's guidelines, and Develop a workshop that keeps the promises you proposed in the specified allotted time. I recently co-led a workshop at the Story … [Read more...]
Introducing Denis Ledoux of The Memoir Network
I'm so pleased that Denis Ledoux, founder and president of The Memoir Network, found me. I am now a subscriber to his newsletter and a huge proponent on his thoughts about writing as a way to heal. I am definitely going to mention his guest blog post tomorrow when Eleanor Vincent and I lead a workshop called Telling Healing Stories at the Story Circle Network's writers conference. His network is also on the list of resources we'll give our participants. If you don't know Denis and The Memoir Network, I feel honored to introduce him to you now. Writing Painful Memories: Three Tips To Make It Easier by Denis Ledoux Memoir writing is a generally pleasant experience and, by its very nature, promotes healing and growth. But, there are times in writing when pain arises spontaneously and surprises us or times when we know the experience will be painful even before we start. What to do? Sooner or later, pain seems to come with memoir writing. Sometimes we can handle this pain easily … [Read more...]
Memorializing Paul’s Tree
I spent some time today taking photos of the tree we've had in our front yard for the last thirteen plus years. We have come to call it Paul's tree because we had it planted on the first year anniversary of Paul's death. I've mentioned it here in the past after a particularly bad trimming job (see December 5, 2010, June 30, 2012, and July 22, 2012). Unfortunately, I won't have to complain about that anymore. Next week our gardeners are going to remove it completely, and we'll replace it with a much smaller and less invasive substitute. I'm also memorialized it in a poem just published in True Words from Real Women: An Anthology of Life Writing by the Women of the Story Circle Network (November 2013). Paul's Tree It has to be a climbing tree, I say to replace the one he used to climb as a boy, to remind me of him sitting in the wide Vee of the upper branches smiling and proud of his climbing success. I settle on a small … [Read more...]
My writing life is heating up
Here's what's going on. This week I learned that one of my poems was accepted to appear in the Story Circle Network's 2103 Anthology, and that the proposal Eleanor Vincent and I wrote to present a workshop at SCN's 2014 conference was accepted. Our workshop is called Telling Healing Stories: Writing a Compelling Memoir. Added to the excitement is that the conference takes place in Austin Texas next April 11 through 13. I've always wanted to travel there, so here's my chance. I also began attending a weekly poetry workshop recommended by my writing friend, Chanel Brenner (see her guest post here). My first assignment was to bring in six copies of my portal poem which means that I read the first version of it at the first meeting and then I am required to rewrite and share the rewrites at each of our next five meetings. This poem had to be a first draft and one that makes me cringe when I read it. So I picked one I wrote at Esalen last summer that really got slammed by one of … [Read more...]
I’m inundated with writing information
I get posts from the sites listed below either daily or weekly. They take over my email stream. And if I read each and every one of them every day, I wouldn't have time for anything else including what I'm sitting down to do WRITE! Mind you, this list doesn't include posts from blogs I regularly follow, a daily poem, and other various emails from the Writer's Market, Amazon, Powell's Books, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter the list goes on and on. So what do you think? Which ones should I continue getting? Which ones should I toss? Also, are there any that I'm missing? I'd love to hear from you. Storyfix is about getting real with your writing dream. About writing the kinds of stories that attract a readership through an understanding of craft and harnessing the power of the underlying principles that make it so. If you want to publish your work, if you want a career as a writer, then you've come to the right place. ~ Larry Brooks Copyblogger has been teaching … [Read more...]
A new published poem plus
I'm pleased that the Story Circle Journal has published my new poem, Writing My Truths in response to their submission topic Silence. I certainly recommend my women writer friends to look into joining the Story Circle Network: for women with stories to tell. This group has been very supportive of my work. Here's a little description from its website: The Story Circle Network is an international not-for-profit membership organization made up of women who want to document their lives and explore their personal stories through journaling, memoir, autobiography, personal essays, poetry, drama, and mixed-media. Writing My Truths I have a new room. I write in there alone. I sit at my draftsman table, looking out the bay window to the garden. I see the trunks of the three palm trees, the small cement pond, and the ferns swinging their leaves behind it. Sometimes a bird comes by for a drink, surfing along the top of the pool. Yet, I don't open the window to … [Read more...]
Exciting news
I am so excited that the editors at the Story Circle Network have chosen my memoir as one its November picks. I joined the Story Circle Network last month, and I'm already reaping its benefits. Here is a short description of its mission, which is right up my alley: The Story Circle Network, offering classes, workshops, story circles, reading circles, retreats, and conferences, is an international not-for-profit membership organization made up of women who want to document their lives and explore their personal stories through journaling, memoir, autobiography, personal essays, poetry, drama, and mixed-media. And here is how to get more information: To learn more about who we are, go here. To learn about our many ongoing activities, subscribe to our free email newsletter. For more information, see our FAQ or contact us via email: storycircle at storycircle.org or phone: 512-454-9833 or write to: Story Circle Network, P.O. Box 500127, Austin TX … [Read more...]
