Irene Latham's Blog, page 177

EXPLODE THE MOMENT

What to say about Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference?

It's tough because I still feel overwhelmed by everthing I learned. And the people were great! Session leaders Joan and Ellen, all the fabulous poets from all corners of the country... and the editors. Awesome!!

I was amazed at the way Tupelo Press editor Jeffery Levine was able to see my heart in my poetry -- he randomly chose three poems out of my manuscript to read aloud, and after he'd read all three, he said they all ended with a...

ME AND THE GOVERNOR

Still no "official" photo from the Governor's people, but, before you've completely lost interest, I wanted to go ahead and share the ones from my camera.

Here's me and Ginger Rue.
Not only is Ginger an amazing author and speaker, she's also a member of Black Belt Action Commission. Love her AND her books! And she totally saved me... I didn't know I was going to have to speak at the event, and she was like the most awesome publicist ever: gave me some key points, and I ran with them. Plus...

CLIMBING THE CITADEL

Have I mentioned before that my youngest son pretty much HATES to read? Yep. It's enough to break a book-loving mama's heart.

But. He LOVES to be read to. So I still read to him. Every night. And I have to tell you about his most favorite book from our summer reading: BANNER IN THE SKY.

Now I should say right up front that our actual mountain climbing experience is limited to a climbing wall at the mall AND this one time my rock climber brother took us to the Palisades near Oneonta, Alab...

MAKING ART IS CHANCY

Okay. How many of you out there have ever put down your pencil, closed your computer and said, "That's it. I'm done." ??

Well, guess what?

IT'S JUST PART OF THE PROCESS.

Again, from ART & FEAR by David Bayles and Ted Orland

"Fear that your next work will fail is a normal, recurring and generally healthy part of the artmaking cycle… In the normal artistic cycle this just tells you that you've come full circle, back to that point where you need to begin cultivating the next new idea."

So. IT'S O...

AUDIENCE COMES LATER.

So I've been revising my work in progress. To help me along, I picked up a few new books. For the next few weeks, I'd like to share some of the words that have spoken to me.

First, from a book called ART & FEAR by David Bayles & Ted Orland.

"Fears about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about your reception by others. In a general way, fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doin...

KATHRYN ERSKINE VISIT

We had so much fun with Kathy and daughter Fiona while they were in Birmingham! We took them to Yogurt Mountain and Vulcan, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and John's City Diner. And we got to see lots of writer-friends and others at Kathy's signing at Little Professor: Joan Broerman, Jo Kittinger and Kerry Madden.

It was especially great to see again some of the mothers and daughters from the book club! Next I dashed off for Girl's Night at Flip Burger Boutique. LOVE those ladies! And...

ON QUILTS AND BOOKS AND THE END OF SUMMER

Isn't it awesome to be around creative folks? I mean, it really gets the brain cells moving. Which is why I am absolutely itching to write/quilt/anything after the quilt show at South Fulton Arts Center in Atlanta. Not only did I meet a bunch of great Atlanta-area authors, but I also got to enjoy the quilts on display. Big thanks to Clara Ford Foundation for inviting me to be part of the festivities!

Here I am with O.V., Merva, Michelle and Myra! Thanks, y'all, for making me feel so...

LUDELPHIA AND THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

When my dear friend Susan said, "read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," I thought, really?

Yes, it's a phenomenon at this point, and seems like everyone is reading or has read it. But it's not really my genre of choice.

Then Susan said this: "No matter what happens to the girl in the story, she's not a victim."

And I thought, hmmmmm...

So I'm reading. And Susan's absolutely right.

Then yesterday, an acquaintance who has read LEAVING GEE'S BEND said how much Ludelphia has in common with The Girl ...

POETRY FRIDAY GIVEAWAY!

Happy Poetry Friday!! I lovelovelove to host this roundup -- please see below for what incredibles ye ole internet has to offer us today. Then add your own!

To make things even more fun, leave a comment by midnight, Sunday, Aug. 1st to win one of these two really awesome poetry books. I've read both of these more than once. And come on, in this day and age, that's saying something!! Even if you don't win, DON'T MISS THESE BOOKS. They're awesome.

by Jame Richards


by Jeannine Atkins

THE HEART OF ART

Sarah Frances over at PLOT THIS just wrote a fabulous post about how art is art, no matter what the medium.

Sarah Frances is pretty darn fabulous herself, and she's on vacation, where she watched some dancers. SF is also contracted for her first picture book as author AND illustrator (Viking!). So she's pretty much an expert in this subject.

I, too, have been known to dabble in all sorts of art forms -- not just writing. And the other night (a few weeks ago actually. Maybe even a month.) --...