Jeannine Atkins's Blog, page 46

Time You Let Me In: 25 Poets Under 25 selected by Naomi Shihab Nye

Since none of the names of the young poets in this book were familiar to me, I started reading here and there before going to the beginning and working my way through. Unlike most anthologies of verse by or for the young, every poem was written in free verse. I like free verse, but initially I thought this lack of variety might not be the best way to invite in a wide readership. I changed my mind when reading, though. There are enough variations in the outlooks that having generally colloquia...

Does hard-to-write mean good-to-read?

I've been complaining about doing some hard slow writing. And friends have been raising their hands saying that they've been covertly whining, too. How I love company! Though I wish us all happier days.

I've led or taken part in some writing workshops in which people have read brilliant first drafts,
as if words had been waiting all along. But I'm not that kind of writer. Wrestling has always been involved.

Every time I'm told, or tell myself, go back for another round, I cringe and moan and s...

Faith and Writing Through the Rough Parts

Recently my husband was shocked when I used the adjective brutal to describe my writing day. Hey, a huge amount of cutting has been involved. And this was doing away with pretty good words. Just not, unfortunately, words I can use in my revision. Deleting good words isn't fun.

So I wrote a whining blog, thinking, you know, whining is part of the process. But that got cut, too, you'll probably be glad to hear. I'm sequestering myself for part of each day, though the dogs seem immune to the dar...

Nature Gives us Metaphors

I read Edith Wharton's guide, The Writing of Fiction, many years ago, and one of the few but lovely things I remember is her comparison of parts of a novel to a wave. She wrote, more eloquently, that exposition should be most of the wave with dialogue as its curling, dramatic peak. This worked in her fiction, though I might not choose the same balance. I'm not even sure she did, but her point was that dialogue gives the power, and perhaps should be used more sparingly than we might first thin...

Morning.

My husband and I are drinking tea on the screened porch at eight a.m. He's downloading photos, some he just took, so there's a click-click accompanying birdsong. The dogs are sleeping. I'm working on a difficult revision, trying to match my patience to that of the morning. Everything is all right.



Everything is good. Just let the world keep waking up.

What I'm Reading: Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan

In the author's note at the end of this short novel for readers about age 8 to 12, Patricia MacLachlan, author of many beautiful novels and picture books, says that she was asked to write a book about writing. Rather than creating some sort of how-to manual, she chose to write this novel about four fourth graders and a poet who visits their class. Patricia MacLachlan notes that she and Ms. Mirabel have things in common. Both carry bags of dirt to remind them of the land they came from. Both h...

Rap, Rhyme, and … Accepting a Quiet Voice

A friend recently sent an email wondering if, since someone who'd agreed to lead some library programs could no longer do so, I'd step in to lead two poetry workshops at a nearby library. I agreed if the dates worked out, then heard from the person in charge that the workshop for teens was called Rap, Rhyme, and Writing.

This isn't exactly my area, I replied, but was informed they hoped to bring new kids to the library, i.e. teen boys, I expect. I wanted to be helpful, but when I told my daugh...

Blossoms Fall

I suppose it's the generally cool spring that brought lots of blossoms to the dogwood tree outside our kitchen, but eventually the blooms must fall. Sometimes we've witnessed the lovely flutter down, and Peter took this picture of the lawn.



I'm heading into a summer of revision, and lots of words are already leaving a tree I thought was pretty gorgeous. The flutter of lost words is not much fun to watch. I've been bemoaning the holes in my well-tended manuscript. But yesterday I felt some flic...

Dressing up and History

Here's a picture of my daughter and a friend dressed for a trip to Sturbridge Village, which replicates a nineteenth century New England town. Emily and Geneva were a little older than they'd been when they formed the Laura Ingalls Wilder Fan Club. They drew posters for the walls: Ma rocks! Laura rules! On another wall were pictures of the Spice Girls.




Writing about by-gone days has a lot in common with playing dress-up. We try on another's clothes, lean into history, then step out, step in, ...

Nonfiction Monday: Emma's Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty

Emma's Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty by Linda Glaser with paintings by Claire A. Nivola, whose work I most recently loved in Planting the Trees of Kenya, offers a fascinating introduction to a way to write poetry, and in particular, to the genesis of "The New Colossus" which is engraved on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty. The cover of the slightly taller-than-usual book shows a diverse group of people being welcomed by the statue, and the text suggests how this poem ...