Jo Knowles's Blog, page 38

Yes I Can!

On Saturday I gave a workshop at the NESCBWI Encore 2010 Conference. It was a 3+ hour drive to Providence, RI, and I spent the entire drive feeling increasingly nervous and panicked. How big would the crowd be? Would they be willing to do the exercises I had planned? Would anyone dare to read? Would my voice shake? Would my neck get all blotchy? Would I lose my place? Would I SUCK???

By the time I arrived, I had worked myself up into a great big mess. My hands were shaking. BUT...

When I stepped inside, I realized something at once. John Bell was finishing up his talk and the audience was very comfortably asking him questions. While the crowd was on the large size (about 90 people), they were sitting at tables and casually asking questions, taking notes, sharing whispers to a neighbor who didn't quite hear that last bit. People were smiling, nodding their heads in agreement to what John was saying. Laughing. What did I realize?

It was SCBWI! My people!

Even though I was still really nervous, once I reminded myself that these people were me [and I am not saying that in a patronizing Christine O'Donnell sort of way, I mean we are all writers with similar dreams-alas, when I told that joke at the beginning of my talk, I'm not sure anyone got it because not everyone is a political news junkie like me], I no longer thought I was going to throw up. Yay! :-)

And, people DID share what they wrote for the writing prompts I gave. And what they wrote was beautiful. Powerful. Painful. The best feeling in the world is to stand up in front of a crowd, give them a prompt, and five minutes later know that in that room are 90 stories, 90 memories written on scraps of paper. Maybe to be forgotten, sure. But maybe maybe maybe to be discovered later. Enjoyed. And turned into something more.

After my talk, people actually came up to me and thanked me. And truly, that is the headiest, most rewarding thing about public speaking. It's what makes those panicked drives worth it. And also, it was a reminder to myself that I do have something to give. And it's pretty amazing to be able to share it.

Thanks for the opportunity, SCBWI!


NOTE: It's November first! jonowrimo ers, we have one month to go to reach our goals! Good luck, everyone!!!

NOTE ALSO: Don't forget to VOTE tomorrow! :-)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Write to the prompt, "In the deep, dark woods..."

Kidlit Kat Day with Jama!

Yay! Cat Day! Jama Rattigan celebrates on her blog with TONS of children's book authors and their adorable cats HERE! So much fun!!

To keep the party going, let's do a meme to thank Jama!

1. Post a photo of yourself with your cats on your blog (or just your cats, but we'd love to see you!)


I love you Fred and George, you sweet kitties. Even if you wake me up at 4:00am (or earlier) every morning, you are the best cats ever! xo

2. Link to Jama's post: http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com/478202.html

3. Give your kitties some love! :-)


Check out these great Cat Day posts (leave a link in the comments and I'll add yours):

• My good pal Kevin Slattery ( slatts ): http://slatts.livejournal.com/703723.html?style=mine#cutid1
• YA author Julia Karr ( juliakarr ): http://juliakarr.livejournal.com/143366.html
• YA author Sonia Gensler ( soniag ): http://soniag.livejournal.com/320959.html
• Inspirational blogger and writer Melodye Shore ( newport2newport ): http://newport2newport.livejournal.com/258607.html

~*~*~*~*~*~

In unrelated news, I will be giving a workshop at the Southern New England SCBWI Encore 2010 tomorrow. Are any of you going? Please let me know so we can be sure to say hey. :-)

Happy weekend!!!!

Coffee Break Tuesday!

I'm so excited that today I am the guest over at d_michiko_f 's blog! HERE IS THE LINK.

We talk about the long road to publication and how to keep faith.

Please stop by and say hello! Debbi makes a mean cup of coffee. :-)

Being Pam has its perks

I am feeling incredibly chatty and yet I don't actually have anything to say. What's up with you?

This weekend, Throwing Up Words posted their interview with me HERE.

My favorite quote:

"I met her last year in Philadelphia {not an easy word to spell!}. Laura, my sister, kept trying to sneak pictures of Jo to tell our friends back home that we'd met Pam from The Office."

So I thought I'd look again at pics and see what other people see. What do you think?



The bottom right photo is Pam, not me. Everyone thinks that's an old picture of me.

I have to say, I have been to several parties where people have come up to me just to note the resemblance, which is pretty funny. And one person came to a talk I was giving because she thought I really was PAM! She was a little disappointed. :-)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Monday Morning Warm-Up:

Write to the prompt, "You think you know me, but..."

Happy Friday!

Don't really have five things today, so I'll just wish you all a happy weekend.

:-)

Hoping it will get better

Since I am home all day and no one can see me, this is me today,
thinking of Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg,
Raymond Chase, Billy Lucas and all the other children we've lost.



I wish we could have made it better for these kids before it was too late.

I hope we can all work to make it get better for the young people out there who feel the pain of bullying every day.

It has to get better now, not someday.

LGBT youth in need of immediate help should contact The Trevor Project's 24/7 Lifeline at 866-4-U-TREVOR (866-488-7386) or The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To read some thought provoking comments on The Contemps blog yesterday, visit HERE and read the comment section. Lets keep this conversation going. Thanks.

That's so what?

Today I have a post up over at The Contemps site. It's "Hot Topic Tuesday" and we're talking about the phrase, "That's so gay." It would be really fantastic if you stopped over and weighed in. :-)

The post is HERE.

Thanks!

PEARL news, middle school, and inspiration

Happy Monday!

Well, I can try. :-)

One happy thing that happened over the weekend? PEARL is now up on AMAZON! . Obviously, I hope people who plan to buy it plan to buy from their local indie, but it's so exciting to see the book listed somewhere!

My son is home all week for fall break. Tomorrow, he's spending a shadow day at one of the middle schools he's applying to. I will be a wreck all day, I'm sure. Middle school. Really? I hope he has fun.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a ten-minute presentation on inspiration and feeling all angsty and nervous about it. However, I decided maybe I should write it as if I'm writing a blog entry on the topic, and that seems to be making the words come a tiny bit easier. Anyone else have tricks they want to share?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Monday Morning Warm-Up:

Describe your fondest middle school memory. (You have one, right? RIGHT??)

Lie if you have to

Recently, when talking to a friend about taking guitar lessons with my son, I had a sudden and horrific thought.

We aren't...


Are we??


Oh. No.

Thankful Thursday and a reminder :-)

Today,
I am thankful for,
in no particular order...





a fixed computer
access to e-mail again
tea with milk and sugar
a cat sleeping at my feet
the wood stove (grudgingly)
friends receiving happy news
finding a back-up lunch box for my son this a.m.
my child's ability to get himself mostly ready in the morning
bushels of apples waiting to be turned into cider
lists that look like a church
our fab jonowrimo community*
my fantastic book group
Scrivener (yes really)
new words waiting
love
hope
you

Thanks

*First official jonowrimo check-in TODAY! Head on over! :-)