Jo Knowles's Blog, page 44

Go Libba Go! :-)

In which Libba is more than a rock star.

A very thankful Thursday <3

Today for Thankful Thursday, I just want to say, thanks to everyone for being such supportive friends. I'm sorry I didn't reply to each comment on my last post, but they were all very much appreciated. I'm also sorry to have been mainly absent from online life this week, but sometimes it's important to step back and just be quiet for a while.

In other news...

I've been attending cfaughnan 's writing camp this week and having a really nice time. There are several new writers this year and it's be...

My friend Kevin Forrest

When my family got home from vacation on Saturday, we realized there was no food in the house, so we drove down to our local grocery store. As we were walking out of the store, I glanced down at the stacks of newspapers along the wall and noticed a headline with my friend's name on it. My friend had died.

I met Kevin about six years ago when I started working on what would become The Glass House Project. He was the editor of the Vermont Standard at the time, and agreed to give the inmates I w...

Somewhere, over the...

Last night, as we were sitting on the porch at the house we're renting in Maine, a huge rain cloud began to pass over the house. On one end of the porch it was sunny. On the other, rainy. My sister said, "We better keep an eye out for a rainbow."



There were two! (Not sure you can see them both in this image or not. But there were two, full rainbows arcing over the ocean.)



The colors were so vibrant. We all just stood in wonder.

Today is our last day at the beach and it looks like a bright, suns...

Maine's gifts

Yesterday we all met up at a house in Maine. Every year my family rents a place on the water in the sweet town of Ocean Park. This morning, the kids were up with the sun and as I write this at 7a.m., they are already out on the beach with my brother-in-law.

I wish I had a photo of what I can see as I type this from the couch on the porch, but my Mac camera can't quite seem to work it out with the sun shining in our faces. Anyway, I see sand. I see beach grass, and beautiful wave after wave rol...

The Year of Being Brave continues

There are lots of fun things I say I'm going to do.

Usually I don't do them.

I'm good at making excuses. No time. Too much money. Too complicated. Blah blah blah.

But that doesn't stop me from dreaming of doing them anyway.

This year, one of those things was declared during an evening of merriment with good friends. "I'm going to learn how to play the guitar!" I said. And my son said, "Me too!"

But the next day I thought, yeah, I probably won't.

And months went by.

Then, a new friend of E's told us...

Maine is for being

On Friday afternoon my son and my good friend cfaughnan and I drove to Poland Maine for the annual "Schmooze" hosted by tamra_wight . Each spring, Tam invites a group of women who've been meeting together for several years for a weekend of writing, sharing, and enjoying her peaceful campground.

The ladies were nice enough to welcome my son to the group since my husband had to work for the weekend. The campground is so incredibly kid-friendly, my son has the time of his life and pretends not to ...

Friday revisions

Cold and rainy here as I prepare for a weekend in Maine for a writers' retreat.

I made a flourless chocolate cake, but with the wrong kind of chocolate (unsweetened instead of bittersweet), so I'm scrambling to make a raspberry sauce to help it along, and maybe some whipped cream, too.

I wrote a new first chapter to read to the group, but the words feel wrong on my tongue, so I'm still making changes changes changes before I print it out to share.

I packed summer clothes, with visions of kayaki...

Thankful Thursday Part 2 :-)

I just learned that the new issue of HUNGER MOUNTAIN, the Vermont College of Fine Arts Journal of the Arts, just went live.

I have a "feature" article (that sounds so fancy!) in this issue. It's called, "Helping Inmates Find Their Truth: Using Writing Prompts to Explore Personal Journeys." There is a place for comments at the end if you read the article and have questions or just want to comment. :-)

Many of you followed me on that 5-year journey right here, and I appreciate all the support an...

The real Thankful Thursday

I don't get a lot of mail from readers, but yesterday I received this wonderful thank you note from some of the teens at Charlton Public Library.





And then this morning I got a very sweet e-mail that began this way:

Dear Jo, no wait, that's too casual, Dear Mrs. Knowles, wait are you married? Nevermind, Dear Jo Knowles ((ill stick with that))

I just finished your book "Lessons From A Dead Girl" 2 minutes ago. I'm not going to rant because I'm sure you have better things to do than read sappy...