Rocket Man (2014)

Okay, not the Elton John version (although the song appears in the book:) It’s the title of my middle grade novel due out in April from Red Deer Press. The working title was “A Superhero Named Blob,” which became less suitable as we worked through the editing.

I think this is the final cover; my favourite part is the stylized rocket shooting for the moon.

 

I’ve had some other exciting writing news lately. Later this year, I’ll be dedicating three months to working on my Lunenburg/Montbeliard novel thanks to a creation grant – thank you Arts Nova Scotia ! Also, the Ontario Library Association (OLA) recently included The Power of Harmony on their Best Bets 2013 list, as one of the ten best junior novels last year; it’s also a Hackmatack (readers’ choice award) Book for 2014/15, which I hope will involve more interaction with young readers.

So, that’s all good. Now, if Winter would only get the message that it’s been replaced by Spring – yet another snowstorm is due to attack us on Wednesday; I wish you a host of Wordsworth’s daffodils, ASAP:)

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;

A poet could not be but gay,

In such a jocund company!

I gazed-and gazed-but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.