Writing Conference: Making It in Tough & Changing Times

Fellow writers, let me spread the good word! On Saturday, January 28th,  a practical, affordable one-day conference is being held at Tabor Space and promises to cover "everything from creating potent sentences and writing irresistible query letters, to writing killer openers and making it as a writer in a media-saturated world."

Emily Whitman, author 

I'm attending because Emily Whitman is on the faculty. She's written two of my current favorite YA novels: Radiant Darkness and Wildwing, and I know from experience that she's a gifted teacher of the craft of writing. 

Here's a blurb from Jessica Morrell's fantastic  craft-oriented website, with info links to all of the faculty: 

Making It in Tough & Changing Times Mini Writing Conference

 January 28th

Times: 8:30-5:30

Location: Tabor Space, 5441 S.E. Belmont, Portland, OR

Christina Katz, author

Keynote by Christina Katz The Prosperous Writer:Tips For Navigating The Gig Economy

Workshops: One Strong Sentence After Another,Monica Drake; Killer Openers, Jessica Morrell; Anatomy of a Scene, Jessica Morrell; Paring it Down to the Truth, Emily Whitman; What Editors Want,  Hawthorne Books editor Adam O’Connor Rodriguez.

Panel/Q & A: Risk It To Get Published with Christina Katz, Jessica Morrell, and Adam O’Connor Rodriguez

Cost: $99 includes continental breakfast and lunch

 ALSO: A scholarship and half price scholarship are available. Please

contact me with details about your circumstances.

To register: Contact Jessica Morrell at jessicapage (at) spiritone(dot)com

Space is limited so early registration is recommended.

Payments can be made by check or through Paypal.

Mailing address is: Jessica Morrell, P.O. Box 820141, Portland, OR 97282-1141

Jessica asks for our help spreading the word, so please pass this around. Thanks!

Enjoy It While It Lasts

My son's class took a field trip last week. Not to the zoo, pumpkin patch, apple u-pick farm, or famous waterfall. To a park, just a short walk away. I joined in the fun, because autumn field trips happen quickly. Blink and you'll miss the sign-up list, and before you know it, it's winter and the only field trips offered are trips to the insides of places. Like museums, or puppet theaters. Which are all fine, don't get me wrong, but they're not out of doors.

We had a picnic. Some kids opted to roll down hills afterwards. I skipped out on that, preferring to keep my lunch down, but I loved watching them race around and hide in the rhododendrons.

After identifying five kinds of trees in the park, the real fun began. They scavenged for interesting leaves and fallen petals that pleased them. Then they got creative.

Just boys futzing around with leaves, right? Well, not really...

A pineconed, petaled offering.

Have you ever heard of Andy Goldsworthy? Have you ever seen his site-specific nature art? These kids have. Their teachers told them to use what was around them to create something beautiful, using no tools but their hands, heads and hearts. The results? Art installation on an autumn hillside in a city park, for passersby to enjoy.

A bed for a wood sprite.

Treasure it now. It is here and now.

Harlequin berry delight.

It is conceived of and crafted by our children.

Kids put bits of themselves in everything they make and do.

This is what they see in the leaves and the grass around us. Do you see their offerings?

 It will all blow away soon, and winter will come.

Enjoy it while it lasts. Find your own leaves. Make art to share. But be sure and look around for it. Blink and you'll miss it. The winds are coming.

Little Jewels and Patterns

I'm back from KidlitCon 2011, but I must have left my brain there, because it is still very much engaged in writerly/ readerly thoughts. I attended KidlitCon with Emily Whitman and Nora Coon in order to spend time with them and my newfound kid lit community, but also with the hope that I could pick up ideas for how to use my blog to full effect. What should I write about? What can I share that will benefit others in the kidlitosphere? How much of myself should I reveal?  I've been poring over my notes, going over choice bits, and making discoveries along the way.

Here's a thought that's particularly resonating with me today:

Little jewels.

The lovely and uber-creative Richard Jesse Watson talked about how blogs can offer 'little jewels' to those who read them.  His posts are little jewels to me. Short, concise gifts that spur me on to my own creative thoughts and pursuits. And I know I'm not alone in accepting these gifts, because Mary Bradley branched out and wrote an inspired poem about hope after seeing this painting of Richard's:

Poet Tree by Richard Jesse Watson

Now, I am on my own peculiar length of my creative journey. This stretch of the road seems newer than and perhaps different from Richard's, but here's where it's similar: when my eyes and mind are wide open, I can spot the little jewels. Here is one gem that I noticed today which I will share with you, and it is one word: patterns. 

Here are some patterns my daughter chose to wear to school:

So many flowers!

My grandmother, whom I adored and whose taste was impeccable, would have steered her away from this combination. These colors "clash" and the patterns together would be too "loud" and "dissonant". Social patterns concerned my grandmother, and she wouldn't want my daughter "sticking out". 

We are all entitled to our opinions, so here's mine: I love my daughter's sense of beauty. She loves flowers. She loves patterned fabrics. Why not wear as many as possible together at the same time?

Indonesian batik from Ashitaba

Now, my daughter has never lived in Southeast Asia, but I have, and one thing I know is that the ideas of what matches and what is mismatched are generally learned ones, based on social norms. As a kid, I loved the combinations women would wear on the streets of Singapore. Bright floral shirts with intensely patterned, Escher-like batik sarongs. In my 12 year-old mind, I loved how these women were breaking all the dress code rules I had grown up with. Now, I realize that they were breaking no rules of their own. In fact, they may have been abiding by many of their own strict cultural dress codes- their own social patterns- which had never been imposed upon me. Regardless, I still love the bold combinations of colors, textures and fabrics.

I'm delighted that my daughter sees beauty in these patterns combined, and that she didn't even need to be exposed to styles halfway across the world to decide that this was acceptable. It makes me wonder about all the things she looks at all day. I imagine that she sees beauty in many places where I have steadily trained myself not to look. With that in mind, I've decided to let my daughter dress me and am heading out the door now with eyes wide open to seek more little jewels.

I cannot take credit for this winning combination.

You can't miss me.