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I’ve Been Keeping a Secret, But It’s Out Now….

March 9, 2012 by

Last year, a poet I interviewed for 32 Poems, H.L. Hix, asked if I would contribute to his blog about objects that are made priceless by how and why they are received/given for his blog project at IN QUIRE.  He published my little “object lesson” in 2011.  I know that some of you may have read it already, but the secret I’ve kept is that H.L. Hix had told me that he had hoped to create a book out of these lessons.  I wasn’t hopeful because it includes something I wrote, and I thought who the heck would want to read that.  But now, I’m coming clean.  The secret and the book are out!

Something I wrote in tribute to my nana (Aune Mullen — 1915-1998) has been published in a book, Made Priceless: A Few Things Money Can’t Buy.

I hope that you will buy this book to support not only this blog and my writing, but also the charities to which H.L. Hix will contribute.

I cannot begin to tell you what this publication means to me and how I feel it honors nana’s memory.  It is more than I could have ever dreamed of or asked for in my lifetime.  I’m glad that it has arrived in my home.  I hope to buy a few copies for my parents and aunts.  I urge you all to do the same because not only is this book important to me and the memories I’ve shared, but to all the other contributors.

Thanks to all of you who continue to support the blog, my writing, and everything I try to accomplish here.

***Updated at 11:40 AM***

If you want a signed copy, you can send a payment to my paypal account savvyverseandwit AT gmail DOT com and I can send you one.

I can get a discount as a contributor from the publisher, so it would $17 with shipping for those of you who are interested!

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With: , , ,

Seuss and More

March 2, 2012 by

I’ve dropped all reading today

because today is Dr. Seuss’ birthday

or so they tell me

those bloggers I see.

Let’s celebrate

his wit and fate

to entertain children and adults

with whimsical words to exult.

He’ll be 108

isn’t that great.

Come share your rhymes

on Twitter; we’ll have good times.

Hashtag #SeussDay

Come and Play.

For the LOVE of Seuss

In all Seussiness, please join us and share your Seussian memories, favorite books, favorite rhymes, politics, and more today.  I’ll tell you that my love of poetry started with Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, which he didn’t have published until 1958!  If you have no idea why Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) is so fun, you should check out Seussville where you can learn about the author, his life, his politics, and just have fun creating your own Whoville character!

In a twist on Necromancy Never Pays‘ weekly trivia game, I’ve crafted a set of Seussian lines for you to check out and tell me which book they came from.  A Seussian prize will be given to the winner who will be drawn at random from those who get all the answers right.

1.  “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It’s not.”

2.  “They kept paying money.  They kept running through until neither the Plain not the Star-Bellies knew whether this one was that one . . . or that one was this one or which one was what one . . . or what one was who.”

3.  “‘I will not let you fall.  I will hold you up high as I stand on a ball.  With a book on one hand! And a cup on my hat!  But that is not ALL I can do!'”

4.  “I hate this game, sir.  This game makes my tongue quite lame, sir.”

5.  “I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.  You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch.  And your gang will fly on.”

My daughter’s room is homage to Seuss in his books, his famous quotes, his color palette, and his characters.  I wanted her to be secure in her imagination, and I think that room will help her see that imagination can be

instrumental in success and happiness.  What I always loved about Seuss — besides his poetic rhymes — was the limitlessness of his imagination in the worlds and characters he created.  Worlds I just wanted to jump into and lose

myself in as a kid.  He showed me that life was full of possibilities as long as I was willing to grab onto opportunity or create it where there was none.

For some fun with kids older than mine, you should check out the Seuss crafts on CoffeeCupandCrayons (Mulberry Street, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Oobleck)!

***Also today, I wanted to let everyone know that the judging process is still going for the Indie Lit Awards, and that the winners will be announced this month.***

Filed Under: announcements, Events, giveaway, Indie Lit Awards Tagged With: ,

LGBT Poetry

February 28, 2012 by

Today’s monthly poetry event is sponsored by Kelly at The Written World, so go over there and link up your poetry post for February!

After reading and reviewing Resilience edited by Eric Nguyen last week, I started thinking about all the poetry I’ve read and how universal it is.  I really pay little to no attention to what poets are LGBT and which poets are not.  Most of us know that Walt Whitman was gay, as was Oscar Wilde.  But what other classic and contemporary poets are/were LGBT? And could you tell by reading their poetry or were the verse more cryptic about it or more universal in scope?

While I am curious about how many published LGBT poets there are in contemporary society compared to those from the past, I’m more interested in whether we should bother categorizing our artists in this way.  Do we really need to know the sexual orientation of our poets in order to enjoy their art form?  Does it affect how we see their work and whether or not we enjoy it?  And does their poetry have to focus on the struggles of their oppressed minority or can it be broader in focus?

Just some food for thought.  I’d like to hear what everyone has to say.

For now, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite poems from Resilience edited by Eric Nguyen:

The Straight Boys Kiss by Rene Cardona

so they sit
and stare into the air
the secrets texted
make them nervous
more each second
so they lean in--
the smiles stop,
and stares shoot
like evening stars
to the lips of the one across.

For those in NYC:

On March 17 at 3-5PM, an Open Mic night will be held for contributors to the collection at WordUP Books.

For more information about the Resilience project, visit the blog.

I hope you’ll consider joining the 2012 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge.

For those in the challenge who already have reviewed poetry volumes in February, please put your full links in the Mr. Linky below:

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Bess Crawford Read-a-Long with Book Club Girl

February 26, 2012 by

Sometimes kismet happens and another event in the blogosphere happens to coincide with the war we’re covering here at War Through the Generations. In this case, a WWI-related mystery series written by Charles Todd — a mother-son writing team — is having a read-a-long at Book Club Girl. The series is those starring Bess Crawford.

If you’re interested in joining, here are some of the details:

The “Book Time with Bess Read Along” kicks off now and runs through the publication of the newest book in the series, An Unmarked Grave in June 2012.

As an added bonus to get you started, the e-book of A Duty to the Dead is just $1.99 for a limited time, so order up today and get reading!

The read-along officially kicks off today (but don’t worry, our first discussion won’t take place until March 26th) and it runs through the publication of the paperback of the most recent Bess Crawford novel, A Bitter Truth (on sale 5/1), as well as the new Bess Crawford hardcover, An Unmarked Grave (on sale 6/5). We’ll end the read-along in June with a Book Club Girl on Air Show with the Charles Todd writing team to discuss all the books in the series.

Here’s the schedule of when I’ll post questions about each book for us to discuss:

March 26th – A Duty to the Dead discussion
April 30th – An Impartial Witness discussion
May 1st – A Bitter Truth paperback goes on sale
May 29th – A Bitter Truth discussion (May 28th is Memorial Day)
June 5th – An Unmarked Grave – the new hardcover goes on sale
June 25th – An Unmarked Grave discussion
June 28th – Book Club Girl on Air Show with Charles Todd to Discuss the Entire Series

Look for updates along the way here, on Twitter (#besscrawford), and on the Book Club Girl and Charles Todd Facebook pages.

Please check out the rest of the details and sign up here.

Filed Under: announcements, challenges, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Reading with Sarah McCoy, Author of The Baker’s Daughter, at Novel Places

February 22, 2012 by

The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy was published in January 2012 and already has received a number of praising reviews and even one blogger, Anna of Diary of an Eccentric, says that the book will be on her best of 2012 list.  With all of this praise, I’m looking forward to my TLC Book Tour stop in March, but I also wanted to see the author in person.  Who is this woman who has generated so much buzz in the blogosphere with her sophomore book?  (Her first book for those interested was The Time it Snowed in Puerto Rico)  Lucky for me, Novel Places in Clarksburg, Md., was hosting a reading with this author and I could make it with some finagling by me to have the hubby watch “Wiggles.”

I’ve loved the few readings I’ve been to at Novel Places because the store is cozy and the readings are intimate — more like a conversation with a book club and author than a formal reading.  People arrived early to get copies of the book and chat with the author before 7 p.m., and I just sat and listened.  What I learned from the event was that most authors have the same type of personality in that they love listening to their characters in their heads and garnering inspiration from the people and things around them.

The Baker’s Daughter is actually inspired by a German woman whom Sarah met at a farmer’s market once and who told her how she married an American soldier at the end of WWII before coming to the United States.  That was all that was said, and while Sarah has not seen the woman since, it was enough to send her off on a journey of history, relationships, and more, which is all housed in her second book.  Although she says that she will never hand the woman a copy of the book and tell her that she was the inspiration, I think the woman would be happy to know that she touched the author in that way.

Author Sarah McCoy at Novel Places

I love that Sarah brought the red hat from the cover and although she’s too young to be in the Red Hat Society, she agreed to become a Pink Lady.  She was asked about her writing and revision process, which she says is long with journaling about her characters at the start, rather than plot outlines, and about 10-12 rounds of revisions once the first draft is written. Her research process is narrowed by the characters she is inspired to write about, limiting research to a particular year in a particular region or city in Germany for example for The Baker’s Daughter.  She says that otherwise, she would just research too much, get overwhelmed or after 10 years still not have written a book.

Her younger brother also was in attendance and was apparently not only chauffeuring her around to each event while she’s in the area, but also taking photos.  It was obvious from the way she interacted and talked about him and her family that they are all close.  It’s wonderful to see those family connections in person, especially given that her novel touches upon family connections and interactions during some difficult periods in history.

Answering Questions at Novel Places

She talked about her MFA program and her teaching stints in Texas where she now lives with her husband, though she is a former Virginia resident (her parents still live in Fairfax County).  Overall, it was an engaging and conversational event.  She’s affable, delightful, and vivacious, and obviously very outgoing; I think I was in awe of her — too in awe to actually ask any questions, though there were many buzzing in my head.  Perhaps, I’ll get the chance to interview her once I’ve had the chance to read the book and review it here for the blog tour.

Hopefully, I didn’t miss much in the conversation, but that sickness is going around and I think it has finally reached me because my head was feeling awfully foggy.  I’m lucky I remembered my book and Anna’s for Sarah to sign and to talk to her about how much Anna loved the book — by the way, she remembered Anna from that blue cat tattoo icon she uses. . .how cute is that?!

Thanks to Patrick for hosting another AWESOME event!

 

Additionally, this is a stop on The Literary Road Trip since Sarah McCoy is a former resident of the area and her family still lives here.

Filed Under: announcements, Events, The Literary Road Trip, tlc book tours Tagged With: , , ,

Winners and a Reading

February 13, 2012 by

Thanks to all of you who entered the book club giveaway for The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach.  With the help of Random.org, Anne Berger won a book for each of her club’s 8 members.

Congrats to her and her members, and we hope that you enjoy it.  Hachette Group will mail the books out to you and your book club soon.

 

 

Also Congrats to Margaret who won a copy of Irish Lady by Jeanette Baker from Sourcebooks.

 

I also wanted to update you on the reading I attended at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Md., which turned out to be a mostly empty room and me as the only woman in the room — other than Wiggles.  The illustrious authors were Eric Goodman, author of Tracks — which I’m sure by now you’ve heard me rave about — and Eric Dezenhall, author of my newly acquired book, The Devil Himself.  Each author took to the reading in a different way, with Eric Goodman reading abridged short stories from his novel in stories, Tracks, and Eric Dezenhall deciding to tell the true story behind his historical fiction novel set during WWII.

Goodman read the Prologue, which is told from the point of view of the conductor, and Prewitt’s story from the beginning of the book.  Both stories are funny in their own quirky ways, and provides the initial set up for the rest of the book.  He also read the story about the poet and his climb on the mountain of sand, which is as true to the life of a poet as any story could be.

Dezenhall began by shying away from reading from the book and told us of how he verified the historical facts in his novel.  Operation Underground began when Naval Intelligence realized that German spies could have been responsible for the sinking of the Normandie near Manhattan following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  In order to police the docks and discover the spies, the government made a devil’s pact with the Jewish and Italian mobs that controlled them at the time.  Meyer Lansky, a real life mobster, agreed to help the government in exchange for benefits for Lucky Luciano and other mobsters.  There is a convoluted spy game afoot here, but I’ll not recount it because you must read the book.

Want to learn more about the book, visit Dezenhall’s Website.

There was no formal question-and-answer following the reading, but there was a more informal reception for the readers and the guests, which turned out to be less than a dozen due to the cold weather.  I did not partake of the cheese and beverages, but did have a nice conversation with Goodman about Social Media and the firewall it provides those of us who are more shy in public.  I also got my copy of Tracks signed, and my new book signed by Dezenhall, who seemed to take a shine to Wiggles — I think it was the cheeks.

Here’s a couple of pictures and a really short video since my memory card ran out of space:

Have you been to any great readings in your area?

Filed Under: announcements, winners Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Call for Poetry Book Donations & Looking for Tour Hosts

February 12, 2012 by

National Poetry Month 2012 is nearly upon us, with less than two months to go.  I’ve got a few great bloggers willing to talk about poetry and to host reviews and guest posts in April, but I’ve still got some open spots on the schedule.  Won’t you help me fill them in?

I’ve got a few guest posts coming in from poets that need blog tour hosts for them.  Just drop me an email if you want one and what day you want to host.

Also, if you’re a poet or a publisher of poetry, I’m looking for short guest posts from you about poetry for some fellow bloggers who want to join the tour but don’t feel they want to review a book.  I’m looking to help them out with a guest post form you.  Please email me with your ideas at savvyverseandwit AT gmail

Finally, anyone who would love to share the love of poetry through some giveaways in April, please sign up to donate books, poetry workshop classes, poetry journals, literary magazines, and any other poetry-related items.  Send me an email to savvyverseandwit AT gmail with your donations and if you prefer I run the giveaway or you’d like to run it yourself.

OK, that’s it.  I hope everyone can help out.  See you for the big tour in April.

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Curiosity Quills Blog Tour Continues…

February 10, 2012 by

Hello everyone.  I just wanted to let you know that my crazy obsession with poetry is spreading to another blog this week.  Today, I’m guest posting at The Hopeful Librarian as part of the Curiosity Quills Blog Tour.  I hope you’ll check out my essay, which includes quotes from some of my favorite writers — Beth Kephart, Charles Jensen, and Sweta Srivastava Vikram.

Please stop by and let me know what you think.  Also, you can check out my guest interviewer for the tour, here.

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Poetry Readers and Writers

February 5, 2012 by

National Poetry Month 2012National Poetry Month 2012 is in April and I’m looking for guest posts from poetry readers and tour hosts for these guest posts. I want to fill out all of April early and be able to direct readers across the blogosphere for some great poetry discussion and celebration.

Not only will you be part of a tour involving poetry collections, poet interviews, guest posts from poetry readers, and maybe even just some great poems and discussion, you also get my new snazzy button — and I can’t believe I made it myself from a photo my hubby took at the National Arboretum.   OK, that’s a lame reason to join the blog tour.

I’m hoping to put together some great giveaways for everyone who participates either as a commenter or as a blog tour host/guest blogger.

I hope that even if you don’t want to participate you’ll spread the word.  I want to fill up every day in April.  Dates will be a first come, first serve basis, and I’ll be posting the participating blogs on the schedule below as I hear from people.

Won’t you join me in celebrating poetry?

Sunday, April 1 — Savvy Verse & Wit’s Kickoff of the blog tour
Monday, April 2 — Sara from Wordy Evidence of the Fact
Tuesday, April 3 — Jill from Rhapsody in Books will talk about Cole Porter
Wednesday, April 4 — Anna from Diary of an Eccentric, WWI Poetry Anthology
Thursday, April 5 — Audra from Unabridged Chick
Friday, April 6 — Michael Meyerhofer from Trouble With Hammers
and My Friend Amy hosts Sweta Vikram’s Guest Post
Saturday, April 7 — Dar from Peeking Between the Pages
Sunday, April 8 — Patty from Books, Thoughts and A Few Adventures…
Monday, April 9 — Naida from the Bookworm
Tuesday, April 10 — Kathy from Bermudaonion, tentatively THE WATCH THAT ENDS THE NIGHT by Allan Wolf
Wednesday, April 11 — Jeanne from Necromancy Never Pays, who will discuss litany poems and then show and discuss Richard Siken’s “Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out”
Thursday, April 12 — Julie from Read Handed will talk about 2010 Cider Press Book Award winning collection Play Button by Liz Robbins
Friday, April 13 — Melanie from The Indextrious Reader on superstitions and poetry
Saturday, April 14 — Cecelia from Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia
Sunday, April 15 — Ana from Things Mean a Lot
Monday, April 16 — Cassandra from Indie Reader Houston
Tuesday, April 17 — Ti from Book Chatter
Wednesday, April 18 — The Girl from Diary of an Eccentric will focus on Robert Frost
Thursday, April 19 — Pam from Bookalicious
Friday, April 20 — Tabatha of Tabatha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference
Saturday, April 21 — Megan from Solid Quarter
Sunday, April 22 — Nicole Luongo from Bare Your Naked Truth at Peeking Between the Pages.
Monday, April 23 —  Adrienne Odasso from Seer of Ghosts and Weaver of Stories
Tuesday, April 24 — Arisa White from Arisa White
Wednesday, April 25 — Craig from Mr. Watson
Thursday, April 26 — Wallace from Unputdownables will focus on Edna St. Vincent Millay and Dorothy Parker
Friday, April 27 — Wendy from Caribousmom will host Poet Michael Meyerhofer and his guest post on self-publishing
Saturday, April 28 — David from Wordcoaster who will showcase bird poetry.
Sunday, April 29 — Sidne from Sidne, The Reading Socialite who will discuss Love and/or Life
Monday, April 30 — Travis Laurence Naught on how Jack Kerouac and Jim Morrison (maybe even Allen Ginsberg) formed his writing style

Thanks, everyone.

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Reason to Drool Over Poetry

January 31, 2012 by

I’ve read a number of posts over the years from fellow bloggers about their love/lust of authors from the Book Lady’s Panty Throwing to bloggers like Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin?’s spotlights on the books she’s drooling over.  I know that we all drool over actors and various book series and more, but when it comes to poetry, many people shy away or turn their backs.

I’ve got a little incentive for you to consider reading poetry or looking at the poets who make the poems.  Have you heard of the Naked Muse 2012 Calendar? If you follow my Facebook/Twitter updates, you may have when I shared the Huffington Post article on this little gem.

(I want to formally thank Anna since she sent it to me at a time I was struggling on what to write about for my first poetry post)

I really love that these poets decided to bare all for a good cause — see poets aren’t always purposefully confusing and there to just drive you crazy with seemingly incongruous allusions and metaphors.  In fact, their meanings can be as plain as the skin that they bare to the camera.  I’d love to see some American poets get in on this little project.

I like the idea that 100% of the profits will be used to help those with Type 1 Diabetes through research at JDRF.

What contemporary or classic poets would you like to see in a naked calendar?  What is your poetry post about today?

I hope you’ll consider joining the 2012 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge.

For those in the challenge who already have reviewed poetry volumes in January, please put your full links in the Mr. Linky below:

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New Book Club, New Beginning

January 23, 2012 by

Anna and I have had bad luck with book clubs over the last several years, as we continue to seek like-minded individuals who are willing to give anything a try in their reading and not quit a book club simply because they hate one of the books they’ve read.

This past Saturday, we met with our new book club at Novel Places — my new favorite bookstore. Our meeting lasted about 2 hours as we browsed the books — used and new — and chatted about how we’d select the books we’d read. So far, we have all our books through August selected. A few of our members were not able to make the meeting, so I suspect their book nominations will fill out the rest of the year. We have an interesting mix of classic and contemporary fiction, historical fiction, scifi-like fiction, and nonfiction. I cannot wait until the February meeting where we’ll talk about our first book, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

In case you’re interested in the rest of our list, here it is:

Feb.: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
March: Star Wars & Philosophy by Kevin Decker
April: A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear
May: City of Thieves by David Benioff
June: Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
July: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
Aug.: Ashes by Ilsa Bick

What will your book club be reading?

Filed Under: announcements Tagged With:

The Gauntlet Has Been Dropped: Monthly Poetry Event

January 22, 2012 by

Lu, Kelly, and Eva have talked about reading more poetry in 2012, and they want us all to join in.  Stuck for a list of enjoyable poetry books, check out the Indie Lit Awards 2011 list and Lu’s list.

This challenge is open to everyone — from those who love poetry already to those just starting out or returning to poetry — and you don’t even have to read poetry, but post about poetry.  You could post about your favorite poet, why you hate poetry, why you want to read poetry, different poetic forms, something you remember about poetry from school, and anything else you can think of as long as it is about poetry.

This is the schedule for posting ONCE per month:

Poetry: Read More/Blog More – A Monthly Event!

January 31st
February 28th
March 27th
April 23rd
May 29th
June 26th
July 31st
August 28th
September 25th
October 30th
November 27th
December 18th

Once you’ve posted, visit Lu and Kelly’s blogs to put your link in the Mr. Linky!  Once you have your sign up post ready, link up here.

I’ve picked up the gauntlet, will you?!

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