Positively Everything

New Website!

2012-01-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

It's a new year, and I'm starting it off with a new website! http://christylenzi.com/

Thankful

2011-11-26T13:44:00.000-08:00

We spent part of our Thanksgiving break in San Francisco, where I took the kids bike riding from Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge. Directly under the bridge is a Civil War era building called Fort Point, which is open to the public. We rambled all over it and watched the surfers under the bridge. The views along the bike trail were breathtaking. I'm thankful to live in such a beautiful place and be able to share it with my loved ones. And when we got home, I was thankful to get these beauties, which have a story by... me!

My friends, I hope you are having a happy Thanksgiving and savoring every minute. Enjoy!

She's out there!

2011-11-12T13:37:00.001-08:00

Want to read an adventure tale about a clever, kick-ass girl? The excerpt of my MG story, Forty Thieves and a Green-Eyed Girl, is in the latest issue of Hunger Mountain journal of the arts! While you're there, check out fellow category winners of the Katherine Paterson Prize as well as the interesting and thought-provoking piece, "Writing from Both Sides of the Brain" by my friend Kelly Barson.

Stone Field in print!

2011-09-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Once a year in the fall, Hunger Mountain Journal of the Arts publishes a print edition which is sent to subscribers and sold in bookstores around the country. This annual issue is also sent for consideration to prestigious awards committees, such as the Pushcart Prize, for literary magazines and short stories.

So you can imagine how happy I was to learn that Stone Field, the excerpt of my YA novel, was selected as one of five Children/YA pieces to be included in the big beautiful print edition! Not only that, two of the other four pieces, both non-fiction, were written by my EMLA sisters, Jennifer Ziegler and Clare Dunkle! I'm so excited and look forward to having this year's edition, Hunger Mountain Managerie, in my hands soon!

Katherine Paterson Prize

2011-09-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was told that my middle grade novel excerpt was selected as a runner-up in the 2011 Katherine Paterson Prize and placed first in the Middle Grade category! The prize, named after Newbery Award-winning author Katherine Paterson, was judged this year by National Book Award winner, Kimberly Willis Holt. Holt says this about my excerpt:

The opening of the story manages to show a lot without the reader feeling overburdened. I quickly cared about the main character because of the way she interacted with her brother on page one. And because I cared about her, my heart pounded for her when she was in peril. That's important when trouble comes so early in a story. Some writers expect readers to care just because the main character is in trouble, but you have to care about them first. This writer accomplishes that.

My novel is a re-imagining of the Arabian Nights tale, "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," from the slave girl's point of view. I was excited to hear that the excerpt will also appear in Hunger Mountain's online journal of the arts!

Environmental Art

2011-08-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy's nature art, we recently joined friends at an environmental art event in Berkeley's Thousand Oaks Park organized by Zach Pine, a talented local environmental artist. It was pure fun. Using stones, shells, flowers, bark, and other natural objects, we created spontaneous artistic expressions around the park. Footage of people and creations from the event were included in a short film (below) that was shown at the Berkeley Community Media’s Summer Shorts Movie Jam.

Around 0:59, Josh's friend, Max, talks abut artistic expression and later you can hear Alan speak as well. Look for glimpses of Josh, Noah, Alan and me and the final shot of my piece, "Free Speech"!

People Caught Flying (continued)

2011-07-31T22:10:00.001-07:00

(Photos by Alexandria Lenzi)

Roman Holiday

2011-07-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

We're in Rome! Alan's attending the RAI conference and we are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary in the Eternal City. I'm enjoying sipping morning lattes, exploring the archaeological sites, drinking from the fountains, taking siestas in the parks, roaming the piazzas, tasting the food, and gazing at the beautiful buildings and views. My favorite day was when Alan and I rented bikes, had a picnic at the Catacombs, and rode out on the Old Roman Road, the Appian Way, where ruins line both sides of the road and the views are lovely. Before I go, I plan to throw a coin over my shoulder into the Trevi Fountain to ensure I will return one day.

Novel Excerpt in Hunger Mountain

2011-06-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

I love Hunger Mountain (Vermont College of Fine Art's journal of the arts), so I'm thrilled to see the excerpt of my WIP in their latest issue!

Also in this issue are five (five!!) fellow EMLA clients: Clare Dunkle, Jennifer Ziegler, Penny Blubaugh, Liz Scanlon, and Deborah Halvorsen, so I'm especially happy to see it surrounded by such lovely company and interesting work.

In particular, I enjoyed an article by Clare Dunkle, whose piece focuses on Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. It's not only timely for the current discussion of "Dark YA," it's also serendipitous in my eyes because Bronte's tale is the inspiration for my own piece, "Stone Field," a re-imagining of Wuthering Heights, set in the American Ozarks of the 1800s.

If you get a chance, please check out the awesome new issue (and feel free to tell Hunger Mountain what you think in their comments section)--and thanks for letting me share!

Learning to Fly

2011-05-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I told you my secret, and now you know we Lenzis can fly. Well the kids have been doing a lot of it lately, what with spring in the air and the excitement of summer vacation just around the corner. The tricky part is practicing when no one's around so we don't get any nosy people hoping to figure out how it's done and then go try it at home and break their necks. Anyway, the whippersnappers are getting pretty good at it!

Hunger Mountain

2011-03-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy! The first chapter of my work-in-progress was accepted for publication in the upcoming issue of Hunger Mountain, the lovely lovely VCFA Journal of the Arts! The excerpt is from my YA novel, a re-imagining of Wuthering Heights, set in the American Ozarks of the late 1800s. I can't stop smiling!

Art: a revolt against fate.

2011-03-27T19:14:00.001-07:00

Fate brought a rainy, windy day, but I braved the weather with some friends to see a spring art show in the Sierra Foothills this weekend. Seeing so much beauty and creative energy and being around people who love it lifted my gray cloudy spirit. Art+ nature+friends= good therapy.

Lisa checks out the work of the show's People's Choice Artist Award winner.

The first time I've ever wanted some rain boots since we've lived in CA.

This installation seemed apropos.

Gary with part A of his work-in-progress installation.

Christina

I love this.

Christina and Gary with part B of his work-in-progress installation.

Performance welding art. :)

I want to be as energetic and fun as the elderly woman on the right when I'm older. She was awesome.

Toe-tapping music.

Listening to The Civil Wars

2011-03-12T10:42:00.000-08:00

The Civil Wars' new Barton Hollow is the best album I've heard in a long while. I love it. Right now on Amazon, you can sample it and then download the entire album for $5! Check it out.

Hurrah!

2011-02-18T00:14:00.000-08:00

Recently, I was surprised and pleased to find a check in the mail for being a winner of Children's Writer's Historical Fiction Contest. I'd forgotten about it since entering back in September. My story, "The Secret Zoo," is set in occupied Warsaw and inspired by true events in young Rys Zabiniski's life. He and his family were members of the Resistance and used their zoo to help hundreds of Polish Jews escape to freedom. Their extraordinary courage was most recently documented in the best selling non-fiction book, THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE by Diane Ackerman.

I'm told "The Secret Zoo" and the other winning stories will be noted in an article in the March 2011 issue of Children's Writer. Yay for Historical Fiction!

Christy's Adventures in Art

2011-01-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

I just signed up with a friend to take a Wood Sculpture Abstractions class at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento this spring. I'm really excited about working with wood and using saws! And rasps! And files! Which is something I've never done before. Hurry up, spring!

Poetry Friday: Neruda's Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

2011-01-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

Today I bought myself this beautiful little book of Pablo Neruda's Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair which includes illustrations by Pablo Picasso. The original Spanish poems face their translations by W.S. Merwin and are printed on paper with rough-cut edges. I'm savoring it slowly and look forward to rereading it often. (Thanks to the lovely Kelly R. Fineman for pointing out this exquisite edition.)

Good madness in 2011

2011-01-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

We ushered in the new year with the banging of pots and pans and a game of midnight basketball. 2010 was good to me--I finished the first draft of a novel, I had a serialized story run for half the year in Cricket magazine, I got a job at the university, had several visits from dear far-away family members, and spent a wonderful vacation with Alan in CA wine country.

But the year had its personal trials and tribulations as well, and I am ready to say good-bye to the old and ring in the new. Aren't you? Happy New Year, friends! As Neil Gaiman says, "May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."

Letter from Juliet

2010-12-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

I love handwritten letters! Cricket sent me a copy of this one and it made my day. Thank you, Juliet! (I love your name!)

Dodge this.

2010-10-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Neo: What is the Matrix?
Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to. But first, let's find the the Halloween party.

The story continues...

2010-09-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

Part Two of my serialized story for middle-graders, "Saving Freyfaxi," is out now in the September issue of Cricket! Illustrator Ingrid Kallick recently added a page on her website showcasing her ongoing illustrations for the story. (Just scroll down to her "Cricket" button.) She kindly gave me permission to post some of the images here. I love seeing my characters come to life!

(I also love the runic borders. One line says, "Skald, Christy Lenzi"!)

Dear Mimi S.,

2010-08-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Cricket sent me a copy of your lovely handwritten letter. You don't know how happy it made me to know that you liked my story and can't wait to read the next installment. I clipped the letter to the end of the string that hangs down from my ceiling fan. Every time I pass it or it brushes against my hair, it makes me smile. When I turn the fan on, it looks as if the letter is giving me a friendly wave. Thank you for sending it.

Something you should know about me...

2010-08-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

I have a secret: I know how to fly.

The secret has been in my family for years--my grandfather taught it to us when we were young.

My dad was the best of all of us.

I taught the kids and Alan so we could all fly together.

The kids learned super fast.

And now I can't keep them on the ground!

Whee!

Reader love

2010-07-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

My serialized story already has fans! I was happy to see this post about Norse myths/"Saving Freyfaxi" pop up on the Cricket reader chat website only days after the July/August issue came out. They like it!

Magical runes and a honey colored horse

2010-07-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

My newest serialized story, "Saving Freyfaxi," begins in this month's Cricket and continues to the end of the year! The magazine's website says, "If you want to cool off, how about going a-Viking to Iceland for a fantastic tale about magical runes and a honey colored horse named Freyfaxi?"

I've been waiting almost two years to see the story in print, but my contributor copies haven't come yet and I am antsy! I may end up running out to get one at Borders, who I am told carries the magazine. Fortunately, Ingrid Kallick took pity on me and sent me a peek of her illustrations in Part one and they are beautiful! She is hecka awesome.

I hope you check it out!

Everybody needs beauty

2010-07-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." ~John Muir, "Father of our National Parks"

Yosemite National Park

A beautiful day

2010-05-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

Point Reyes National Seashore

Book Love: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

2010-05-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

Confession: I have kissed this book. It's not even mine. But I love it. I tried to explain why, but deleted it all. And yet, I just had to tell somebody how wonderful it is. I think its story will stay with me always.

"Saving Freyfaxi" has an illustrator

2010-05-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

I am delighted to learn that artist Ingrid Kallick is illustrating "Saving Freyfaxi," my serialized story that will begin in the July/August issue of Cricket magazine. I'm looking forward to seeing the story come to life through her hands. Check out her beautiful gallery of work.

Yee-haw!

2010-05-06T15:32:00.000-07:00

I just found out that my story, "The Rune Hunt," is a finalist (representing Highlights for Children) in the Periodical-Fiction category for the 2010 AEP (Association of Educational Publishers) Distinguished Achievement Awards, which will take place in Washington D.C. on June 8. Apparently the AEP Awards Banquet has been called the Academy Awards for the educational resource community. Hecka cool. Go "Rune Hunt"! Go Highlights!

Brontë Sisters Power Dolls

2010-05-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

Super Power English Authors from the 19th Century!! Brontësaurus comes with Barrier-breaking feminist vision!

Slush and Kafka

2010-04-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

I'm a freelance reader for a kids' literary magazine group and I read a lot of slush. An unexpected benefit of the job is that I am learning a lot about writing effective short fiction just by seeing over and over again what doesn't work.

For those interested in writing successful short stories, I suggest paying special attention to making the mundane feel extraordinary and the strange seem familiar. Think of Kafka's novella, Metamorphosis : an average Joe wakes up to find he has turned into a giant insect. Now how the heck will he get to work?! This juxtaposition of the absurd with the commonplace is instantly intriguing.

Placing the mundane and the extraordinary side-by-side produces compelling results because it adds a sense of irony to the story or throws new light on a familiar subject or idea. Sometimes it provides humor or subtle drama.

I read a lot of stories that feel the same. For instance, I see tons of stories about kids who don't want to go to Grandma's but when they get there, they bake cookies and help her sew and--surprise--they realize it is fun after all. And then on the opposite end, I see many crazy odd-ball tales in which every detail is so extreme and quirky that the stories don't have any sense of authenticity.

I think what these stories are lacking is the allure of contrasting elements woven together in a natural way. For example (off the top of my head), it would be cool to see a story about a girl who was born with the ability to fly, but has a fear of heights. What happens when she is cast as the phoenix in the school play?

But it need not be a fantastical tale. Any kind of story can benefit from magnifying the unique aspects of an ordinary situation or grounding the outrageous in the commonplace.

Just some thoughts.

Philip Pullman on Freedom of Speech

2010-04-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

Vonnegut's advice on writing short stories

2010-03-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

In his Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, Vonnegut lists eight rules for writing a short story:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

blue true dream of sky

2010-03-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

~E.E. Cummings

Though I do not say it to a god, I feel this same gratefulness toward life as Cummings expresses. This past week, especially, I felt it when a spring breeze hit me and I saw the magnolia trees in bloom. I felt it on Monday when I had an interview for a position in the provost's office and was given a "yes!" and left with the job. I felt it when I heard back from Erin on Friday about my revision ideas and got a "yes!" from her, too. Then yesterday, when we went to Point Reyes to seize the day, I saw a blue true dream of sky and laughed and ran with the people who love me most. I feel it again right now on most this amazing day. (I hope you feel it too.)

Renovation

2010-02-10T23:47:00.000-08:00

I finally tore down my old website and built a new, cleaner, sparkly one. Actually, I got lost among the ruins, but Alan pulled me out, gave me a hand, and it turned out pretty swell. Come by and have some cake & nachos! (BYOC&N)

The hills are alive.

2010-01-23T21:13:00.001-08:00

This is the rainy season in Northern Cali, but today the sun promised to peek out this afternoon, so we drove to Brushy Peak Regional Park near Dublin and found some rolling green hills not unlike the beauties of Ireland.

The path was muddy, but the rain had made everything smell fresh.

The temperature was in the upper fifties, which was great for sauntering up and down hills.

Oops.

A bonny wee lass.

Some kind of singing meadow birds were piping lovely songs all along the way.

Alan, Lord of the Rainbows, creates his newest masterpiece.

Eat, drink and be merry...

2010-01-17T17:09:00.000-08:00

Alan (the god of my idolatry) made Thai food on the day before my birthday--green curry, pad thai, and chicken satay with peanut sauce. It was both beautiful and savory.

On my birthday Alan took me to Berkeley to check out several bookstores and see a show, then we went to Ziryab Middle Eastern restaurant and hookah bar in San Francisco again this year because it is my favoritist place to eat. Just look at the food! It is as delicious as it is lovely.

(I dyed my hair, but I was too chicken to go dark auburn like Alex suggested--maybe next time...)

We had a Middle Eastern distilled alcoholic drink called Arak, which is flavored with anis seed (has a black licorice taste). It is a lot like ouzo; I really like it. Our hookah was lemon/mint--very mild taste and very good!

And in keeping with the drinking and merriment part of turning *cough* 40 *cough* I took Alan out a couple days later to try out some new colorful (perhaps girlie, but hey) mixed drinks, including the Commodore, which tasted like dark choc. covered cherries, and (pictured below on the right) a Black Superman.

Cheers!

She entered the story knowing

2009-12-23T00:35:00.000-08:00

"She entered the story knowing she would emerge from it feeling she had been immersed in the lives of others, in plots that stretched back twenty years, her body full of sentences and moments, as if awaking from sleep with a heaviness caused by unremembered dreams."

--from Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient

I love this!

2009-12-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

Fa la la la la!

2009-12-13T01:12:00.001-08:00

It is a delicious thing to write...

2009-12-08T22:43:00.001-08:00

It is a delicious thing to write, to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating. Today, for instance, as man and woman, both lover and mistress, I rode in a forest on an autumn afternoon under the yellow leaves, and I was also the horses, the leaves, the wind, the words my people uttered, even the red sun that made them almost close their love-drowned eyes.

- Gustave Flaubert

(Filched from Hayden for your reading pleasure.)

Halloween at the Devil's Mountain (Mt. Diablo, CA)

2009-10-31T21:47:00.000-07:00

A tale of ghosts, holy and otherwise: R. A. Nelson's Days of Little Texas

2009-10-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

After reading Teach Me and Breathe My Name, I was looking forward to the release of Russ Nelson's third novel, Days of Little Texas, and not just because he's a friend, but because I could not put the first two books down--his characters were immediately compelling and their stories vivid and unique. Days of Little Texas did not disappoint.

Young Ronald Earl, known as "Little Texas," has been a traveling Charismatic preacher since he was ten years old. The Holy Ghost never fails to fill him as he heals the crowds who flock to his tent revivals, but lately he starts to doubt himself and fears he may be a fraud.

At the end of one of his powerful services, a girl in a blue dress who is experiencing a serious medical emergency is rushed to Ronald Earl for healing. Though his laying on of hands appears to have performed a miracle for the girl, he is disturbed and filled with an unease that doesn't go away.

As he continues on his revivalist circuit, the girl in the blue dress keeps showing up in the crowds, haunting Ronald Earl until he is eventually drawn into her world. While Ronald struggles to discover who he is and who he wants to be, he finds himself fighting in a terrifying battle between good and evil.

The earnest voice of Ronald Earl Pettway drew me in completely. The colorful supporting characters and intensity of the plot kept me up reading late into the night. When I ordered the book, I knew the novel was about a young circuit preacher, but I didn't realize it was also a ghost story. Reading it reminded me of an experience I once had of going to a movie that I'd thought was a romantic drama, but was actually a suspense thriller. As I got more deeply engrossed in the story, the deliciously creepy elements of the plot started to unfold, sending shivers down my spine and, well, totally freaking me out. In a good way.

Check it out!

From the inside cover: Welcome, all ye faithful--and otherwise--to a ghost story, a romance, a reckoning. Come one, come all to Days of Little Texas.

Talking with Asra Nomani

2009-10-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

(Lynn Kraynak, Asra Nomani, Carrie Schroeder, Christy Lenzi, Alan Lenzi)

I enjoyed talking with Asra Nomani, an activist for Muslim reform and gender equality, last night at dinner and was struck by her quiet intensity, her openness and generosity of spirit. Alan had mentioned my middle-grade novel to her earlier, and her enthusiasm about the Muslim girl character and Middle Eastern setting and her interest in hearing of any future developments was very encouraging.

Asra, a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and friend of the late Daniel Pearl, gave an inspiring and heart-felt talk afterward at University of the Pacific's Colliver lecture, sharing her experiences confronting the male leadership at her local mosque in Morgantown, West Virginia. PBS recently aired a documentary of her struggle, The Mosque in Morgantown.

I admired Asra's ability to answer the sometimes probing questions from audience members with deep empathy and suprising candor. You can read Asra's personal accounts of her experiences in Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman's struggle for the soul of Islam and Tantrika: Traveling the Road of Divine Love.

Kids in a Box

2009-09-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

Alex and her friends from the UU Stockton Youth Group participated in the 10th annual Kids in a Box, spending the night in the themed boxes they created and raising awareness and money for the McHenry House Family Shelter in Tracy. The motto is "Kids Should Play in Boxes, Not Live in Them."

Alex and Courtni made a Hogwarts castle out of their box and were interviewed with their friends Anneka and Reagan and quoted in today's Stockton Record.

Book Love

2009-09-17T22:24:00.000-07:00

I finally snatched a moment to do a quick shout-out about some of the fantastic books recently (or soon-to-be) released by writer friends. Check them out!

Three Witches by Paula Jolin

I was fortunate enough to read an early draft of this manuscript and enjoyed it as much as I did Paula's first YA novel, In the Name of God, which I discuss here, and which my husband Alan offered as a reading assignment for his Western Religions class.

From Roaring Brook Press:

Three seemingly ordinary girls, studying together in the same ordinary high school. All have their own reasons to summon Trevor Saunders after his car goes over a cliff. Aliya brings the mystical seances of Syria. Gillian contributes the voodoo arts from her native Trinidad. Miya shares the secret magic of ancient Japan. Will they be able use their powers to bring him back one more time? Should they?

Ash by Malinda Lo

Erin sent me an ARC of Ash a couple months ago, which I devoured in one sitting during a flight from Sacramento to St. Louis. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

From Kirkus, starred review:
An unexpected reimagining of the Cinderella tale, exquisite and pristine, unfolding deliberately. … Beautiful language magically wrought; beautiful storytelling magically told.

Palace Beautiful by Sarah DeFord Williams

I'm proud to claim Sarah as an agent-sister and recently had the pleasure of reading an ARC of her Palace Beautiful. What a fetching voice! The story exudes a beauty and warmth that stayed with me long after I closed the book. Look for it in 2010!

From AuthorsNow:
Thirteen-year-old artist and dreamer Sadie, her little sister Zuzu, and new best friend Belladonna Desolation meet in a secret attic room to vicariously live the experiences a girl recorded in a journal hidden there during the flu epidemic of 1918.

Border Crossing by Jessica Lee Anderson

When at ALA, I enjoyed meeting up with Jessica and came away with her striking second YA novel, Border Crossing, an intense story told with a beautiful, graceful edge. Look for it in October!

From Powell's Books:
The mixed-race son of apple pickers, Manz lives with his hard-drinking mother and her truck-driver boyfriend in the hardscrabble world of dusty Rockhill, Texas. Forced to take a summer job rebuilding fence of a cattle ranch, Manz works alongside his friend Jed and meets a girl named Vanessa — but even among his friends, Manz suffers from an uncontrollable paranoia. As the summer wears on, Manz becomes convinced that "Operation Wetback," a brutal postwar relocation program, is being put back into effect. As the voices in his head grow louder and more insistent, Manz struggles to negotiate the difficulties of adolescence, the perils of an oppressed environment, and the terror of losing his grip on reality.

Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle

Marissa was sweet enough to send out an ARC of Betraying Season for the moderators on Verla's Children's Writers and Illustrators Board to pass around. What a fun, intriguing historical, laced with magical fantasy. You'll be seeing it on shelves in the coming weeks!

From the publisher:

Penelope (Pen) Leland has come to Ireland to study magic and prove to herself that she is as good a witch as her twin sister, Persy. But when the dashing Niall Keating begins to pay her court, she cant help being distracted from her studies. Little does Pen know, Niall is acting upon orders from his sorceress mother. And although it starts as a sham, Niall actually falls deeply in love with Pen, and she with him. But even if he halts his mothers evil plan, will Pen be able to forgive him for trying to seduce her into a plot? And what of Pens magic, which seems to be increasingly powerful?

Photorama: Natural Bridges State Park & Beach in Santa Cruz

2009-08-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

The naturally formed stone bridges.

The Eucalyptus grove behind the beach will become a protected annual resort for a large group of monarch butterflies in October.

Woo! The breeze was a little chilly when we first got there!

"Falafel's" in Santa Cruz.

The best falafels in the known universe.

"Love doesn't just sit there like a stone. It has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new." -Ursula Le Guin "

2009-08-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today I'm celebrating my 18th year with the man who keeps bakin' up the love, fresh daily. I tell myself more and more every year, "Christy Lenzi, you are one lucky girl."

We celebrated over the weekend by exploring Old Sacramento.

Ah, how can we bear it?

2009-07-31T17:57:00.000-07:00

"What is it my dear?"

"Ah, how can we bear it?"

"Bear what?"

"This. For so short a time. How can we sleep this time away?"

"We can be quiet together, and pretend - since it is only the beginning - that we have all the time in the world."

"And every day we shall have less. And then none."

"Would you rather, therefore, have had nothing at all?"

"No. This is where I have always been coming to. Since my time began. And when I go away from here, this will be the mid-point, to which everything ran, before, and from which everything will run. But now, my love, we are here, we are now, and those other times are running elsewhere."
— A.S. Byatt (Possession: A Romance)

I love both this excerpt and Possession, the novel from which it is taken. I was pleasantly surprised to find it quoted so aptly in the book The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, which I recently read and haven't stopped thinking about.

From the back cover:
A most untraditional love story, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who involuntarily travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love.

The Time Traveler's Wife twisted me up inside then stretched me out wider than I was before. It's the kind of book that makes me alternately want to A.) Despair with writing and give it up forever and B.) Never do anything else but write, ever. I know the upcoming film version will inevitably suck in comparison to the novel. Ah, how can I bear it?

Photorama: Fun in Chicago and ALA

2009-07-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

Alan and I took a trip to Chicago that coincided with ALA, so I stopped by the conference exhibit hall to see friends and cruise for freebees and ARCs! Here's lovely Jessica Lee Anderson with her soon-to-be released BORDER CROSSING.

Erin Murphy, agent extraordinaire

Elizabeth C. Bunce, after accepting the first annual William C. Morris award for CURSE DARK AS GOLD!

Lisa Schroeder (FAR FROM YOU and the upcoming CHASING BROOKLYN) reveals the secrets to snagging ARCs

Kristy Dempsey (ME WITH YOU) and Tammi Sauer (CHICKEN DANCE).

Christine Taylor-Butler with her newest book SACRED MOUNTAIN: EVEREST.

Maggie Stiefvater signs ARCS for SHIVER

Score! Especially looking forward to HEIGHTS, a contemporary retelling of WUTHERING HEIGHTS.

Off to Heaven on Seven, a yummy cajun restaurant

Fried sweet potato moss and mint julip.

On top of our hotel building, the Raffaello.

For Alex, my chocolate milk girl.

While Alan met with a fellow scholar about a project they are working on, I visited the Chicago Art Institute.

This writing on the bathroom stall at the Art Institute was the most uplifting graffiti I've ever seen.

Photorama: Good times in Granite City

2009-07-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Cahokia Mounds

View of the St. Louis Arch from The main mound in Cahokia

My lovely mother-in-law buys rainier cherries, my favorite, just for me!

Lee at Happy China in St. Louis

In Old St. Charles

Photorama: Rollicking Rolla

2009-06-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

Catching up with two of my oldest friends!

What would Father's Day be without coconut cream pie?

Catching fireflies

Canoing down Little Piney

My favoritist girl in the world

My grandma, storyteller extraordinaire, Joyce Moore--Professor Emeritus, now. She's taught grade-school all the way up through college. She retires this year at 83 from being librarian at Evangel University for the last 23 years.

Those squirts standing with my kids are my cousins!

I Love Slush

2009-06-11T17:25:00.001-07:00

I love being a reader for CMG. Not only can I do it in my jammies if I wanted, or any time of the day or in the middle of the night, it's also lots of fun. Sure, not every sub is stunningly brilliant, but sometimes there are stories that make me laugh out loud they're so clever, or non-fiction pieces that enlighten while they entertain. It's satisfying to find a real gem. Sometimes I forget I'm getting paid for this. Maybe as time goes by I will look upon the piles of slush with a shudder of dread, as I hear so many seasoned readers/editors/agents do. But right here, right now, I love this job.

If there's a movie version, who should play Alex?

2009-06-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

Laurel Snyder's Any Which Wall came in the mail today! Alex, especially, has been looking forward to it because Laurel named one of the characters in the book "Alexandria Lenzi" after her. Noah's name gets a mention as well. And I was looking forward to reading about Laurel's dastardly villain she let me name "Wichita Grim"! (He's the mean ornery-looking fella on Alex's tattoo.) Go pick yourself up a copy and find out what kind of stinker Alexandria Lenzi is!

Any Which Wall is a fun middle-grade novel that will appeal to fans of Edward Eager and E. Nesbit. Kirkus has this to say:

Susan, Henry, Roy and Emma stumble upon a wall in the oddest of places—the middle of a cornfield. To their delight, it turns out to be wishing wall, complete with a key, capable of whisking them away to fascinating times and places. It’s not all fun and games, though, at least not at first. The kids have to puzzle out how the magic works and then contend with some mysterious visions granted to them by none other than the famous Merlin. The visions, along with the particular wishes each child makes, unfold into a unique life lesson for each of the children. Unfortunately, these lessons can feel a little contrived, particularly when it comes to Susan, the oldest of the group, who is desperately trying to grow up without losing the childlike qualities of imagination and adventure that are a fundamental part of her spirit. Nonetheless, the fast-paced plot and glib narrator—fond of making asides—will keep readers turning pages and looking for magic in their own corners of the world. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Analyze that!

2009-06-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

I had a dream last night that I went hiking with Freud and got so sick of him I squirted a bottle of water in his face. Alan had a dream he was teaching about Ali Baba, and his students argued that Ali Baba didn't deserve to be the main character of the story. This is very amusing to me because in reality, Alan is teaching on Freud's views of religion, while I am writing a retelling of Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves where someone else is the main character. And no, we were not sleeping on the wrong sides of the bed....

My music man

2009-05-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

The Fall

2009-05-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Wow. Beautiful cinematography. Lovely music. Strange, touching, magical story.

Highlight of my day

2009-05-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

If you find yourself in the dentist office or if your kids have a subscription to Highlights magazine, check out my story, "The Rune Hunt," on page 40 of the June issue! Some friends from Verla's Writers' Board are in there with me: Tanya's poem is on page 15, Amy's article is on page 7, and Annie's activity is on page 28!

Photorama: Time with family

2009-05-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from a visit to my hometown for my grandfather's funeral. He was a man of strong quiet dignity, and his love for his family was vast and deep--a source of security and happiness for me ever since I can remember. I will miss him. I enjoyed getting together with family to celebrate Grandpa's life, reminisce, catch up, and goof off.

Ukulele?

2009-05-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

I've been in Rolla for the past week--a couple days ago I picked up Dad's ukulele, and he taught me a few chords and a song, "the Wanderer." My fingers hurt from playing, and I'm not very good, but I love it! I think I'll try to get one for myself. I'll see if I can post a video of my dorkiness soon.

Song in my head: "Love you Madly" by Cake

2009-04-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

I especially like the way this person edited the clips of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to go with the song:

I want: Cindy Pon's SILVER PHOENIX

2009-04-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

In celebration of the release of her debut YA fantasy novel, Silver Phoenix , Cindy Pon is holding a contest and giving away some great prizes including the choice of one of her original framed brushpaintings and a signed copy of her novel or a $100 gift card to a book store of choice and signed copy of the novel. Watch the book trailer and then hurry over to her blog and enter to win! Congratulations, Cindy, I can't wait to read it!

A sample of Cindy's beautiful artwork:

For National Poetry Month: "Maybe the Poet" by Bruce Cockburn

2009-04-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

We're nearing the end of National Poetry month, and I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts on the subject, especially Kelly Fineman's regular poetry feature this month on her LJ.

While researching for my novel, I've come across some interesting things about medieval Icelandic law regarding poetry. Not only was any type of slanderous poetry illegal, love poetry, too, was against the law and its punishment, outlawry, was strictly enforced. According to the sagas, poets were murdered left and right for saying things they weren't supposed to say. Dangerous profession, poet.

This reminded me of the Russian Poet, Irina Ratushinskaya, who was sent to a horrible prison camp for seven years for expressing "anti-Soviet agitation" in her poetry. But even while imprisoned, Irina continued to create poetry, carving it into soap until she had memorized it, then washing away the evidence.

I was also reminded of this song by Bruce Cockburn, "Maybe the Poet," a perfect song to wind up National Poetry Month:

Maybe the poet is gay
But he'll be heard anyway

Maybe the poet is drugged
But he won't stay under the rug

Maybe the voice of the spirit
In which case you'd better hear it

Maybe he's a woman
Who can touch you where you're human

Male female slave or free
Peaceful or disorderly
Maybe you and he will not agree
But you need him to show you new ways to see

Don't let the system fool you
All it wants to do is rule you
Pay attention to the poet
You need him and you know it

Put him up against the wall
Shoot him up with pentothal

Shoot him up with lead
You won't call back what's been said

Put him in the ground
But one day you'll look around

There'll be a face you don't know
Voicing thoughts you've heard before

Male female slave or free
Peaceful or disorderly
Maybe you and he will not agree
But you need him to show you new ways to see

Don't let the system fool you
All it wants to do is rule you
Pay attention to the poet
You need him and you know it

Poetry Friday: Two sonnets by William Shakespeare

2009-04-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

In honor of the bard's 445th birthday:

17

Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill'd with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say 'This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch'd earthly faces.'
So should my papers, yellow'd with their age,
Be scorn'd, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term'd a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice, in it, and in my rhyme.

35

No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud:
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.
All men make faults, and even I in this,
Authorizing thy trespass with compare,
Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss,
Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are;
For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense,
Thy adverse party is thy advocate,
And 'gainst myself a lawful plea commence:
Such civil war is in my love and hate,
That I an accessary needs must be,
To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.

"Life is an Act of Literary Creation" by Alberto Urrea

2009-04-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed this essay on NPR's This I Believe about how paying attention to the world around you can help make you a good writer and a good person.

The Boardwalk, Santa Cruz

2009-04-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

Chowder fries--mmm!

Josh takes a drag before building a sand castle.

Alex is on the ball!

*whistle*

Songs in my head: by Meiko

2009-04-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

I love her.

Tuolumne River, near Yosemite

2009-04-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

Today I went backpacking on a nine mile saunter through breath-taking country with some friends from the UU (been attending for about a month). The wildflowers were in bloom and the temperature was just right. I'm hoping to try kayaking soon, as one of them owns six boats and has offered to teach us how. I'm excited about it--I've never been. It was a beautiful day.

Can't blog. Writing.

2009-04-10T10:40:00.001-07:00

Doh! I just need to kill off one character, and then I'll come up for a donut.

Songs in my head: two by Safetysuit

2009-04-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Just heard of these guys a couple weeks ago and have been listening to the album over and over:

Round Valley Regional Preserve

2009-04-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

Poetry Friday: "The More Loving One" by W. H. Auden

2009-04-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

Seizing the Day

2009-04-02T10:51:00.001-07:00

When the kids hop out of the car each morning in front of the school, lately my instinct is to send them on their way into the world with the words, "Be careful!" Because I love them and care about them and want them to be safe out there. But something makes me continue to form the words, "Seize the day!" instead.

I toss the words to them like a sword and shield, hoping it will embolden them to take on the world. And win. To engage the day, own it, take hold of its wonder and beauty and complexities--make it theirs before it's gone. But the words scare me more than they used to. I know if my child boldly faces each day, at some point one day may rise to meet her, seize her with equal ferociousness and clutch her so hard it rips her heart before it's over. And I don't want that. I long to protect my kids from pain. Oh be careful! I say silently as they bolt out the door to embrace the world.

But still I call out to them, "Seize the day!" like a battle cry. Because despite the fear I have for my kids, I know deep down I desire them to truly live even more than I desire them to remain unscathed. E. E. Cummings said, "Unbeing dead isn't being alive." To carefully keep ourselves undead is not the same thing as truly living.

So off they go to seize the day, and my heart is both happy and fearful for them. My hope is that along with their sword and shield, I can also toss them a little something else to help them on their way. Not a map. I don't know the paths they need to take. I just want to give them a small satchel to carry close to their hearts--it holds a potent mixture of constant love and hard-won wisdom. And an endless supply of hope.

Alex has traveled around the sun 14 times!

2009-03-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, lovely girl.

Poetry Friday: two poems by Sylvia Plath

2009-03-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Words

Axes
After whose stroke the wood rings,
And the echoes!
Echoes traveling
Off from the center like horses.

The sap
Wells like tears, like the
Water striving
To re-establish its mirror
Over the rock

That drops and turns,
A white skull,
Eaten by weedy greens.
Years later I
Encounter them on the road---

Words dry and riderless,
The indefatigable hoof-taps.
While
From the bottom of the pool, fixed stars
Govern a life.

Two Lovers and a Beachcomber By the Real Sea

Cold and final, the imagination
Shuts down its fabled summer house;
Blue views are boarded up; our sweet vacation
Dwindles in the hour-glass.

Thoughts that found a maze of mermaid hair
Tangling in the tide's green fall
Now fold their wings like bats and disappear
Into the attic of the skull.

We are not what we might be; what we are
Outlaws all extrapolation
Beyond the interval of now and here:
White whales are gone with the white ocean.

A lone beachcomber squats among the wrack
Of kaleidoscope shells
Probing fractured Venus with a stick
Under a tent of taunting gulls.

No sea-change decks the sunken shank of bone
That chucks in backtrack of the wave;
Though the mind like an oyster labors on and on,
A grain of sand is all we have.

Water will run by; the actual sun
Will scrupulously rise and set;
No little man lives in the exacting moon
And that is that, is that, is that.

Song in my head: "How Deep is Your Love" by Jonatha Brooke

2009-03-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

Such a great song!

New job

2009-03-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked to be a first-reader for one of my favorite magazine groups. I will be reading submissions and selecting which ones to send on to the editors.* I'm really looking forward to getting my first huge stack of manuscripts!

*My writer friends already know this, but for those surfing by: Do NOT send any manuscripts directly to me or even addressed to me. Please follow the magazines' guidelines.

Poetry Friday: Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

2009-03-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose Worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

"'Leaves of Grass,' Still Growing, Inspiring" by Diane Ackerman

2009-03-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

It's been 150 years since Walt Whitman first published his Leaves of Grass. Diane Ackerman, whose A Natural History of the Senses I recently blogged about, discusses on NPR the enduring poem and the poet's lasting impression on his beloved country.

(Thanks to Alan for the link!)

Song in my head: "Happiness" by The Fray

2009-03-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

"Happiness" is a thoughtful song, almost sorrowful. It's been on my mind. I like the different metaphors used, including a personification of happiness as a loved one who leaves but will return one day. You can hear the song here.

Happiness
By Isaac Slade/The Fray

Happiness is just outside my window
Would it crash blowing 80-miles an hour?
Or is happiness a little more like knocking
On your door, and you just let it in?

Happiness feels a lot like sorrow
Let it be, you can’t make it come or go
But you are gone- not for good but for now
Gone for now feels a lot like gone for good

Happiness is a firecracker sitting on my headboard
Happiness was never mine to hold
Careful child, light the fuse and get away
‘Cause happiness throws a shower of sparks

Happiness damn near destroys you
Breaks your faith to pieces on the floor
So you tell yourself, that’s probably enough for now
Happiness has a violent roar

Happiness is like the old man told me
Look for it, but you’ll never find it all
But let it go, live your life and leave it
Then one day, wake up and she’ll be home
Home, home, home

Poetry Friday: two poems by Pablo Neruda

2009-03-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

I Crave Your Mouth, Your Voice, Your Hair

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

Don't Go Far Off, Even For A Day

Don't go far off, not even for a day, because --
because -- I don't know how to say it: a day is long
and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station
when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don't leave me, even for an hour, because
then the little drops of anguish will all run together,
the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift
into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach;
may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.
Don't leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you'll have gone so far
I'll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

Poetry Friday: "now all the fingers of this tree" by E. E. Cummings

2009-03-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

now all the fingers of this tree(darling)have
hands,and all the hands have people;and
more each particular person is(my love)
alive than every world can understand

and now you are and i am now and we're
a mystery which will never happen again,
a miracle which has never happened before--
and shining this our now must come to then

our then shall be some darkness during which
fingers are without hands;and i have no
you:and all trees are(any more than each
leafless)its silent in forevering snow

--but never fear(my own,my beautiful
my blossoming)for also then's until

Photorama: Redwoods at Big Basin State Park

2009-02-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

Poetry Friday: "La Belle Dame Sans Regrets" by Kelly R. Fineman

2009-02-27T08:43:00.000-08:00

The following poem was recently written by my friend, Kelly, in response to a challenge to create a story for this image by Cowper. I think she did a lovely job:

La Belle Dame Sans Regrets
by Kelly R. Fineman

A knight went riding out one day
To slay a dragon on the hill.
Astride his roan, he made his way –
Near water's edge, his horse stood still.

No dragon could the good knight see—
Only a maiden fit to bed:
Her eyes were silver as the sea,
Her smiling lips were poppy red.

In dreamlike state, he reached for her.
He spoke fine words in accents clear.
She came to him without demur—
No word she said as she drew near.

She rode with him upon his steed,
Again she rode him in due course.
Full willingly he met her need—
At last she rose without remorse.

The dragon maiden, fierce and fair,
sat by the dead knight's earthen bed—
With calm, cool hands she fixed her hair,
Her eyes and lips both poppy red.

Songs in my head: "Clementine" and "King of the Rodeo"

2009-02-24T11:15:00.000-08:00

These two new Megan Washington songs make me smile.

Alive, Alive!

2009-02-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

It's impossible to stay blue when the flowers are happy, the sky is bright, the air is sweet, and there are diamonds in the grass.

Song in my head: "Most of the Time" by Bob Dylan

2009-02-21T22:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a real treat in my mailbox. A friend sent me Tell Tale Signs, the eighth installment of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series. It's a two-CD set of previously unreleased studio recordings, alternate versions, demos, live songs and rarities from 1989 to 2006. I admit I am not the Dylan connoisseur Kevin is, and hadn't heard the original versions of some of the songs, but that did not keep me from fully enjoying this album. I've had this version of the song "Most of the Time" in my head most of the day:

Poetry Friday: Three poems by Billy Collins

2009-02-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

I see you scowling. Looks like you could use some Billy Collins today. Here are links to three:

Introduction to Poetry

Embrace

Marginalia

"Wm. Shakespeare's Five and Twenty Random Things Abovt Me" Meme

2009-02-19T17:35:00.000-08:00

The following meme from Mike McPhaden's Myspace page almost had me snorting my Fat Tire out my nose:

The meme is older than anyone guessed! Here it is, something I just dug up at the library: the First Folio edition of...

Wm. Shakespeare's Five and Twenty Random Things Abovt Me

1 Sometimes I Feele so trapp’d by iambic pentameter... Does that make me a Freake?

2 I haue been Knowne to cry at Bear-baiting.

3 I am not uery ticklish. I am Not. So prithee, do not euen try. Waste. Of. Time.

4 I cannot keep Lice, and know not why.

5 Sometimes I thinke plays are all Talke, Talke Talke, and wish for a cart-chase scene. I tried one in The Merry Wives, but it looked like Shitte, so I cut it. The men playing the horses were so Pissed at me.

6 I once threw vp on a man's head, from a high Windowe. I was so fvcking Sicke that Daye.

7 I hate to wear a Ruff, for I haue such a pleasing Necke.

8 As a player, I am painful-slow to learn my part. Once whilst playing Edward I, I used the prompter so ouermuch that a groundling yell’d ~Stop interrupting, Will! And it was my Dadde. (Kydding!)

9 Sometimes when I am Stvck for a rhyme, I new-mint a Worde because I jvst want to get the Damned script ovt the fvcking doore.

10 I play the Flute yet poorly, but I can make any crumhorn beg for Mercy.

11 When I am happy I call Anne my Kicky-wicky. When I am cross I call her “Olde Fun Killer Hag-Ass.”

12 I keepe my Stashe hidden in our seconde best bedde. Shhh. Don’t tell the Fyve-Oh.

13 The people that loue my Wordes the best are always the most disappointed vpon meeting me. Is thisse List ouer yet?

14 On the topic of dating, my daughter Susanna loues to remind me: ~Jvliet was only thirteen! And I remind her that i) she was Italian, an impulsive race ii), she was actually played by a middle-aged Eunuch named Ned, and iii) she died. That always shvts her right vp.

15 I deteste it when the Low-Comedians improuise the scenes I writ them… becavse they always make them so mvch fvnnier.

16 I haue, on occasion, thovght abovt hiring a Boy to fixe my Latin.

17 When I was sixe, my Goode-Friend Charles brovght to Schoole a wood-cut of his mother, qvite naked. After that we called him Charles Nudie-Mummy, whiche did make him Crye.

18 I take my eggs ouer-medium. If I get them O’er-Easily, I tell my Porter, ~You may thinke this is what I ordered, but it’s snot. I thinke that one is a real Slap-A-Th’Knee.

19 I work ovt my calues thrice weekly, usvally three pyramid sets of Calf-Rises whilst holding a flagon of Meade. I knowe I should stretch afterwards, but it Bores me so I do it not.

20 As a boy in my Bed, I would shriek i’the night that Witches wovld come to eat me. My Mother (bless her) wovld smooth my Hair and whispr ~ Be not afear’d, the Witches onlie eat the Jews.

21 Whitsuntide has become so commercial.

22 Nobody euer forgets where they were the moment they heard that Thomas Kyd died. I was shopping for codpieces in West Cheape. I came ovt of the Change-room and the proprietress was i’tears. I said ~What is it, now? and she replied ~Kyd is dead. There was a melancholy qviet, and then she said ~And that Piece is a mite too small on ye.

23 Euery time we do the Taming of the Shrew, some pvnter wants his Money backe, because we don’t actually show a shrew getting tamed.

24 I do not vnderstand all the Fvss over Currants. Sure, they are both sweet and Small, but must they bee added to EUERY FVCKING MEAL these days? Yestermonth, found I currants in a Tarte of Spinnedge. I meane come on, People. Seriovsly.

25 When I am feeling Melancholic, I console myselfe with the Knowledge that, aboue all else, I will be remembered for my Musick.

Explosive love

2009-02-19T15:03:00.000-08:00

Missive written by eight-year-old Joshua Lenzi, melter of hearts.

"Charlotte Bronte/Jane Austen Smackdown"

2009-02-18T23:32:00.000-08:00

Alan paused Battle Star Galactica to find out why I was laughing so hard. 'Twas this blog post by Sarah Williams.

Love...

2009-02-13T22:42:00.000-08:00

is worth celebrating.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Poetry Friday: "it is at moments after i have dreamed" by E. E. Cummings

2009-02-12T22:26:00.000-08:00

it is at moments after i have dreamed
of the rare entertainment of your eyes,
when (being fool to fancy) i have deemed

with your peculiar mouth my heart made wise;
at moments when the glassy darkness holds

the genuine apparition of your smile
(it was through tears always)and silence moulds
such strangeness as was mine a little while;

moments when my once more illustrious arms
are filled with fascination, when my breast
wears the intolerant brightness of your charms:

one pierced moment whiter than the rest

-turning from the tremendous lie of sleep
i watch the roses of the day grow deep.

"Does Religion Make You Nice?" by Paul Bloom

2009-02-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting article in Slate magazine that mentions the book Society Without God, by Phil Zuckerman, which Alan discussed recently on his blog.

Hookah!

2009-02-06T22:59:00.000-08:00

We chose an apple flavor, which we really liked. Alan told the guy I might write about the experience, and he treated us extra special--gave us an additional pot of some other flavor (on the house), asked to take our picture, and taught us how to make smoke rings.

Coals were placed over the pot holding the moist herbs, and the smoke was drawn down into the cool water and up into the pipe.

Ooh. I like it.

I think I produced one tiny smoke ring the whole time we were there, but Alan got pretty good at it. He got better toward the end and made some hecka cool ones, but here's a video of him earlier on:

Poetry Friday: "Thought" by Walt Whitman

2009-02-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

These little snippets of "thoughts" appear every once in awhile in my Complete Poems of Walt Whitman. Here's one I thought of today after seeing the following video on Tracy's LJ:

Thought

Of Equality--as if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself--as if it were not indispensable to my own rights that others possess the same.

--Walt Whitman

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Song in my head: "Get on Your Boots" by U2

2009-02-04T22:54:00.000-08:00

Love this one!

Winnie's War by Jenny Moss: Coming to a bookshelf near you on February 3!

2009-01-27T21:39:00.000-08:00

From Publishers Weekly:

"Winnie has always been confident that she can look out for herself and her two younger sisters, but her abilities are tested when the influenza pandemic of 1918 sweeps through her small Texas town. The turbulent atmosphere pushes people's strengths and weaknesses to the surface, especially those of her withdrawn mother, mysteriously traumatized since a catastrophic hurricane in her childhood. Desperate to find a way to save those they love, Winnie and a friend assume more responsibility than the adults around them. First-novelist Moss brings poetic language to this story, skillfully mirroring the internal pains and afflictions of influenza in the landscape of Texas. As Winnie learns the many ways in which death changes life, she—in sharp contrast to her mother—discovers 'how to let the good and the sad live side by side.' As sorrowful as the subject matter is, the author treats it romantically: she weights the meaningful relationships and the beautiful moments, and lets the losses pass as quickly as they can. Ages 10–14."

Jenny was sweet enough to let the moderators on Verla's writer's board pass around an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of Winnie's War, and I was very lucky to have the chance to read it! I was immediately drawn into Winnie's world and read the book in one sitting. It's a lovely, well written story. I bet you know a girl who would enjoy this book. Pick up Winnie's War--it hits shelves on February 3!

Golden

2009-01-26T07:33:00.000-08:00

This morning, Elizabeth C. Bunce's CURSE DARK AS GOLD won the first annual William C. Morris award for best YA by a debut novelist! Add it to the growing pile of awards for this book. Yay Elizabeth! Yay Erin! Yay retellings! Yay historical fantasy! Yay CURSE!

* * * *

And the Newbery went to Neil Gaiman's GRAVEYARD BOOK! Check out his reaction to the news on his blog.

"Obama's Call to Arts" by Gloria Goodale

2009-01-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

I think I love him.