Toilet Shoes In Paradise: Days of a Writer's Life

Seems as if I do most of my blogging on Facebook nowadays. It's short and sweet and easy. I do enjoy reading Live Journal, though, and love hearing (in my head, as I read!) what everybody is doing.

I have a break from MFA work, which is nice. Next residency is July 11-23. I'm excited to go to Vermont!

Picked up a freelance writing gig for which I'm writing about legislation to help self-employed disabled veterans. Check out www.giveavetachance.org. My Dad's a veteran, so I believe in the cause.

Will be presenting at the Stroudsburg University summer reading conference on Friday. Registration is way down, so if anybody is interested get in touch with the university. Doggone economy is hitting everybody hard.

I'll also be presenting a morning storytime on July 1st at the Margate Library. Come one; come all. Margate's just a bit south of Atlantic City, so if you happen to be at the beach (and are reading LJ!) pop in for an hour.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Grub Street's YAWP Summer Teen Writing Fellowship immerses students age 13-18 in the writer's life of craft and publishing. Admitted writers will participate in workshops, classes, and readings Monday-Thursday, July 27-August 6. Each student will receive a $300 stipend upon completion of the program.

Applications are due June 19th. DON'T WAIT! APPLY NOW!

More information and application forms can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.grubstreet.org/index.php?id=161

Book Expo was as busy and fun and exhausting and inspiring as ever. My cousin Denise came into the city and we saw "Wicked," which was fantastic. Ate good food. I love New York.

So now that we're all Twittering and FaceBook-ing, it's hard to find time for Live Journal, too, isn't it?! Social networking could be a job in itself.

VOYA will be giving "Planet Pregnancy" some nice words. Yay!


PLANET PREGNANCY - Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) - June 2009


Seventeen-year-old Sahara has just left Texas and entered Planet Pregnancy, inhabited only by herself and “Embryo.” Sahara cannot imagine how she could be pregnant because “tragedy happens to other people, not me.” When Sahara becomes the stereotypical “catastrophe,” she is understandably frightened and shies from revealing her circumstances to those who might provide help and support as she attempts to make a decision that will alter the rest of her life. As the days tick by and Sahara remains silent, she is overwhelmed by the only three options she can conceive: to become a young mother, to give up her child for adoption, or to “Take Care Of It” and try to move beyond her mistake. Alone with her thoughts, Sahara’s terror deepens as her condition progresses, and her options quickly begin to run out.

Told in free verse that lends authenticity to the narrator’s teen voice, this novel chronicles the momentous nine-month journey that Sahara enters, starting with the shocking results of her home pregnancy test and ending after the delivery of her child. The discomforts of pregnancy and the anguish of being seventeen and on the verge of adult life are presented with humor and honesty, making Sahara leap off the page and become a girl who could be found in any school, anywhere in modern America. Although some readers might disagree with Sahara’s ultimate choice, the novel is a realistic and compelling read for any teen. —Jennifer McConnel.

Thank you to everybody at Wescosville Elementary for a fantastic school day! You rock!

Hope that every mother had a lovely Mother's Day! Mine was good up until, oh, about midnight, when my son called downstairs, "MOM! I don't have a bed!" "What do you mean?" I called back. "There's water everywhere," he shouted in return. I ran upstairs, and lo and behold, his waterbed was now a frame of water leaking onto the floor. Yuck. We worked for about an hour, throwing soaked sheets and comforters and pillows out the window and using the Shop Vac on the water and aiming fans at the flooded floor and moving books from the room under the flooded floor in case the ceiling started to leak. Whew. Apparently, our new puppy may have chewed a hole in the mattress. But guess what? We adore her anyway! That's the magic of dogs: unconditional love that goes both ways.

So that was the night. My MD gift was a pink dogwood tree, now planted in the backyard, on the spot where our golden retriever Angel is buried.

Enjoy your day, all!

So it's been a week since I posted. Where does the time go?! Well, let's see . . . I was at Sesame Place with Grand Ones, and hiking in the rain in Nolde Forest. Then I was working and writing and working and writing. MFA packet was due. My response came today and my advisor says that I've finally nailed the elusive and dreaded critical essays! Yay.

Next week is the writing retreat with Symansker and The Sykester. (Sounds ominous, doesn't it?) My dog Sasha is going along, and I'm writing a feature on the dog-friendly "Olivia's" in Cape May, NJ.

I'm excited, too, for Book Expo at the end of the month. Any of you going to be there?

"An old racetrack joke reminds you that your program
contains all the winners' names. I stare at my
typewriter keys with the same thought."

~ Mignon McLaughlin

Thanks to everybody at Reeceville School for a fantastic school day on Thursday. You rock!

Check this out: http://www.readtomelv.com/streams/high/Cool_Boppers_Choppers_High_Speed.html

My book "Cool Bopper's Choppers" is on Read To Me!

My friend Diane's husband Mick was a great guy who loved life. His energy and enthusiasm are legend: Building an amazing log house by hand, lovingly restoring his 1957 Chevy, astounding his brother by restoring a car for him, too (license plate: 4 U Pal), strumming his Banjo in the Mummers parade, adoring his beloved Labrador retrievers, surprising Diane with yellow marshmallow peeps and a cool ring on Easter morning. On the day after Easter, Mick Percetti was killed in a work-related accident. Mick worked in conscientous respect for nature, and he thrived upon his work as a timber harvester and logger. His memorial service was on Saturday morning. Please keep Diane in your thoughts and prayers. She's one of the sweetest human beings on the planet, and my heart crumbles for her. Mick's pets (his "kids") are lonely for him, too . . . and Maggie, Sadie, and Oreo are missing Mick along with the rest of his family and friends. Rest in peace, Mick Percetti, and we'll see you somewhere above the trees.

My buddy pass finally flew me to Georgia, and the writing retreat with Lola and Jeff was fantastic!! We wrote and wrote and wrote, stopping only to eat, sleep, or hike. I produced about 30 new pages on my novel! Yay!

So the bad thing about flying on a Buddy Pass is that you might not be able to board the flight you REALLY, REALLY want to get on! I've flown on these passes several times, and today is the first time that I've been unable to get on the flight. Drat. Have 4 hours until the next flight. Thank God for free internet access and (expensive) coffee.

Our sweet new dog Sasha looked so sad when I left this morning. Reminds me of the days before my kids turned into teenagers and adults: somebody moping about me leaving.

May your day fly smoothly.

Two years ago, I was lucky enough to be part of a Symposium held in Abruzzo, Italy. The people were lovely, and so were the buildings and the land. Here's the article I wrote about it: http://www.realtraveladventures.com/Oct2007/land_of_a_1000_castles__the_ooh_in_abruzzo.htm

My heart and prayers are with Abruzzo.

So it's the get-the-car-inspected, get-the-taxes-done time of the year, and those boring things are finished. Whew. It's also the get-ready-for-the-writing-retreat-with-Lola-and-Jeff time of year. Yay!! It's only something like 11 days until I go to Georgia to write, write, write with devoted and hard-working fellow writers. Last time we did this, I came home with quite a chunk of work. But before I go, I need to write some more, here at home!

Tomorrow is my last class in which to teach this session of Write That Novel at Goggleworks. This has been an awesome class, with so many talented writers, and they've made it really interesting and fun. Thanks, everybody!

I'm so enjoying our new dog Sasha. She's one of those lovey-dovey cuddle-up-on-the-sofa kinds of dogs, which is really lovely. She also loves to walk, which is good for stuck-to-the-computer people like me. Off to walk now!

Have a great weekend.

Thanks so much to everybody at Kutztown Elementary and Greenwich Elementary!! You were amazing audiences, and it was fun to meet you. I LOVED the yummy lunch at Greenwich, too!

We found Sasha on a rescue foundation website (www.castawaycritters.org) and we fell in love, just from her photo. We visited her at her foster home and fell more in love, and then we welcomed her into our home on Saturday, and fell more in love. Sasha's a mix: retriever, pitbull, and lots of sweetness in one brown and white pink-nosed dog. 9 months old and housetrained, Sasha is a dream doggie!

We might be kind of like a guy who wants to date two weeks after his wife's funeral, but I think adopting a new dog who needs a home is a tribute to Angel's life and to the love we have for her! Sasha agrees.

So I'll be teaching a writing workshop in IRELAND in August of 2010! http://www.toscanaamericana.com/lohighwritingireland.html

Our sweet old golden retriever will be going to Dog Heaven in about 2 hours. We've called the vet. Poor Angel has gone severely downhill the past few weeks, and today has been really bad. She couldn't get up to walk inside, so our 18-year-old carried her, and my heart is breaking as she trembles on the floor beside me. We're all a-blubber in this house tonight.

We got Angel as a beautiful blonde puppy when Zach was in kindergarten. Zach's now 18 and about 6' tall. Angel's 14, and the best dog ever. Good natured and loveable, loyal and true. Best. Dog. Ever.

My Dad adores our dog, and he's outside in our backyard now, helping to dig the grave. He's 78. My brother's here, too. Everybody wanted to say their goodbyes and to help. We've never had to make this decision before, and it's been a difficult one.

May she run with abandon and joy in Dog Heaven. Here's Angel's sweet face in a picture I took today. Even in the midst of her pain, she tried hard to thump her tail.

Went to see my cousin's husband's new band last night. Escape does 1980's covers, and now I have Eddie Van Halen and The Police looping through my head! It was great to see all the young cousins (and some of the old ones, too!) and to dance!

MFA work for me this afternoon. I spent a few days recovering from a virus, and now it's back to work. Happy Sunday, all.