Author: still a dreamer

Can We Ever Have Too Many?

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

Probably the answer to that is `yes,’ but when I think about it being books, my head just seems to automatically move from side to side … no. We can’t.

Of course, I say this in my own defense, as well might you, in the face of Tuesday’s experience. I went to vote. Our town votes in the local library. There are no services for that day, but one can still roam about and  peruse the shelves. Well, the shelves I perused were the ones in front of the check-out desk which are always filled with used/unwanted/donated books for sale. $1.00 for hardcover, $.50 for paperback.

I asked one of the ladies helping out with voting if I could just leave the librarian some money for a few books. Of course I could, just no borrowing from the main shelves. (I bet they’re all in cahoots, I thought, conspiring to entice helpless readers.) I didn’t have change, so left a bigger bill which would cover the books and a small donation to the library along with a note.

I found another book by Amy Tan, The Kitchen God’s Wife, her next after her first big success. The Joy Luck Club. That seemed like a good bet. And then I found Toni Morrison’s latest novel, Paradise, a mystery about some evil goings-on in a convent outside a small Oklahoma town. Now that sounded interesting! And then in paperback, The Power of Silence, a later book by Carlos Castaneda, and also The Secret by Rhonda Byrne … the book. (I’ve only read the web site.) What a tasty little gathering of reads for such a pittance.

Now, that fortune cookie … technically, it belonged to my friend as I had already opened and eaten my cookie. Half of it was good advice … the generosity part. The perfection part? Well, sometimes that’s just a way to make ourselves crazy, but hey, it’s only a thought in a cellophane-wrapped, folder-over piece of fried dough, right? I have something more on my mind … I’m stalking through the freshly vacated rooms of the convent with men seeking justice in Paradise.

Lending A Hand, Lending A Shoulder

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

One of the things I observe and which warms my heart during and in the wake of cataclysmic events such as Hurricane Sandy, is the outpouring of support for those stricken with misfortune – our neighbors, our family and friends, and for total strangers. It seems there’s a little something everyone can do, and the more we hear, the more we come to know just how worse off many have it than ourselves.

We all can lend a hand and if needed, a shoulder, to someone in need. What makes me crazy is the media – do they focus on all the good people are doing for one another? No, instead they feature the fist fight at the local gas line. I can only say, shame on them. Show us the good stuff.

This country has come together again and again – to stand with one another in the face of tragedy right here – 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and other events, making us proud to be Americans. Even in the face of an election and across party lines – really, in the face of such sadness as the destruction we’ve just witnessed and lived through – who cares? It’s then that people care most about what counts … each other.

It’s sad that it sometimes takes tragedy for so many to put aside their differences, but in the end we do. We’re at our best and most human.

Today I had to make a call as one of my bills never arrived. The first question the representative asked, seeing where I lived, is how was I doing in the wake of the hurricane. Our humanness is what binds us and makes the world so much smaller. She was from a country whose capital was almost completely underwater in August due to excessive rains and flooding. We commiserated briefly before discussing the business at hand, and the world became yet smaller.

There are so many ways to help. Are you a writer or illustrator? You can help out and be helped in your craft as many authors, editors, agents are offering their time and expertise for a fee which will be donated to help victims of Hurricane Sandy. Read more here.

It’s November – PiBoIdMo Month!

/ still a dreamer

November is PiBoIdMo – Picture Book Idea Month! It’s the perfect time for aspiring, (or published), picture book writers to challenge themselves by coming up with an idea a day for the 30 days in November.

Established by children’s book author Tara Lazar, PiBoIdMo is a great way of really getting those creative juices flowing, and while you can certainly do it on your own, you can sign up for PiBoIdMo on Tara’s web site. It’s free, of course, but registering gives you the opportunity of winning some cool prizes including a critique of your ideas by an agent or editor in the children’s book field. There’s still time! Registration closes Nov.4th.

You can still follow along after that date, and check out the relevant daily posts on Tara’s site, but to be eligible for prizes you must register by Nov. 4th. Check here for complete details and to sign up.

I participated in 2010 – that’s a photo of my PiBoIdMo journal which has plenty of room left for my 2012 ideas – and was amazed at how many good ones I came up with! Some were less than brilliant, I admit, but quite a few were pretty interesting. I really enjoyed my own little PiBoIdMo kick-off which included reviewing some of those ideas. Just makes me want to write!

If you aspire to write children’s picture books, why not give it a go and watch your own creativity bloom?

 

Waiting for Sandy

/ still a dreamer / 6 Comments

I looked out the window into the thick darkness, the only illumination a blue sensor light by my neighbor’s pond below. A thick cloud cover obscured even the idea of a star. I knelt on the Lane cedar chest that was my Mom’s hope chest, now vintage, I suppose, and was soon joined by my two cats. They purred amiably seeing as little in the dark as I did, but happy to join my watch. It was 4:30 a.m.

It’s never my intention to be up at this hour and it only happens on two occasions. One, Claude goes to down to the kitchen and begins caterwauling for whatever his reasons are, (and it’s never lack of food or water.) Or, two, I have something on my mind. This time it was the latter; I was contemplating the arrival of Sandy, the variously named hurricane, nor`easter, tropical storm that is working its way up the East coast, and the implications it may have on our lives.

10′ surges already pound the southern shore of my state, and landfall, wind speeds, rainfall are being ever more accurately predicted. It becomes apparent that we can choose to fill ourselves with the minutiae of every changing twist and turn of the storm or gather the information we need and return to our lives. Clearly, the latter offers a more calming result.

I was reading Mark Nepo this morning. I opened the book to where I’d last left off, and his daily reflection was perfect for today. He wrote, ” It can’t be helped. We return through different questions to the same central issue: How do we live fully? How do we live in such a way that the wonder of feeling outfuels the pain of breaking?”

Perhaps waiting for a storm, living through a storm, is exactly a return to that question. Shall we live the next few days in enjoyment, in fulfilling whatever tasks we have planned despite the rage of a storm or curl inward in fear and anxiety of what may be? Shall we try and believe in our strengths or succumb to unnecessary defeat? Shall we search for the wonder or break?

Twelve hours after the 4:30 a.m. vigil, there is one unavoidable conclusion: whatever Sandy brings, she brings. We’ve gotten everything in place that we can, and now we wait, knowing we can do no more. Is there still wonder in life? Yes … in every moment. The challenge, to hold on and believe.

Grounds for Sculpture – II

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

People … there are lots of people in the Grounds for Sculpture, and they’re not just patrons of the arts, but statuary in many different styles and materials.  Here I’m featuring some random sculptures I particularly like. Let’s take a look at who’s in the garden … or on the way to the Grounds.

Something so enjoyable for me was the placement of sculptures all along the route from the highway exit right up to the admission gates. It’d be hard to get lost – just follow the sculpture! As you drive off the exit, there are two young people, pointing across the road …

And what they’re pointing at is a possibly 30′ tall sculpture of American Gothic, the famous painting, below.

What I found incredibly appealing is that there are life-size sculptures of people everywhere, presumably by the same artist. As you drive further towards the grounds, you see a dad helping his son learning to ride his bicycle in front of the town post office. And then as we walked the grounds …

We turned a corner and came upon this couple relaxing on the ground in some quiet shade. They, too, are sculptures, so lifelike it took a moment to be sure.

Tucked in a shady corner was a lovely bronze of a woman in the bath …

And along a path a more modern take of a person sitting …

As we approached the Grounds for Sculpture‘s restaurant, Rat’s, there was a pond to our left, with a sculpted head surrounded by mist, reflecting the slanted rays of afternoon sun.

As we walked further, we noticed another of the lifelike and life-size human sculptures, a woman bathing by the edge of a pond in the forest. The whole setting was just exquisite.

A close-up of the bather oblivious of all around her, also surrounded by soft mist.

The Grounds for Sculpture is its own world. What I also noticed is that every piece of art has lights in the ground at its base. I can only imagine how magical it must be here at night. Perhaps another trip back.

Next post … Renoir, Monet and more.

See Grounds for Sculpture I

Visit Grounds for Sculpture III