New Year’s Intentions

December 31, 2009December 31, 2009 / still a dreamer

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? You’re not alone; many people do. I used to make them, too, until I realized I pretty much knew what it was I had to do, commit to, change. But then, recently, I came across something in a local metaphysical-type publication called natural awakenings. It was an article about setting New Year’s intentions.

Tony Burroughs talks about how New Year’s intentions are infinitely more powerful than resolutions and how they put the laws of manifestation to work. He talks about how positive and powerful words, serving the highest and best of the Universe, will manifest not only the greatest good for ourselves, but for all mankind. Understanding that our thoughts, words and actions create the future and that we use them for the highest and best will bring us the joy we seek.

I visited Tony Burroughs’ web site and found it to have a lot of information about how to buy books and DVD’s or to join Intenders’ circles. But The Code itself has its own page, and here are the Ten Intentions for a Better World that inspired me to write this post. Check out The Code: Ten Intentions for a Better World and see if they resonate with you as a way to start 2010.

Happy New Year!

NJ SCBWI First Page Session

November 13, 2009November 16, 2009 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

In our, (and I speak for all my fellow aspiring children’s book writers), desire to be published, or to expand our horizons in terms of who we know or wish to meet, there are plenty of things we can do. One of the best is joining the SCBWI. I belong to the NJ SCBWI, which is a phenomenal chapter.

The NJ Chapter, headed up by Kathy Temean, Regional Advisor, has more exciting events on an ongoing basis than any chapter I’m aware of. This weekend, there is an Illustrator’s Intensive, a Picture Book Intensive and a Novel Writer’s Intensive, all conducted by luminaries in their field, E.B. Lewis, Sudipta Bardhan, and Agent Scott Triemel. However, I’m writing about one of the smaller of the SCBWI events, a First Page Session.

I attended one of these in Princeton, our Chapter’s usual hosting location, this past Wednesday. We were 22 attendees with two editors – Shauna Fay from G.P. Putnam and Lindsay Winget from Atheneum. For those of you not familiar with First Page Sessions, you submit your manuscript anonymously and properly formatted to fill one page, indicating only your title and genre. Each first page is read aloud and the editors spend their time critiquing it.

While this is not as in-depth as a one-on-one critique received at a mentoring workshop or other event, the input by two editors/agents on just one page can provide great information as to whether your story has a good hook, a good title, appropriate language for the targeted audience, good rhyme scheme, an original theme and so on. Ms. Fay and Winget did a great job of enlightening us to the strengths and weaknesses of our submissions. (One of them even got a little choked up when mine was read, and I am so flattered!) Most definitely worth the very modest price – for SCBWI members – of only $25. For an additional $25, for members only, you can stay for a delicious dinner and sit and chat with the editors. Another advantage for all attendees is that you may submit a MS to these editors for a limited time period and they will look at your submission as a priority vs. being sent to the bottom of the slush pile.

The humble First Page Session is not only a means of getting a lot of information about your work-in-progress, but also a connection with two editors/agents .. and, if a member, a really good dinner for what today is a pittance. Not an SCBWI member? Check out the NJ SCBWI page for upcoming events and other goings-on – if it looks good to you, click on the kite link up top and join the SCBWI!

Just an Old Folkie at Heart

November 4, 2009 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

FolkGuitar Sometimes in the middle of the work, sometimes in the middle of the stress and nonsense, something just keeps shining through. And for me, that is music. Does music do it for you, too?

I love many forms of music, and certainly have several favorites, but what always feels as comfortable as a pair of old shoes, a cozy easy chair, is acoustic folk. No doubt growing up in the 60’s and 70’s in the whole folk scene has a lot to do with it, but what could be better while working to suddenly hear Jesse Colin Young, Bob Dylan, James Taylor? The sweet voices of Sarah McLaughlin, Lucinda Williams, Bonnie Raitt? Acoustic guitar music and folk span decades – it just never gets tired.

And the best of all … it comes streaming through my computer in iTunes. How wonderful is it to have access to hundreds and hundreds of radio stations playing whatever music you feel like hearing on any particular day? Just the best. Thank you, Apple! (and yes, I am on a Mac.) The folk stations that serve up the best, if you folkies out there are reading and are unaware of this gem on your computer, are Radioio Acoustic Cafe, Folk Alley, Grassy Hill Radio and GotRadio-Folk Lore.

Sometimes it’s the seemingly small joys in life that become the rich tapestry backdrops to the rest of our lives … when is there not music?

Books to Feed the Soul-A Pocketful of Miracles

October 10, 2009 / still a dreamer

PocketfulOfMiracles It is often said that when the pupil is ready the teacher appears. I believe that said teacher can also be in the form of a book by an inspiring author. So in addition to whatever novel, picture books, etc. I am reading at any given time, I am also reading a book of a metaphysical/inspirational nature. I find checking in with this book on a quasi-daily basis helps me keep my balance in a terribly hectic schedule, and where I am always trying to find time for my writing and illustrating.

The most recent teacher to appear is Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., a scientist, psychologist and mystic whose “guiding vision is to bridge medicine, psychology and the great spiritual traditions of the ages.” A Pocketful of Miracles was sitting on the front sale table at my local library when I most recently returned some books. It wasn’t there 2 weeks ago, and I remember Borysenko’s name as being in the bibliography of Sarah Ban Breathnacht’s Simple Abundance, another favorite of mine. Could I not pick it up?

Pocketful of Miracles is a perpetual calendar kind of book, divided into seasons in the tradition of much spiritual thought. Each day offers a seed thought and a prayer or practice. What has enticed me most is the weaving of the world’s great spiritual traditions, with the goal of bringing peace first in our own souls, and then peace and compassion to all on earth. I’m enjoying randomly letting the book fall open and finding my wisdom for the day, or turning to today’s date’s page.

The beauty of keeping going a book of this sort, is that it is always there, always ready to share the wisdom of its author, and should another teacher come along, it will always be waiting when the time is right once again for me to open its pages. I’ve temporarily put aside Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life by Wayne Dyer, a study of the Tao, as that will always be waiting as well.

A small amount of time spent each day journaling and soaking in some of the wisdom that feeds a soul helps me keep my balance in an often overly-demanding life. And I’m looking forward to A Pocketful of Miracles being my new teacher for now.

Africa – Perpetuum Jazzile

October 5, 2009 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

This amazing a cappella jazz choir from Slovenia not only reinvents Toto’s 1982 hit, Africa, but creates an African rainstorm with their hands as an introduction. It’s been around for a bit, but if you’ve never seen – or heard – it, it’s totally amazing. I’ve listened to it many times, and haven’t tired yet. Such talent.