Looking Forward to the New Year

 

#50 Precious Words

 

 

It’s over already?

It started out slowly,

with the uphill climb,

the fffp-fffp of snowpants,

the damp breath inside my scarf.

The top at last!

I sat, held on tight.

Firm hands pushed my back.

Time stood still.

Then zoom,

spin,

fly,

LOOK OUT!

Glide.

Stop.

Again please!

Thirty Ideas and Counting!!

 

Getting Lots of Inspiration

 

Storystorm 2024 is in the Books!

Storystorm 2024 Here I come!

Tracks

 A few more bird feeder tracks.

Nesting

I've been reminiscing about last summer and found this picture I took of a nest I spotted in a shrub beside a lake.



 

Timothy

 

Thinking of spring!

#kidlitbookstack

 

Bathroom talk

 Kids go through a bathroom talk phase. I can't decide what this is saying, but I was thrilled to find this!

Perfect Sunday

 

Who can it be?

 

There hasn't been much snow this winter to go tracking. These were around my bird feeder. Any guesses?

Hope

Nothing says hope on a cold winter day like a nest waiting for the first birds of spring.

Falling for Snails

 

I am reading this quiet little book, and now I want to read all the books about snails, snail courtship, snail defenses, snails hitching a ride on a bird or a cat or an older snail.... Or perhaps I'll have to write one.

A Valentine Rosie

 Here is my entry for Susannah Hill's Valentiny Contest.

Judging criteria will include:

1. Kid-appeal/Kid-friendliness – remember, this is a story for kids!
2. Creativity in using bravery and success in making us feel the bravery!
3. Valentine’s Day appropriateness – this is a VALENTINE story!
4. Quality of story – we will look for basic story elements and a true story arc
5. Quality of writing – use and flow of language, correctness of mechanics, excellence of rhyme and meter if you use it, PROOFREADING!
6. Originality – surprise us with something new and different!
   
7. How well you followed the Submission Guidelines – agents and editors expect professionalism. This is a chance to practice making sure you read and follow specified guidelines. If you don’t follow agent and editor submission guidelines they won’t even read your submission.

A Valentine Rosie

214 words

GULP, Valentine’s Day was coming . . . fast!

Invitations were delivered.

Bleachers lined the cafeteria.

And Rosie had a lump in her stomach.

Her class was singing an I Love You song to their families.

Rosie had to walk in front of everyone with a big glittery heart.

She hadn’t raised her hand, she’d done just the opposite.

But she was the tallest so Mrs. Bain chose her.

All the guests would see the sign, which meant they would all see her.

GULP!

At rehearsal she hid behind the sign and walked into Mrs. Bain.

She tried being invisible, Mrs. Bain noticed.

The night before the big day, Mom said, “It’ll be fine.’

Dad said, “You’ll be perfect.’

Her brother said, “You’ll probably trip.”

She hadn’t even thought about tripping, GULP!

She pretended to be sick.

She stayed awake so the morning wouldn’t come so soon.

It came anyway.

When Rosie got on the bus, she saw Lexi staring out the window.

“My mom can’t come,” she said when Rosie asked what was wrong.

‘I wish I didn’t have to look out and see she’s not there.”

Carrying the sign wasn’t so bad, thought Rosie, her family would be there.

She talked to Mrs. Bain.

Standing tall, they lifted the heart together.

Storystorm

I'm so excited to leave 2020 in the dust and start off 2021 with 30+ ideas to tweak! Thanks Tara Lazar for Storystorm (and I love the art by Mike Ciccotello)

#PBCHAT

 I'm so excited and relieved that I've sent off my application to the PBChat mentorship program. Now I just need to wait patiently until the announce the winners in July. For more info, since apllications are open until June 14th, check out....

http://justincolonbooks.com/2020-mentorship/

Milkweed Silkiness

I have been working on a manuscript for young children about the milkweed and monarch relationship. And yes, I'm the kind of person that encourages milkweed to grow in my garden. This is an amazing picture from last fall. Here's hoping that some of these seeds stayed and will be popping up soon.

Newt

Rewarded again for looking down, by this lovely red-spotted newt.