Unexpected Intersections

 It's been a busy couple of months, with several writing deadlines. Now, with deadlines met, I'm embracing the pause that follows the busyness of this spring.  When I think of pauses, my mind immediately goes to music. In musical notation, the symbols for pauses are called are rests. To me, rests are the punctuation of music - periods at the ends of phrases, breaks that allow us to process what we've just heard and to anticipate what might be coming next.  Pauses - rests - are full of potential. Like neurons, even at rest we are full of potential energy. Ideas hums and buzz beneath the surface. In the pauses, we can hear our own voice more clearly, and we can adjust our focus - zooming out or in on our life for a change of perspective. As I'm enjoying this pause, I'm also enjoying the new anthology edited by Tabatha Yeatts : Imperfect II poems about perspective: an anthology for middle schoolers . I'm honored that my poem "To the Pansy by the Front Door...

There's been a lot going on in my writing world lately, so today I thought I'd round up some of my latest news. I recently talked with Joy Bean, Lead Editor at Arctis Books, about bringing books for young readers in translation to the US market. You can get insights into that publishing process, including her thoughts on which books translate well across markets, in our interview over at  Cynsations . April is National Poetry Month in the US, which means the internet abounds with extra helpings of poetic goodness. Over at Ethical ELA, they are celebrating with Verselove . There's a new post every day to inspire you, including this one by Poetry Friday regular, Denise Krebs . If you're looking for interesting poetic forms and mentor poems, it's a great place to visit this month. I'm excited to have a poem in this new anthology for middle-graders, edited by Tabatha Yeatts . I love writing for middle graders, and I loved the first Imperfect anthology, so it was an...

I'm writing a poem for every day of October, playing with poems inspired by a list of Inktober prompts written in senryu, haiku, and tanka poetic forms. You can read the first week's worth of my Spooktober poems, and see my prompt list, in this post .  I've had a lot of fun with the prompts this week!  I've got some publishing news to share today! I'm thrilled to have two poems included in the 10.10 Poetry Anthology: Celebrating 10 in 10 Different Ways , which includes poems from many Poetry Friday participants.  You can get a peek inside the anthology and order your own copy here .  The editor of the anthology, Bridget Magee , is our host for Poetry Friday this week. Hop on over to her blog to congratulate her on 10 years of blogging and the publication of this wonderful anthology, and to get links to the rest of today's Poetry Friday poems!