May in Review

Well, y’all, I did it. My second draft readers – Dianna, Christiane and Jenni – all have their copies of “There With You” (my working title, in case you missed the last post) and are reading away. I’m trying really hard to not freak out about this, but the questions “What if it sucks?” and “What if everyone makes fun of me?” were groaned by me in a moment of panic. The answers are very simple: “I will fix it” and “Screw them, they didn’t write a book.” 😉 Still, it’s a scary/exciting thing.

Here’s what else happened in May:

Books

BBCE selected “The Uncommon Reader” by Alan Bennett for May. It’s a short, funny novella. Queen Elizabeth’s dogs get loose and run into a mobile library. When the Queen goes to get them, she feels obligated to check out a book. Suddenly she finds herself obsessed with reading and devours every book she can get her hands on. Her new passion begins to have an effect on the decisions she makes, the way she interacts with people and even allows her to give herself a chance at a more creative life – something she’d never been allowed before.

I checked out “Sailing Alone Around the Room” by Billy Collins from the library at Dianna’s suggestion. Collins wrote the “Forgetfulness” poem that I love so much. The thing about poetry, though, is that for me it’s a leisurely read. There’s nothing super compelling about it to keep me turning the pages. I love it, but I need to be able to put it down and then pick it back up whenever I feel like it. Long story short, I only read about half of this before it was due back at the library.

My friend Jessica loaned me “The Old Maid: The ‘Fifties” by Edith Wharton, which was another quick read. It’s a novella that was originally published as a magazine series in the 1920s. The story centers around two cousins who are part of New York City high society in the 1870s. Delia marries into the proper family, has children and carries on the traditions of her upbringing. Her cousin Charlotte has a child outside of marriage that lives in an orphanage under Charlotte’s care until Charlotte confesses to Delia, who agrees to bring up the girl, Tina, as one of her own. So everyone lives together under one roof, but Tina doesn’t know her true parentage and considers Delia her mother and Charlotte her old maid aunt. It’s interesting to see the dynamic play out, which each woman feeling she has claim as Tina’s parent and feeling jealous of the other one’s role. Especially since Charlotte’s baby daddy is Delia’s first love whom she was not allowed to marry. DRAMA.

Movies

The San Antonio Botanical Garden hosted Slab Cinema‘s free outdoor movie screening, Starlight Movies in the Garden, at the beginning of the month. As soon as I heard the movie was “Singin’ in the Rain,” I was so there. God, I love that movie. I hadn’t watched it in ages and it made me so happy to see it again (I had to stop myself from quoting lines and singing along) and in such a cool setting! The series continues in the fall with “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Roman Holiday.” There and there!

Who wouldn’t want to see movies like this? Gorgeous.

Like everyone else on the planet, I saw “The Avengers.” Twice, actually. And I’d go a third time (but only during the cheap times) because it was very fun. And holy cow, is there a lot of man candy on that screen!

Internet Highlights

I already posted about it, but here it is again: My BFF Dianna’s site. She’s currently making a series of videos where she portrays Johanna Mason from the second and third Hunger Games books. Very cool stuff.

The Passion Series. A collection of short films, each about a different person and his/her creative passion. Also very cool stuff.

Lori Portka’s Spreading Happiness Through Art. Site and blog by a woman who became an artist in her 30s (after reading “The Artist’s Way” 🙂 ) and reinvented her life.

Flavorwire’s awesome bookshelf slideshow. I want!

Shakespearean insults. Now that’s how you class up an argument (and confuse the hell out of your opponent.)

Amazon’s list of Top 10 Well-Read Cities in the US of A, by way of Huffington Post Books. Not one of them is from TX, either. 😦 Start reading, y’all!

BookRiot’s flowchart on Dan Brown’s writing process. Hilarious. I would love to see one for Nicholas Sparks.

Jacqueline Novogratz’s advice to graduates. Beautiful.

Gretchen Rubin (of The Happiness Project) shares 7 tips on sparking creativity.

A list of the 10 best literary bars in Manhattan. Sam, Dianna… this is what we’re doing when I come visit.

Coming up in June

While my readers are plugging away, I’m going to do some research on writing conferences where I could get some face time with agents or editors. There’s one in Austin at the end of June that would be kind of perfect, except it’s crazy expensive since I missed the early bird deadline (even doing the one-day YA-focused thing would be like $400. Ouch.) I’m also going to see what contests are going on right now. I probably have some short stories or poems in me that are worth submitting. Who knows, I might just earn some extra cash and a chance at publication.

National Poetry Month

This month, BBCE shook things up a little and shared poetry instead of reading a book. Everyone brought a couple of choices. I love poetry, but I’m not… ahem… well versed in it, so my first choice was my favorite from high school — “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Man, I love that poem. I love the idea of possibility in it.

Dianna recommended “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collins, who is a former U.S. Poet Laureate. I read it and loved it so much I put a hold request on one of his books at the library because I can’t wait to read more.

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Right???

Then, Dianna found this:

Very cool.

Do y’all have a favorite poet or poem? As long as it doesn’t involve a man from Nantucket, I want to know about it. Share!