End of the Year Writer Round Up

Another year has come to an end already. Man, seems pretty fast looking back on it, doesn't it? What all happened in the writer world this year. Let's see.

The Harry Potter movies officially came to an end. That breaks my heart. Lol. I went to a midnight premier of it and had a blast. Another book/movie was The Help which was also really good.

The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon series) has finally come to an end. I'm still reading it and just got to a good part. Seems like we spent a long time waiting for the this last book but I'm sure it's worth it.

I went to NaNoWriMo's Night of Writing Dangerously which was FANTASTIC. I have big plans for fundraising next year. It's going to be a ton of fun so be looking out for that. I've also finished

In blog related stuff, we just finished a year's worth of Poetry Slams! Awesome. Scribbles and Shorts had it's first birthday and it's first give-away.



Let's see how I did on last year resolutions.

Write more shorts- Hmmm, well, if you count the little things I did for writer's group then maybe? I might be stretching it a little thought.

Finish editing/write a query letter for NaNo 09 novel- Ok, editing yes, query letter no. I'm no where near ready for a query yet. Lol. I'm working on it though.

Do a little poetry- Yes!

So I think I did pretty good. Here's to doing better in the new year!


Overall, writer wise and personally, I'd say that this was a pretty good year. How was yours?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

POETRY SLAM! #12

Poetry Slam 12!? Do you know that means that we've successfully completed a year of Poetry Slams!? Whooo!!

Well, for the last Poetry Slam I put together a Sonnet about snow. This winter has been uncharacteristically warm for us. As in 'I didn't even need a jacket of any kind with a short sleeve shirt this afternoon' kind of warm. That's weird for us because we're usually a foot deep in snow by now. Lol. Most people are really excited about that but honestly I WANT MY SNOW! :/ Not a dangerous amount, just enough to cover the ground and be pretty. So maybe this will bring good snow vibes my way. Lol.



Snow Day

Little eyes turn to the sky
Fingers pressed to window pane
Searching the dark clouds up high
Driving their parents insane
They see it, it's coming soon
There's no need to go to bed
If not morning, surely noon
They'll be out to play instead
Don't need to pack lunch for school
Won't eat it there anyway
Because the weather's too cool
We'll all be home for the day
Parents say these days are blue
But not if they can stay too



Ah, the good old days when a good snow meant I could stay home. Lol. Well, I'd say that is a good end to a year of poems. You can read all the Poetry Slams HERE if you missed some or want to give them another look. Who's ready for another year!? :)

Christmas Shopping (A holiday short)

The moment that she saw the man at the kiosk she knew that it was a bad idea to bring the boys. They always did demonstrations when it was close to Christmas.

What she saw was a man stepping on a button that sent a flimsy styrofoam rocket into the air and his TV telling them about the four easy payments. What she was sure they saw was a rocket launching 90 feet in the air trailed by fireworks with the TV blaring 'It goes so high it's like flying a real rocket. It's like shooting rockets with your feet! It's like firing missiles from your toes! Missiles. From. Your toes! Oh my gosh, it's so cool!'

"Mom!"

"No."

"But it can be an early Christmas present!"

"Ask Santa."

The oldest rolled his eyes but the youngest thought it was brilliant.

I wrote this short as part of a drabble we did in our writer's group. Our prompt was 'Missle Toe'. So, naturally, this was where my brain went. If you want to read some more you can give my Reindeer Games story from last year a look. Hope shopping wasn't too bad for you this year. Merry Christmas! Or any other holiday you're celebrating! :)

Deck the Shelves with Awesome Authors

I think that a lot of people have a go-to book in their house. The ones that you can just pick up when you're bored and never seem to get old no matter how many times you read them. I thought that I would list a few of my favorite books and the authors that quickly became my favorite too.


Shel Silverstein - A light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends

Shel Silverstein was a children's poetry writer and he has been my favorite since forever. I have four of his books at least, the two titles I listed up there included, but I only put those two because they might have been the ones I first picked up. All of his poems are so fun and weird, in a good way of course. Lol.

Lois Lowry - The Giver

This is the only book to my memory that I have reread cover to cover. Once I know what is going to happen I really can't get into a book like the first time, but something about the way she uses description just impresses me. I did a project in my Children's Lit class on it as a matter of fact. I read the other two books that accompany it, but The Giver is by far my favorite.


Jack Prelutsky - A Pizza the Size of the Sun

This is another children's poet that I enjoy. I think I found him around the same time that I started reading Silverstein. This book had my favorite poem in it, which the book is named after. It's a really fun well written piece and it probably helps that I like pizza. I actually did a project a class on this one too.


Nadine Bernard Westcott - I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

Hands down, all time favorite children's book. Ever. I still have the entire thing memorized and that has to say something that after years of not reading it I can still quote it nearly word for word. Now I'm not sure who actually was the first to write it but the copy of the book I have says that it was retold and illustrated by her. I also know that it was a song, which I never learned. It's just so catchy.

I like how most of my choices are children's books. Lol. What authors have you or do you want to deck your shelves with this year? Anyone specific on your Christmas list?

POETRY SLAM! #11

This is... really late to say the least. Lol. But better late than never, right?

Today we're doing more haiku's.

Stuffed

Relatives are here
Almost all the seats are full
The house is so stuffed

Dinner's being cooked
Smells of casseroles and pies
The turkey is stuffed

Everything is gone
Leftovers packed up and sent
Now I'm way too stuffed


I don't know about you guys, but that last part was entirely too true for me. Lol. How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Now that everyone is gearing up for Christmas, what are your plans?