Monday, April 26, 2010

Save the Date!

Hello, Hello, Hello!

Save the date - Saturday, May 29th. Porter Gulch Review party and poetry reading! More details to come, but it is at the Cabrillo College Horticulture Center. Beautiful place, beautiful view, fun night. Last year there were artists displaying their work and many talented poets reading. As I have a poem in this year's edition I will have the opportunity to read - and I shall!

Write on!
Jessica

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Where, Oh Where Has Jessica Gone?

Where oh where can she be, Dear Reader?

Somewhere out there in the atmosphere trying to convince Mercury to un-retrograde, that's where! 

Bonus points if you know what the HECK I am talking about. 

Seriously, she'll be back soon. When she returns from her planetary travels she will land in a pile of post-it notes, random scraps of paper, dog-eared poetry books, and voice messages she sends herself while driving to and from work listening to NPR stories about Alzheimer's or Dorothy Height that, for some reason, make her cry. 

Eventually she will dig herself out of this mound of odds and ends. Hopefully she will be making sense (again?) by then. 

Until then, Dear Reader, reach for the stars and hang on if you catch one!

Write On, 
J

Monday, April 12, 2010

Back From the Dead, or Darn, Spring Break Was Fun!

Hello, Dear Reader, 

Both of those titles would be appropriate, as it turns out. Spring Break was a blast, even though this time last week I was writhing around in my sweaty pj's feeling horrible and willing myself not to vomit...again. Yuk.

Luckily, the worst part of the flu or exorcism or whatever it was only lasted about 24 hours. I felt significantly better on Tuesday, though it really took all week for my tummy troubles to subside completely. Well, almost completely - my hankerin' for coffee and wine has diminished substantially. I am concerned.

We had company from out of town and good weather for the second half of the week which meant lots of fun stuff to do like go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium , eat good Mexican food, go out to breakfast, wander around and do a little shopping in downtown Santa Cruz, wander along a sunny West Cliff path, lay on the grass, people watch, go to the movies a couple of times, hit the Boardwalk...really, you name it, we did it. So fun for me and the kids had a BLAST.  We all found some of our missing much-ness.

The down side of all this fun-having is that there wasn't much daily writing or traipsing down the Artist's Way taking place. So this will be the final week, and I will wrap it all up next Monday. Neatly, with a real pretty bow - I promise.

I did have some inspiring moments and if I can ever get my camera and computer synched up I will share some cool shots with you. I was possessed to write a couple of rough drafts, starts, random thoughts that may turn into something. I have had time to live a little and do some thinking about how to better do that - the living - and make sure I stay healthy, creative and inspired. More on this later, 'cause I know you are interested! LOL!

And one other thing: I WILL be in the 2010 edition of the Porter Gulch Review !!! More details to come, but my poem "Notes to the Gardener" was selected. [insert big cheesy grin here]

Write On,
J


Thursday, April 1, 2010

A Little Ray of Sunshine

Hello Dear Reader,

I am delighted to be able to share the smallest sliver of sunshiney, glistening, hopeful good news with you. As you know from my last post I was feeling quite sad that none of the poems I had recently submitted were accepted for publication or awarded big fat prizes (like $500, which was earmarked for my really cool new MacBook...) :-(

However, just when all hope is lost (that is, specifically, noon on the last day of notification) I received a lovely email from the Central Coast Writers' Group notifying me that - while I did not win the contest (bye bye MacBook dreams...) - my poem "Yes" was a finalist and my name would be included on their website!

Given the dearth of good news in my literary life this month I am pretty happy about this last minute positivity!Also, I am further motivated to send out my poems for consideration in other literary publications. Like I said, I felt I had some strong poems (or I would not have sent them out), but they are stonger still thanks to my poetry revision group (Big whoop whoops to Amber Sumrall and the other wonderful poets in that group.)

So, purple 2010 edition of Poet's Market in hand,  I am carefully researching where to send my little fuzzy babies next. Wish me luck!

Write on,
j