Poetry Friday

This week marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. While some were lucky enough to survive the Holocaust, many more were not, and today we only have their words. The Hypertexts is a site that keeps those words alive. From unknown poets to Pope John Paul II, here is a collection of Holocaust poetry written by those who lived it.


The Little Train Station: Treblinka

On the Tluszcz-Warsaw line,
from the Warsaw-East station,
you leave by rail
and ride straight on . . .

The journey lasts, sometimes
five hours and 45 minutes,
but sometimes it lasts
a lifetime until death.

The station is tiny.
Three fir trees grow there.
The sign is ordinary:
it’s the Treblinka station.

No cashier’s window,
No porter in view,
No return tickets,
Not even for a million.

There, no one is waiting,
no one waves a kerchief,
and only silence hovers,
deaf emptiness greets you.

Silent the flagpole,
silent the fir trees,
silent the black sign:
it’s the Treblinka station.

Only an old poster
with fading letters
advises:
“Cook with gas.”

~~Wladyslaw Szlengel
(translated by Yala Korwin)

Todays Poetry Friday is at Picture Book of the Day

Bubbl.Us

Are you a web person? Not the internet kind. The story kind.

If you are, you know how helpful story webs can be in brainstorming and plotting. You also know how hard it can be to fit all your ideas on one sheet of paper, or to go back to it later and read what you originally wrote. And what happens when you start to organize your ideas, selecting those that work for you and discarding the rest until - you change your mind? Story web ideas aren’t easy to shift around, not without a lot of rewriting.

That’s where bubbl.us comes in. It’s not new and amazing. It’s simply a story web on the web. But the advantage of having it here is that it’s always neat and legible. You can make it as huge as you want without running out of space, and changing your mind, or rearranging things is no hassle at all.

The arrangement of things is actually the fun part (for me.) After you decide on the ideas that work for your story, you can rearrange the plot elements you want to use in a linear fashion to see if they’ll work. Not happy with it? Just erase, or rearrange - whatever suits your purpose. You can also change the colors of your ‘bubbles,’ so that different threads in your story are different colors, making ideas easier to follow.

In the end, you not only have a plot for your story, you have a plot line with major plot points and connecting scenes you can save, print, embed, e-mail and/or even change again if you feel like it. It's free, and you don't even have to register if you don't want to save what you've created.

Check it out!

Mentor Monday - Book Trailers

I’ve been thinking a lot about book trailers lately. Do they really work? Do they encourage people to buy your book? And how hard is it to make one? Or are they just the next thing we’re supposed to do as writers, like joining Facebook and Twitter and having a web page and blog?

I still don’t know the answer, although I’m leaning toward a ‘yes’ after seeing Arthur Slade’s trailer for The Hunchback Assignments, a YA Steampunk series. Until I saw his trailer, I hadn’t heard of him or his books, but once I saw the trailer, I made it a point to go out and buy the book. The trailer was just that effective. But then, I’m into Steampunk, so maybe that’s why I liked it.



But how would I feel about a picture book trailer? I looked at a dozen and none of them appealed to me. Some were clever and funny, but they didn’t make me want to buy the book. But I think that’s just because I’m not into picture books. There were several YA and MG trailers that did peak my interest in the book they were promoting.

So, assuming book trailers were effective, the next step was to learn how to create one. Some people have professionals create theirs, other people do it themselves. Arthur Slade’s The Hunchback Assignments was done by professionals. A company called My Next Demo created the trailer for what I thought was a very reasonable $499.00.

But if you’re a creative type and know your way around technology, or have a family member who does, you might consider doing it yourself. Here is a site that offers a tutorial that shows you how to do it yourself, absolutely free. And even if you don’t yet have a book to promote, you could make one just to get the hang of it, so you’ll know how to do it when you do have a book to promote.

If you give it a shot, or you’ve already made a trailer, feel free to come back and leave the URL in the comments section, along with how difficult or easy it was so we can all learn from each other.

And if you want to take a look at some of the book trailers out there, check out http://www.youtube.com/booktrailers

Happy trailer blazing!

Poetry Friday: Life

I, like millions the world over, have had the people of Haiti in my thoughts since last week. I'm rather ashamed I hadn't given much thought to the people of Haiti before the quaking earth shook them into my field of vision.

I wanted to offer something hopeful for Poetry Friday this week. To that end, I'm sharing Life by Charlotte Bronte.

Poetry Friday is being hosted by Liz Scanlon at Liz In Ink.

LIFE

by: Charlotte Bronte

IFE, believe, is not a dream
So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.
Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower will make the roses bloom,
O why lament its fall?
Rapidly, merrily,
Life's sunny hours flit by,
Gratefully, cheerily
Enjoy them as they fly!
What though Death at times steps in,
And calls our Best away?
What though sorrow seems to win,
O'er hope, a heavy sway?
Yet Hope again elastic springs,
Unconquered, though she fell;
Still buoyant are her golden wings,
Still strong to bear us well.
Manfully, fearlessly,
The day of trial bear,
For gloriously, victoriously,
Can courage quell despair! 

Mentor Monday: Inspire Yourself

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! To say Dr. King was an inspirational person is an understatement. He helped transform the thinking of (at least) our nation. People will be finding inspiration in his life's work for generations.

For me, inspiration is the happiest part of the writing process. It brings with it a focus so intense, there's nothing to do but write. Something so magical should not be left to chance. The permanent number two on your writing list of Things to Do should be Find Inspiration. (Number one on your list is Sit Down and Write, but you knew that.) If you wait for inspiration to strike, you could be waiting for a long time.

Attending conferences, workshops or retreats is a great way to keep the writing fires stoked. In a few weeks I'll attend my fourth Kindling Words (KW) in Vermont with Janet and Diane. It borders on crazy how psyched I am for it. 

According to the KW website, "Kindling Words is an inspiring retreat where accomplished authors, illustrators and editors meet, talk shop, participate in workshops, and inspire each other." They had good reason to use a form of the word "inspire" twice in that sentence. KW truly is inspirational. Participating in KW, however, isn't easy. You have to be published, and you have to snag your retreat spot in a lottery.

What can you do if KW is exactly what you want, but you're not published or favored by Lady Luck? Check your regional chapter of SCBWI to see if they offer any retreat opportunities. (While you're there, mark down the dates of your regional conference and then go to it!) If you can't find a retreat, or if what you find is just too expensive for your budget, create your own retreat.

Decide what you want from your retreat then make it happen. Maybe you want uninterrupted writing time. Maybe you want unstructured time for clearing your head. Maybe you need to do some research. Probably you need to do a bit of each. The point is, you need to plan things out before you take yourself on retreat. You might just plan to bring a few writer friends with you.

A few years back, Write Sister Diane Mayr organized a successful small retreat for children's writers at Poland Spring Inn in Poland, Maine. Twelve writers participated in Writers' Asylum Retreat, and it remains among the best retreats I've attended.

If a retreat is what you're after, look around. See what's out there. If there's nothing, then pull your own together. You'll be happy you did.