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Howdy, Campers!Yes, it really is National Flip A Coin Day! Holidayinsights.com says:
This tradition dates back to Julius Caesar...[who] would take a coin and flip it to make decisions...The correct answer was "heads", which of course carried his image on the coin...Use this method of decision making...for everything you do today.
Today is also my day to share an inspirational quote that inspires my writing. But which one--which ONE?!? Oh, that's right...toss a coin!
Actually, no. No coin. Because there are a gazillion quotes I love--my Quotations file is overflowing! So here are two I want to share with you today because I love you deeply. (Also, because I just had coffee. The two feelings are related.)
This quote is from an interview with Caldecott winning illustrator and author, Marla Frazee:
"I set All the World in a place I love – the central coast region of Southern California – and populated it with people and things that I love. I stopped worrying that I wasn’t representing every place, every person, every possible experience. And I hoped that through this personal expression of mine, others would find their own personal meanings as well. I do believe this to be the over-arching philosophy behind most of the books I’ve fallen in love with over the years. The more personal and heartfelt the story is for the author and/or illustrator of the book, the more universal the emotion that can be gleaned from it. We see this again and again. But it’s hard to remember. It is so easy to go to a place of, “Well, that’s just about me. No one will care about that.” But actually, if it comes from a true place and is spoken from the heart, people do care. A lot."
Take a deep breath. What a relief...right?
This next quote helped me after I emerged from my office and told my husband that I love-love-love slaving over (this is...writing) my daily poem...but then, what's the point? Who cares?
I'm a native Californian, and poet Juan Felipe Herrera (whose lyrical Calling the Doves/El Canto de Las Palomas changed my writing life and inspired me to write my first novel in poems) is our new Poet Laureate. His quote in a recent Los Angeles Times article, helps me keep writing a poem a day:
Today is also my day to share an inspirational quote that inspires my writing. But which one--which ONE?!? Oh, that's right...toss a coin!
Actually, no. No coin. Because there are a gazillion quotes I love--my Quotations file is overflowing! So here are two I want to share with you today because I love you deeply. (Also, because I just had coffee. The two feelings are related.)
This quote is from an interview with Caldecott winning illustrator and author, Marla Frazee:
"I set All the World in a place I love – the central coast region of Southern California – and populated it with people and things that I love. I stopped worrying that I wasn’t representing every place, every person, every possible experience. And I hoped that through this personal expression of mine, others would find their own personal meanings as well. I do believe this to be the over-arching philosophy behind most of the books I’ve fallen in love with over the years. The more personal and heartfelt the story is for the author and/or illustrator of the book, the more universal the emotion that can be gleaned from it. We see this again and again. But it’s hard to remember. It is so easy to go to a place of, “Well, that’s just about me. No one will care about that.” But actually, if it comes from a true place and is spoken from the heart, people do care. A lot."
This next quote helped me after I emerged from my office and told my husband that I love-love-love slaving over (this is...writing) my daily poem...but then, what's the point? Who cares?
I'm a native Californian, and poet Juan Felipe Herrera (whose lyrical Calling the Doves/El Canto de Las Palomas changed my writing life and inspired me to write my first novel in poems) is our new Poet Laureate. His quote in a recent Los Angeles Times article, helps me keep writing a poem a day:
"Amazing things can happen when you are just going for the poem, when it’s just pure. You may be living on saltines, but you are giving all your life to this, and great things can happen."
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WRITING WORKOUT
1) Write a poem about a coin toss. Or write on a topic that's been niggling at you, asking for your full attention.
2) Think about what Marla said. Make it yours--from a true place, from the heart.
2) Think about what Marla said. Make it yours--from a true place, from the heart.
2) Think about what Juan said. Give your life to this and great things will happen.
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And hark! There's still time to enter our picture book giveaway! Don't miss your chance to win an autographed copy of Natalie Ziarnik's debut picture book, Madeline's Light (Boyd's Mills Press). See Esther's Student Success Story Interview with Natalie for details.
Poetry Friday is at Carol's Corner today...thank you, Carol!
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