How I Spent My Summer (Plus Publication News)

Happy Friday! 

Today, I continue our TeachingAuthors series on something fun, interesting, or unusual we did over the summer. Esther kicked off the series back in August with this post about the joy she experienced facilitating a Manuscript Workshop in Vermont and also while helping several of her authors birth new books. Next, April gave us this sneak peek into her writing retreat with her best friend, Bruce Balan, and she shared a sensory-filled poetry writing prompt. Mary Ann wrote in September of rediscovering Brenda Ueland's classic So You Want to Write and being once again inspired to write with JOY. (Hmm. That seems a recurring theme here.) And most recently, Bobbi discussed starting a new chapter of her life and contemplating What happens next?  In today's post, I will share bits of writing-related news and a recently published poem. You'll also find a link to this week's Poetry Friday roundup at the end of the post. 

We've had an unseasonably warm fall so far in the Chicago area, and a taste of summer seems to still linger here in the middle of October. I kicked off summer with a visit to downtown Naperville to check out the 18 painted duck sculptures scattered around town. (Watch a video about the ducks here.)

However, I didn't spend as much time outdoors this summer as I would have liked. Instead, I worked on bringing my young adult historical Playing by Heart back into print. I don't recall if I've mentioned here that the book's publisher, Vinspire Publishing, closed their doors unexpectedly in late 2024. I was shocked by the news, but grateful they returned all rights to their authors before completely shutting down. 

Years ago, after I got the rights back from Candlewick for my first novel, Rosa, Sola, I self-published the paperback and ebook versions. But lots has changed since then, and it took longer to get Playing by Heart back into print than I expected. I was finally able to release the new edition, which now includes book discussion questions, on September 8. I'm hoping the book discussion questions will be used by book clubs, classroom teachers, and homeschooling groups. And I'm inviting these groups to join my 25 Book Clubs Challenge. 

As a thank you for participating, I'm offering a free virtual visit to any group that reads the book. I love sharing the true story of the two amazing sisters who inspired Playing by Heart, so I hope you'll help spread the word to any group that might be interested. While Playing by Heart is considered young adult because the main characters are teens, many adult readers have enjoyed it, including members of two adult book clubs I've already visited.  Please help me meet my goal of speaking to at least 25 groups! For more about the challenge, see the Book Clubs page of my website. 

I'm also happy to share two other bits of publication news I received over the summer. First, I found out that my story, “Blessing in Disguise,” was accepted for publication in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Christmas: 101 Joyful Holiday Stories edited by Amy Newmark, which released just this week! 

You may recall that I had a story in last year's Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tales of Christmas: 101 Stories of Holiday Joy, Love and Gratitude. It's fun to have stories in back-to-back Chicken Soup holiday books. But what makes this even MORE fun is the fact that my friend and critique group partner Julie Phend also has a story in The Spirit of Christmas, and we'll be having a joint book signing at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville on Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM! Details are posted on the Anderson's website here. I hope some of our TeachingAuthors readers will join us!

My second bit of publishing news is that I have a poem in the fall 2025 issue of Little Thoughts Press Magazine. The poem, "Thirsty Amaryllis" is one I first wrote years ago, but it wasn't until recently that I revised it to my satisfaction. I hope you can read it in the photo I took of the magazine page below. Or you can get your own copy of the magazine in print or pdf form here.  

 

For more poetry, check out this week's Poetry Friday roundup hosted by Sarah Grace Tuttle.

Happy writing!

Carmela

Book Club Bits

My neighborhood book club may keep our local winery in business, but we do a pretty good job on the reading front, too.  This fine group of ladies even inspired me to write start a Mother-Daughter Book Club book (too bad, though I started writing eons ago, someone beat me to the finished product).  I have several friends who started mother-daughter book clubs in real life, and I'm itching for the day my daughter is old enough for me (or, preferably, one of her friends' mom) to do the same. 

What about boys, though?  How come they always seem to be left out?  I was standing at the starting line of my daughter's school's 5K this weekend, having an awesome conversation with a neighbor's son about Rick Riordan and 13 Reasons Why, which was our (grown-up) selection this month, but which he read and discussed with great insight.

At any rate, this post is really about my husband, who teaches reading at a middle school.  Because of "specials" (band, etc.), the school has a one-period, no-credit class called CORE.  For next year, the prinicpal decided that CORE should involve a school-wide book club.  My husband is on the planning committe and was asking me for book recommendations with curricular tie-ins.  He was especially interested in multicultural books and books that dealt with issues of social justice (hello, Yankee Girl).   Because students rotate through the class, his school is thinking of buying kindles to increase interest and make it feel "cool" and different.  I'm putting this out there to the whole teaching community and piggybacking on Mary Ann's fabulous Summer Reading post.  What else would you do to make this experience a memorable one for the kids? 

Fostering group reading obviously brings a whole new dimension to a process that is typically thought of as a solitary experience.  As we look at social networking and sites like shelfari, interactive texts like the Amanda Project and yes, good old-fashioned book clubs... reading is more than what happens under the covers with a flashlight after bedtime.

The other night, I lay in bed beside my daughter, each of us reading a book -- hers, Marvin Redpost (thank you, Louis Sachar!) was the first book she ever decided she couldn't put down.  Deeply moved by the parallel experience, I said to her, "I love you so much.  Can you stay this age forever?"  She said, "No.  But I'll love you this much when I'm seventeen.  Maybe more."

Isn't writing for kids the best?