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

FRIENDS WRITING RETREAT & POETRY PROMPT

A WRITING RETREAT WITH MY BEST FRIEND

Howdy, Campers ~ and happy Poetry Friday! 

Today's PF host is Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe. Her link, my poem, a poetry prompt, and a link to my one-day, 3-hour Writing Poetry class on September 24, 2025 are at the end of this post

This August, Bruce Balan and his wife Alene D. Rice (who have been sailing around the world on their boat, Migration for twenty years) stayed with us for a month. 

Bruce and Alene on Migration, 

their home for over 20 years.

Migration is named after Bruce Balan's picture book,
THE CHERRY MIGRATION; thus, her cherry red hull.

In case you're wondering, they are the most marvelous house guests you'd imagine: they tiptoed in if they came back late at night, treated us to dinners, came bearing gifts (manuka honey!), often left for a few days to visit friends and relatives, and left a bouquet of fresh flowers and hidden thank yous all over the house. Our dog and cat adored them so much, our cat slept on their bed for days after they'd left. (Okay, yes, I was a tad jealous that our pets' affections transferred to Bruce and Alene so completely and so fast.)

Kitty waited at their bedroom door 
until they came home

Bruce and I have been sending each other a poem a day since 2010. Months ago, Bruce suggested that he and I plan a writing retreat when they came to the States, so that we could sort through our 10,000+ poems to find the gems for a book.

What fun!

Here's a peek, culled from my journal, of our first full day:

After yesterday's four-hour drive up the California coast, today has been very productive. 

Morning: Bruce and I made breakfast, then practiced yoga on the front grass (he and Alene do yoga on their boat every day, guided by this app which gives clear—and kind—instructions). The lawn overlooks Peacock Hill Farm's 50 acres of orchards, and the beautiful rolling hills of neighboring farms.

Fields of Peacock Hill Farm and beyond

The owners, whose house adjoined our rental, were out of town--so we were the rulers of this gorgeousness for three full days. At first, we were nervous that the peacocks would wake us up early each morning with the typical infant wailing/screaming alley cat music they make. But it turned out that there were only two who never screeched. We named them John and Mary.

Our work begins. Thank goodness Bruce is so organized. He sets our daily schedule, and I'm grateful for that:

1: Sitting in separate work spaces, we each re-read some of the hundreds of poems written by the other, adding only those we thought might fit our book to a folder. (I made a YES folder of his poems that were "maybes," and he made a YES folder for mine)

2: During another timed hour, we sat across from each other at the kitchen table discussing each possible YES poem with brutal honesty. Well, it wasn't exactly brutal--maybe steadfast is a better word. 

I was wondering how my ego would take the jettisoning of some of my favorite poems. To my surprise, it wasn't hard to agree when he didn't think a poem fit. Take a seat, ego!

3: We took a walk through the avocado orchards (the AirB&B owners invited guests to pick as much of their fruit as we wanted).

4: We worked, separately evaluating poems for another hour...

5: ...then walked, discovering incredibly delicious, ripe tangerines on trees all around us. Those, too, we were also encouraged to harvest. 

6: We evaluated poems together for another hour.

Then, we had delicious Mexican food in a crowded little diner filled with Spanish-speaking diners. Yum!

 And that was Day 1.

Bruce and moi at the AirB&B,
overlooking hills and neighboring fields

We didn't get a photo of John and Mary Peacock, 

but peacocks were everywhere at the rental:

on pillows, paintings, sculptures, books, and so much more

Here's a sample of how emailing poems back and forth has worked for us over the years (except I've added my name and copyright info for this post)

 THE UBBERY TREE
(GREATLY REVISED AS A RESULT OF YOUR CRITIQUE)
by April Halprin Wayland

I wish I could FaceBook our old avocado.   
She held out her arms for us to climb
when I was nine.

My sister dubbed her The Ubbery Tree;
we knighted my sister our Ubbery Queen—
her crown was green. 

We stepped in the middle of our dappled tree tent,
crunched on brown leaves, sticks and dirt,
we smelled wild earth.

We searched for her fruit, climbed her rough branches,
rode her dragon-grey trunk, holding on tight
in filtered light.

We crushed glossy leaves between our fingers,
then breathed her licorice perfume
in our leafy room.

I wish I could FaceBook our old avocado.
She held out her arms for us to climb
when I was nine.

(c) 2011 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved

From: Bruce Balan To: 'April Halprin Wayland' 
Sent: Wed, May 11, 2011 10:54 pm
Subject: RE: poem for May 11, 2011 REWRITE OF THE UBBERY TREE

I like this better!
More tree, less sister.
A fine avocado tree
You can’t resist her.

Love,
BB

POETRY PROMPT: Remembering A Special Tree

1) Close your eyes.  Breathe.  Think back; remember a tree.

2) Jot down as many memories about the tree as you can.  Scribble wildly about the smells, about each sense. 

3) You're looking for real details.  The ants.  The nest.  A dead hatchling under the tree. Fruit-juice dribbling down your chin.

4) If you find a tree that reminds you of your long-ago tree, go to it now.  Lie under it. Look up. Run your fingers along its trunk. Crush and smell its leaves. Climb it.

5) I couldn't go back to my tree, so I went to Pixabay and typed child climbing avocado tree, child climbing tree.  Even though neither photo I chose was an avocado tree, the photos brought back the Ubbery Tree and helped me remember more details.

Image by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay

Image by beauty_of_nature from Pixabay

6) Okay.  So now you have the raw material.  Now what?  I finally decided on three-lined stanzas in which the last two lines rhymed.  In the end, the rhythm of each third line is the same. Try this...or find another poem you love and imitate the structure of that. Enjoy your tree memories!

I'd love to hear what tree you (or your students?) chose to write about!

And speaking of students, UCLA Extension Writers' Program is offering my 3-hour one-day Writing Poetry for Children class on Wednesday, September 24th, noon-3pm PST. I'd love to meet you there in your little zoom square!

In the end, it's the specifics, the details that make a poem.

Thank you, Margaret, for hosting Poetry Friday today at Reflections on the Teche