How to Make a Writer's Day

Happy Poetry Friday! I share a poem at the end of this post along with a link to this week's Poetry Friday roundup. 

As April mentioned when she kicked off this series of posts, our first topic of the year was inspired by the 2025 Tournament of Roses Parade's theme, "My Best Day Ever!" Of course, back when we planned the topic, we had no idea that it would be a challenging one given all that's going on in the world. But perhaps Providence was at work, because I can't imagine a better time to focus on being thankful for good things, which is crucial to the Best Day theme.

Like Zeena, I can think of many personal Best Days, such as my wedding day, the birth of my son, his wedding day, etc. I've also been blessed with many writing-related Best Days. Highlights of those days include graduating from Vermont College, being offered a contract for my first novel, and having a packed house for my first-ever book signing at my local independent bookseller. But my most recent writing-related Best Day was completely unexpected and happened just last Friday, January 31. It's related to my latest publication, a true story in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tales of Christmas: 101 Stories of Holiday Joy, Love and Gratitude edited by Amy Newmark. The book was released in October 2024, but it continues to bless me in surprising ways. Before I describe last Friday's Best Day event, I need to provide some backstory.

Finding out last summer that my story, "A Life-Changing New Year's Tradition," would be included in Tales of Christmas was itself a writing "Best Day." I've submitted pieces to Chicken Soup multiple times but have been accepted only once before--a poem in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teens Talk High School, 101 Stories of Life, Love, and Learning for Older Teens edited by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Amy Newmark, & Madeline Clapps back in 2008. I'm not sure if the paperback is still in print, but the book is still available as an ebook.

Despite it's title, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tales of Christmas features stories about events beginning with Thanksgiving and running through Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Day. My story is about our family's tradition of keeping a Good Things Jar and how the jar helped me through an especially difficult time. 

When my copies of the book arrived, I was honored to discover that my piece is the last one in the collection. But then I thought, maybe the honor wasn't that great, since the book contains only two New Year's stories. 😄 

If you read my latest Creativity Newsletter, you already know that the publication of Tales of Christmas led to an interview in our local newspaper. (If you don't get my quarterly newsletter and would like to subscribe, you can do so here.) I was quite surprised by the newspaper's interest--I've sent them press releases in the past without ever receiving a response. But I was even more surprised on Sunday, December 15, when I opened my copy of the paper to find the photo I'd provided on the front page! 

Photo taken by John Martino

I learned in the article that the reporter had also interviewed Amy Newmark, the book's editor. He asked Amy about the Chicken Soup selection process and how she chose my piece. Here's an excerpt from his article:

“I love to put some New Year’s stories in our Christmas book,” Newmark said. “I liked Carmela’s story, which is a twist on the more conventional approach to gratitude, which is to have a journal. The gratitude jar. What’s great about it is it makes you approach every single day with a different perspective. You start looking for the good things instead of the bad things.... I can see hundreds of people doing that because they read it in her story,” Newmark said.

Martino’s story is the last one in the book.

“I like to end the book with a nice, strong story. You finished Christmas, here’s a great idea to put you on a positive footing for the new year,” Newmark said.

Wow! Reading Amy's comments gave me another Best Day! I loved learning about how she chose my story and why she ended the book with it. But the blessings related to the publication of "A Life-Changing New Year's Tradition" didn't stop there. Several friends I hadn't connected with in some time contacted me after seeing the article. My friend Gayl, who had moved to Minnesota, must have read the article online, because she emailed to congratulate me. She also said that her library had ordered Tales of Christmas, and she couldn't wait to read my story. 

And that, at last, brings me to what happened last Friday. Out of the blue, I received a text from Gayl saying that her library finally got Tales of Christmas. She wrote, "I loved your story and its message," and said that she and her husband had decided to start their own Good Things Jar. Her text made my day! She had verified Any Newmark's comment that my story would inspire readers to create their own Good Things Jars. I was thrilled to know that my story had touched someone so much that they'd been moved to action. 

Gayl ended her text with "Thanks for the lift!" But her message had lifted me, too, giving me another "Best Day." (And something great to share in my post for this series!) Of course, I included a note about her message in my own Good Things Jar. 😄

Now, for the poem I promised. Some of you may recall that, back in December 2021, I participated in the Kidlit Winter Poem Swap. I had the pleasure of swapping poems, and a small gift, with Linda Mitchell. My gift to Linda included a glass jar I'd decorated and labeled for her to use as a Good Things Jar and two poems. I've copied one of those poems below. I believe it fits well with our Best Day theme of gratitude. What do you think? 

        Good Things

    A morning walk
    beneath blue skies.
    A cardinal calling
    as it flies.

    A smiling stranger
    holds a door.
    A new museum
    to explore.

    The patter of
    much-needed rain.
    A breath of air
    that's sweet again.

    A lovely dinner
    with a friend.
    A stunning sunset
    at day's end.

    The flavor of a
    favorite tea.
    A comfy chair
    and time to read.

    Record these joys
    on little cards
    and save them in
    your Good Things jar.

    © 2021 Carmela A. Martino. All rights reserved.

 

Don't forget to check out this week's Poetry Friday roundup hosted by Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink.

Happy writing!

Carmela

Thank you, Lee Bennett Hopkins

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Howdy, Campers, and Happy Poetry Friday! My poem, the link to our current book giveaway, and the PF link are all below.

Our current Book Giveaway, which ends September 25th, is for a copy of Deanie Yasner's debut middle grade novel, Essie Rose's Revelation. To enter, go to Esther's latest Student Success Story.

We lost a great one in August—"passionate educator and prolific children's poet and anthologist,* Lee Bennett Hopkins.  

Towards the end of August, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater offered her blog, The Poetry Farm, as a space to honor Lee, who died on August 8th. We at TeachingAuthors are celebrating Lee today.

I first met Lee about 35 years ago through my teacher, poet Myra Cohn Livingston, who was one of Lee's good friends. Over the years, Lee's praise, his honest--and at times, blunt--editorial notes, and the hand he held out to me to write my own books and to write poems for his anthologies, changed my life. Thank you, Lee.

Lee Bennett Hopkins ~ photo by Charles J Egita 

One of Lee's suggestions that I hear every time I write a poem or teach poetry, is: consider each time you use "the" and "a;" can you delete them?  It's amazing how intimate a poem can become without them.

Here is the cover of his anthology, SURPRISES (Harper and Row, 1984), which was the first I CAN READ poetry book.

And here is "Last Laugh," from that collection, one of my favorite LBH poems. (Keep in mind that in an I CAN READ book, there could only be 36 characters per line, including punctuation and spaces.)

LAST LAUGH
by Lee Bennett Hopkins

They all laughed when I told them
I wanted to be

A woman in space
Floating so free.

But they won't laugh at me
When they finally see
My feet up on Mars
And my face on TV.

Thank you, Lee.

Fellow TeachingAuthor Esther Herschenhorn writes: "Lee's Pass the Poetry, Please! remains my go-to book on poetry for children - re the poems, the reading, the writing."

"He shared what he called his signature poem, "Good Books, Good Times!" in the Afterword of the 1998 Third Edition of this book. He created this poem in 1985 when he was chosen the Children's Book Council's National Book Week Poet. I love the poem. I also love the book's dedication - "To my Poet-friends who make it all possible.'" Click here for the full poem.

In 2009, when Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong asked me to write a poem to be included in their anthology honoring Lee for winning the 2009 NCTE Excellence in Children's Poetry award, I was scared. 

What could I contribute that others wouldn't?  I thought about Lee--what did I really know about him?  I knew that he loved Sondheim. I knew that his mailing address included the word "cove" in it. I pictured a cabin next to a quiet lake. Then I thought about the art of being an anthologist. What must it entail? Gathering, collecting, arranging.  

Although an early draft was from a poem's point of view, I'm glad that this is the version that was published:
.COLLECTOR 

for LBH 

by April Halprin Wayland

Walking along the shore at sunset in sandals,

you bend to collect the right rock, the best twig,

the perfect poem.

Washing them in a blue enamel bowl,

you turn on Mozart low,

barefoot in your kitchen by the cove.

Sitting on your heels on the wooden porch,

you position, then reposition each piece.

Here?  Here?

Stomping inside, slamming the door,

you turn on Sondheim

LOUD. 

At sunrise in your slippers,

you come out on the porch

to shuffle them again.

Suddenly seeing it:

sequence, order, symmetry—

done.

poem © 2019 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

How I imagine an anthologist works...
collecting, rearranging, creating unity.
photo by April Halprin Wayland

Hark! One more of Lee's anthologies is coming soon!  According to *Publishers Weekly obituary, "His most recently completed work, I Remember: Poems and Pictures of Heritage, features poems from award-winning, diverse authors paired with artwork from illustrators of similar backgrounds, providing portraits of growing up in America. It will be published by Lee & Low in October."

Lee Bennett Hopkins expanded the world of poetry for children. 

Thank you, Lee.

To find out more about him, start with Renee Latulippe's 2013 interview of him at No Water River.

And don’t forget to enter our latest Book Giveaway: win a copy of Deanie Yasner's Essie Rose’s Revelation Summer!  Details here.

Thank you, wonderful Linda B, for hosting at TeacherDance today!

posted with love by April Halprin Wayland with help from Eli, Penny and Gin (Penny and Gin are short-term rentals)

Early Mornings From My Window

Spring and summer are my favorites.
Sunshiny  days.
Early mornings on my patio.
A cup of coffee,
my journal,
and a smooth writing pen
completes my morning ritual.

By Gwendolyn Hooks

Giving Thanks for Readers!

Even though Thanksgiving Day was yesterday (here in the United States), we TeachingAuthors like to share our gratitude all month long.

This year, we're discussing some of the writing-related things we're grateful for. Today, I'd like to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to those who buy and read our books! And I want to express my special thanks for readers who make time to post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, etc. Thanks to all of you, Playing by Heart recently passed the 50-review milestone on Amazon! I shared an image celebrating that event on Instagram earlier this week:

I've read that having 50 Amazon reviews is an important milestone because it's a trigger for Amazon's algorithm to suggest a book to other readers. It's also a requirement for certain types of advertising. Of course, the reviews are also helpful for readers considering whether to purchase a book.

I have to confess that I haven't been the best about posting reviews myself. But now that I know they can really make a difference to a book's "discoverability," I'm trying to be more conscientious about reviewing books I enjoy. I encourage all of you to do the same: a review needn't be long to be effective. A sentence or two is enough.

Thanks again to all of you who read our books and blog. May you all have plenty to be grateful for in this Time of Thanks-Giving!

Don't forget to check out something else I'm grateful for: the weekly Poetry Friday roundup hosted today by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem. While you're there, be sure to enter to win a wonderful new book of haiku from former TeachingAuthor Laura Purdie Salas!

And remember to always Write with Joy!

Carmela