Thursday, April 8, 2010

Writing hubs and missing mothers



Buzz.
I'm all abuzz about my first solo weekend in two years.
Wahoo! I've got a bucket of paint and I'm going to paint the town red.
I'm going to tap dance on the rooftops.
I'm going to throw confetti out the windows.
I'm going to yell into a loudspeaker.

Okay actually I'll be sitting meekly and taking notes at the SCBWI conference in Seattle. A great hobnob for writers and an awesome chance to soak in good input.
I'm blurbing about this because if you're in the Northwest and you're a writer, this is the place to be this weekend. I hope I'll
get to rub elbows and throw confetti with you.


Clever words from "When We Were Very Young" by A.A. Milne:


Disobedience

James James
Morrison Morrison
Weatherby George Dupree
Took great
Care of his Mother,
Though he was only three.
James James
Said to his Mother,
"Mother," he said, said he:
"You must never go down to the end of the town,
if you don't go down with me."

James James
Morrison's Mother
Put on a golden gown,
James James
Morrison's Mother
Drove to the end of the town.
James James
Morrison's Mother
Said to herself, said she:
"I can get right down to the end of the town
and be back in time for tea."





James James
Morrison's mother
Hasn't been heard of since.
King John
Said he was sorry,
So did the Queen and Prince.
King John
(Somebody told me)
Said to a man he knew:
"If people go down to the end of the town, well,
what can anyone do?"

(Now then, very softly)
J.J.
M.M.
W.G.Du P.
Took great
C/o his M*****
Though he was only 3.
J.J.
Said to his M*****
"M*****," he said, said he:
"You-must-never-go-down-to-the-end-of-the-town-
if-you-don't-go-down-with ME!"



If you haven't spent time at the feet of A.A. Milne, I encourage you to.
A brilliant wordsmith, his works are impeccably illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard, one of my all-time favorite artists. The illustrations above are by Mr. Shepard himself.
My kids love these books, but really I'm the one who gets a treat each time I read.


Here's to moms getting the weekend off!

7 comments:

Shannon O'Donnell said...

I'm jealous! I'm missing out on that conference and I REALLY wanted to go. Paint the town red for me too, k?! :-)

Faith Pray said...

Will do, Shannon! Hopefully I'll get out for more of these SCBWI meet-ups and we can say "howdy"!

Natasha said...

Have a great weekend. You really deserve a weekend off!
Are you based in Seattle?

~ Rayna

Jan Morrison said...

oh I love that poem! And not because my great grandpa was James James Morrison Morrison (well - just James Morrison but called JP Morrison) and I'm Jan Morrison which is so close and besides I always want to go down to the end of the town! And you are! You're AWAY!!! Yay!

Kjersten said...

I hope you are having a blast! Wish I could be there too. Best wishes sent your way.

Faith Pray said...

Rayna, The weekend was wonderful. I'm two hours from Seattle, kind of nestled into one of our lovely peninsulas.
Jan, that is so fun about your grandfather!
Kjersten, you were missed. Lots of good words and great people. However, I am excited to see what you do with your new workplace!

* said...

Love this poem and the picts.

Your blog is lovely. I'm falling into it head over heels...

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