Time to pursue novel writing
is thin these days.
With mere minutes
of uninterrupted quiet,
I have developed the attention-span
of a beetle.
Do beetles have attention spans?
Can beetles write books?
And, the question we all really care about -
do beetles get published?
To help me find my happy
writing place faster
I've started a Word Jar.
I'm filling it with intriguing words,
snatches of conversation, descriptives that strike a chord
so that when I have a few minutes with a pen,
I can reach in and be transported.
That's the first gift to feed my muse.
My second muse gift?
Birds of a Feather
This is my newest word game for limbering up
the writing and poetry muscles.
It's like Word Strings, but a little more structured.
Write down a word,
pick another word with at least two letters
from the previous word.
Continue till you have a happy, lazy cat feeling.
Here's my try at it:
Logic, ledger, ledges, edges, adage, homage, homing pigeons.
Whittle, whistle, Brussels, bringer, bridges, ridges, rustle, stinger.
If you feel like playing, share your word migrations in the comments. Fun!
And my third muse gift?
Speaking of birds of a feather,
my fellow Northwest inkwell-ers
(okay, nobody uses inkwells anymore; I use the term figuratively),
my writing and illustrating peers
will be flocking to the annual Western Washington
April 16-17, 2011
in Redmond, Washington.
It looks to be a very sparkly
faculty of authors, illustrators,
top agents and editors in the business, including
Holly Black, E. Lockhart, Dan Santat,
and Deborah Wiles, as well as
my brother, Jesse Joshua Watson.
This is the place to get the goods on
making books for kids and young adults.
I hope to see you there!
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