I read that Maya Angelou will appear on the U.S. quarter. That’s pretty cool. This is my favorite poem by her. I think I read it first in my 20s. It is called Phenomenal Woman and talks about an alluring woman verses a physically beautiful woman. Here is the full poem at the Poetry Foundation. A good and introspective read for young women:
We drove to Manchester airport to pick up Mom and Dad for Christmas. We drove northwest through the White Mountains in the thick snow and ice. 2 interstates were closed nearby but we continued slowly onward. Nonetheless, we took the road less traveled to Franconia and the snowy path led uphill to Robert Frost’s home.
Robert Frost is considered the quintessential American bard or poet. He lived from 1874 to 1963. Right before his passing in Boston, he delivered the inaugural poem for JFK.
Robert Frost won 4 Pulitizer Prizes and the Congressional Gold Medal. He was born in San Francisco but moved alot. He lived primarily in New Hampshire and England where he was influenced by Ezra Pound, Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, and Robert Graves. Frost went to Dartmouth and Harvard. He first published in 1915. He published 2 books called North of Boston and A Boy’s Will. His poetry quickly amassed a great following and by 1920, he was known all over America and beyond.
There is a new climate change-focused website that is publishing prose and poetry. It is called XR Creative and can be found at https://www.xrcreative.org. I got a message from the Joplin Writers’ Guild about the new site so I submitted a story called Golden Child about a young boy during the climate crisis. If you want to submit prose or poetry, they are accepting entries. Check it out! Great stories and great opportunity to get published and share your ideas.
Also, I submitted 2 stories to Chicken Soup for the Soul. Remember these fantastic books in the 90s? I had several of them and I still have the Mother edition today. Love these books. I wrote a story about Christmas and one about dogs. The submission deadline for most of the Chicken Soup books is around March or May 2022. The website is super easy to use. Check it out at http://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/submit-your-story.
She was my General Science teacher in High School. I remember her as sorta quirky and fun. She was brilliant in Science and really knew her stuff. She wore a long braid of hair and everyday she dressed comfortably but not too fashionably.
Her name is Suzanne Arruda.
I went on through High School and graduated. I went to college and continued life. Decades later, I found out she had started writing after teaching for years.
You can find her books on Amazon and sold in libraries and bookstores all over the world. She published with Penguin. She wrote a whole series of books about a female heroine who solves mysteries involving ancient artifacts and exotic animals in Africa. Her books are like an Indiana Jones action adventure series but with a female protagonist and involving a lot of Science.
I wanted to introduce you to her. Here is a link about her work:
I think it’s great to write one book but it is a whole other level of amazing if you can continue into a long series involving the same character. It takes a whole other level of creativity and imagination to keep the original story going and going.
When I wrote a book, I reached out to her to see if she would go to the book launch. She said she’s retired from writing but she wished me the best of luck. She’s a pretty cool person like that.
I loved MTV, My Little Ponies, and Barbie Dolls that never looked like me.
My aunt bought me a Raggedy Ann doll for Christmas but I wouldn’t play with it.
She was ugly with stupid red yarn for hair.
In those days, I was encouraged not to wear pink.
“It clashes with your hair,” I was told.
This was a fashion rule I obeyed
Like wearing pantyhose and a slip under my church dress on Sundays.
White shoes I wore in the summer.
Black shoes I wore in the winter.
And I never mixed a black belt with a brown shirt.
…….but I had gone to a slumber party and seen Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink.
I had my doubts.
I grew up in a world of yellows, greens, blues, and browns. Earth tones.
And I became quite the tomboy.
In my late 20s, I gave birth to a blonde.
She was gorgeous and precious.
She had sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, and during the summer she could tan.
Just like those Barbie Dolls of my youth.
The Barbie Dolls that never matched my appearance’s visage in the mirror.
I counted my blessings and could not believe my good fortune.
Such a beautiful creature came from my plain womb.
I stared at her like she was pink cotton candy.
I admired her hair in my hands and picked it up delicately as if it was gold.
I bought her pink, lots of pink, showers of pink.
Pink clothes, pink sheets, pink blankets, pink pillows just like Barbie.
She read books about Pinkalicious,
In a world of soft and ultra-feminine pink,
Overflowing pink color from her bedroom.
Meanwhile, across the hallway, my bedroom was green.
Then something began to happen inside of me.
A transformation.
It was slow at first, the introduction of pink to my own wardrobe.
It felt daring and rebellious and wonderful
First in hidden undergarments and nightgowns,
Then a ring,
A scarf,
Pink shoes.
One day my daughter and I stood at the mall
And she picked for me a hot pink blouse.
It was beautiful.
I remember standing there looking at it and wanting,
Just wanting to wear it.
And with my daughter’s encouraging smile and hand in mine……..I did.
When you think about it, this story about color
And how color controls and dominates what we do and what we don’t do…..
It’s kinda ridiculous.
We do what we’re told. We act the way we are told. And we don’t even know why we act the ways we do. Just cause somebody else told us to do this or that.
Really, honestly, this is just a stupid story – as are a lot of stories about color.
I’m no angel. I got a lot of learned hang-ups about colors…..just like everyone else. But as I grow older, I am starting to learn to unlearn them.
Wear what you like. Love what you love and whom you love. Be yourself whomever you want to be…..and the world will go along with your audacity. Your boldness. Your confidence. Your true desire.
Me, I’ll be pink. Pinkaliciously pink.
(This is an excerpt from the poetry book called Moment of Magic that was published a couple weeks ago by J. Speer. The poetry collection is about 60 pages and is $2.99 as an eBook on Amazon at the following link:)
I self-published 3 books to Amazon Kindle recently. The last book is my favorite and is a collection of children’s stories based on the true childhood adventures of my own kids. This book is called Summertime Adventures and is a short read, about 60 pages long on the Kindle. The writing reminds me of cartoons like Caillou or maybe Max and Ruby.
There are three children in the book called Jake, Lucy, and Danny. The children go on numerous adventures outside in nature, fishing with Grandpa, visiting an old Apple Cider Mill, picking raspberries in the sun, flying kites, and tubing at the lake. These adventures are definitely family-friendly and would make good bedtime stories. Check it out here. The eBook is $2.99 or you can view it via Kindle Unlimited.
Here also are the other 3 books available from J. Speer. Moment of Magic is a poetry collection and is $2.99 for Kindle eBook. Age level for this book, I would say is adult.
The Curse of the Sapphire Jewel & Other Short Stories is also $2.99 as an eBook on Amazon. This book is age level adult as well. There are 5 short stories in the book, each very unique in their storytelling.
The last book is published via Archway and is the most popular one. It is a North American action adventure quest and mythology story. It is very fast-paced and can be intense at moments with scary villains the heroes combat. This one has a 4.6 star rating on Amazon and some great reviews. I would recommend this one for 15 years old or adult age level. This one got a very positive review from Diane Donovan of Midwest Book Review in their December 2019 issue. It is available as paperback or eBook and sold on numerous sites online: Amazon, Archway, Barnes and Noble, Google Books, Waterstones, Foyles, Wal-mart, Ebay, etc. etc.
Here, below are the links to the collection of books and each one features a book preview section on Amazon you can read. Thanks for your interest and have a great day!
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