December is for Hot Chocolate... and Planning!
December is one of my most favorite months. I love the holidays and wearing sweaters and playing Christmas music on my cello. I try hard to keep my calendar free of book events during December, and my writing practice generally consists of writing a poem a day. This gives me dedicated time for hot chocolate... and planning!
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| hot chocolate! |
2012
What will be my One Little Word. The practice of selecting a single word for focus and reflection has impacted my life in multiple positive ways since 2008. Previous OLW's include: joy, listen, celebrate, deeper, fierce, sky, mystery, wild, delight, abundance, behold, happy, red.
What will be my ArtSpeak! Theme. This will be my 6th year writing poems inspired by art and posting on my blog. These poems are also available to educators to use with students in free easy-to-use padlet galleries! The first 4 years, I wrote a poem a day during National Poetry Month. This year I switched to a poem a week, all year long, and posted on Poetry Fridays. Previous themes have included portraits, gardening, Harlem Renaissance, Happy, Red.
Which manuscripts I want to revise and push to the marketplace. Time to crack open the drawer and decide which are most marketable and most revisable. :)
What new projects I want to pursue! (I have SO MANY ideas and obsessions! It's important for me to be really mindful, and to focus, or I'd never accomplish any of them.)
What conferences to attend and/or submit presentation proposals.
April 1991
How to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.How to beautify the slope alongside our driveway. (Ideas, anyone?)
Which new adventures and learning experiences I want to pursue. (This, of course is hugely impacted by covid-19.)
Book promo for my 2021 book releases. Lucky me, I have two: a middle grade dystopian verse novel called D-39: A ROBODOG'S JOURNEY and a poetic picture book called WILD PEACE, illus. by Il Sung Na.
Irene Latham lives on a lake in rural Alabama. Winner of the 2016 ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award, she is the author of hundreds of poems and nearly twenty current and forthcoming poetry, fiction and picture books. www.irenelatham.com
A poem a day! Too cool. I seriously need to pick a word for the year next year. I love the focus that brings.
ReplyDeleteHolly, truly, it is a rich practice. Let me know if you try it. xo
DeleteLove the idea of focusing on a single word. It was how I came to write a novel in verse. Your poetry and way of approaching writing has inspired me in numerous ways. Gratitude...for you Irene and the writers of this blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Darlene! You inspire me, too. So happy to see BULLY getting recognition and finding readers! xo
DeleteLove these photos of you! You are so inspiring :-) (Re: the slope...what about a moss garden? https://morningchores.com/landscaping-with-moss/) xo
ReplyDeleteSounds like nourishing and reflecting projects… And your slope, I like Tabatha's idea, I'd also add a penetrable pathway and nature inspired art.
ReplyDeleteYour padlet is so beautiful and inspiring. I am going to study it and use it to mentor my online work with students.
ReplyDeleteYour padlet is so beautiful and inspiring. I am going to study it and use it to mentor my online work with students.
ReplyDelete