line breaks

National Poetry Month is closing with "Poem in Your Pocket Day" on April 30. Carry around a favorite poem or one of your own and read it to those you meet.

Last weekend at the New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, I attended a workshop on narrative verse. Laban Carrick Hill presented many examples that helped explain the differences between poetry and stories told in poems, or narrative verse.

I gained a lot from his discussion of the line break. I've been confused about when and how to break the line when it is not end-stopped with punctuation. Hill said that while syntax is the logical way to consider a line break, the line is actually broken for emotional impact. The lyrical moments in a poem happen when there is tension between logic and the line break. It's this lyrical moment that surprises the reader.

I think a stanza of Jane Yolen's "Crayons: A Rainbow Poem" from Color Me a Rhyme is a clear example.

Speaking of a box of crayons -

It holds my pink
and your chocolate
and her burnt sienna
and his ivory skin.

Each line breaks after a color. Yolen's choice creates a lyrical moment because the reader has to stop and register the colors. The emotional impact comes at the end when we realize that the poet is talking about diversity and harmony, not merely crayons.

still standing

NH Literary Idol was a hoot! Flash fiction took many forms, including a bloggish account of a writing mom's life and a hilarious rejection letter. My picture book reading earned a respectable score of 11 out of 15. The only children's entry, Blue Ribbon Surprise accomplished my goal - to make sure NH children's literature was represented. I almost got points deducted for my duck puppet prop, though! I was happy that the poet of the panel noted my use of alliteration. Occasionally, the judges tucked a positive comment in their off-the-cuff responses. The winning presentation was a masterful short story.

Throughout Writers' Day, I learned from workshops on dialogue, plot and creating chapbooks. Best of all, I pitched my Hildegard biography to an agent! Now it's on to this weekend's NE SCBWI conference!

a literary debut

At Disney World this week, I was tempted to buy a American Idol shirt saying VOTE FOR ME. This weekend I'm a contestant in New Hampshire Literary Idol, sponsored by the NH Writer's Project. In a weak moment I thought I could bear the standard for children's writers!

So I have cut one of my picture books to a three-minute reading. And I practiced, duck puppet in hand. Whatever the outcome, honing the manuscript was a great exercise. I thought at 600 plus words, it was lean. Now, stripped of everything but the essentials and the verbs, it's a 400-plus-word action-packed manuscript.

I think I gained clarity, and there seems more room for an illustrator's interpretation.

Stay tuned for results of my stage debut as a children's writer!

profile research

This week I'm working on profiles of strong, determined women from New York. I love the research. It's a challenge to stop collecting information and write the profile. I'm always hoping to uncover a gem that will make the piece more interesting.

William Zinsser, in On Writing Well, advises collecting more material than you will use. "Every article is strong in proportion to the surplus of details from which you can choose the few that will serve you best."

My audience and my word limit help me decide what material to include and what to leave out. Even though I can't include it all, I'm learning lots! These women who have accomplished so much deserve our respect. Check out the new "America's Notable Women" series from Apprentice Shop Books.