Wednesday, December 17, 2014

CDW! - Carpe diem Wednesday!

Poetry and I have never been friends. Although I love to read it and listen to it, writing it is has always been a whole other beast.  That said, I decided today, I would seize the day, and take on that  beast. Good, bad, or indifferent, it felt great to write it and take a stab at something new. 
Carpe diem! 

See You Later, Frustration!

Frustration, Frustration go away
I don’t want to feel you in my body today.
You make my stomach hurt and I feel tight in my chest
Some days it is hard to take you and I need a rest.
My mom says taking deep breaths is the best thing to do
And I try to do that, but frustration, you are making me feel so blue.
My dad tries to tickle it out of me and sometimes that works,
But this time it is not going away, and I still feel it lurks.
Suddenly, my dog licks my foot, and I feel a twinge better
I finally feel able to get dressed and put on my sweater.
My bird on its perch tweets to me a hello
And I take a deep-down belly breath and let that frustration finally go.
Frustration you are not going to get the best of me today

The breath, the tickle, lick and tweet will help me get through this day.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Wearable Art from Books

Scrolling through my Facebook feed today, I came upon this website that I had to share with my JacketFlap community.  Imagine your favorite classic American novels  i.e., The Great Gatsby or Moby Dick or classic British novels i.e.,  Pride and Prejudice or The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes or the great works by Shakespeare such as Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet and having every word and every line of these stories on a t-shirt.  You can wear the entire story on your body.  
FYI, I have no connection with this site AT ALL - but wanted to share it with all of you because it is super cool!  http://www.litographs.com/

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

'Tis the season to calendar the book conferences to attend in 2015!



Ho Ho Ho!...'Tis the season to start planning for upcoming book conferences in 2015.  The early bird gets the worm, or at least the possibility for cheaper flights and hotels, therefore scroll through the list below of many domestic and international book conferences taking place in the new year. 

Happy Conferences!

United States

Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con
Where: New Orleans, La.
When: JANUARY 9-10-11, 2015
FRI-SAT-SUN

Digital Book World Conference & Expo
Where: New York, N.Y.
When: Jan. 13–15, 2015
Web site:

Wizard World Portland Comic-Con
Where: Portland, Ore.
When: Jan. 23–26; 2015

American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting
Where: Chicago, IL
When: Jan. 30th – Feb. 3rd 2015

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
Where: NY, NY
When: Feb. 6-8, 2015

San Francisco Writers Conference
Where: San Francisco
When: February 12-15, 2015

West Coast Writers Conference – The Big Story
Where: Van Nuys, Calif.
When: February 20-22, 2015

Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)
Where: Minneapolis
When: April 8 - 11, 2015

SleuthFest 2015
Where: Orlando, Fla.
When: Feb. 26–Mar. 1, 2015
Web site: http://sleuthfest.com

Wizard World Sacramento Comic Con
Where: Sacramento, Calif.
When: JUNE 19-20-21, 2015

South By Southwest
Where: Austin, Texas
When: Mar. 13–17, 2015
Web site: sxsw.com/

EPICon
Where: San Antonio, Texas
When: March 13 - 14, 2015

Unicorn Writers Conference
Where: Portland, Conn.
When: Mar. 14, 2015

PubSmartCon
Where: Charleston, S.C.
When: March 22-24, 2015
Web site: pubsmartcon.com/

WonderCon Anaheim
Where: Anaheim, Calif.
When: April 3, 4, and 5, 2015
  
Idaho Writers & Readers Rendezvous
Where: Boise, Idaho
When: May 14-16, 2015
  
BookExpo America (BEA)
Where: New York, N.Y
When: May 27–May 29, 2015

uPublishU at BEA
Where: New York, N.Y
When: May 30, 2015

ALA Annual Conference
Where: Las Vegas, Nev.
When: June 26–July 1, 2015
Web site: ala14.ala.org/

ThrillerFest IX
Where: New York, N.Y.
When: July 7–11, 2015

Comic-Con International: San Diego
Where: San Diego, Calif.
When: July 9–12, 2015

DragonCon
Where: Atlanta, Ga.
When: September 4 – September 7th, 2015

CANADA:

Montreal Book Fair
Where: Montreal, Canada
When: Nov. 19–24, 2014

Québec International Book Fair
Where: Québec City, Canada
When: Apr. 8–12, 2015

Ontario Writers’ Conference
Where: Ontario, Canada
When: April 24th-25th , 2015

International:

Angoulême International Comics Festival
Where: Angoulême, France
When: Jan. 29–Feb. 1, 2015

Cairo International Book Fair,
Where: Cairo, Egypt
When: January - February 2015

Kolkata Book Fair
Where: Kolkata, India
When: January 28 –February 8, 2015

Jerusalem International Book Fair,
Where: Jerusalem, Israel
When: February 8-12, 2015

Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE),
Where: Taipei, Taiwan
When: February 11-16,  2015

2014 San Miguel Writers Conference
Where: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
When: Feb. 11–15, 2015

New Delhi World Book Fair
Where: New Delhi, India
When: Feb. 14–22, 2015

Vilnius Book Fair
Where: Vilnius, Lithuania
When: Feb. 19–22

Brussels Book Fair
Where: Brussels, Belgium
When: Feb. 26- MARCH 2, 2015
Web site: flb.be/

Dublin Book Festival
Where: Dublin, Ireland
When: Mar. 4-6, 2015

Leipzig Book Fair
Where: Leipzig, Germany
When: Mar. 12–15, 2015

Paris Book Fair (Salon du Livre)
Where: Paris, France
When: Mar. 20–23, 2015

Bologna Children’s Book Fair
Where: Bologna, Italy
When: Mar. 30–April 2, 2015

London Book Fair
Where: London, England
When: Apr. 14–16, 2015

St. Petersburg International Book Salon
Where: St. Petersburg, Russia
When: Apr. 23–26, 2015

Buenos Aires International Book Fair
Where: Buenos Aires, Argentina
When: Apr. 23–May 11, 2015

Budapest International Book Festival
Where: Budapest, Hungary
When: Apr. 24–27

26th Geneva International Book, Press, and Multimedia Fair
Where: Geneva, Switzerland
When: Apr. 29–May 3, 2015

Bogota International Book Fair
Where: Bogota, Colombia
When: Apr. 29–May 12, 2015
Bogota International Book Fair
Where: Bogota, Colombia
When: April 30 – May 12,  2015

Nigeria International Book Fair
Where: Lagos, Nigeria
When: May 6-11, 2015

Abu Dhabi International Book Fair
Where: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
When: May 7 – May 13, 2015

The Self-Publishing Conference
Where: Leicester, England
When: May 9, 2015

Prague International Book Fair and Literary Festival Book World
Where: Prague, Czech Republic
When: May 14-17, 2015

25th Turin International Book Fair
Where: Turin, Italy
When: May 14–18, 2015

Thessaloniki Book Fair
Where: Thessaloniki, Greece
When: May 16- May 19, 2015

Warsaw International Book Fair
Where: Warsaw, Poland
When: May 21 – May 24, 2015
  
Seoul International Book Fair
Where: Seoul, South Korea
When: June 18–22. 2015
Web site: www.sibf.or.kr/

Cape Town Book Fair
Where: Cape Town, South Africa
When: June 19-21, 2015

Tokyo International Book Fair
Where: Tokyo, Japan
When: July 1–4, 2015

Hong Kong Book Fair
Where: Hong Kong, China
When: July 15–21, 2015

Moscow International Nonfiction Book Fair
Where: Moscow, Russia
When: November 2015

Oslo Book Festival
Where: Oslo, Norway
When: September 18 -20, 2015

Lviv International Book and Literature Festival
Where: Lviv, Ukraine
When: September 2015

Colombo International Book Fair
Where: Colombo, Sri Lanka
When:September 2015

Goteborg Book Fair
Where: Goteborg, Sweden
When: September 24 – 27, 2015
Web site:

International Book Fair LIBER
Where: Barcelona, Spain
When: Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, 2015

Frankfurt Book Fair
Where: Frankfurt, Germany
When: Oct. 2015

Helsinki Book Fair
Where: Helsinki, Finland
When: Oct. 22–25th, 2015

International Belgrade Book Fair
Where: Belgrade, Serbia
When: Oct. 26–Nov. 2, 2015

Sharjah World Book Fair
Where: Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
When: November 2015

Istanbul Book Fair
Where: Istanbul, Turkey
When: Nov. 21–29th, 2015

Guadalajara International Book Fair
Where: Guadalajara, Mexico
When: November 2015
Web site: www.fil.com.mx/

Basel Book Fair
Where: Basel, Switzerland
When: November 2015