Entering Contests — At Last

                                                                        

These pictures may look familiar to you. This is how my desk usually looks when I        

 haven't tidied it up, and I seldom think to take a picture of it looking neat. This is how it looks again, because I've been insanely busy, and a mess doesn't seem to call for new photos.

Between this week and last, I have submitted 2 stories, 3 flash fictions, and 12 poems to contests. Yup. I'm celebrating that. And this is why I did it: I'm staring work on part two of an old book that bogged down when I got stuck. It's an MG novel, and you know how long a novel can take! Now I'm on fire with this WIP again, but I have learned from experience: 

When I work on a novel, everything else just sits in the filing cabinet: stories, flash fictions, poems. And they nag at me. Besides, my copy of Poets & Writers was giving me the accusing stare. I'm always interested in thumbing through the magazine's links for general submission deadlines — that I often don't do anything about — but this issue (March/April) is chock full of contests with  deadlines in March, April, and May. 

 So. I decided, get those little rascals out of the cabinet and into the cybersphere so they aren't hanging over my head, interfering with the present novel I want to work on in peace. It was a matter of clearing the slate. It isn't too late to get your own copy of Poets & Writers, even go to your local library, and check out deadlines you can still make. There's quite a few in April & May.

Now I can even clean house (way overdue, since I was doing research for the novel.) Yup, it's clearing out time in general.

How about you? Have you taken on any "clean sweep" type projects? Have you taken the plunge to submit to contests? What are you celebrating this week?

Celebrate the Small Things  is a blog hop co-hosted by Lexa Cain at: Lexa Cain,  L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge , and Tonja Drecker @ Tidbits Blog. (You can go to any of these sites to add your name to the links, if you want to participate.)

Last Saturday's Art Show at University Art Supplies Store

I'm celebrating two days early or five days late, depending on how you look at it. Here are the art pieces from the South Natomas Community Center's Art Club Show. The reception was last Saturday, from 1:00pm to 3:00pm and students served punch and cookies. The timing was because in Sacramento, Second Saturday each month is when art receptions are held, although with adult artists receptions are in the evening, and munchies and wine are usually served.

 I had to clamber around in the window to take these photos, so they aren't as tidy as I would wish. The pieces are mounted on a wallpaper trim background, then mounted again on a mat the has complementary coloring. These last 3 are different angles of the complete show.

The little tags hanging below each art piece are the artistic statements of the student artists. They are always so interesting to read.


Enjoy the show! And have a nice day.

Celebrate the Small Things  is a blog hop co-hosted by Lexa Cain at: Lexa Cain,  L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge , and Tonja Drecker @ Tidbits Blog. (You can go to any of these sites to add your name to the links, if you want to participate.)

Celebrating a School Visit and a Program I Learned About

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So I'm celebrating a school visit today. This morning I had the pleasure of visiting Matsuyama Elementary

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School, here in Sacramento, to read Dragonella to three first grade classes. They all assembled in one room, and were so quiet and attentive when they came in. And they stayed that way for over 35 minutes, which is not typical for first graders.

It is always such a pleasure to read to children. You can see them getting drawn into another world. All those sweet faces. All those bright eyes. You can almost hear their thoughts clicking away. Afterwards, the questions these kids asked were just terrific.

I always love school visits, but today I learned about a program I hadn't heard about before — and that I think has a lot to do with how sharp these kids were: Their three wonderful teachers meet Fridays in a program called The Leader in Me. Hats off to the school for promoting this program. The program focuses on the concepts in Stephen Covey's acclaimed book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, but applies the habits to children. I think the whole school does it, with different lesson plans for each grade level.

These habits that make for successful living focus on character.  (There's an online site where you can learn more about The Leader in Me, HERE, where the concepts are called The 7 Habits of Happy Kids.) To wit: 1. Be proactive 2. Begin with the end in mind 3. Put first things first 4. Think win/win 5. Seek first to understand; then to be understood 6. Synergize 7. Sharpen the saw (balance)

These are the habit definitions in the adult book, too, but in this program each habit is broken down for young children to use and apply to their own lives. Apparently there are The Leader in Me schools around the globe, and I have to say, I am impressed.

I hope all of you are having a good Friday. What are you celebrating today? Do you know of other special programs for kids that have impressed you?

Celebrate the Small Things  is a blog hop co-hosted by Lexa Cain at: Lexa Cain,  L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge , and Tonja Drecker @ Tidbits Blog. (You can go to any of these sites to add your name to the links, if you want to participate.)