I have been very busy in recent months. Getting this site up and running and publishing and marketing the children’s book have been a challenge. I am very anxious to get back to work on a novel I am writing so I will only provide a brief preview of the sorts of things to expect in the future.
Regarding Poetry For Children, I will appreciate any comments on the book/poems. I intend to publish additional poems as time goes on. I am toying with the idea of inviting children to submit poems, perhaps to collect and publish.
The book of outdoor Poetry, Water Like the Soul of an Angel taught me a lesson about book titles. While I appreciate its relative success, it would sell more copies if I had been wise enough to not have used the subtitle, “Memoirs of a Fisherman.” No fish are caught in the book and it is not about fishing. I just happen to be very creative when I am out on the river. It’s akin to having a subtitle for a beautiful book of poems like, “Memoirs of a Plumber.” Of course no one would buy it unless they were interested in plumbing. So if you love the outdoors, this book should be yours. I plan to publish essays on my adventures in the outdoors as time progresses including pieces on Catch and Release and Grizzly Bear encounters in Alaska.
Readers will be surprised to discover a love poem on page 73, “My Only Loneliness.” Many of my former male students have memorized this poem to recite to their girlfriends to illustrate their romantic sensitivity. This poem was actually used in the exchange of vows during a wedding of one of my students. I wrote it originally for my wife.
Finally my book about Adoption and related issues Searching for Magdalene deserves some immediate attention. It is most popular with folks dealing with adoption, step parents, adoptive parents and complicated family issues. I intend to expand on some of the book’s implicit themes in the future such as attachment disorder. An important component of the book is the collection of original letters my mother wrote before her death. I must include the following information about the letters for those of you who go to Lulu.com to purchase the book.
A note about the letters: They can be read with the naked eye but a magnifying glass would be useful. They are copies of letters originally written with a pencil. The last couple of lines in Letter #4 are very light so I have transcribed them here:
“Ed’s folks for dinner. Came home about 4 o’clock & Ed had to leave for work at 6:30. Then David, Jackie and I went for a walk. The children looked so nice today. They wore their Christmas overalls from you. I put them away & just shortened them this week. The colors are very good on them. David was so proud of his.
Just can’t think of any more to write about so will say good-night for now. Love, Magdalene Thanks for the Easter cards.”
Finally, somewhere in the text I referred to the Bible with a lower case “b” and did not correct it. The lack of page numbers is intentional and part of the book design.
