July 2015 archive

A FEW YEARS AGO, PAL PEGGY POET (AKA Peggy Miller), said, Hey! Let’s email “postcard poems” to each other every day for the month of August! And we did! And it was a blast! I am telling you, nothing lights a fire under MY creativity like a deadline—and Peggy’s invitation gave me thirty-one deadlines to meet.

What I didn’t know was that Peggy’s idea is a THING! Initiated in 2007 by poets Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers, the annual Poetry Postcard Fest is the poet’s answer to NaNoWriMo. A well-organized, collaborative, creative event, Poetry Postcard Fest provides both inspiration to write during the dog days of summer and a dynamic way to share your work with interested others. Register by July 27th!

IN ACCORDANCE WITH MY SUMMER-LY commitment to adventure, I spent a recent hour strolling a new-to-me corner of College Park. I browsed through a Little Library (and scored a copy of THE MOTH!), clambered over a fence at Guernsey Park to hang out with the minnows, and delighted in the sight of a yellow house whose front and garage doors were painted purple!

It may not seem like much, but when I mix it up—do something out of my ordinary—my creativity sparks quicker and burns brighter. My friend Hugh Holborn knows this, too. That’s why, a few years ago, he did something similar. Well, “similar.” You see, rather than taking an hour-long jaunt through a new neighborhood, in the summer of 2010, Hugh hopped on his bicycle and pedaled every one of the 2000 miles from St. Augustine, Florida, to Taos, New Mexico.

Along the way, Hugh documented his journey—the highs, the lows, the people he met, and his thoughts on all of it. And he’s not done, yet. Nope. This September, partly inspired by Cheryl Strayed’s famous Pacific Crest Trail hike, Hugh’s walking the southern portion of the Appalachian Trail and will be posting from trail-side. You can follow Hugh’s latest adventure at Teatime on the AT.

Now, you! Go big and bold like Hugh (and Cheryl), or micro-local, like me—but GO! Adventure will awaken your life and your writing.

THIS SATURDAY, JULY 18th, from 10 am-1 pm, head to Writers Atelier for Yoga + Imagination Generation! Florida-based writer Ashley Inguanta leads this nurturing, yoga-and-creative-writing session. Register with racquel@racquelhenry.com.

CONGRATS TO DARLYN FINCH whose debut novel, SEWING HOLES, is a finalist in the 2015 Royal Palm Literary Award Competition! Catch Darlyn when she teaches a New Southern Gothic workshop at Camp Wordier Than Thou at USF St. Pete on August 9th and when she speaks about the “Twisted Road to Publication” at the Florida Heritage Book Festival at Flagler College in St. Augustine on September 25th.

ABOUT HER NEW SITE, Charlene Edge: Writer on the Wing, Charlene says, Memoir, world travel, fundamentalism, poetry, and cults: Disparate as these may seem, they’re gathered here like a blended family overlooking the sea, reaching for lessons in the wind. Listen, as Charlene (second caller) chimes in on a radio interview with Jeff Stevenson, author of FORTNEY ROAD: Life, Death, and Deception in a Christian Cult. 

REGISTER NOW for the 14th Annual Florida Writers Conference, October 15-18, in Altamonte Springs. Among other bonuses, this conference features an all-day session on writing realistic crime scenes! Early-bird pricing ends July 31st.