Book News:

On Kathy Patrick’s blog, http://www.pulpwoodqueen.com/ (The Pulpwood Queen’s Book Club) my book was selected as the May 2008 pick! Kathy’s blog said:

“Pinecones (our pre-teen version of The Pulpwood Queens Book Club) Selection
Jim Limber Davis: Black Orphan in the Confederate White House by Rickey Pittman, Pelican Publishing.

My Grapevine, Texas book signing at the Books-A-Million for this Saturday is being rescheduled. Likely, it will now be in April. There was a management change and in the confusion of transition, my books didn’t get ordered (Books-A-Million seems to have management changes frequently). If I can, I’ll replace it, but if I have a Saturday “off” I can use the time for writing, preparing my taxes, or the never ending chores that life thrust upon us. I’ll still be in Waskom, Texas though on Friday.

I’ve been booked to be the speaker for a reception for the regional winners of the Young Authors’ Contest. Entries are judged at the school level in grades K-8 (regular ed. & special ed.) and in three categories – poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. This year we are honoring 77 district winners at a reception the afternoon of April 30.

WHAT I’M READING:

While getting my Toyota RAV serviced, I found this quote in Esquire by Michael J. Fox: “I can’t be smug because I know you can lose anything at any point.”

In the Jan/Feb issue of Poets & Writers, I underscored these quotes:

Alice Quinn said, “I’m still a believer in Robert Frost’s dictum that a good poem should be like a piece of ice on a hot stove; it should ride on its own melting” (19).

In this same issue, Aaron Hamburger writes of the popularity of the historical novel and discusses the difficulties writers face in trying to write good ones. The article is entitled, “The Pitfalls of Historical Fiction.” The article ends with this:

“And we should stop applauding novels that comfort us by confirming our sense of what the past must have been like. We should seek out the moments in historical fiction that confront us with our own frailty and ignorance–the qualities that make all ofus, no matter when or where were born, human” (25).

Reginal Shepherd wrote a wonderful article in this issue entitled, “Poetry as a Way Out.” The article is full of amazing insights into the mind of the poet and the craft of writing poetry.

You can find Poets & Writers online here: http://www.pw.org/ 

It has to be one of the finest resources available to creative writers.