31st Annual Case Western Reserve Writers' Conference

The 31st Annual Case Western Reserve Writers' Conference will be held at Lakeland Community College, 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland, Oh, on March 31st. For more details go to http://deannaadams.com/conference.htm

The Day After Thanksgiving, a (humorous) essay

It’s the day after Thanksgiving—“Black Friday,” as the media calls it. We are taking care of our three grandchildren—Natalie, age 8 (in 3 months), Zach, age 9 (in 2 months), and Dylan, age 11 (in 20 days).

Natalie and I have pie for breakfast. I have pumpkin with huge clouds of whipped cream—the kind that squirts from a can. Natalie has Marie Callender razzleberry, a family favorite, without whipped cream. She had four slices yesterday. She will undoubtedly bargain for another piece after lunch. Good thing I baked two.

The boys have not had pie, but I've found silver wrappers and ribbons from Hershey’s kisses lying around. That was the dessert for non-pie lovers, and they have been sneaking candy from the freezer.

Nathan, our autistic adult son, is foraging for food—his favorite pastime. He loves pie, both kinds.

Mollie, our Lhasa-poo, is harassing Mikey, the kids’ tiger cat, and Mikey is inviting the harassment. Occasionally, they stop to sniff each other—curiosity overcoming the natural dog-cat animosity.

Dylan runs through the house periodically, talking baby talk to Mikey and Molly (“M & M”). He wavers between pre-teen cynicism and innocent joy. Zach, as usual, is entranced by a computer game, but makes a kitchen stop for grapes and a brief spat with Natalie. (Who hit who first?) Zach is getting along with Dylan today. He wavers between hero worship of and bitter disputes with Dylan, often about the Wii or other electronic games.

Natalie plunks the Christmas suggestion box on my half-solved crossword puzzle, insisting that I might want to read the contents. She has put in a lot of suggestions. The boys haven’t put in any. They are too busy with computer games.

Natalie is watching a show about women shopping for wedding dresses. (I worry that her interest in this program means that she will do something rash like get married at age 16.) She discusses the dresses with her grandpa. I smile when I hear him give his opinion that one is too ruffled and frilly. He walks into the kitchen and says, “I had planned to go to my office this morning—and here I am watching a show about dresses.” I am relieved when Natalie abandons the show and demands a turn on the computer.

My husband takes Nathan for a walk, and then escapes to his office, leaving me as referee among opposing forces and unreliable guardian of candy and pie.

At lunch, Dylan tells me a joke:

Dylan: Grandma, you need to call a doctor for me.

Me: Why is that?

Dylan: My butt has a crack in it, and I need a new one.

Tell me this isn’t better than venturing out into the shopping hordes where crazy ladies might assault you with pepper spray.

THE TRIGGERING TOWN by Richard Hugo

The Triggering Town; Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing, by Richard Hugo, was published in 1979. Hugo, a poet who won several honors and who directed the creative writing program at the University of Montana , died in 1982. Recently, I came across his book and found myself stimulated by his commentary on the writing process.

Consider the following advice:

Once a spectator said, after Jack Nicklaus had chipped a shot in from a sand trap, "That's pretty lucky." Nicklaus is suppose to have replied, "Right. But I notice the more I practice, the luckier I get." If you write often, perhaps every day, you will stay in shape and will be better able to receive those good poems, which are finally a matter of luck, and get them down. Lucky accidents seldom happen to writers who don't work. You will find that you may rewrite and rewrite a poem and it never seems quite right. Then a much better poem may come rather fast and you wonder why you bothered with all that work on the earlier poem. Actually, the hard work on the first poem is responsible for the sudden ease of the second. If you just sit around waiting for the easy ones, nothing will come. Get to work.

So, if you're like me and sometimes wonder why you spent two hours writing something that later seems less than stellar, Hugo's advice may provide the motivation to write without guilt about your unmade bed or your unmopped floor.

January 2011 issue of Still Crazy

Still Crazy will begin its fourth year of publication in 2011. The January issue will be out the first part of the month.

American Life in Poetry

American Life in Poetry provides newspapers and online publications with a free weekly column featuring contemporary American poems. Sponsored by the Library of Congress, The Poetry Foundation, and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, the project is an initiative of Ted Kooser, Poet Laureate of the United States, 2004-2006. The column's sole mission is to promote poetry. To receive American Life in Poetry via email, sign up on the web site: http://www.americanlifeinpoetry.org/

W. S. Merwin named Poet Laureate

For news on poet laureates - past and present - go to the Library of Congress web site:
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/

79th Annual Writer's Digest placement

Barbara Kussow's entry placed 27th in the top 100 in the Genre Short Story category of the 79th Annual Writer's Digest competition:
http://www.writersdigest.com/article/annualwinners79_genre