I don't seem to have much to
say these days. There may be seasons when we
are exploding with good things that should be said. These seasons usually
follow seasons of not having much to say. Those are times when I wish I
listened more.
In the last month, I started working on a new book project
with a therapist, Julia (not her real name), in Boulder. She has about 5 years worth of
notes, presentations, and workbooks on helping people with body image and food
issues, which she wants to compile into three books.
I live in Boulder, which has just been named the happiest city in the country!
But this happy person has a confession to make: I love sad poems. Love
reading them, love writing them. And I don't think I'm alone.
One of our favorite bookstores, Hearts and Minds, just released their Best Books of 2009 list (part 2). It's full of lots of quirky awards, but it has some great picks and makes me want to stop everything I'm doing and just begin reading--there is so much I missed this past year! I was happy to see one of my favorite books of 2009, Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre. Now we just need to tell the folks at Hearts and Minds that there should be a category for (ah-hem) best literary magazine.
I just saw that Utmost Christian Poetry Contest is looking for entries and they award over $3,000 in cash prizes, and that, as of February 5th, very few entries have been received for the contest and the contest registrar said she'd never seen so few entries. It sounds like a great opportunity to send your stuff in and have a high chance of being awarded a prize. The deadline is Feb. 28th. Here is the link for their poetry contest.
