this is just to say http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog -- musings on books and writing for children Tue, 01 May 2012 20:59:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Poetry and playing http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/05/01/poetry-and-playing/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/05/01/poetry-and-playing/#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 20:54:35 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=348 I recently had the good fortune to speak with DC poet Liz Steinglass. Her blog, if you don’t know it, is the outstanding and inspiring  Growing Wild where she has been writing a poem a day for months.

She interviewed  me recently about the writing of I Lay My Stitches Down and the interview can be read in full at http://poetryatplay.org.

Poetry at Play

]]> http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/05/01/poetry-and-playing/feed/ 0 Poem in your pocket day http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/04/26/poem-in-your-pocket-day/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/04/26/poem-in-your-pocket-day/#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:40:36 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=342 Today is the annual Poem In Your Pocket Day, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets.

Here are two pocket-sized poems. Enjoy.

Imagine Spring

 Peach, yellow rose petals

            chant a rain-fed yes,

                        only yet above peace.

     (Untitled)

     blackbirds scattering –

               the crackling sound of wing-tips

     on gravel – dad’s home

]]> http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/04/26/poem-in-your-pocket-day/feed/ 0 an interview with Kirkus . . . . http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/04/17/an-interview-with-kirkus/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/04/17/an-interview-with-kirkus/#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:30:20 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=332 Many, many thanks to Erika Rohrbach with Kirkus for showing such interest and taking the time to talk with me about my book.

If you’d like to read the itnerview, click the link below.

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/blog/childrens/piecing-poems-i-lay-my-stitches-down/#continue_reading_post

]]> http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/04/17/an-interview-with-kirkus/feed/ 0 interviews — live or otherwise . . . http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/03/12/interviews-live-or-otherwise/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/03/12/interviews-live-or-otherwise/#comments Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:04:48 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=324 Even though I bumbled and stumbled my way through my first live interview, it ended up sounding, well, not horrible. For any of you who are considering, or hoping to land, a radio interview let me tell you—you’re going to experience brain-freeze. Read on to see what to do about it.

 First, here is some outstanding advice from Ruta Sepetys, author of the AWESOME Between Shades of Gray, which I followed to the letter. Thank you, Ruta!

  •  Have water to drink and tissues nearby.
  • Take off earrings—the clicking will be picked up on air.
  • Have your book handy, in case they ask you to do a reading (I should add, I wanted my book in my lap because I was afraid I would forget everything I had written).
  • Be sure to get your URL and/or website name on the air.

 Also, Steve Benett has excellent advice at mediamentor.com, which I highly recommend you seek out. He has a list of “Ten Essential Tips for Successful Interviews.” Thank you, Steve!

 My own advice is this:  Prepare. Prepare beyond belief. This does not mean jot down a few notes and read them over half a dozen times. It means getting in touch with your inner overachiever and then really ramping it up.

Anticipate EVERY question possible and get inside it. Know yourself.  Know your material.  Know it in your bones because your brain will betray you.  Practice answering aloud over and over.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions of the interviewer. At least THREE times I had forgotten the question my interviewer had asked– I rambled on, instead of stopping to ask him to repeat the question or in some other way help me get back on track.

 Luckily for me, I had a second interview the following week. I was able to correct some of my errors the second time around. It wasn’t a live radio interview this time, but a telephone interview with Kirkus. We’ll see in April when it is posted as a Q & A to their website how it went. I know I felt much more comfortable that time around . . . .

]]> http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/03/12/interviews-live-or-otherwise/feed/ 0 live from new york . . . . http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/03/06/live-from-new-york/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/03/06/live-from-new-york/#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:09:18 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=318  . . .or Texas, actually, and New Jersey, sort of  . . . Anyway, if you missed my live interview about I Lay My Stitches Down with Mark Lipinski on Creative Mojo, now it can heard as a podcast. A really fun experience, which I’ll write about in a blog posting soon.

http://toginet.com/podcasts/creativemojo/?s=creativemojo 

]]> http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/03/06/live-from-new-york/feed/ 0 guest interview on Creative Mojo with Mark Lipinski http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/28/guest-interview-on-creative-mojo-with-mark-lipinski/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/28/guest-interview-on-creative-mojo-with-mark-lipinski/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:07:48 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=312 Yikes! On Wednesday, February 29, around 3:20 p.m., EST, I’ll be a guest on “Creative Mojo with Mark Lipinski.” You can listen live to our conversation about I Lay My Stitches Down by going to www.toginet.com and clicking on the “listen live” button on the right-hand side of the page. It will be availabe as a podcast a few hours later.

]]> http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/28/guest-interview-on-creative-mojo-with-mark-lipinski/feed/ 0 Blogging at Eerdword . . . http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/15/blogging-at-eerdword/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/15/blogging-at-eerdword/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:25:31 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=308 Today is the official pub date for I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery. I talk about the creative process and writing of the book over at  http://eerdword.wordpress.com/.

]]> http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/15/blogging-at-eerdword/feed/ 0 Book Launch! http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/14/book-launch/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/14/book-launch/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:06:41 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=288 Michele Wood and I had a fantastic time at our launch and double book signing party in Washington, DC! Lots of friendly faces, including three amazing sisters who flew out from California to join us. . . 

 

]]> http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/14/book-launch/feed/ 0 happenings . . . http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/02/happenings/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/02/happenings/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:11:47 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=285 February 2012

2/9     Book Launch, Washington, DC

March 2012

TBA     Book signing, San Jose, CA

]]> http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/02/02/happenings/feed/ 0 wednesday’s words . . . . http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/01/18/wednesdays-words-3/ http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/2012/01/18/wednesdays-words-3/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:31:09 +0000 admin http://www.cynthiagrady.com/blog/?p=282  ”Creation is a knack which is empowered by practice, and like almost any skill, it is lost if you don’t practice it.”  –Wallace Stegner

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