Order a Signed Copy of The Homework Strike! (And a Launch Party)

Thanks to the fine folk at Children's Book World here in LA, you can order a signed or personalized (or, you know, blank) copy of The Homework Strike! You've potentially only got a week to do so, though, as I am signing books at my launch party there on Saturday, January 7th at 2:30 in the afternoon. You're invited to the party, too, by the way.  (The book officially debuts January 3rd, if you're keeping track (aka - Hi, Mom!))

I hope to see you at the launch or somewhere else during 2017. And to all of y'all... Happy New Year! Here's to a year of good health and happiness.

The Homework Strike is a Junior Library Guild selection!

Not to be tooting the Homework Strike horn or anything, but... hey, y'all... it's a Junior Library Guild selection! Okay - fine: Toot! Toot!

(It's also available for pre-order everywhere cuz it comes out January 3rd. And Linzie Hunter's cover is pretty awesome, so I'll share it again. And yay!)

Would You Believe: A Real Life Homework Strike in Spain

It's life imitating art imitating life or some variation on that theme: all November long, parents in Spain were asked to put their kids on a homework strike. The strike was for weekends only, and if a school sent home homework, parents were asked to send it back with a note saying "nope" and excusing their kids from doing the work.

The strike was organized by CEAPA - Spain's national organization of parent associations - because, they said, homework is detrimental to children. Based on a 2014 report by the OECD, Spain ranks 11th on a list of amount of time the average 15 year old spends on homework per week. The US is 15th.

There were news stories throughout Europe, unsurprisingly, but I was fond of the article and comment thread on The Guardian.  I have yet to read an article on the impact of the strike and would really love to find one from the student perspective. If you've run into one, please let me know!

I hope another country goes on strike when my book comes out in January. :-)

One Minute Till Bedtime Is Now!

It's launch day for One Minute till Bedtime, an anthology anthologized by Kenn Nesbitt and including a whole slew of poets... including me! The book is fantastic, and I think that's unbiased (while I'm biased). I base that not only on reading it myself, but also on the three starred reviews to date. The art by Christoph Niemann is fantastic, too.

And if you're in Los Angeles, you can come see a small slew of us included poets at the fantastic Children's Book World this Saturday, November 5th, at 2:00 PM. (That's also where I'll be having my Homework Strike launch party in January, by the way!). I hope to see you there... and even moreso, I hope you can check out the book.

Found Poetry - family

(click to see the found poem in all its found glory)

family
(a found poem)
by
Greg Pincus

Perhaps you like a puzzle even if it is a puzzle
that does not have an answer.

The mystery
is this, "How did
the answer
have such history?"

Perhaps you will come up with an answer.


One of the unexpected highlights of the Poetry Camp (for Adults) was the craft/found poem event run by poet/artist/inspire-er Robyn Hood Black the night before the conference at Bellingham's Village Books. If you know me, you know that while I'm a huge fan of arts and crafts and such as a concept... actually doing them isn't always tops on my list. But there I was, sitting at a table along with Bob Raczka, Peg Cheng, and Brenda Olson chatting, glue-ing, picking words, laughing, and having a blast.

I felt lucky: my source material included that rather amazing sentence that beings my poem. It also had a mystery/history rhyme I liked AND included the word "conchologists" which I was not able to fit into the poem (and had never heard before). You can see a bunch of the poems and read more about the conference at Peg Cheng's wonderful post about the whole event. Did I mention the whole thing was a blast? Good.

Today is Poetry Friday here in the blogosphere, and you can see the roundup of this week's posts over at fellow-Poetry-Camper Irene Latham's blog. Check it out!

Plus, if you want to get all my poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

OMP! (Oh My Poetry!) - Thoughts After WWU's Inaugural Poetry Camp

I am just back from Western Washington University's first ever Poetry Camp for Adults. It was awesome. I can't talk all the highlights, so I've picked the three that are tied in my head as "tops."

1) 38 poets!!!! On Friday, the day before the conference, 38 poets (camp counselors?) who have been part of the Pomelo Books Poetry Friday Anthologies gathered together to talk all sorts of things poetry-y. I've been to a lot of conferences and met a lot of poets, but his was a whole 'nother beast. And it was better than good. I'd met a few folks there before, and it was great to see them again. But there were mannnny who I only knew from email and social media and getting to meet in person was fantastic. It seemed impossible to top, really.

Poetry Camp Signage Tells What It Takes to Write Poetry

2) Except that on Saturday, it was the Poetry Camp itself, and there were 150 of us there... poetry lovers of all ilk. It was teachers and librarians - those who champion poetry and get poetry in front of kids. It was writers and parents and students. And it was so unbelievably satisfying that instead of being drained after a day of breakouts and keynotes, I was energized and excited and grateful. It would be hard to imagine anything matching the feeling... except the day before. And then...

3) Jack Prelutsky! I had never had the opportunity to see Jack Prelutsky perform, and I thought that would remain the case since he has retired from visits and the like. But the Poetry Camp got him to come. He was fantastic. He owned the room - all us kids from the age of 2 to 102 were eating out of his hand. It was like he had never taken a day off, let alone years off - singing, reciting, voicing, laughing, storytelling, playing guitar. It was the perfect end to the Camp.

I give my huge thanks to everyone who created and organized and volunteered and attended. More specifically, thanks to Syvlia Tag and Nancy Johnson at WWU who made this first time conference feel like it had been established forever. Plus they shuttled us poets around, as needed, going beyond the call.

And finally... huge hat tips and huzzahs to Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong for inviting me (and all of us), creating the Poetry Friday Anthologies, helping build our community, and celebrating poetry wherever they go. Thanks to all of y'all for including me in this weekend. I hope there are many others like it in the future!

Will I See You in Washington at Poetry Camp?

I'm so excited to be heading to Western Washington University (in Bellingham, WA) at the end of this month for Poetry Camp - a day about sharing, teaching, and understanding poetry. Yeah, it's a one day camp/conference about children's poetry - be still my heart (and thanks to Janet Wong, Sylvia Vardell, and the folks at WWU for putting it together). I'm part of a presentation (on blogging and poetry along with the fabulous Jone and JoAnn) but I'm also an avid attendee who is kinda giddy with anticipation.

You really gotta check out all the people going and talking... culminating with a performance by Jack Prelutsky!

If you're gonna be there, please say 'hi.' If you think you could go... please check it out!

Rules of Writing (Part One) - a poem about writing

Rules of Writing (Part One)
by
Greg Pincus

There are many rules of writing,
But here's one that's a myth:
You can never end a sentence
A preposition with.


It's true. I mean, it's true that it's a myth. That's something I'm sure of. I'm also sure it's Poetry Friday here in the blogosphere, and you can check out this week's roundup of posts over at Amy's amazingly awesome Poem Farm.

Plus, if you want to get all my poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

All Signs Point To...

... a return to the blog by the wandering host! It's been a couple months since I was last here, though it's good to see things remain just as I left them.

It was a summer of travel and work and play for me during which I encountered many others signs, some of which I felt offered good advice and showed a theme:

Others of which I couldn't abide by for long or which just plain old took all the fun out of things:

Writing was done. Work was performed on getting The Homework Strike ready for its January launch. Poetry was created. Presentations have been thought through and brought to life. And I may have had a few desserts along the way. All in all, it was a refreshing time, though I've missed it here and am happy to be back. The pace should pick up around here yet as I learned again this summer, sometimes you need to go slow and let things play out as they must....

I hope you've all been well, and I look forward to reconnecting here at GottaBook!

Cover! New Book! YAY! (The Homework Strike, Coming Soon)

Not that I'm excited or anything, but MY NEW BOOK IS COMING OUT SOOOOOOOON! The Homework Strike will be coming your way January 3, 2017, once again from Arthur A. Levine Books (and once again with a stellar cover by Linzie Hunter).

So many of you have been here from the time this was just a glimmer (yeah, I'm talking 2006, folks), and I'm thrilled to be able to share the cover here with you all. I'll be talking more about the content and story behind the book later. Today, though, I just want to scream happily a little if you don't mind. (Yay!!!!!! Thanks. Hope that wasn't too loud....)

It's Disney Channel Movie Time!

Need something to do this weekend? Good news - the Disney Channel is having a marathon of their Original Movies all weekend long. So you can watch Alley Cats Strike (every word of which is mine, for better or worse), Quints (on which I share credit), and The Other Me (on which I did the final draft from fine work before mine)... plus a whole lot more, of course.

You should set those DVRs and enjoy some classics!

Blog Flashback #7 - 30 Poets/30 Days

Back in 2009, I had this kinda nutty, out of the blue idea for Gottabook - what if I could share a never-before-published poem by a different children's poet every day during National Poetry Month? I had no real plan on how to get the poems, exactly, nor any inkling of whether people would be interested in me throwing this big event.

It turns out that everyone I asked said yes, with many poets writing brand new poems for the occasion. Thousands upon thousands of people visited the blog during April or subscribed to the poetry email list, and notes came from teachers around the world who shared these new poems every day with their students. There was coverage in School Library Journal and elsewhere. It was such a success that I turned it from a one-off idea into a series, continuing with new poems until 2013 and new poets every year but one.

From Jack Prelutsky, whose poem opened the whole thing, to Naomi Shihab Nye, whose poem closed out 2013's event, to everyone in between, the work that was sent in was incredible and a huge privilege to be able to share with you all. If you visit the blog, you can find all the poets for each year's 30 Poets/30 Days listed along the left hand side... with a click of a poet's name leading to their contribution.

You can also click on the logos below and arrive at a recap post for each year with links to all the poems. I truly can't say enough good things about the work you'll read, or about how amazing the people who write poetry for kids are.  I do hope you'll check all the links out.

Logo by Carter Higgins

Logo by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Logo by Mary Peterson

Logo by Bonnie Adamson

Once again I say thanks to the poets, the logo creators, and the folks who read daily. Without y'all 30 Poets/30 Days wouldn't have been a success and wouldn't have made it into my flashing back on 10 years worth of memories!

And if all the above isn't enough, I have good news: it's Poetry Friday, and you can find the roundup of this weeks' links at Buffy's Blog. I hope your Poetry Month finishes strong. Around these parts, every month is Poetry Month... so I look forward to seeing you back here in May, too.

J. Patrick Lewis - Questions To Ask The World

It's Earth Day. It's Poetry Friday. And I'm the lucky guy who gets a guest poem from J. Patrick Lewis!

                        Questions To Ask The World

                                                    (Earth Day, April 22)
                        

                  
                        Earth, if you get bumped by Moon,

                        Will it burst our blue balloon?

                        Sun, if you and Moon collide,

                        Who will turn the evening tide?

                        Moon, when you eclipse the Sun,

                        How can Noon have any fun?

                        Sky, if Rainbow paints the air . . .,

                        Multi-colored Thunderwear?

                        Rain, when showers thin to mist,

                        How will Thunder shake his fist?

                        Ocean, if you turn to salt,

                        Will you say the Sun’s at fault?

                        Ocean, will you ever roar,

                        What was all this beauty for?

                        Sky, when you unbucket Snow,

                        Is it time for mistletoe?

        

                        Snow, when you are falling hard,

                        May I angel-wing the yard?

                        Dark, when you turn off the Day,

                        I am sleepy anyway.

                        Night, if you cry, Go ahead,

                        Will Moon tuck me into bed?

                        Cloud, if you begin to weep,

                        Will Night rock me back to sleep?

© J. Patrick Lewis. All rights reserved.

I may be off by one or two, but I think this is the eighth poem I've had the opportunity to share here from former Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis. It brings me joy, I gotta say. I've also written poems inspired by new forms he's played with (careerhymes and zenos come to mind) so he's truly all over this blog, and it's a wonderful thing. He's truly a remarkable wordsmith, and while I could never pick only one of his books to recommend... today I'll just give you the cover of World Rat Day, a collection of poems of his about holidays you didn't even know about. Hey, it ties into Earth Day a little, yes? Yes!

Today is also Poetry Friday, and Jama has the roundup available over at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Check it out for all sorts of Poetry Month joy. And desserts! It's a win-win, I tell you. And as always, thanks for hanging out here, too....

Blog Flashback #6 - A Rhyming Interview!

I've never tried to figure out my single favorite post in my 10 years here at Gottabook, but if I was making a short list, I'm sure my rhyming interview with Leslie Muir would be on it.

Leslie, who I've known since well before either of us was published, was celebrating the launch of her picture book, The Little Bitty Bakery (illustrated by Betsy Lewin). She was on a blog tour, and I basically said "Hey, stop by Gottabook, and I'll interview you. And oh yeah, my questions and your answers will be in rhyme! C'mon. It'll be fun!" Gamer that she is, she said yes... then hit it out of the park.

Here's a sample:

As authors we don’t get to choose
Our artists, so we wait for news.

Can you recall what you were doin'
When you heard "It's Betsy Lewin"?

The phone had rung, the light was blinkin’,
Can’t recall what I was thinkin’.

The ID name sure caught my eye,
said: D-I-S-N-E and Y!

But why would Walt give me a call?
Especially since he’s dead and all?


You can see the whole interview by clicking here.

There have been other fun posts over the years, and many books and many friends celebrated here. Sometimes it feels hard to do something fresh or worthy of the books/people involved. But this? This was a blast for me from start to finish (and proved again that if you surround yourself with talented, smart, funny people... you'll look good in the process!).

On Going to Bed Without Dessert - a food poem

On Going to Bed Without Dessert
by
Greg Pincus

My brain's full of sundaes and thick, creamy shakes.
My thoughts drift to cookies and pastries and cakes.
I'm thinking of donuts. My head swims with pies.
I see piles of candy when I close my eyes.
And pudding! There's pudding in bowls ten feet deep.
I guess Mom was right - sugar's why I can't sleep.


Happy Poetry Friday once again. This week's roundup is over at Today's Little Ditty thanks to Michelle. There's always great stuff every week... and it's National Poetry Month so you really have no excuses not to visit. (Cake image, by the way, courtesy of the generator at RedKid.Net)

If you want to get all my poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

A Summary and a Review of My Recent School Vacation - a school poem/a vacation poem

A Summary and a Review of My Recent School Vacation
by
Greg Pincus

Flu.
Boo.


It's Poetry Friday yet again here in the blogosphere, so head on over to Laura Purdie Salas's Writing the World for Kids and check out this week's roundup of poetry goodies.

(P.S. Honestly, Mom, that's not really what happened to me, I'm grateful to say. It's just a poem!)

If you want to get all my poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

No Fooling - an April Fools' Day Poem

No Fooling
by
Greg Pincus

I hate to be tricked. I hate to be schooled.
I hate to be pranked. I hate to be fooled.
You do the fooling? I'll say you're the worst
(If the date on the calendar's not April 1st).


Yes, it's the one day of the year when maybe, just maybe, you can get away with fooling people without getting an emotional reaction. Just don't push your luck beyond 40 or 50 bits of foolishness, I figure.... And by the way, happy start of National Poetry Month as well as April Fools' Day!

For some utterly non-foolish fun, check out this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Amy's Poem Farm. Great stuff there (including the kickoff of Amy's own Poetry Month project).

And if you want to get all my poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Blog Flashback #5 - Ballonstof!

I realize that most of you who know me personally associate me with hot air ballooning very deeply, but if one reads the blog only, well, you wouldn't get that. (OK, fine. You don't get that in person, either). And yet one of my favorite blog-thangs is that a poem of mine initially shared here (and re-shared below) ended up in Ballonstof, the hot air ballooning magazine of the Netherlands.

It's a gorgeous, gorgeous magazine - and I know this because I got a year's subscription when my poem was acquired. I actually can't currently get to my copy of the magazine with my poem in it, sorry to say, but it was placed over an amazing shot of a balloon flying away. Beautiful.

The poem was found via a web search, by the way. And I'd always envisioned the poem about a kid who looses the string of their helium balloon. But it all worked perfectly in the magazine, and the whole experience showed me yet again how international blogging can be... and how happy accidents can come just by putting stuff out into the flow of the world. 

MY BALLOON
By
Greg Pincus

“Why, oh why, oh why, oh why????
Oh, please come back!” I moan and sigh.
I jumped but you had gone too high.
Now you’re flying in the sky.
I think I’m really gonna cry….
Goodbye, my poor balloon. Goodbye.

Blog Flashback #4 - Kidlitcon!

Long before there was even the above logo or the loose, overseeing Kidlitosphere Central, a group of us who blogged about children's literature gathered in Chicago for what was the first every Kidlitosphere Conference (aka Kidlitcon!). That was back in 2007 (and blogged about here).

It was a blast. I mean, a total blast.

For most of us, it was the first time we got to meet all these other people who we'd gotten to know online only. It wasn't really a gathering of 60 strangers - so many of us "knew" each other already, so it felt like a gathering of friends.

It was, as Clay Shirky discusses in Here Comes Everyone, the shared desire to go from a virtual space to a real world meetup... and thanks to Robin Brande and a few others, a tradition began that's still going strong (2016 Kidlitcon in Wichita, KS!)

I've been to multiple Kidlitcons, and I wish I could be there every year. They're informative, fun, and you meet remarkable people who can become offline friends in the same way they are your online friends. It's pretty fantastic.

The meeting of fellow bloggers is definitely one of my 10 years of blogging highlights. And so "hi!!!!!" all my Kidlitcon friends past, present, and future - it's great knowing you.

Poetry Re-issue: Thoughts During My Spelling Test

Thoughts During My Spelling Test
by
Greg Pincus

Yacht, February, aisle, cologne?
I've got to think. Leave me alogne.
Isthmus, Wednesday, queue, colonel?
I give up. This test's infolonel!

It's Poetry Friday, and I'm continuing my look back at 10 years of blogging by revisiting a nearly five year old poem. To be honest, I'd totally forgotten about this one until I re-stumbled into it (one of my favorite things about having my own blog, I must admit!). Here's something unforgettable, though -  this week's Poetry Friday Roundup over at TeacherDance. Check it out! You'll be glad you did, I tell ya!

And if you want to get all my poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Blog Flashback #3 - Visitors and Guests

Continuing to think about my 10 years of blogging here, one of my favorite, unexpected experiences has to be the guests and visitors who've come traipsing through these parts. And I'm not really talking about guest posts or things like that. I'm talking the more surprising.

For example, if you spin through the comments on GottaBook, you'll end up finding a veritable who's who of children's literature. This is true on many other blogs as well, by the way, and speaks to the fact that we're a community in the best sense of the term. But it was certainly unexpected when I started here. (You'll also find a who's who of my relatives! But I expected that cuz they rock.)

You'll also find an amazing array of voices who have supported children's literature through blogs and Twitter and online and offline publications - librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators, editors, reviewers, historians, you name it. I had started blogging in part because I also wanted a seat at the table - a voice in conversations about a subject I care about. From my blog, I went out and talked elsewhere... but sometimes that conversation took place here!

And I also always flash back to this post from the 2006 SCBWI Conference. I live-blogged the conference that year, and at the Golden Kite Luncheon (the SCBWI awards show), I passed my laptop around and had everyone at the table I was at say something. Looking back now I see Don Tate and Jay Asher and Robin Mellom and Leslie Muir and Eve Porinchak - all now (or very soon to be) published, but at the time, I think only Don among us all had anything out in the children's book world. Now, 10 years later....

This topic will come up again, in a couple different ways, as I talk more about my 10 years here. So I'll end it for today with thanks to everyone who's been kind enough to share themselves here in any way. Because y'all rock!

Two Leap Day Poems

Since I'm flashing back on 10 years of blogging still, I figure I should run both my prior Leap Day poems since it's been eight and four years, respectively, since I last posted them...

Leap Day Baby
by
Greg Pincus

My father never acts his age.
My mother says that's great.
See, Dad's a leap day baby, and today he's turning eight!


A Modest Leap Day Proposal
by
Greg Pincus

Leap Day comes so rarely.
Why not make it cool?
Make each one a holiday -
Cancel work and school!


Here's to all the Leap Day babies. And for the rest of us, let's make this extra day count - live it fully, even if it isn't a holiday or a day off school!

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Poetry Re-issue: I Wrote The End

Since I'm celebrating 10 years of blogging here, I figured I'd re-post my very first blogged poem on its exact 10th anniversary.

I Wrote the End
by
Greg Pincus

I wrote the end of this short verse before I wrote the start.
I wrote the end because I knew the end by heart.
I wrote the ending first since that’s my favorite part.
I wrote the end of this short verse before I wrote the start.


In full disclosure, when I posted this back in February of 2006 the word "verse" was actually "post" as it was a more self-reflexive blog post poem. Both work. (Also, if you check out that original post, you'll note that a friend of mine left a comment in Fib form weeks before I blogged about Fibs. I'd forgotten that!)

It's Poetry Friday (which also didn't exist when I figure posted that poem), and you can see the roundup over at Elizabeth Steinglass' blog. Go check that link out for tons of amazing poetry fun.

And if you want to get all my poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Blog Flashback 2 - Oddaptations

Even before Fibs, I was using the blog to play around with things I enjoyed. In the case of Oddaptations, that meant posting odd, twisted, rhyming adaptation/Cliff Notes versions of children's literature classics.

My first Oddaptation post back in March of 2006 contained two (both reposted below).  And if you go to that post and scroll down, you'll see a comment from Jane Yolen (!!!!!!!!!) who also posted one of what she calls Crushed Classics. Yo, people. Jane Yolen commented on my blog!!!! This, again, was one way I knew that blogging in the children's literature space was a good decision :-)

You can see all the Oddaptations to date by clicking here. These posts often get me some of my most interesting email responses (sometimes upset with me, sometimes thrilled) and blog comments. But... they make me happy, and that was the whole point, I tell ya!

GOODNIGHT MOON -- Margaret Wise Brown
Oddaptation by Greg Pincus

That great room is green.
That old lady’s spooky.
That half eaten bowlful of mush is quite ooky.
That Cow on the wall has leapt off of the ground,
And someone named Nobody’s walking around.
All over the room runs a squeaky, small mouse…
So I hope you sleep well in this creepy, weird house.

THE GIVING TREE -- Shel Silverstein
Oddaptation by Greg Pincus

As a young boy, he was sweet and not needy,
But as he grew up, he became super greedy.
The tree shoulda told him to shut his big yap.
But no... that poor tree gave new meaning to “sap.”

Blog Flashback 1 - Fibs!

In kicking off my look back at my 10 years of blogging here, I figure there's no point in burying the story of Fibs. I mean, seriously - a viral blog post (or two, even), me and the blog in the New York Times, and a two book deal with Arthur A. Levine (at his imprint at Scholastic)? Yeah. All that happened back in April of 2006, and that's gonna show up in my memories. So, I am just gonna lead with it.

FIBS!!!!!!

I love those things. 20 syllable poems, following the Fibonacci sequence. Simple in concept but very hard to pull off well, I think. Back in April 2006, though, folks were writing them all around the web and showing off their brilliance (and seriously... people do amazing things with words). An online journal - the fib review - started in 2006 that's still going strong today. A Wikipedia page has sprung up since. And in 2013, my debut novel, The 14 Fibs of Gregory K., featured the poetic form (as plot and poetry). All from a blog post!


People ask me sometimes why I like social media so much. The Fib story is one reason. Not just because of the outcome for me (though hey... I admit to being thrilled by it) but because in that one month, I was able to watch an idea spread around the globe... be expanded upon and reworked and played with... bring communities together (there were Fib threads on actuary chat boards, in musician forums, at gaming sites, Slashdot.org, and even on a board of spanking fetishists)... and slowly ebb but stay firmly placed after the fact.

From a GottaBook perspective, one of the reasons I'd started blogging was to play around with experiments just like Fibs. I got lucky six weeks into my blog's existence. I've never again had the same amount of traffic as I had on April 7, 2006 (or in that month entirely). And that's never been a problem - other events and ideas have still found their audience. And who knows? Some day, something else may spark the same reaction. I certainly hope so! It was a ton of fun and truly a pleasure to be part of. And that is no fib.

My Blog is 10 Years Old Today!

It's true! My very first post here at GottaBook was on February 21, 2006. They grow up so fast, don't they? For the record... that original post is still in the archives. 

Over the next three weeks, I'm going to share 10 memories/things I've learned/highlights/whatever you want to call it from my decade here. I'll also re-run a few old poems, and... I dunno. We'll see!

I'd love to come up with a clever term for this, but "blogrospective" isn't working for me and nothing else is coming to mind. Still, I do hope you'll stick around. A lot has happened here (and because of here), and I can't wait to share some of it with you.

Corrections - a school poem

Corrections
by
Greg Pincus

I wish I could correct my work -
It makes my poor brain ache.
See, I used my pink eraser...
And that was my mistake!


One of the things I love about Poetry Friday (and hey... you can see a roundup of today's posts over at Mainely Write) is that from time to time, you can throw things out there and find out if they make sense to anyone but yourself. This is one of those times for me :-)

If you want to get all my new poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Happy Cybils Day!

Congratulations to the 2015 Cybils winners!



As always, the list of winners sounds fantastic and includes books I gotta get my hands on. As a former Cybils judge, I know how much work and care goes into the process, so I also tip my hat to everyone who judged in either round.

I hope you'll check out the list.

Oh, and happy Valentine's Day. Apparently that's today, too....

Fine Advice

I've often been asked by kids about what they should do with their writing (or by parents of kids asking what their kids should do with their writing). Jane Friedman's blog post today gives some great advice, and since I suspect some of you get asked this question, too (or are asking it yourselves!), it was worth passing on.

It's also great advice for any of us contemplating our own writing, frankly!

Things I Resolve To Do This Year - a New Year's resolutions poem

Things I Resolve To Do This Year
by
Greg Pincus

Write lots.
Read tons.
Exercise.

Give back.
Show love.
Compromise.

Question.
Challenge.
Stick to facts.

Practice
Random
Kindness acts.

Speak up.
Fear less.
Boldly leap.

Work hard.
Be good.
Get more sleep.


Happy New Year, first of all! And that the year begins with Poetry Friday has to be a good omen, I figure. You can see the first Roundup of the year over at A Year of Reading... and look forward to 51 more before 2016 comes to a close (extra day and all!).

I wish you all a year full of peace, joy, good health... and the perfect number of desserts.

And if you want to get all my new poems (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!