On topic? Off topic? I don't care!

Sometimes something is funny enough to me that it doesn't have to tie into any of the various "normal" topics on the blog. I had decided that this fit the bill... but then I realized that I could even make it fit! Ya see, this year, the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary added a new word: mondegreen. As they say, a mondegreen is "a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung." A classic example is the oft-quoted Creedence Clearwater Revival lyrics "there's a bathroom on the right" instead of "there's a bad moon on the rise." Cool word, right? And ties in with the oh-so-literary bent of this blog, right?

Yay!

Now, here's the reason why I'm laughing (and talking mondegreen):

Joe Cocker at Woodstock (with subtitles)

"Oh, liver!" Indeed!

Creativity (and where it comes from)

I'm sure fellow writers out there will nod with recognition if I say that someone recently asked me "where do you get your ideas?" Perhaps this video (that I discovered thanks to Recess Queen author Alexis O'Neill) can be a response in the future about how I can get my creative juices fired up to find ideas:

The Harvest

An actual vacation, it turns out....

I do believe this is my longest blog absence, and certainly the longest I've gone without dealing with all but the most, most, most pressing of emails. But it really was true that 'net access was lacking where I was... and ya know what? I survived! Sure there was some withdrawal and some mumbling incoherently, but all told, it was proof that a break could be had and managed.

And now, after three hours in a plane BEFORE taking off... I'm ready to skip most of the online world and go breathe some fresh air for a spell. But since I think my monitor-tan has faded, I'll be back to working on that tomorrow!

Travelling man....

And I'm going where there's no wireless signal, my friends, and no wired one, either. Do such places exist? Yes. Yes, they do... even in civilization! So, if there's a wee gappage in posts hereabouts, you know why. And who knows... maybe I'll come back on with stories to tell!

Or not. But the point is, I'm not leaving you out of anger. I'm leaving due to technical difficulties!

Yes. Right. That's what I did....

I had mentioned going down to ALA to hang out with some blogging pals then I never mentioned anything about it. But luckily others did, including Fuse8's video blog, Jay Asher's ALAsummation, and Jen Robinson's recap of her ALA trip, as well. So since they're all meaty, fun posts... I send you off to find out more!

ka-boom!

July 4th was always one of my favorite holidays growing up. It wasn't just the fireworks, though I loved them. But for many years, I got to go to a (dinky!) town carnival. My memories are of grilled sausage with peppers and of chuck-a-luck, somehow a legal game even when I was a single digit lad (or so my memory banks say). And I vividly, and accurately, remember my dog shaking in the shower every time fireworks went off...

So to all of you celebrating at dinky or huge carnivals or sitting at home or working or shaking in the shower... happy July 4th!

Into the piles...

Yep, tomorrow's a big packing day... and hopefully office floor cleaning day, too, as I dive into figuring out how to build a second library from new donations (with more needed!( and our existing library. Are there enough Seuss doubles to stock two libraries? No... but close?

We'll see tomorrow! Wish me luck....

It isn't often...

... that you see a classic poem (and one arguably for kids, even) in a major news story, but today saw Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" referenced by a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals! What's next? Well, I look forward to Shel Silverstein somehow making an appearance in the current Presidential campaign....

ALA bound (kinda)

As if BEA wasn't enough, today I'm heading off towards the ALA Convention. OK, sure, I'm not actually attending... but I am gonna hang out with a bunch of kidlit bloggers and pals. Good times. Will I see you there?

Also, I missed Poetry Friday yesterday... but that doesn't mean I can't post you the link to the roundup on a Saturday. So head on over to Biblio File and wax poetic.

Sure, step 14 is okay... but 15???

Sooooo, I'm always thinking of vacations, particularly when it gets hot here in LaLa. Now, thanks to my friend Late Blooming Mom (with an assist from the fine folks at Google Maps), I now know the way to get from here to Sydney, Australia! I'm pretty good with it up until step 15. But there... well.... Hey, care to join me?

What goes around...

... always comes back around, or something like that. What prompts this profundity? I've noticed a lot of searches coming my way for FIRST day of school poems! Yes, somewhere school (or summer school) is beginning again, even as it's ending elsewhere.

I admit that I was one of those who always enjoyed the start of a new school year... but I also enjoyed the end of the school year (and some years WAY more than others!). As an adult, there's nothing with that same cycle for me... nothing with two such powerful, emotional responses. Well, except maybe waking up and starting the coffee and waiting for it to finish... but I don't think it's a fair comparison.

How many of you are on summer vacation? How many of you wish you were? And who's doing something which'll make me jealous??? A guy wants to know....

June Carnival time....

I'm sure in many towns there are June carnivals and soon to be July 4th Carnivals, but I was actually referring to the June Carnival of children's literature. It's here! This one, hosted by Susan Taylor Brown is all about fathers in children's literature, so it's a meaty one. I had nothing to add to this convo (figuring my father poem wasn't really about dads in kidlit!), but believe me, it's well worth a read-through.

"Slowly, slowly" said the typist

I know that those of you in the Northeast had your recent heat wave, but we here in the desert are going through ours. So I'm typing slowwwwwly. Very slowly. Fast typing (even of just the alphabet) would cause sweating and more heat. And we can't have that. In fact, there'll be enough of that when I head to a BBQ where, upon last check, the expected temperature will be 193. Or close to that, anyway, at least in the sense that it'll be three digits of heat.

The plus side of this is that I don't actually have to leave my desk to eat, as I can scramble eggs on either my office floor OR the back of my computer (which is whining in the heat in a most un-Mac like way!). Those who have seen my office floor are probably wondering if this is a good strategy, of course....

It's time to turn off the computer, find some cold caffeine, and enjoy the day, heat or no! Writing's just gonna have to wait....

You know...

... I took time today to read every single blog on my blogroll (and realize that in a few cases, I realllllly gotta update those links). Goodness gracious, there are some really fantastic bloggers out there! Any of you interested in the broader world of children's literature owes it to yourself to go clicking along....

Talking about book promotion....

Last month I left these parts to talk all about book promotion on social networks. Now, I've left these cyber-parts and blogged about it elsewhere. But while many of you chose not to travel cross country with me, you can all just click here to read my post! I hope you'll come check it out and join in the conversation....


Look at me, all cross-posting and stuff like that. Wooo hoo!

Books. No... I mean it.

It's flashback time again for me, dealing with stocking up a whole new library. You'd think there'd be ample state funds... programs galore... library starter kits every which way you turn. But no. And in tough economic times, I suppose, a library (as opposed to a classroom library) might be looked on as a 'bonus' or some such. Feh. I don't think I coulda spoken as passionately as I can after three years volunteering, but a library surely has the potential to be a wonderful, wonderful, necessary place.

And so, with our school year winding down, I can turn my attention to making sure we open up the school year with books aplenty. I look forward to it. But if you hear me whine this summer, cut me some slack, cuz building a collection with no money just isn't easy no matter how passionate you are!

Suspicions confirmed....

I had figured that lots of folks would be searching the web for father's day poems and that some of them would end up here at Gottabook. But as usual, the exact search terms that led folks here... well... what do you all make of this?

father's day poem for an uncle about little feet


Perhaps they were thinking of Little Feat? Though what that has to do with anything I'll never know....

Ah well. My guess is that somewhere out on the web there's actually a poem for an uncle and about little feet. Not here, perhaps, but it's a big web!

A poetry "re-issue"....

Again digging into the vault for a poem that seems quite fitting these days: an end of the school year poem!


Hello, Summer! -- (A Last Day of School Poem)
by
Gregory K.

Goodbye, classroom!
Goodbye, Teach!
You can find me at the beach...
Or in the park or at the pool
Or any place that isn’t school.

Goodbye, quizzes!
Bye, reports!
Hello days packed full of sports
And days when I’m just lazybones
While eating melty ice cream cones.

Goodbye, homework --
Lunchroom, too.
There’s so, so much I wanna do.
I know the school year flew on past…
But please, please summer -- last and last.


The Poetry Friday roundup is hosted by Clouds Come over at A Wrung Sponge. Do go on and check it out.

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!

Summer schedule...

I can feel it creeping in already... working its way in my pscyhe, my tempo, my drive. Yes, it's gonna be the summer blogging schedule before I know it. Sure, it's not much of a difference (4-5 posts a week vs. 5-6, more or less), but it's coming... it's coming.

My blog, interestingly to me if not to y'all, has a traffic pattern that's very influenced by the school year. I have a wonderful steady stream of readers all year round (subscribers, linkers, and google-arrivals), but I can tell when school is out and in. Seems healthy to me -- teachers and students looking for poetry and not just in National Poetry month. Still, there is a somewhat noticeable summer schedule in my readers, too. Seems like we're a good match!

Invigorated? Or...?

It was the last kid-book schmooze of the season for us tonight. Much as I love the online world and my friends here, it's still great to get out 'in the flesh' from time to time and talk with wonderful, enthusiastic, like-minded people. It's inspiring and invigorating... yet it's three months til the next scheduled gathering. Eeeps!

I will turn elsewhere, I know. And make extra coffee. But for tonight, anyway, I'll just rue the three month layoff....