FROM THE BIRD'S NEST
Easter Eggs
I'm enjoying a lazy morning in mid-Wisconsin – nothing moving on this country road except a few cars . . . people headed to work while I sit and watch them, grateful that I can work in my chair, in my bathrobe. Can you call this work?
I opened a new carton of eggs for breakfast. This is no big deal when we're in the city, but it is when we get "One Dozen Ungraded Farm Fresh" Kowalczyk Farm eggs from Remington Quality Foods in Manawa. These are special eggs, gathered from "Pasture Raised, Free Range, Grown Cage Free," chickens and tucked into gray cardboard nests by people who obviously care about their work.
How can you tell? Start with the label. It's a pale green, 4-1/2" wide banner glued around the belly of the carton. Slit it with your finger so you can take it off and look at the back, where you'll find a hand stamped message. This one says "Easter Greetings." Below that, there's a stamp of three dancing rabbits. Below the rabbits, a heart, and then the words: "Thank you for your Business!"
Who the heck has time to hand stamp the label on every dozen eggs packed at the farm? I could call and ask, but I'm not going to because I like imagining a room full of Kowalczyk kids deciding what messages to send this day, lining up the blank labels and whacking them with inky rubber stamps. They are having a fine time.
My daydream may not be accurate, but I'm not messing with it, especially since opening the carton provides yet another delight. When you lift the lid, you see that the eggs themselves have received special care. This dozen is placed brown-white-brown-white in one row of six and white-brown-white-brown in the other row of six. Another dozen might be placed in a row of six browns over a row of six whites. I do not know how the Kowalczyk kids get the colors to come out even – I don't even know if there are any Kowaczyk kids! – but every dozen is specially presented, and this makes me smile.
So here's what I wish you for this season. Whatever your holiday, wherever you live, I wish you a dozen Kowalczyk eggs – specially labeled, specially presented to make you smile.
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Holy Cow!
While writing the book, I pictured people reading it, scribbling in the margins, carrying it around like a bible. I visualized it in bookstores and backpacks. But I never saw the spine sitting upright on a library shelf.
I should have caught on when we had a full house for a reading at Muskego Public Library. But I didn't until David checked the Milwaukee Public Library site and said that nine of the library's eleven copies were either checked out or on hold.
Imagine that. I sat up nights putting words on paper, worked really hard to get it right and clear and nice looking. And now, people are standing at library counters asking for my book!
Bookstore sales are also going nicely, especially at my favorite indies. We've had successful events in Milwaukee, Mequon, Oconomowoc, Madison and Waupaca. And soon bookstores and libraries nationwide will be able to order through Baker & Taylor or Ingram.
This is all good news, but the personal connections are the best. A few weeks ago, I received an email from a British writer, Derek Chamberlain, who asked me to review the manuscript for his novel, Ordinary Angels. He found me when a friend of his from Milwaukee, Paula Haubrich, sent him a copy of my book.
I read part of Derek's book, made some affirming comments and some suggestions, and sent those along with a note in which I mentioned that a branch of my family came from Buckinghamshire.
Soon, a letter arrived in an air mail envelope – four pages of information about my relatives, dating back to the 1400s. The last line of Derek's accompanying note: "What an eminent family you are descended from!!"
Eminent, maybe, but they could not have had the fun of writing a book, having it fly across the sea to someone so interesting, who sent a letter flying back to me – all in less than two weeks.
I mean, like, Holy Cow!
Where I've Been Lately
Redbird Studio, Shut Up & Write! workshops in Jan, Feb, April. (future dates tba)
Boswell Book Shop, Reading with Rising Stars, Milwaukee
Next Chapter Book Shop, Reading with Rising Stars, Mequon
Muskego Library, Reading and Chat, Muskego
Kids Matter, Milwaukee, Careers for foster kids, sponsored by Junior League
University of Wisconsin, Workshop, Spring Writers Festival
Books & Company, Reading with Rising Stars, Oconomowoc
Waupaca Community Arts Center, Reading and Chat, Waupaca
The Racontuers Writing Group, Reading and Chat, Wauwatosa
Womens Parkinson's Group, Reading and Chat, Wauwatosa
Avol's Bookstore, Reading with Rising Stars, Madison
North Shore Library's Norman Gill Lecture, Panel presentation, Glendale
2. WHAT'S NEXT?
THE HAIRSHIRT WRITING RETREAT– Sinsinawa, WI
Sponsored by Redbird Studio at St. Clara Convent
(in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin, eight miles east of Dubuque)Apr 28 - May 1, Thurs-Sun, Registration required.
When I went to high school at St. Clara, it was home to 97 girls and 500 nuns – a ratio that appealed to my dad a whole lot more than it appealed to me. Now that I'm all grown up, I appreciate the sisters and the place. It is the perfect setting for quiet reflection and work. You'll find nooks and crannies in which to sit, wooded trails to walk, two labyrinths (indoor and outdoor), and your own private (but not lavish) room in which to give voice to your latest idea. Retreat includes meals, accommodations, quiet writing time, private conferences, and writers' roundtables.
Just a few spaces left. Call or see details at http://www.redbirdstudio.com
BOSWELL BOOK COMPANY - Milwaukee
May 8, Sunday, 3pm, free
Co-sponsoring a visit by Dalya Massachi, author of Writing to Make a Difference: 25 Powerful Techniques to Boost Your Community Impact
One of the first week-long workshops Redbird Studio sponsored in the 1990s was a conference on "Writing for Social Change." The conference was stunning, and would have been even better if Dalya's book had been available at the time. Learn more about Dayla's book at: http://www.dfmassachi.net/wmd.html
Boswell Book Company
2559 N Downer Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53211
414-332-1181
www.boswell.indiebound.com
WOODLAND PATTERN BOOK CENTER - Milwaukee
"Rising Stars"
May 11, Wednesday, 7pm, free
When I moved to Milwaukee from San Francisco, the first place I headed was to Woodland Pattern Book Center. Now, I'm honored to appear in the new Woodland Pattern Prose Series. I will read from my book and share the stage with fellow writers: Sara Rattan, winner of a Wisconsin Academy Review award for short fiction; short story writer, Maura Fitzgerald, and Amy Lou Jenkins, winner of Council for Wisconsin Writers Ellis/Henderson Award for Every Natural Fact: Five Seasons of Open-Air Parenting.
THE CLEARING FOLK SCHOOL - Ellison Bay (Door County)
"Writers' Wellspring"
June 5-11, Sunday-Saturday
-and-
"Women's Writing Retreat
September 11-17, Sunday-Saturday
This year, I'm leading two week-long classes at the famous Clearing Folk School – one in June for writers who want a balance of instruction and writing time, and one in September for those who have specific projects in mind and just want to get to work.
Both classes include quiet writing time, private conferences, roundtable sessions, good food and good company.
Register with The Clearing
12171 Garrett Bay Road
Ellison Bay, WI 54210
920-854-4088 or toll free 877-854-3225
http://theclearing.org
REDBIRD-REDOAK CLASSES
See details at www.redbirdredoak.com
Register with Kim Suhr, kim@redbirdredoak.com
Roundtable Groups
Monday Mornings with Kim Suhr
Monday Afternoons with Kim Suhr (Oconomowoc)
Tuesday Afternoons with Jeannee Sacken
Tuesday Evenings with Kim Suhr
Thursday Evenings with Robert Vaughan
Friday Mornings with Robert Vaughan
"Write 'til You're Blue in the Face" with Kim Suhr
RedBird-RedOak "On The Road" Showcase Readings
Creative Writing Camps and Writing Circles for Young Writers
Open Studio Writing
Other Special Programs
Showcase Reading at Fixx Coffee Shop, St Francis
Thursday, May 5, 2011, 7pm
Flash in the Pan: A Flash Fiction Writing Workshop
with Robert Vaughan
Saturday, May 14, 2011, 10am-2pm
Young Writers
Register now for Summer Creative Writing Camps
COUNCIL FOR WISCONSIN WRITERS AWARDS LUNCHEON
at the Wisconsin Club, 900 W. Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee
May 14, Sunday, 11am (reservation deadline May 7)
Reserve with CWW. Details at www.wisconsinwriters.org
This year's winners of the prestigious Council for Wisconsin Writers awards will be honored at an Awards Luncheon on May 14 at the Wisconsin Club, 900 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee.
The awards honor works published in 2010. The public is invited and reservation forms are available on the Council's website, www.wisconsinwriters.org. The deadline for reservations is May 7.
Alden Carter of Marshfield will receive the Council’s Major Achievement Award and $1000 for his numerous publications in fiction and nonfiction, including work for young people. The award is made every other year.
Ann Angel of Brookfield will receive the Kingery/Derleth Book-Length Nonfiction Award and $500 for Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing (Amulet Books, 2010). M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman of Milwaukee will be given honorable mention for Wisconsin’s Own: Twenty Remarkable Homes (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2010, with Zane Williams, photographer).
Douglas Armstrong of Whitefish Bay will receive the Anne Powers Book-Length Fiction Award and $500 for Even Sunflowers Cast Shadows (iUniverse, 2010). Honorable mention goes to Angela Woodward of Madison for End of the Fire Cult (Ravenna Press, 2010).
Jacqueline Houtman of Madison will receive the Tofte/Wright Children's Literature Award and $500 for The Reinvention of Edison Thomas (Boyd’s Mills Press, March 2010). Honorable mention in children’s literature goes to Michael V. Uschan of Franklin for Eye on Art: Grafitti (Gale, October 2010).
Nick Lantz, former fellow and UW-Madison MFA student, will receive the Posner Book-Length Poetry Award and $500 for We Don’t Know We Don’t Know (Graywolf Press, 2010). Honorable mention goes to Rebecca Dunham of Bayside for The Flight Cage (Tupelo Press, 2010).
Christopher Mohar of Madison will receive the Larry and Eleanor Sternig Short Fiction Award and $500 for his short story “The Five Points of Performance," which appeared in The Southwest Review, where it also won the journal’s McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Fiction. Honorable mention in short fiction goes to Jennifer Morales of Milwaukee for “Heavy Lifting,” published in The Long Story.
Krista Eastman of Madison will receive the Kay W. Levin Short Nonfiction Award and $500 for her article "Layers of Ice" which appeared in the magazine Witness (UNVL). Tom Matthews of Wauwatosa will receive an honorable mention for his article “Heart Breaker” in Milwaukee Magazine (2010).
Amy Lou Jenkins of Wauwatosa will receive the Ellis/Henderson Outdoor Writing Award and $500 for Every Natural Fact: Five Seasons of Open-Air Parenting, (HolyCow! Press, 2010). Honorable mention goes to Jill Sisson Quinn of Scandinavia
for "Sign Here if You Exist" (Ecotone, November, 2010).
David Krump of La Crosse will receive the Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award and $500 for a group of five poems published in various literary journals during 2010; Catherine Jagoe of Madison receives an honorable mention.
Caroline Brown of Williams Bay High School, Williams Bay, will receive the CWW Essay Award for Young Writers and $250 for her essay "Surviving the Hill." Jacob Carrel of Madison West High School, Madison, will be given an honorable mention for his essay "James Buchanan’s Presidency: A Crisis Without A Leader."
3. NEWS ABOUT REDBIRD WRITERS AND FRIENDS
On April 3rd, Laurel Landis, Roi Solberg, Judith Zukerman and Robert Vaughan read with me at Avol's Bookstore in Madison. This was a Shut Up & Write! event featuring yours truly and "Rising Stars" in the Redbird family.
On April 14th, Marilyn Taylor, Anne Stratton, Catherine Underhill Fitzpatrick and Susan Kern served as panelists at the third annual Norman Gill Lecture co-sponsored by North Shore Library and Friends of the library. Martin Hintz organized the program and selected the topic: "Woman as Creator; Finding a Vision, Finding a Theme." I moderated, Nicolet High School co-hosted, and Next Chapter Book Store offered the authors' books for sale.
Ann Angel will receive the Council for Wisconsin Writers Kingery/Derleth Book-Length Nonfiction Award for Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing (Amulet Books, 2010). (See CWW press release above.)
Jack Douhitt's story, "Rocky Nights," was accepted for publication in the August 2010 issue of Rosebud Magazine.
Maura Fitzgerald will read at the Woodland Pattern Book Center event for Shut Up & Write! Wednesday, May 11, 7pm.
Doug Jacobson celebrates the release of his new novel, The Katyn Order, at a reading at Boswell Book Company on Monday, June 13 at 7 pm. This is the second publication for this member of the Redbird-Redoak Tuesday Afternoon Roundtable group.
Amy Lou Jenkins will receive the Council for Wisconsin Writers Ellis/Henderson Outdoor Writing Award for Every Natural Fact: Five Seasons of Open-Air Parenting, (HolyCow! Press, 2010). (See CWW press release above.) Amy will also read at the Woodland Pattern Book Center event for Shut Up & Write! Wednesday, May 11, 7pm.
Laurel Landis' short story "Olagam" was published in the current issue of Wisconsin People and Ideas. She also read her flash fiction story, "Carousel," on WUWM Lake Effect "Flash Fiction Fridays" show.
Karen McQuestion was included in an April 8, 2011 Entertainment Weekly article titled, "DIY Author Lands A Huge Deal. Who’ll Be Next?" The same week she appeared in an ABC news segment. Her two adult novels, currently published under the AmazonEncore imprint, will be re-released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in September. One of the two books, A Scattered Life, will be released as an audio book at the same time.
Joanne Nelson's essay, "Sleeping with Scott" was aired on the WUWM show, Lake Effect.
Marjorie Pagel's play, "Charley–Gone–Missing," was selected for production in the Village Playhouse of Wauwatosa 26th Annual Wisconsin Playwrights Original One Act Play Festival. The production dates are June 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, at 7:30 pm, at the Boulevard Ensemble Theatre in Milwaukee.
Pam Parker won a gold star from me for writing a great review of the Shut Up & Write! reading at Avol's Bookstore in Madison. Posted on her blog, Finding Meaning With Words, the review is titled "Rocking With Renoir," and includes kudos to all of the readers at that event. See http://pamparker.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/rocking-writing-with-renoir/
Sara Rattan will read at the Woodland Pattern Book Center event for Shut Up & Write! Wednesday, May 11, 7pm.
Paul Salsini travels to Chicago on May 1st to accept the "Leonardo da Vinci Award for Excellence in Literature" from the Sons of Italy. Paul is the author of The Cielo, Sparrow's Revenge and Dino's Story.
Robert Vaughan is teaching "Flash in the Pan," a flash fiction writing workshop at RedBird-RedOak, Saturday, May 14th. Robert is an accomplished flash fiction writer and the editor for "Flash Fiction Fridays" airing monthly on WUWM's Lake Effect show.
Judith Zukerman served as Poet in Residence at Lapham School in Madison. She worked with a different class each day, Tuesday through Friday, sharing her love of poetry with second grade students.
4. OTHER PLACES, OTHER FACES
More links to organizations of interest to writers are listed on the Redbird website.
Alverno Telesis
A variety of writing classes including The Great Lakes Writers Workshop
telesis.alverno.edu
Arts Wisconsin
Arts Advocacy group
artswisconsin.org
Avol's Bookstore
Independent used book store. Active supporter of WI poets.
315 W. Gorham, Madison 608-255-4730
avolsbookstore.com
Bay View Arts Guild
Integrates art into lives of those in Bay View and beyond
bayviewarts.org
Books & Company
Independent book store in Oconomowoc, WI
booksco.com
Boswell Book Shop
Independent book store (formerly Schwartz Books)
2559 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee
boswellbooks.com
Council for Wisconsin Writers
Annual contests for published work of Wisconsin Writers
wisconsinwriters.org
Banquet honoring contest winners: May 14, 2011
The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI (Door County)
Folk school in a natural setting in Door County
Offers many writing classes taught by Redbird writers and friends
theclearing.org
Fox Cities Book Festival
Outstanding Festival in early spring.
foxcitiesbookfestival.org
The Foot of the Lake Poetry Collective in partnership with the Windhover Center for the Arts holds literary events on the second Tuesday of the Month, September through May at 7 p.m. at the Windhover Center for the Arts 51 Sheboygan Street, Fond du Lac, WI. The readings are free and refreshments are available. An open mic follows the featured reader. For more info contact Windhover Center for the Arts 920-921-5410.
Green Lake Christian Writers Conference, Green Lake WI
Sponsoring "Writers on the Loose," a writers vacation, May 9-13, 2011
www.glcc.org, 920-294-7327
Interlochen College of Creative Arts, Interlochen, MI
Screenwriting, Poetry, Prose & Paint, Retreats
interlochen.org
Little Read Book Inc
Independent book store, Wauwatosa
littlereadbook.com
Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN)
Network for artists.
marnonline.com
Milwaukee Public Library
Email newsletter alerts you to great selection of current readings and events.
mpl.org.
Next Chapter Book Shop
Independent bookstore in Mequon. (formerly Schwartz Books)
nextchapterbookshop.com/
Raconteurs Writers Group
Meets quarterly in room G150 (lower level) Mayfair Mall, Wauwatosa.
President Marilyn Auer, 414-257-0376, marilynauer@juno.com.
Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Mineral Point, WI
shakeragalley.com
Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, Wisconsin SCBWI-WI
Professional organization for writers and illustrators
scbwi-wi.com/
Soulstice Theatre
The Marian Center, Bay View
soulsticetheatre.org
Still Waters Collective
Resource network for language artists and enthusiasts
stillwaterscollective.com
The Marian Center, Bay View
Home of The Redbirds and dozens of dedicated nonprofits
mariancenter.net
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, School of Continuing Ed
Spring Writers Festival
Anne O'Meara, Program Director, aomeara@uwm.edu or 414-227-3311.
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Div. of Continuing Studies
Write by the Lake Writers' Institute
Rhinelander School of the Arts summer program
Phone 608-262-7942,
dcs.wisc.edu/lsa/writing
Waupaca Community Arts Center
200 North Main Street, Waupaca
waupacaarts.org
Waukesha Writer's Workshop
Sponsors Bo Carter Memorial Contest
donaldschambow@aol.com
Web Design by David
Custom sites for writers, artists and small businesses
redbirdstudio.com/yourwebsite
Windhover Center for the Arts
Fond du Lac, WI
windhovercenter.org
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters
Publishes Wisconsin People & Ideas
Sponsors Short Story and Poetry Contests
wisconsinacademy.org
Wisconsin Book Festival
Book Festival in Madison and other locations
wisconsinbookfestival.org
Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP)
Statewide network for poets. Contests and information.
Publishes Museletter and annual Poet's Calendar
wfop.org
Note: The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets' Spring Conference will be held May 13th and 14th at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Stevens Point.
Wisconsin Regional Writers Association (WRWA)
Contests, conferences, writers' groups, excellent newsletter
wrwa.net/
Spring Conference, May 6-7, Fond du Lac, WI
Fall Conference, Sept 23-25, Stevens Point, WI
Wisconsin Romance Writers
www.WisRWA.org
Woodland Pattern Book Center, Milwaukee
Outstanding poetry resource, plus readings and workshops
woodlandpattern.org
Working Writers
Association of full time professional independent writers based in S.E. WI.
workingwriters.org
Writer’s Ink, Cudahy
Writers' group welcomes all levels, all styles, all genres.
Meets first and third Mondays, 7pm, in the lower-level meeting room of Chase Bank in Cudahy.
Contact Gail Torpe: gtoe@aol.com or 414-744-9664
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