Winter poems. Today it’s grey and dripping in my corner of

I am honored to have poems appearing in the winter volume of two of my favorite journals The Southern Review http://www.lsu.edu/tsr/IssuesWinter08.html and Relief Journal http://www.reliefjournal.com/

The Southern Review, under the estimable Bret Lott, consistently puts out one of the finest literary venues anywhere. Relief is a new brand of literary journal for writers who grapple with faith in the midst of daily life.

Seems like most of my writing colleagues are celebrating at AWP this week in NY City. For the next three days, throw a snowball in NY and you’ll hit a writer. Haiku–2 for $5 on every street corner—enjoy!

Some friends and I have been having a discussion about our  favorite movies from 2007. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to tell if a movie actually came out in 2007 because movies take a while to make it to the Tri Cities. And good movies, anything out of the mainstream, don’t stay long.

So, it’s really been a discussion of movies we saw for the first time in 2007. For first place, I’d choose The Lives of Others–a great film about the power of beauty and art to transforms lives. It won the Best Foreign Film 2006, but I didn’t see it until 2007. Without a good car chase, it had little hope of getting to the Tri Cities its first year out. Then I’d pick Once– A small jewel of a film with great music and a refreshingly moral ending.

Atonement, Juno–I saw them both last week, and wonderful as they are, I can’t count them on my 2007 list.

Want to speak Klingon, play Sci-Fi Jeopardy, discuss Heroes-the series, learn about drinking in history or how to make the quintessential pirte jacket? Want to hear about alternative markets for your urban fantasy space romance novel? Then RadCon’s the place to be Feb 15-16th.  I’ll be there talking about inspiration and alterantive markets. But do I have to wear the pointy ears? Seriously, I want to know.

New year, new writing opportunities. So, all you student writers out there take note.

“Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.” Willa Cather

The Kay Snow Writing Contest

 http://www.willamettewriters.com/1/guidelines.php poetry and fiction 

Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

http://www.scholastic.com/artandwritingawards/index_page6.htm

Teen Writing Contest

 http://www.piercecountylibrary.org/kids-teens/teens/teen-writing-contest/Default.htm 

The new issue of GF is live. http://www.goblinfruit.net/winter08/

We all enjoy that delicious thrill of something scary read from the comfort and safety of our own armchairs or from the warm cocoon of our own beds. Remember ghost stories at slumber parties? That’s the only reason I ever got invited, to tell a good ghost story. Or ghost stories around the campfire? It’s okay to have an icy finger run up our spines, when we’re in the company of friends and firelight. There are definitley some poems in this issue that will bring back that thrill. And there’s some wonderful language, see Sonya Taaffe’s “Cherries in Winter” and “Night Auger” by Lucinda Lawson. Then there are a few that are downright scary. More than the delicious chill, they make me look over my shoulder and hope what I’m thinking about isn’t there!  It’s the reason I prefer cozy mysteries and procedurals to forensic stories. So “St. Lucia”  is only for those who like the details. Scares me silly! I like my eyelids whole, thank you.

 Here’s the new postcard that will be going out to Seattle schools. If your school would like a copy, please email me: info@maureenmcquerry.com

 I sometimes get questions about who designed my website. It was designed by Brennan McQuerry, (the book and vine design) and Mike McCain, layout and design.  Mike, a former student, is the webmaster. He doesn’t only design web pages. He’s also a concept artist, animator and illustrator. Take a look at his gallery of work. www.mdbworks.net/mike

The featured art is “subterranean”,  from his portfolio of concept art and illustrations. Looking for a website designer? Check out his web and graphic design work.

 In my life, celebrations tend to cluster in mid-winter. My birthday falls three days before Christmas. As most “Christmas babies” know, it’s easy to get lost in the holiday shuffle. Not so this year. Late on the evening of December 21^st, Ingrid, one of my children’s’ friend, suggested we participate in the 5k

            And we did despite the bitter cold, despite the fact that only daughter is a regular runner. We joined a throng of more than two thousand runners and I learned something in the process besides not to trust the wisdom of Scotch punch. The flow of people can carry you. Every time someone smiled or cheered from the sidelines, we ran faster, we kept going.

Here’s wishing you a swift run, and crowd of cheering voices to carry you towards your goals this year.