Even Foolish Hearts Can Learn

Way back in the '50s one of my favorite songs was by Joni James..."How Important Can It Be?" If you're too young to recall it the first time it came around, or don't remember it from the movie LA, Confidential, here it is...song sublimely in the shuffle beat style by Joni:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEnGUG_Nhbk

Just a couple of weeks ago I sat trying to look as important as I possibly could at the Geffrye Museum of the Home in London. If you aren't in the mood to dash off to London this summer...perhaps you fear the crush of the Olympic crowds...or you haven't yet fallen in love with one of the world's greatest cities...then take a virtual tour here:

http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/period-rooms-and-gardens/virtualtour/

Today I've been sitting on another chair that sometimes makes me feel important...that's the one at my writing desk. I feel pleasantly important when I finish a story, but that isn't always the case. Today I only got half way through and then stalled. I've toyed with this stubborn story for three hours, but it's taking a turn I'd not intended. I'd foolishly set my heart on finishing it today...but it won't cooperate. So I'm putting it to bed for now, and will revisit it another day soon.

Sometimes stories can get unruly. They have to be disciplined by their owners, and shown who really is the important one. Oh, I know. It's them, of course. But shhhhhh....don't let on. If you give your self-important stories half a chance, they'll be sprawling over every chair, sofa, loveseat, bench and ottoman you have in your house. You know them...they move right in and take right over. Except when they don't, like my naughty story today. Perhaps in a day or two it will be more cooperative. Then I can send it out to find a home...and that's what's important.

Even foolish hearts can learn!

Rub a Dub Dub...Let's Pop into a Pub!

 Over thirty years ago I wrote a piece, "Posies, Pubs and Poets," for Uncle Jam, an arts and entertainment tabloid, about my first trip to London. In it I quoted a sign in an Edgware Road pub, The King's Head: "This bar is dedicated to those excellent gentlemen who make drinking a pleasure, who reach contentment before capacity, and who, whatever they drink, can take it, hold it, and remain gentlemen."

Just back from England for a week now, this gloomy, chilly Saturday afternoon I already wish I could teleport myself back to London...or the Isle of Wight...for a lazy afternoon of sipping a cider and chatting with old friends and new friendly gentlemen. Instead I have a list as long as a dragon's tail of tasks that need to be completed over the next few days. But none of them seem as tempting or as tasty as just relaxing, unwinding, and ordering an Old Rosie or a Thatchers Gold, and watching the world wander by.

This trip our Road Scholar Dickensian group dined at The George, on Borough High Street, Southwark, a pub frequented by Shakespeare in his day, and Dickens in his, and me in that first 1980 visit. This time I enjoyed steak and kidney pie with my pint of cider. The George is London's only surviving galleried coaching inn. Right around the corner is where Chaucer's pilgrims set out for Canterbury. It stands on the south side of the River Thames near London Bridge, for centuries the only bridge across the river.

 Later that evening we visited The Prospect of Whitby in Wapping, where we gazed out at the Thames and wished for a slightly warmer late spring evening! Fans of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen may remember that Mina Harker pauses in front of this pub and says it brings back memories. She's alluding to the beaching of the Demeter at Whitby in the novel Dracula. In earlier centuries this pub had a reputation as a meeting place for smugglers and villains

On Charing Cross Road in the West End, twice I dropped in at The Porcupine, a pub with a history, as well as great fish and chips. Its website proclaims "The Porcupine has proudly stood its ground since 1725. In years gone by we were a haunt of the freemasons and in 1807 became the meeting place for another group; the 'Lodge of Confidence'. In 1822 a gang of thieves came here for a celebratory drink, after burgling at the house of Lord Ashbrook. They were nabbed after asking the landlord to put their equipment behind the bar for 'safe keeping'!"!!

This has been the third summer in a row that I've headed for England....there's the lure of the University of Cambridge International Summer School, the wonderful theatres of the West End, the ciders of Somerset...and now, my new love, that "obsure little island," the Isle of Wight. Might be back once more next summer! I've read that actor Ian McKellen is buying The Grapes, the pub where young Charles Dickens used to stand on the table and sing to customers. This is the same pub that later became "The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters" in Our Mutual Friend.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Entertainment/20110912/ian-mckellen-pub-purchase-110912/

Here Comes the Sun: Celebrating the Solstice

Summer begins this afternoon, here in the Northern Hemisphere...at 4:09 pm (PDT). Somehow the sun has broken through today, after nearly a month of solid rain here in Colville. I'd spent much of June in England, but the rain followed me there, as well, so I splashed through the streets of Newport and Cowes on the Isle of Wight, and splattered through the streets of London, Portsmouth, Broadstairs and Rochester.

Though my sweaters and jeans may have been soggy, my spirits never sagged. What a vacation this was indeed! Not only did I get to see the very room where Charles Dickens was born at One Mile Terrace in Portsmouth, but I also gazed at the house at Gad's Hill Place where he died. Well, at least it's the official recorded place of his death, though rumors abound that he might have died at Slough, as rumors are wont to do.

But that's not all! I also celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with a country fair and band concert in Kewstoke and viewed her Thames salute at a Chinese restaurant on the Isle of Wight. Her Majesty is a very nice girl, indeed! But not the only English queen I like, so I attended a recreation of Victoria's Jubilee at Osborne House, her winter home on Isle of Wight.

And I soaked up my share of musicals....from a rowdy music hall version of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and a community theatre production of Oliver! to the full scale razzle dazzle of the West End's revival of Singin' in the Rain.

New experiences to write about include:

1. Girls' night out at The Castle with Heather Bird, longtime friend from Weston-super-Mare, where we befriended two exuberant young lads, one a "caulkhead" (Isle of Wight native) and gravedigger, and the other a "overner" (Englishman mainlander settled on Wight) and VSO demolitions expert. Here I learned that I'm regarded as a "grockle," a term for tourist. We gabbed about Cheech and Chong, the merits of Old Rosie vs. Thatcher Gold cider, and the ghosts that inhabit this most haunted of all the world's islands.
2. Close encounters on planes. On the journey over I met a man from Wenatchee, WA, who fashions his own bows and arrows and was on his way to hunt long horned cape buffalo outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. On the flight home I met a Unity chaplain who'd fallen in love at a retreat in Scotland that she'd wanted to attend for decades.
3. Surprises of my Dickensian "The Best of Times" trek for Uncle Jam, and additionally, at publisher Phil Yeh's request, a remembrance of Ray Bradbury, my high school inspiration.
4. Museums and why they continue to enchant me, whether they're all-inclusive like the Victoria and Albert, or just plain quirky, like the Old Operating Theatre Museum.

Though I've been singing in the rain, now I'm ready to hum in the sunshine...and yes, I'll take advantage of a sunny evening to sow my Weed and Feed on the front lawns!

A final note...George Harrison, too, had tired of the English rain when he wrote his song:

"Here Comes the Sun" was written at the time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: 'Sign this' and 'sign that'. Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever, by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided I was going to sag off Apple and I went over to Eric Clapton's house. The relief of not having to go see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric's acoustic guitars and wrote "Here Comes the Sun".

Twist and Shout and Shake It Up, Baby!

One of the continuing delights in writing for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series remains in finding that one of my stories has been selected for the daily newsletter that goes out to countless subscribers and 536,301 Facebook followers. (Yep, I just checked.)

 Not that all of those half a million Facebook "likers" will actually read today's Chicken Soup offering. But even so, it's a tickle to think that Peace Corps Nurse Jackie Waight's advice to me in Belize City over 20 years ago will be useful to others who are in danger of back damage from weeding their spring gardens or, as I did, incorrectly hauling luggage out from under a plane seat.

This is the third time one of my stories has been selected as Chicken's daily sip of soup. My other featured stories include "Forced to Face the Facts," which appeared in My Resolution. That story related how I quit smoking through hypnosis, back in 1985 when I worked for an HMO in Long Beach, CA. It celebrates the talented psychiatrist I worked with, Dr. Eric Auerbach. Additionally, "Withstanding Winter's Woes," also has been showcased. It's about Chico, my optimistic black cat, who appears to be a big fan of Bob Marley's ditty, Three Little Birds.

I've had more than one friend raise an eyebrow when I explain why I invest so much time in writing for anthologies, when the financial reimbursement seems miniscule, considering the time devoted to composing and revising. It's true you don't get rich writing for anthologies. But there's other payoffs:

• Platform. More people will see your byline in such series as Chicken Soup for the Soul, Thin Threads or the upcoming series, Not Your Mother's Book, than will read your hometown newspaper column, unless you live in a big metropolitan area.
• Posterity. You have an opportunity to enshrine your most memorable  moments, which include relatives, friends, and even chance acquaintances, in a bona fide book that somebody else will read and enjoy. It's not easy getting your memoir published if you're not a household name. But a slice of your life can be preserved in an anthology.
• Promotion. You have an opportunity to be featured at local library events, book fairs, schools and at book store signings. Even in this age of e-books, book lovers will buy a hard copy of a book with your story, if you're willing to sign it.

You can purchase Say Goodbye to Back Pain here:
http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Soup-Soul-Goodbye-ebook/dp/B006L99PKK

You can find out how to contribute to Chicken Soup for the Soul here:
 http://www.chickensoup.com/cs.asp?cid=guidelines

You can read the guidelines for Not Your Mother's Book, the new anthology for a new century,  here:
http://publishingsyndicate.com/publishing_syndicate/submissions/nymb_submit_guidelines.html

May Daze for Booklovers

Tonight I'll be at the Chewelah Golf and Country Club, signing books with my stories for a fundraiser for the Libraries of Stevens County Foundation. I'll be one of ten writers hoping to interest the general public in our wares.I've done readings before, at literary teas and other gatherings, and conducted workshops in writing for anthologies. But this Book Fair is my first official "book signing" event.

One of my late husband's old friends remarked that he'd known a writer in the '90s when the Chicken Soup for the Soul series was new, who packed suitcases full of books carrying his stories, and dragged them from one literary event to another.

"Must be hard work," he'd remarked. "Imagine having to hawk your books to pay the mortgage."

 Fortunately I've other sources of income to pay essentials, so don't have to depend on writing for anthologies for those basics. But I'm delighted to sign books and chatter with readers if it supports a good cause. I can't think of a better one that keeping our libraries open in these hard times. So I've filled my suitcase with copies of half a dozen recent Chicken Soup for the Soul titles, and will hope I've chosen wisely. I'm taking:

• Think Positive
• Grieving and Recovery
• Grandmothers
• Inspiration for the Young at Heart
• Say Hello to a Better Body
• Say Goodbye to Back Pain

The event will run from 6 to 8 pm, and includes a silent auction. I believe its a bodacious way to spend an early May evening!

Classy Lassies

Even when all I really want to do is write, sometimes life beckons me away from the back room and my laptop. It certainly did this past week.

Last Tuesday night the Colville Branch AAUW (American Association of University Women) hosted its annual Scholar Recognition night. Our theme this year was "Your Vote Counts." Jackie McGregor and Sharon Ketchum (see top photo, left to right) dressed in suffragette outfits and read excerpts from Alice Duer Miller's 1915 tract, "Are Women People? A Book of Rhymes for Suffrage Times." I also read a brief piece from that book, which is free on The Gutenberg Project.

http://archive.org/stream/arewomenpeople11689gut/11689.txt

Alice Duer Miller studied mathematics and astronomy at Barnard College. She became known as a campaigner for women's suffrage and published a brilliant series of satirical poems in the New York Tribune. These were published subsequently as Are Women People?. These words became a catchphrase of the suffrage movement. She followed this collection with Women are People! (1917). Her name appears in the very first issue of The New Yorker as an "advisory editor". Classy lassie, indeed.

Then yesterday I enjoyed a Sunday sojourn to Spokane. A friend and I dined at the Davenport Hotel Tower's Safari Room and took in the Spokane String Quartet at the historic Fox Bing Crosby theater. Kendall Feeney (bottom photo, grinning to the right of me) performed as the featured pianist. Kendall went to a special accelerated sixth grade class with my son, Steve Elders, in Long Beach, California, back in the 1960s. She is a member of the piano faculty at Eastern Washington University and director of the EWU Contemporary Music Ensemble. She's nationally recognized as a leading pedagogue of the Taubman approach to piano playing.

The highlights of the program were "Carolina Reveille," modern variations on the basic motif of the old 1922 song, "Carolina in the Morning," and "Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 67," by Dmitri Shostakovich.

A few days with such classy lassies has renewed my spirits so that I can continue to read stories for Not Your Mother's Book: On Travel, and solicit contributions for the other volumes in that series, especially for On Women. Dahlynn McKowen, who herself is class personified, has posted a June 1 deadline for the latter and an August 1 deadline for the former.  See submission guidelines here:
http://publishingsyndicate.com/publishing_syndicate/submissions/nymb_submit_guidelines.html

And for more tips on writing for this series, see the current WOW Principles newsletter here:

http://publishingsyndicate.com/publishing_syndicate/newsletters/wow_news_backissues/wn_apr12.pdf

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Tending Your Inner Garden

My story, "Tombstone Territory," appears in the first of the four seasonal anthologies from Tending Your Inner Garden, "Winter: Women's Stories, Poems and Inspiration for the Season of Rest and Renewal." The series will continue with volumes inspired by spring, summer and fall. I have submitted essays for those, as well, but have not yet heard if my work has been accepted. But of course I'd love to be represented throughout the contemplative year.

 

Here are a few facts about the book:

 

·      It features the work of more than three dozen women from around the world.

 

·      The book includes journaling and discussion questions at the back, making it ideal for book clubs or women’s study groups, or for personal reflection.

 

·      It’s the first in a series of four books based on the seasons.

 

·      Contributors to the book beautifully express the value of creativity, stillness, renewal, relationship, and endings and beginnings within the context of the reflective winter season.

 

Starting later this week, the book will be available for purchase ($16.95 US, plus shipping and handling) at www.tendingyourinnergarden.comand amazon.com. It will also be available after May 1 on Kindle and Nook. 

 

“Tending Your Inner Garden encouraged writers from all 
walks of life to share their story. And now look, an anthology... a book of light and sound from other worlds.”—Jan Phillips, author of No Ordinary Time—The Rise of Spiritual Intelligence and Evolutionary Creativity

 

“As women talk honestly about growth, loss, joy and sorrow, use this book to mine the rich soil of your own inner life.”

—Joyce Rupp, Spiritual “Midwife” and Author of more than 20 books, including Open the Door and Fragments of Your Ancient Name