National Poetry Month (April) will be here before you know it, and I'd love to visit your school, library, women's group, or workplace to talk about the pleasures of poetry. I'm a cheap date and I guarantee you won't be bored! If you're interested in a presentation or workshop, contact me.
Rumor has it that my new book about children's games (Imagine Publishing) will be out this spring but, in the meantime, click here to see my latest book, Un regalo para mi hijo--an adorable Spanish adaptation of I Am a Mother of Sons from V&R Editoras.
The Comma Goddess doesn't find time to blog very often, but if you've a mind to read my most recent rant, please do!
This month's Wonderful Word is gerrymander. Don't do THAT, but please vote any time you have an opportunity!
For Better or Worse, You're the You They've Got!
About every six weeks or so, I contribute to a Southern authors’ blog. The theme this time around was “What It’s Like to Live with a Creative Lunatic.” As you’ll read in my posting, I got a mixed bag of responses at my house; my husband knew what he was getting into, so he had no excuse, and face it: my sons have nothing else to compare it to. For all they know, all mothers sit hunched at the kitchen table in the middle of the night exploring rhymes for “negate” or three-syllable synonyms for “frolic.”
My passion for words has caused my sons to endure both “Gone with the Wind” and “Little Women,” has led them to visit Lilian Sandburg’s goat herd on multiple occasions, saddled them with library cards while their signatures were still nothing but squiggly lines, and has documented the details of their early years for mothers all over the world. Quite frankly, they seem none the worse for it.
Well, they have done their share of complaining about my red pen bleeding all over their term papers and book reports. I’m sorry, I just can’t overlook a sentence fragment or split infinitive; so sue me. Given the egregious errors I see in print these days—not to mention grammatically incorrect marquees and even misspelled tattoos—I’d say a few other mothers should have gotten out a red pen, too.
But thinking about the impact my being a writer has had on my family set my mind spinning. What if I’d been an architect or a hair stylist or a car detailer? Would my sons have been given grief for messy rooms or messy hair or messy cars instead of messy English papers? Would they appreciate creative use of space, well-trimmed sideburns, or a clean whitewall the way they appreciate The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?
We can’t help but have ourselves spill over into our loved ones’ lives. That can be a good or a bad thing, depending on what we’re spilling. Are you teaching your child a fear of failure or an attitude of confidence? A disrespect for authority or a compassionate heart? Does your daughter know that making homemade cupcakes for her class parties is a commitment that matters to you because your mom always did it for you? Is your husband aware that the reason you love musicals is because you had a secret desire to major in theatre?
Think about the impact that the things you love and the things you loathe have on those around you, then celebrate the positive and . . . well . . . try to minimize the negative. In my case, I learned to scale back my scathing red pen and occasionally keep my grammatically correct opinions to myself; my sons often preferred a lower grade to another lecture from Mom. I’ve also had to learn to balance my passion for writing with my responsibilities as a wife and mother. I’d never miss a deadline, of course, but sometimes I choose family time over writing time because it’s the right thing to do. Relationships are about compromise; in a perfect world, that compromise is shared, but in the real world, it often isn’t. Still, I like to believe that, in the long run, any words I give up on behalf of people I love will come back to me in the next generation when my grandchildren ask for books instead of Blackberries (or Papayas, or whatever technology’s fruit of the moment is by then), or learn to read before they learn to text.
Wishing you long, luscious days with the ones you love best,
Jayne
Welcome to my website! Whether you're here by intention or accident, I invite you to spend a few minutes looking around. Some elements of the site are permanent; others are changed and updated on a regular basis. Feel free to e-mail comments or suggestions. PLEASE NOTE: I'm happy for you to share my work with others, but please contact me for permission--and so I can acknowledge your publication--before including any of my poems in a personal website, church newsletter, etc. Thank you!
