Happy Spring! This is not a shameless plug for friends and events, but there are some phenomenal things coming up in these parts. If your writing needs some get-up-and-go, get up and go!

Later today, Laurie Halse Anderson heads to Santa Monica for her Wintergirls book tour (4:30 at the main library, 7:00 at Barnes & Noble). Not only is she an exquisite writer, but she's inspirational, so go if you can. She'll be in Pasadena over the weekend.

April 18th is SCBWI-LA's Writer's Day. Check out the line-up at www.scbwisocal.org. We've got something for everyone, including that nudge to get you going!

For those of you who asked, the class visit on mask poems was so much fun - the kids were enthusiastic and came up with some fun poems. They especially liked my props...I brought 2 different textured cookies for each of them, so they'd learn about details in writing. Hey, I was scheduled for AN HOUR with 7 year olds. It went by very quickly, and I heard that I was "awesome" -phew!

Mask Poems

As I was preparing for my Monday morning stint on mask poems for my son's second grade class, I realized something. I've never (that I can remember) written a mask poem myself. So, I decided if it's good enough for the goose...or is it I should take my own medicine?

I started by reading lots of mask poems. There's a fun picture book anthology called Dirty Laundry, in case you want a good sample. Then I played. I wrote poems as feet, as toes, and oranges on my neighbor's tree. There's something refreshing about stepping outside yourself and writing from a totally different perspective.

Sure, you say, we write from our characters' POVs all the time, but I challenge you to write a mask poem - now, here! - as an inanimate object and tell me it's the same feeling.

So, tune into ALL of your senses, then ready, set, write!