Hello all!
Hope things are going well on your end.
As for me, I continue participating in background work for a wide swath of TV shows shooting in the Big Apple. I’m learning camera set ups, acting tips and industry jargon by the boat load. I’m constantly paying attention, and getting paid for it!
For 2 days I worked with NY Law School participating in mock trials for their judicial students. I played anyone from a security guard to a taxi driver.
Worked at the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation alongside my colleague and friend
Candy Heiland having kids design their own brick pieces as part of the yearlong series of home. Candy and I also will team up again at the end of the month for another round of artistry goodness.
I auditioned for 2 talent agencies on Monday, February 2nd arriving at the sign-in at 6:00am, in the middle of a snowstorm. I didn’t have to actually audition until the evening but sign-in for open audition in NYC requires rising early.
My children’s poem “The Human Songbird” is featured in THE UTAH JOURNAL OF LITERACY. Thank you Terrell Young, Professor of Children’s Literature at Brigham Young University, for the invitation. http://utahreading.org/index.php?page=the-human-songbird
I've kept this to myself for a while but I can announce that a children's poem of mine will appear in THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOK OF NATURE POETRY, edited by J. Patrick Lewis, former Children's Poet Laureate of the United Statesand released for publication in October 2015.
I continue to work on various children’s poems and manuscripts. There’s one in particular I can’t discuss, except to say it’s taken up a fair chunk of my time the past 3 weeks, and it’s given me a well needed boost in my writing career. I hope to tell you more in the future.
Had the pleasure of having a meet up and natter with Jane Yolen: www.janeyolen.com, Heidi E.Y. Stemple: www.heidieystemple.com, Debbie Ridpath Ohi: http://debbieohi.com/ Hazel Mitchell: www.hazelmitchell.com, Fred Koehler: http://freddiek.com/ and Laura Ludwig Hamor: www.lauraludwighamor.com. All are either children’s book writers or illustrators, or for some, both. Each are lovely people with a kindness of spirit that makes me happy I’m in this profession. They’re also wicked talented, too!
I’ve been writing a poem a day on Laura Shovan’s Author Amok blog: http://authoramok.blogspot.com. For the month of February, myself, and many others, in the children’s poetry community are given sounds; everything from chimes to cauldrons to water wheels, and we write a poem about it. It’s gotten me to scribble outside of my comfort zone and the results have been encouraging.
Saw the musical IF/THEN at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway. A fascinating play concerning the choices we make, both good and bad, and how those choices influence the trajectory of our lives. I was thrilled to finally hear Tony Award winner Idina Menzel sing live. She did not disappoint.
Attended the Off-Broadway play ROCKET TO THE MOON by Clifford Odets at the Theatre at St. Clement's. For a play that was written in 1938 the themes of bitter compromise and the consequences of not taking chances still resonate today.
Read – a –Poem my document of what I’ve been studying in the world of children’s literature continues. All of the books don’t have to be about children’s poetry, but that is my objective.
I’ve read the following:
LEND A HAND by John Frank
DEAR WANDERING WILDEBEEST: And other Poems from the Water Hole
By Irene Latham
JOSEPHINE by Patricia Hruby Powell
HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES by Leslea Newman
JUNETEENTH: FOR MAZIE by Floyd Cooper
I leave you with the Water Wheel poem I wrote about earlier, as part of Laura Shovan’s writing exercise. Enjoy!
WATER WHEEL
A vertical splashing,
Circular crashing,
Tilted
Merry-go-round.
© Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.
