Three writers will be doing a live literary reading. Madlynn Haber will be reading from her new memoir for Writers in Progress on May 11 at 7 pm EST. The event is free.
Please join Writers in Progress
for an evening online live literature, featuring the work of Writers in Progress writers:
Also:
Madelaine Zadik, Caroline Wampole,
Kimberlee Perez.
Email emily@writersinprogress.com for the link to join.
I find myself having writerly thoughts as I am driving, walking, swimming. I pull over and blog on my iPhone if I get a good thought. I used to have a notebook in my car, by my bed stand, but it often disappeared when I needed it. I find I have by IPhone more regularly.
I’ve got a book, Touch My Head Softly, coming out soon from Finishing Line Press. There is always work around a new book, with readings and interviews, but I find myself looking toward my new work eagerly. I haven’t really decided on the next collection, but some new ideas are germinating.
Do you think about your writing as you go through your day? Do you write the thoughts down and write from them later?
Here’s the link to my new book on Finishing Line Press:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/touch-my-head-softly-by-eileen-kennedy/
Here’s the link to my new book on Goodreads:
I’ll be posting regularly on Thursdays, and on Tuesdays if I have announcements.
Have you ever seen a door and wondered what is on the other side?
The idea that you can create by opening a door goes back centuries. A note was found
in a Latin grammar from the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland in approximately 848
that describes an Irish scribe going outside and writing a poem under trees.
You could open a heart door that would enable you to write about things that you love or your favorite things. The door could be an observation door where you record things you carefully observe. A memory door could lead you to memories, good or bad, that you have saved away in the back of your mind. A wonder door could lead you to things you question, or wonder about. A political door could lead you to write about your concerns in the world.
With the pandemic, the world is in lockdown and there are many closed doors.
We all long for the day with those doors will be open again and life will return to normal.
While we are on lockdown, our minds can wander and explore our thoughts, our wants and our imagination.
My new book, Touch My Head Softly, is now out from Finishing Line Press:
Have you ever seen a door and wondered what is on the other side?
The idea that you can create by opening a door goes back centuries. A note was found
in a Latin grammar from the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland in approximately 848
that describes an Irish scribe going outside and writing a poem under trees.
You could open a heart door that would enable you to write about things that you love or your favorite things. The door could be an observation door where you record things you carefully observe. A memory door could lead you to memories, good or bad, that you have saved away in the back of your mind. A wonder door could lead you to things you question, or wonder about. A political door could lead you to write about your concerns in the world.
With the pandemic, the world is in lockdown and there are many closed doors.
We all long for the day with those doors will be open again and life will return to normal.
While we are on lockdown, our minds can wander and explore our thoughts, our wants and our imagination.
My new book, Touch My Head Softly, is now out from Finishing Line Press:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/touch-my-head-softly-by-eileen-kennedy/
You can view it on Goodreads at:
I will be posting every Thursday, and on Tuesdays when I have an announcement.
I am grateful to Lanette Sweeney, a fellow Finishing Line Press author, for highlighting my new book, Touch My Head Softly, on Facebook. Take a look:
Here is the link to my book:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/touch-my-head-softly-by-eileen-kennedy/
A piece of writing begins with a germ of an idea, an inspiration, a straw dog. Some people use their journals to spark ideas.
I have been journaling for many years. I used to use pen and a notebook. Now I journal on my Microsoft Word App on my iPhone. I just find that while I may not always have my notebook, I tend to always have my phone. I journal snippets of ideas that I may later develop into a writing piece or poem. Do you journal? When? How?
I have a new collection of poetry out that started with my journal. It will be out soon from Finishing Line Press:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/touch-my-head-softly-by-eileen-kennedy/
Or you can find it on Goodreads:
Straw Dog Writers Guild, the largest group of writers in the Pioneer Valley, has featured my new book, Touch My Head Softly, on their Facebook Page. Take a look:
https://www.facebook.com/strawdogwriters/
The book will be out shortly from Finishing Line Press:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/touch-my-head-softly-by-eileen-kennedy/
I am a writer and a swimmer and really related to this quote from Mary Oliver, the great Pulitzer-Prize winning poet. During this dark pandemic period, I find both writing and swimming have sustained me. I’m grateful I get to reserve a lane at my gym and swim six days a week (never on Sunday.) I have also been writing through this pandemic and I feel like it has been a lifesaver. It gives me purpose.
I wrote a collection of poems about my experiences with my partner, who died of Alzheimer’s in his sixties. I feel grateful that Finishing Line is publishing this work and it will be out in the world. The work around the publication, particularly, has sustained me during this dark time.
This is the link to my book at Finishing Line:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/touch-my-head-softly-by-eileen-kennedy/
This is the link to my book on Goodreads:
By this, I think he meant that we shouldn’t judge our own work, but let it go out in the world. Others will judge it. If you think of it that way, it frees us, as writers, from nagging insecurities. There’s always someone who has one a prize for their work or gotten public recognition, and it’s easy to be envious. But if we just keep our sights on our own work, and trying to make it the best we can, we can gently return to ourselves.
I have a new book coming out soon, a collection of poetry called Touch My Head Softly from Finishing Line Press. It is about my experiences with my partner’s having Alzheimer’s. I try not to think about how other people will judge my very personal poems. I wanted to do it and now the poems are out in the world: abandoned.
Here is the link to my book at Finishing Line Press:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/touch-my-head-softly-by-eileen-kennedy/
Here is the link to my book on Goodreads:
Store/Fiction ISBN eBook: 978-1-005-23640-3
ISBN Paperback: 978-1-716-4666
Set in the Santa Clara Valley during the turbulent sixties and seventies, REAL ESTATE is the story of how a bucolic agricultural valley is transformed into the iconic Silicon Valley.
As acres of apricot orchards are converted into suburban subdivisions, families flock to the area. Air Force pilot Joe Jackson moves his family to Sunnyvale soon after the Hopkins build their dream house. Harriet Jackson, her father’s eyes and ears, finds herself living next door to Bobby Hopkins, aspiring circus performer and math whiz. They share a side-yard fence, but the worlds they live in differ radically. A shared love of the Beatles and the loss of the inspiring young President Kennedy bring them together in an unlikely friendship, but their family’s differences soon tear them apart. While Harriet struggles to fulfill her family obligations. Bobby builds a computer in his garage.
They meet again as adults, but by then everything has changed. In the electric valley, both Harriet and Bobby learn that family is not always destiny and houses are sometimes more than a home.
eBook: ISBN: 978-1-005-23640-3
Print ISBN:978-1-716-46618-2
6″ x 9″, 186 pages. Printed on archival quality paper.
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For any of us who watched the insurrection of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. last week, the words of Amanda Gorman, the inaugural poet, rings true. This poem was, ultimately, optimistic, portending a better future. Poetry can speak to us like nothing else when times are dark.
I wrote a collection of poetry after my partner died of Alzheimer’s Disease. It was a very dark time in my life. My partner, a brilliant mathematician, deteriorated quickly, leaving me in darkness. The writing of the poetry helped me to process what happened. I have been working on Touch My Head Softly with my publisher, Finishing Line Press, to finish the process. It has given me purpose through the pandemic.
Here is the link to the book at Finishing Line:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/touch-my-head-softly-by-eileen-kennedy/
Here is the link to the book on Goodreads:
Eileen P. Kennedy Author 