Shutta Crum

 
Sometimes we need a little imbalance in our lives to make us think about how to get centered again. Writing a picture book in verse is like that, too.
When writing in poetical stanzas (With all those good things that any picture book needs-characterization, setting and a plot, for goodness sake!) the writer has an additional [...]

It’s the time of year when I feel a bit like Leo Lionni’s grasshopper. Fall has well and truly come upon us in Michigan. The soy fields are dry and golden, the Virginia creeper wound round our trees is scarlet and we’ve had our first frost. Yesterday I heard sand hill cranes and assumed I’d [...]

Well . . . I did make it through the 30 Days, 30 Poems (& 30 Forms)* challenge for National Poetry Month with some semblance of a brain left over—I think. And though there were many days I would come home late and still have to check in to get the prompt, I could usually [...]

 
I thought I’d take a few moments to catch my breath and make a few comments about what I’ve gleaned, thus far, from participating in the Writer’s Digest National Poetry Month challenge. Robert Brewer, who blogs for WD at Poetics Aside, challenged poets to respond to a given prompt everyday for 30 days—thus creating 30 [...]

Tanya Lee Stone has another wonderful work of nonfiction out, ALMOST ASTRONAUTS: 13 WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM ( Candlewick , 2009). It’s sure to get any thougtful person’s bloomers in a twist and make her want to take to the streets. Tanya writes with passion and precision. Hornbook said of ALMOST ASTRONAUTS, “meticulously researched and thrillingly [...]

 
I love reading—it’s an obsession of mine. But I also love hearing the written word spoken. Last night I attended one of the many poetry readings being held around the country in honor of National Poetry Month. This one was at the Ann Arbor District Library and featured poet Robert Fanning.  (One of the founders [...]

Shutta is challenging herself to 30 poems in 30 days written in 30 formats. Yikes!

Things to do for Poetry Month

It started off with a visit to Abbot School in Ann Arbor—2nd and 4th grades. So much energy, fun, and many good questions! I loved it. I left the older kids with snippets from SPITTING IMAGE and the new book I am working on, THOMAS AND THE QUEEN OF THE DRAGONS. “That’s so unfair,” they [...]

Here’s a cup of cheer coming your way—to all those who braved another several inches of snow, and -6 degree temperatures, to make it to the Writer’s Fest at the Farmington (MI) Comm. Library on Saturday, Jan. 17th—YAY! You made my day. I had a lot of fun and I, for one, was warmed by [...]