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Updates Made by Jeannine Atkins
Thursday, February 27, 2014 8:34:18 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Writing Verse about History and Science:
Jeannine said, "In the way poetry often begins – is this eureka-ish or just another day? -- last spring a few people from history bumped against another in my mind, which set off other mini collisions about the ways we might understand plants, rocks, and..." more
Thursday, February 27, 2014 8:34:18 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Rhymes on the Closet Floor:
Jeannine said, "I generally write more free verse than formal, since I like working with the facts of history, which give me some structure, and the needs of narrative, with most of my poems following another as they build a world on the page. These poems are..." more
Thursday, February 27, 2014 8:34:18 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled It’s a Book! Views from a Window Seat: Thoughts on Writing and Life:
Jeannine said, "After a few weeks of ripping open envelopes to find book proofs that were just a bit off, and had to be tweaked, on Saturday morning the fourth sample copy was waiting at the post office, and this time the cover looked right. Through summer and..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Beyond Broken Lines: What Makes a Verse Novel?:
Jeannine said, "A few days ago at the Associated Writing Program conference in Boston, I was lucky to attend several panels about writing poetry. The question of what a verse novel is was raised in a session called “It Could Always Be Verse.” Helen..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Intruders at the Laptop:
Jeannine said, "A writer friend invited me to meet her this morning at a café, where we talk as a little girl and her dad at the next table sing “Itsy-Bitsy-Spider,” running their fingers up each other’s arms. Spring-starved people drink..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Writing through Hesitations to Certainty (Or Close Enough):
Jeannine said, "I don’t think many writers would suggest this is a profession for the timid. We’ve got to set up sentences and stand by them. We may look as if we’re the sort of people who can’t be pushed around, but we have to be off the..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Three:
Jeannine said, "TELLING TRUE STORIES: A NONFICTION WRITERS' GUIDE edited by Mark Kramer and Wendy Call is a treasure trove for writers with any interest in narrative. The opening piece by Jacqui Banasynski brought tears as she shifted from describing effects..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Homes and Other Places We Remember:
Jeannine said, "Inspiration often begins for me when someone’s inner life resonates with mine, no matter the variations of time and place. If a setting stirs my curiosity, and actions offer at least an edge of a plot, I read to find out more about what..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Writing Poetry Together
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Historical Fiction:
Jeannine said, "I’m speaking on a panel called “Sculpting Stories from Fact: Four Writers of Historical Fiction Share Strategies” on May 5 at the NE-SCBWI conference. What a treat to speak with three smart friends -- Sarah Lamstein, Pat..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Historical Portraits:
Jeannine said, "I’ve been writing a novel based on a woman from history who’s known, but not as much as I think as she deserves. I have my own answers to the question of why and how one would one turn a real life not into fiction rather than biography,..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled The Empty Briefcase:
Jeannine said, "Daffodils, magnolias, and cherry trees were blooming in Amherst as I walked to the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies. I put those yellow and pink blossoms at the beginning of my sentence, and I’ll add that a kind person had..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Novels That Move Between the Present and the Past:
Jeannine said, "Three recently published novels keep some chapters in the present, then switch the point of view to explore characters who lived in the past. MARY COIN by Marissa Silver examines the ways art, language, love, and fear shape memory. Art and legacy..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Poems in the Greenhouse:
Jeannine said, "Yesterday was the perfect day to smell lilacs and pass under the white blooms of dogwoods on my way to the Smith College Greenhouse. The museum area is currently devoted to a show called From Petals to Paper: Poetic Inspiration from Flowers. Poems..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled On the Cliff Walk:
Jeannine said, "Peter and I just got back from spending a few days in Maine for our thirtieth anniversary. When we got to the waterfront inn, Peter wanted to close his eyes post-driving for a bit, while I left to smell the salt air and stretch. I walked on the..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Final Pages:
Jeannine said, "A white butterfly flits over the roses and wild geranium. The porch is neither too hot nor too cool. I had local strawberries on my oatmeal this morning, all of which makes me feel kind of ashamed for feeling restless while I write. Wishing Peter..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Ways of Butterflies:
Jeannine said, "The garden in front of the porch where I sit is woefully neglected. The pink petals of echinacea, where an orange butterfly lands, are the only bright spots amid a sprawl of foliage from spring blooms gone by. In mid July, I’m reminded of the..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Deepening:
Jeannine said, "I’ve been revising some poems, which means while I trim and polish, I’m also kicking up dust, going deeper, a tricky term that doesn’t mean patching in meaning with words boasting an extravagant number of syllables that might be..." more
Thursday, September 5, 2013 6:09:24 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Metaphors:
Jeannine said, "Sometimes I wish metaphors weren’t often taught as their own unit in elementary school. It makes them seem sort of precious, like a necklace one would only wear on Very Important Occasions. Or it can make them seem crafty: Hey, anyone can do..." more
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 9:32:04 AM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Creating Characters in the Dark:
Jeannine said, "Last weekend I walked with a friend who laughed when she mentioned my facebook posts, saying something like, “You make writing sound so complicated.” I’m not sure what she said, but there wasn’t envy in her voice. I really..." more
Friday, January 25, 2013 12:31:59 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Shaping a Theme:
Jeannine said, "I started my work-in-progress with a quiet, curious girl and an intention to write for children about ten years old, tossing in some magic. I had a big old house in mind and a shimmering sense of a world beyond. That’s really not so much, but..." more
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 10:05:56 AM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Second Chapters:
Jeannine said, "Writing a first chapter is like tracking down the perfect outfit for a big occasion, then knowing the hem needs to be adjusted, or the right scarf found, while already having second or seventeenth thoughts. Did the scarf change everything, and..." more
Monday, January 21, 2013 10:35:54 AM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Old Quilts:
Jeannine said, "While wandering through an antique shop some years back, I found a small stack of great old patches for a quilt that someone had painstakingly sewn, but never put together. I bought these, then some new fabric for borders and a backing, and stitched..." more
Monday, January 21, 2013 10:35:54 AM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled You Mean to Intrude? Be my Guest.:
Jeannine said, "When I sit to write, I’m hardly ever welcomed by a voice rising from the page. My characters haven’t been waiting patiently as dolls shoved in a closet, ready for a girl to come back and make them chat. Instead I’m greeted at my..." more
Thursday, February 27, 2014 8:34:18 PM
Jeannine Atkins wrote a blog post titled Shifting: Science and Girls:
Jeannine said, "Many of us grew up looking at stars, but found our original wonder got washed away by familiarity or the sort of science that seems to diminish: Sorry, but your lucky star may be just a big hot rock, dust, or gasses. We get pretty songs and stories..." more