the three ring circus hides under the tent

sketches by Walter Koessler

.

the three ring circus hides under the tent

Foraging picks through the center island
Awkward keeps his eyes down
Put-it-off drops wrappers everywhere

Obsessive wipes the counters to dazzling
Martyr-complex kneels ’til callouses form
the dull light of Guilt never dims

Entertainer pirouettes round the ring
She’s a Performance artist in the buff
electric Pantomime

April  3, 2017
Quicksilver
all rights

Genuine First Reaction

I just got home from detox in the Berkshires.Two days without the internet. Slept better! Rested! Communication more lucid! No deadlines!
Here is what I noticed!

Oliver’s Genuine Golden Tones

Blurb welcomed me home with these details on how to write for children:
In the words of Kurt Vonnegut: “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.”
Vulnerability inspires sympathy in a reader, and is an effective way of generating interest in a protagonist. But it’s even better when a character begins to learn from those situations, becoming stronger and less helpless.

Children and adolescents are naturally fluid; they grow both literally and figuratively from month to month.
Children are always experiencing situations for the first time—their reactions will likely be clumsy, unpolished, and very genuine.
everything really does seem larger when you’re very young.
Kids can be great characters because they’re a bit awkward. There’s nothing like a lost kid to stimulate empathy with a reader.
For example, fourteen-year-old June loves to secretly dress in boots her uncle bought at a Renaissance fair and an old play costume before going out to the woods and pretending she’s in the Middle Ages. June’s an unpopular kid, an oddball.and her eccentricities highlight one of the best parts of being a kid—the ability to be yourself before anyone tells you it’s wrong.
The best children’s books have stories and characters that are relatable and visually memorable.
Please go to this link, if you want to read by yourself:
http://www.blurb.com/blog/writing-illustrated-childrens-books?subscribed_to_blog_newsletter=yes

Tongue Twister# 26 Aardwolf

This is a graphic for Catherine Johnson who has been evolving her aardwolf:
Mine is more of a wolfvark.

Aardwolf
not scary;
ardent,
awkward,
airy,
hairy.

Jeanne