News

Hello, Hello,

Two bits of good news to share!

NPR's Good Morning Maryland has invited me to be a guest on their show. I don't have a date yet, but I'll be sure to post it when I do.

And Nicole of Red Canoe had offered to host a wine & cheese reception/book signing for Touch on February 26th, 3-4:30 pm! Come on out, have a drink & nibbles, and get your copy signed.

I look forward to seeing you there!
V.

30 Book Challenge

Be part of the 30 Book Challenge! As my book nears the end of its pre-order phase, I announce this final push to reach my goal. Be among the next 30 people to pre-order my book Touch forthcoming from Finishing Line Press and be entered to win a homemade meal in my home! A name will be drawn at random and the winner and a guest will be invited to spend the evening with me and my family. (I make a very good lasagna, but your preferences, allergies and sensitivities will be given consideration.)
Go to: http://www.finishinglinepress.com/NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm
Scroll down to Crawford. I'm on the right side, 3rd row down.
Order as a Holiday gift and I will provide a certificate to give your recipient as the book will not be published until February.
Hurry! This offer expires Dec. 16th, 11:59 pm.
Thanks for your support!

XO

Torn

The phrase, "I'm so torn about..." has been coming out of my mouth much more than usual recently. In this case it's my response to Betsy Lerner's book, Forest for the Trees. I loved the first half of the book where she describes, with such love and care, writers with all their ticks and social foibles. Even if they weren't the most positive characteristics, it was wonderfully comforting to recognize myself in her words.

And then came the second half of the book: absolute terror. Maybe that's an overstatement, but only just. She describes the steps: finding an agent, then an editor, and the process of publication. And the various forms of torture these might present, from hating the book jacket design, to being ignored by... just about everyone and anyone who has anything to do with the production of your book. (Personally, being ignored is one of the worst experiences I can have. Go on, say no, or say you don't like it, but for god's sake say SOMETHING!) (This example may fall under her description of the Neurotic Writer.) Anyway, she points out the various  disasters that could befall a book/author, and to put it simply, you don't want these things happening to you and your book! She paints a very rocky terrain that softens only with the chance of finding a kind, attentive agent and then editor to shepherd your book (and its neurotic author) through the process of creating something - in my case in the quiet of my home - to the very loud realm of sales meetings and book tours and good, bad or non-existent reviews.

So why not pause and re-evaluate my life's goals? Is this really the potential roller coaster ride I want to take myself and my immediate family on? Yes! Very thankfully, I have a supportive husband and kids who think it's cool that mommy "makes books." (Not they will be allowed to read them for a number of years... that's a different post.) As scary as the process may be, it's also the most exciting thing I can possibly imagine. Not the fear/excitement of riding a motorcycle without a helmet (please don't do that), but the thrill of seeing a dream coming closer and closer to fruition. And perhaps knowing there could be potholes along the road will help me better avoid them and make my way toward the ultimate goal of writing: to touch a reader. Ms. Lerner points out that the years of writing, the thousands of dollars that go into creating a book are all for that quiet, intimate moment when the reader opens the book and is carried into another world, when she recognizes herself in situations and characters and feels, if not consciously, then somewhere deep in the primitive folds of the brain, that she is not alone.  

Sharing

Thanks for this, Jen!

http://jmwwblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/poem-spring-time-by-virginia-crawford/

Lucky

Recently a writer friend suggested I look at http://betsylerner.wordpress.com/forest-for-the-trees/ There's a wonderful button there to get a copy of Forest for the Trees, for free. I'm almost always delighted to get things for free, but this is a book, a book about being a writer, with advice on getting published. (Me jumping up and down.)
As I wait to hear from a potential agent, it is just fabulous to read this book from someone with years of experience in the publishing world. She lovingly describes 6 types of writers, mentions famous living, or at least recent, examples, and a few strengths and weaknesses of each. The second half of the book focuses on the process of getting published.
If I'm scrumdiddlyumptously lucky, think Charlie winning the chocolate factory, unlimited chocolate for life, stable jobs and a warm home for his family, I'll get to experience that process myself.

Reading, Maybe the Best Part of Writing

Well, it would be hard to say what the best part is, but maybe it's between that moment of breakthrough - after you've thought and thought so hard for so long that you suspect you may have broken your brain that you finally know how to express that thing that just a moment ago was complete confusion - and the sheer joy of watching faces in the audience follow and understand what you're reading to them. I had that experience Saturday evening while reading poems from my forthcoming book, Touch.
Seeing an audience respond to my work is certainly a high point in my life as a writer. Few things compare to the experience of being understood. 
My (and your) next opportunity to experience this is Sunday, December 12th, 2-5 pm. Please join us.

Baltimore Crosses the Finishing Line!

Celebrating 6 Baltimore poets with books from Finishing Line Press

A holiday poetry event hosted at the Baltimore Ethical Society.

Admission Free.

Readings ■ Panel Discussion  ■  Audience Q & A   

Tasty Refreshments ■ Books for Sale 

Sunday, December 12: 2 to 5 pm

306 West Franklin Street, Suite 102

Baltimore, Maryland 21201

The Poets:

Michael Salcman

Physician, brain scientist and art critic. Author of

A Season Like This.

Ned Balbo

Loyola University Maryland teacher, winner of the 2010 Donald Justice Prize. Author of Something Must Happen.

Virginia Crawford

Teacher with the Maryland State Arts Council's Poets in the Schools program. Author of Touch.

Rachel Eisler

English Chair at Garrison Forest School, recipient of two MSAC individual artist grants. Author of On Fire Island with Walt and Frank.

Kathleen Hellen (Shiori)

Associate Professor at Coppin State College, contributing editor for the Baltimore Review. Author of The Girl Who Loved Mothra.

Julia Wendell

Wendell lives and works on a horse farm in northern Baltimore County and actively competes in three-day eventing. Author of Scared Money Never Wins and Restalrig.

You're Invited!

Kick off holiday chaos on a lit(erary) note this Saturday in Hampden with a preview of the "Spring Into Writing" retreat slated for next March with readings by instructors Jessica Anya Blau and Gerry LeFemina.  Gerry and Jessica are joined in alliteration by poet Ginny Crawford.  See you at Minas Gallery at 5pm then literary pied pipers Jen Michalski and Gregg Wilhelm will lead you scampering down The Avenue to Frazier's where they will resurrect their famous Writers Happy Hour, which went the way of ole Jacob Marley three years ago.

Saturday, December 4,  2010
5pm

Minas Gallery
815 W. 36th Street
Baltimore, MD 21211

 

Complete information can be found on the image in this email or on-line HERE.

 

Hope to see you Saturday!

 

Gregg A. Wilhelm

Executive Director, CityLit Project

Publisher, CityLit Press

Co-Piper, Writers Happy Hour

Precision

Yesterday I took a day trip to New York City with my aunt. We saw the show "Wicked." This was her 6th time seeing it and my first. Yes, it's her favorite. I found it absolutely stunning. I did think it was incredibly written, but every thing, every single thing about it was incredibly done.
There were many fabulous moments, but one example was right before intermission. Elphaba is singing: she's had a very challenging life so far as you might imagine one born with green skin would have a tough time in the world and even in her own family. But she recently discovered that her differences could also be of value and even though the rest of the world wants to oppress her, she will not be "brought down." She holds this incredible note as she rises above the stage on her broom. The only lights on the stage focus on her face and everything below her swirls in darkness and smoke. She's so focused, so precise, it's exquisitely, painfully beautiful. She's entirely present, all of her living in the moment.
This show was such an amazing example of what we can create. Whether we are dancers, musicians, writers, artists of all kinds, or bus drivers, police officers, cooks, and those of us at home doing laundry, making meals, when we fully give ourselves to something, focus every bit of our energy on the moment we're in, we can make everything stunning.
There was precision in every aspect of that production: set, score, script, costumes, make-up, lighting, choreography, performance... Absolutely stunning precision. And I came out thinking how amazing the world could be if we all did whatever it is we do with that kind of precision.

... and Omega

So you've seen the first poem, the Alpha we could say. Here's the Omega, the final poem in the book. It is one of the newest in the collection and one I'm very fond of. It was originally published on another blog here:

http://eightelevenpointfiftyfour.blogspot.com/2010_07_18_archive.html

Enjoy!

Reader,

Lean a little closer, I want

to give you something

soft: a blanket, a wish, a gold

heart-shaped locket.

Few of us are lucky

in love or money, so

think of this as a charm,

a spell cast or a trinket

for your neck or wrist.

You’ve met some

whose bank accounts are bursting,

whose fridge is never

less than full. And, it seems, they

always have a circle of friends

with gleaming glasses raised.

And good for them.

But, more than likely, here’s the secret,

you're like me and I’m like you and

we’re all brokenhearted. Even

the lucky ones. We drink and avoid

the eyes reflected in the glass, laugh

when our hands go unshaken and

make, for the fifth year in a row,

the very same resolutions or

we simply turn toward

the more comfortable dark.

It’s hard to look at gold and see

yourself, but it’s soft and warm and

true, like a blanket and love, and

even if this is as close as we

ever come to meeting,

please take this wish, see it

smile as it shakes your hand. Go on,

open the curtains to the sun and

your delicious brokenheartedness.

Raise your good human face.

Hello!

and welcome to my new site. My first book of poetry, Touch, is being published by Finishing Line Press in February 2011. You may pre-order your copy here:
http://www.finishinglinepress.com/NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm

My goal is to sell more than 100 copies before December 16th. I'm more than halfway there, and your help would be greatly appreciated.

Here's the first poem in the book. Enjoy!

Physics of Seduction

Teaching me the simple beauty

of a tight rack, how to grip a cue:

create finger space to slide through

or glide along the groove

of thumb and pointer finger,

you hardly ever let me break,

showing with one muscled stroke:

You’re still a man.

I’m a good student,

always ready to chalk up, loyal

to our almost-every-week arrangement,

staying close, observing strategy,

curls at the back of your neck.

I ask you how to make the play.

This isn’t an even match.

I’m learning to shoot against the rail.

I bend way over the

table, my whole torso

against the felt. Hoping you’ll

brush by on your way to a new

perspective, at least have a look.

Maybe an encouraging pat

as I try to master

something someone called

the necessity of gentleness.

I can only admire your skill, your

painful grace with a stick, your

exquisite seduction of physics.

Show me how to kiss at appropriate angles, drop

my set of stripes, run

the table without a scratch,

smooth as my hair across your back.

Each week I’m learning,

earning more “Nice shots.”

Now I know the rules, understand the lay

of the table and always come back.

I’m so close it’s painful.

And it’s only a matter of time

before I win.