Reading and Writing Friday
Some news to share in my little world of reading and writing:
I. Winning!
My lion Leonardo and I won 4th place in both member’s and jury’s choice in The Shameless Lions Writing Circle awards for our poem, which you can find here.
You can also find Leonardo’s guest post about his father here.
I’m beginning to think that 4 is my lucky number!
I’d like to thank Seamus for all of his hard work, jury gathering, and vote counting, and also the jury and other members of the Circle who took the time to vote.
Warmest congratulations to my fellow winners and to all members of the pride (so many outstanding pieces, choosing my favorites wasn’t easy), and a special roar out to our good friends Wanderlust Scarlett and Viaggiatore who were awarded 1st place, Member’s Choice for Best Looking Lion. That *is* one stylin’ lion!
II. Writing!
There is a wonderful writing workshop going on over at author Rosina Lippi’s place called the Story Machine Workshop. Today will be Day 4’s exercise, but don’t worry about joining the party late. You can catch up rather quickly as I did yesterday.
There are prizes available for participants–it is called, after all, the I-read-your-work-and-give-you-feedback contest, which means that yes, one lucky winner will have Rosina Lippi, a widely successful author, read his/her work and give valuable feedback.
There are also prizes for each day as well, and you have until Sunday to comment on the week’s posts to be eligible for prizes–but I hope you’ll also try your hand at the exercises. So much fun and a lot of great advice!
III. Reviewing!
Fellow Shameless Lions Writing Circle member Dewey over at The Hidden Side of a Leaf is hosting this month’s Bookworms Carnival–the theme is novels.
The deadline to submit posts is today, and be sure to check back there for the round-up! There are bound to be some great summer reading list suggestions.
IV. Reading!
Speaking of summer reading…
One of my lovely Australian readers came and visited me yesterday with her Calabrian husband–they are here on holiday, but I’m so excited to learn we may have some more English speakers nearby on a more permanent basis!
We went on a gorgeous walk, taking in the natural beauty and precious silence surrounding my town (whenever we weren’t talking and talking and talking (in English!)), and then they left me with these:
Bet you’ll never guess what I’ll be doing this weekend.
V. Swapping
Many of you know about this and are already members, but for those who don’t, Jessica of In Search of Dessert and Shelley of At Home in Rome have gotten together and formed The Sisterhood of the Traveling Books:
This is a bookswap and a godsend for those of us without great access to books in English–but it’s not only for expats. Far from it, in fact, as we already have many members from all over the world.
If you like to read and you like to swap, head on over to The Sisterhood and check it out!
Buon weekend a tutti!
***UPDATE: ATTENTION WRITERS!***
I just saw an advertisement for an online magazine looking for someone
to write a piece about the Coliseum in Rome.
2000 words/$100
In bocca al lupo!
33 Beans of Wisdom to “Reading and Writing Friday”
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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Lilian’s Story is a fab book – you’ll like that one. It’s loosely based on Bee Myles this crazy lady who lived in Sydney when my mum was a kid. Rumour had it she had a knife hidden in her voluminous skirts.
kataroma
Hey!
Congrats! You are a great writer and that’s why we all come back for more. We can’t get enough of our sognatrice and her words. 🙂
How neat is that you had a visitor? Love this. A pile of books. Did she know how to get in good with you, or what? 😉
xo
Sognatrice & Leonardo!
I hadn’t looked yet! OH my gosh! Now I’ll have to get over the the lions pride to see what’s going on!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! That’s so fabulous! Big huge hugs to you both, it is so definitely deserved!! I’m so pleased for you both!
The writing workshop sounds great, wish I could do it, but I’m kind of in the middle of a whirlwind right now. BOO! I’ll go read your work, love to do that!
It hadn’t occurred to me that you didn’t have easy access to English books – duh – I will be more than happy to send you tons if you like. I’m a book fair junkie!
Congratulations again to you both! That’s so GREAT!
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
Congratulations to you and Leonardo! And thank you for promoting the Bookworms carnival. 🙂
Kataroma, thanks for the good word on Lilian’s Story. Hiding knives in skirts is something close to my heart now that I live in Calabria 😉
Cheeky, thank you much my dear. My visitor and I had been emailing for a bit, so she very much knew how to get into my good graces 😉
Scarlett, well what a way to find out, huh? Be careful what you offer, cara, because I just might take you up on the book offer. Right now I’m so well stocked, and the Sisterhood of Traveling Books is keeping me happy too. Dang, I should’ve included that in this post too. Time to edit again….
Dewey, thank you, and the pleasure is all mine 🙂
congratulazioni!
bacioni!
Very cool. I am proud of you.
There are books there I haven’t read… and some I have. I do so much swapping already, it’s hard to think of paying postage to do more. E books would be much better.
Congrats Sognatrice AND Leonardo. Very impressive work.
Unlike my dribble, your writing is wonderful!
Keep it up!
Happy Weekend, Sognatrice!
Congratulations! Antelope for everyone!
Congrats, great news.
I just got a new swap book today. It’s keeping me busy, I’m enjoying the surprises that show up in the mail from time to time. The only downside is having to face the Italian post office every time I have to send a book back out. ;-( Although I have to say I have been impressed with my two shipments to you!!
congratulations
to both you & leonardo…
i love it when
i can say
~~~~i told you so~~~~
but i did!
the story was clever & fun.
we should have lions,
one & all…
🙂
Congratulations. That’s really great! Thanks for letting me know about the Sisterhood of travelling books. I’m over stocked right now, but nice to know I have somewhere to turn when supply runs low.
Congrats though I think you deserved 1st place!!! I am loving The Sisterhood book swap! I am always looking forward to the next arrival, though I agree with Shelley that the down side is going to the post office!
Congratulations!!!!!!!!
Congrats. That is so cool. I agree that you deserved first place. Have a buon weekend & bella giornata.
Congrats!! Looks like you’ll be keeping yourself busy this weekend with some new reads!! Buon weekend!! baci
Calabrisella, grazie e tanti baci anche a te 🙂
Judith, thanks. I couldn’t do e-books, I don’t think. I already look at the computer too much 🙁 Unfortunately down here where I am, there aren’t a lot of options regarding bookswapping, so this site is wonderful for me–plus it only costs about 2 euros to send an average paperback within Italy, which is a lot better than Amazon shipping!
Jennie, thanks, and you’re too hard on your writing–it always makes me smile 🙂
TheOG, well…not for the antelope 🙁 Thanks!
Shelley, thanks; I’ve been having way too much good fortune with Poste Italiane lately–not even horrendous lines. It’s getting scary.
SPF, very cute…next time I’ll just believe you then. If you’d like to lion-sit, Leonardo *has* been talking about wanting to see some kind of Fountain of Youth or something around your parts…says he knows the guy who founded it? Boh.
Shan, ooh–and the potential for Canadian books rises! Woohoo!
Jessica, thank you, and believe me, there were many poems more deserving than mine–I think it took me about an hour to vote as it was so hard to choose!
Chris, grazie 🙂
Italian Woman, thank you thank you and thanks for commenting 🙂
Italiana Americana, thanks. I’ll be working this weekend unfortunately 🙁 but I’ll be sure to make time for at least a few new pages…I’ll probably end up reading the first chapter in a few of them. I’m curious like that 😉
congrats!!!
Happy reading.
congratulations 🙂
Congratulations on your award–I love your blog and you deserve it.
way to go!!
congrats~~
Congratulations! Great news!
NYC, Shelby, Scribbit, Darlene, thanks so much for commenting and for your continued support 🙂
Ah, and Nova–thank you much (that’ll teach me to comment before reloading the page!) 🙂
Glad to see there’s no harry potter in that pile!
Congrats to you and Leonardo!
Congratulations M!
With your prices, You might will write about “the Coliseum” 2000 w for &100? ….Hmmm I think so but…
I’m just wondering; How do you this all in a day of 24 hours? Do you ever sleep?
Good luck & greetings from joAnn
Congratulations on your win!
Congratulation! But then I’ve ALWAYS known you would be an award winning writer.
This is quite off topic, but I want to thank you out loud here for your kindness during these last few days. It’s meant alot to me. Thank you!
Freelance Cynic, I would have loved for there to be HP in there! Someone left one here a few years ago, and I read it very, very reluctantly with no other options around, and I just loved it. Sorry if I’ve ruined your image of me 😉
JennDZ, thanks, and auguri (again) to you and Roberto 🙂
JoAnn, I think I sleep too much! If only I could manage on about five-six hours, I’d *really* start getting things done. I put up the Rome ad thinking my fellow expats in Rome would have a better take on the Coliseum than me (I’ve never seen it in person..shhh).
Bongga mom, thank you much 🙂
Eileen, ah, yes, you knew me when I was just a lowly clerk, spinning out opinions on asbestos and the PCRA. Funny how now I know about Bantam hens from personal experience, though 😉
Jennifer, there’s no need to thank me, of course, but I do always appreciate your visits and comments. Be well 🙂
oh yeah, sure, do the very cool writing post chock full o’ info while i’m away! that said….CONGRATULATIONS to you & your hot, sexy beast (no, not P. – Leonardo!)on placing in the contest!!! hey, a lion w/ a heart on his shoulder is bound to go far!
Why thank you! Sorry about the timing of the post–you really need to give me more warning when you’ll be away 😉