JUST A LITERARY POTPOURRI

Don't get me wrong! I'm not an egoist! Nevertheless, I regularly do online surfing for my name.

Why? I tell you why. I wanted to check where my books are available. Every now and then, I see new online book outlets in other countries that are selling them. Recently, I realized that more book outlets in Australia and New Zealand are carrying KOILAWAN and PRAISING ALL SEASONS LONG: Haiku Verses. I thank you for getting your copies. Oh, yeah, please consider getting 1 or more copies of PRAISING... It is an excellent and inexpensive (but lasting) gift book for all season. Price is just $9.99 (US);17 and a change in Australian dollars.

Couple of days ago, I saw my name on a Share Rank site. Curious, I opened it and found that one of its subscribers has ranked my poem, PEACE, WHY ARE YOU SO ELUSIVE, as one of the best quatern verses posted online. Currently, Peace... has been ranked #2. Actually, the first four got equal votes (yes, readers could vote and comment), but I am happy to be #2 out of 10.

Recently, I joined Christianpoetry.com to post some of my verses with Christian themes. I have posted some verses from my gift book, PRAISING ALL SEASONS..., a Shakespearean sonnet, and a blank verse. I would love you to check them out. You also could leave your comments after reading them.

And my novel writing? Yes, some of you asked me how come I discontinued my chapter blogging. I apologize; however, it is just temporary. I will resume it next week.
Reason is; my fourth grandchild, who will turn 3 next month, has started Head Start. To celebrate it, I temporarily shelved my novel project to write a 24-page phonic story. Angel is my grandchild's nick name, short for Angelina. Hence, I decided to write "L" for LULU LAND AND ANGEL. Besides Applied Anthropology, I taught Literacy: Materials Preparation to graduate students at Philippine Normal University before; hence, it was fun for me to recall some principles in writing phonic materials for Pre-K to 3.

Here's a sample of the proposed phonic book.

Page 1

Lights off!
Angel is leaving for Lulu Land.
A place close to Dream Land!
A place next to none!

Page 2

Lulu Land
A land for fun!
A land full of fun!
It is a land for Angel to have fun.

Page 3

Lulu Land
A place to laugh!
A place to smile!
It is a place for Angel to laugh and smile.

......

Page 13

Let us leave early.
Let us leave when clouds are lumpy.
Let us load our sack lunch.
Let us eat lunch in Lulu Land.

Page 14

Look! The sign says Lulu Land.
Look! Lots of children are now in line.
Look! All children have sack lunch.
Like us, they will eat lunch in Lulu Land.

......

I already finished writing 24 pages. Publisher, I believe, requires 24-page story for Pre-K to 3 materials. My plan is to make arrangement with some schools here in Pasadena and test the book amongst Pre-k to K-1 classes. First stop will be the public school where my other two grandchildren are attending. Meantime, I am checking out some pictures or art work for each page. The preparation would probably take a month before I am ready to do some school rounds. If everything would turn out well, I would be pitching this phonic story to a children's book publisher.

Happy weekend everyone!