Carolee Dean... thoughts, musings, stories and poems

June 2nd, 2009

Family Road Trip

6/2/09 09:03 pm

We just got back from our 2009 Dean Family Road Trip. We visited the Grand Canyon, Disneyland and various S.Cal beaches. All went well. Much better than the 2008 Memorial Weekend road trip to Carlsbad Caverns. That one was so disastrous I spent the rest of the summer writing a book about it called THE ROAD TRIP DIARIES.

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April 18th, 2009

SCBWI-NM

4/18/09 06:44 pm

I just got home from a great weekend at SCBWI-NM. I gave a presentation on NOVEL SETTINGS: CREATING UNFORGETTABLE PLACES.
Here I am below showing my power point presentation. Yay Power Point, I love you!

I also got to see Kersten Hamilton's presentation on CHARACTERS ALIVE! CREATING UNFORGETTABLE PEOPLE. Here is a picture of Kersten showing off her tennis shoes. Hmm. Those shoelaces weren't glowing during her presentation. Must be the flash. She told us she promised to buy herself new shoes for the presentation, but she's been too busy with rewrites for her upcoming GOBLIN book to go shopping.

Here we are at Kersten's presentation. Here is a photo of Kimberley Griffiths Little taking a picture of me while I take a picture of her. I guess this is why we write for kids and not adults. Also pictured are our good buds Kris Connover and Nancy Hatch.

Here I am with Kim. It was great to see you, Kim. XOXOXO

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April 11th, 2009

Easter Weekend

4/11/09 02:03 pm

It's a three day weekend and I finally have some time to write after spending all morning at my son's soccer game which the rest of us watched from the car because it was raining. I recently read a fabulous book by fellow journaler Lisa Schroeder. It's called I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME. It's a novel in verse about a girl whose boyfriend dies tragically, but that's just the beginning because his spirit returns to haunt her. It's tender and sweet and still has a happy ending in spite of all the loss. I met Lisa at SCBWI 2007 and it's great to see such a nice person having great success.

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October 19th, 2008

October 2008

10/19/08 09:58 pm

Random Writing Activity October 2008
“Acrostic Halloween Candy” by Carolee Dean

Directions:

1) Write the name of your favorite candy vertically down the page.

2) Use the letters to create a list of words to describe your candy

OR

3) Use the letters to create the lines of a poem

Example:

Acrostic #1

Sweet

Nutty

Inside

Chocolate

Kovered

Exterior

Really makes me

Smile

Yes, I realize that Kovered is supposed to start with a “c.” That’s poetic license. Besides, have you ever noticed that K is one of the shortest sections of the dictionary? Okay, I’ll try not to cheat with the spelling next time.

Acrostic #2

So very sweet and good to eat,

Nuttin’ can compare.

I love this tasty, crunchy treat.

Chocolate fills the air, but

Keep your nougat from the heat

Extremes of temperature will ruin.

Remember you don’t want to eat your candy with a

Spoon.

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September 15th, 2008

Found Poems

9/15/08 04:53 am

Random Writing Activity for September 2008

“Lost and Found Haiku” or “Lost Civilizations and Found Poems” by Carolee Dean

Introduction: Found poems are interesting snippets of writing that you might “find” in a magazine or on a road sign or on an advertisement for Clorox. If you put these snippets together, sometimes you end up with an interesting combination. Here are a few “found” poem I created from one of my favorite magazines:

1.

Commentary from a

SPONGE

Just what the world needs,

Another cleaning product.

It’s time to say goodbye to bad air.

2.

PAINT the town

QUIET

Sitting on Top Of the World

Imagine the endless shades of possibility

3.

DRIVE BEAUTIFUL

Follow This Path

Take Me to St. Louis

A summer vacation is full of simple moments.

Here is a variation on the Found Poem. It involves using a Found Phrase for either the first line of a Haiku or for the title of an original poem.

I was looking through my daughter’s sixth grade history book the other day (because I love history and because I don’t lead a very exciting life) when I started noticing that several of the section headings were five syllables in length:

Divided Kingdom The Fertile Crescent

The Great Pyramid Hammurabi’s Code

Spartan Warriors Great Wall of China

Medieval Japan Spartan Warriors

The Ganges River The Fertile Crescent

I decided to take one of these headings, read that section in the book and brain storm.

Brainstorm for Hammurabi’s Code:

-Hammurabi was a Babylonian king 1792-1750 B.C.

-282 laws organized by category

-Carved in a stone pillar

-First written code

-If you were poor and you injured someone who was rich, the penalty was worse.

-“If a man destroyed the eye of a man of the class of gentlemen, they shall destroy his eye. If he has broken a gentleman’s bone, they shall break his bone.”

After taking these exciting notes I wrote this haiku:

Hammurabi’s Code

eye for eye and bone for bone

written down in stone

Directions:

1) Find a non fiction book or magazine on a subject that interests you.

2) Browse through the book and write down five syllable phrases that you find throughout the text.

3) Brainstorm the subject and make some notes.

4) Create a haiku or use the subject heading as the title for a free verse poem.

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March 16th, 2008

Happy Birthday!

3/16/08 09:01 pm

Happy Birthday Heidi!
My daughter's birthday is March 17. She'll be turning 19 (not that I'm old enough to have a child that age!). She's back from college for spring break. Have a great day.
Carolee

September 8th, 2007

GOT WORDS?

9/8/07 06:38 am

We may dream in pictures but we create in words. Out of the formless void of the white page we bring to life worlds and inhabit them with monsters and heroes. This LJ page is dedicated to the spoken and written word. Here you will find book reviews, author interviews, musings, verse, but most of all... words. Take them and use them to go out and create wondrous new worlds or to talk about the ones you've already visited.