Serene

Something fun in my memory I like to do is to recall books I love. It's funny to think how much time I spent in libraries (and my own homemade library) as a child. To me, one of the greatest things ever was meeting and learning and listening to authors of all kinds. I'm currently trying to remember all the authors (and illustrators) I've met in my life. When I was little they came to my school, but when I got old enough, I would go to conferences, book fairs, book stores, anywhere where I could listen to them talk about their books.

I've laughed with friends (even recently to a pal who will be another published author I will go listen to someday:) ) about how authors were always like Hollywood "stars" in my mind, although, to almost all of them, they don't see themselves that way. They are just people, and most keep their fame to themselves because they are known by their words not anything else. I always said I wanted to be an author just because I loved writing so much, but as an added bonus, people would know who you were, but not really. In other words, you could stand in the fruit section of the grocery store mulling over melon without people swooning over you.

I still have the desire to have published books, but my dreams have been tweaked a little and I'm seeing more clearly what God wants me to do with my passions.

Anyways, currently, here are the bookish folks I can think of meeting (or seeing, maybe?). Please note some of them are current. My enjoyment of this pasttime has never run out.

-Ann M. Martin (this is still very vivid in my mind, and one of my truly exhilerating childhood moments..yes I was a nerd:) ), author of The Babysitters Club series and many more books. Something about her Biography (yes she has a biography and yes I read it) stuck out to me even before I've had health issues, but I will talk about that later. But I admire her for it, and knew I wanted to meet her when I read it (curious- just ask:) ).

-Wendell Minor: illustrator of America the Beautiful

-Kevin Henkes (of recent): author/illustrator of Lily's Purple Purse and many more excellent children's books),

-Jan Brett (of recent) awesome illustrator (and writer) of The Mitten and many more

-Sarah Dessen (of recent) author of The Truth about Forever (which I lent to someone...who? It would come in handy for everyone I know to read my blog so I could find out right about now)

I know I met more as a child but I cannot remember their names right now:( However, I do remember a man named Michael Rosen. Apparently, he is still going strong as a poet and illustrator. In middle school, he came to our school and spoke the poem from a book that does not seem to be too much in print any longer. It was called Speak! Children's Book Illustrators Brag about their Dogs. I think I liked it because all the procedes were to raise money for some cause. Anyways, it was such a silly book and I love silly stuff that is still meaningful. He had a great poem about dogs, and I loved dogs...I still do, but not in the same way. Being around dogs in the way that I hoped didn't happen until I was much older, so I was always interested in them. In the poem, I remember him talking about all different kinds of dogs and what they were doing. Some of the dogs were doing silly things, of course, like Pinchers pinching his pillows, but others were just being still. I remember the line "16 Irish Setters sit serene along the stairs." I memorized the poem when we did poetry readings in English class. I loved it!

But now that I think about it, what jolted my memory about those Irish Setters today was that they were being serene. I thought of the word serene because I want to be more serene. Whenever I think of certain words, my memory does a play back of a time in my life when I heard the word a lot. Serene makes me think of the dogs sitting quietly and still on the stairs.

Serene means calm, not agitated. It is very easy right now in my life to not be serene. Even if I am happy, because of what I've let go of so I can focus on what's most important right now, many times I am anything but serene. I don't think I am the opposite of calm, but I am not always as calm as I'd like. There are times to move and times to be still, and it is hard sometimes to allow life to happen when it doesn't go right or it takes longer to do things. I will try to remember the Irish Setters. I know there is a purpose for the rhythm of the current current. It all evens and balances out in the end. This I have hope for and will keep pressing toward.

***I encourage YOU to become a kid again and listen to an author, especially a children's author. It is SUCH fun to hear the audience's questions...the kids ask who his/her favorite character or book is like 10 times, and ask random questions about the characters that were in the stories like they are real people and expect a very serious answer. Like, shouldn't every author know what their characters are doing NOW, even if their story has "ended"?