Poetry of Love?

As Canadian wildfire smoke turned skies orange way down here in the Outer Lands Archipelago, I wrote love poems…

TikTok video of Stolen Moment, one of the first poems
in the poetry collection Hold Me Tight.

Why A Poem?

At our wedding, our best man advised us to follow the KISS principle: keep it simple stupid — the shortest speech in the history of weddings. Now that we’ve had a lot of time to think about it, that was darn good advice for a twenty-something guy to give.

And now, what could be simpler than a poem?

And did you know, poetry is alive and well? So I thought I’d give it the old college girl try.

Immediately yes! I loved it. I’m a pen and paper note taker, a list writer, a scrapper, a note hoarder. My entire career thus far has been about making stuff up, fitting it into impossibly small spaces, and broadcasting it.

More Love

You’ve probably heard some version of the Cherokee legend in which an elder uses a story of two wolves to explain to a child how to choose a course of action. One wolf is FEAR and the other LOVE, the one we feed is the one that will survive.

In that vein, I started a new project early in the summer of 2023 — a series of love poems — to be dedicated to my husband of more than three decades. I carried around a notebook almost everywhere I went. When I got an idea, I jotted it down. When time allowed, I worked poems out like word puzzles.

I kept the poems short to make them easier to read and share.

Before long, there were a dozen poems. I started setting them up as a collection of love poems in a 6x9” book format using Canva. I created a black and white photo collage illustration for each poem. Each poem got its own two-page spread.

As I finished poems, I added them to the book. By Labor Day weekend, I had 36 poems. That was a good place to stop, I decided. When you’re the decider, you can decide anything!

With the world burning, I wanted to give love more oxygen in my life.

I played around with the title, subtitle, description, and cover design. I researched key words and categories. I added the dedication to Cary and a copyright page, the inside title pages and the acknowledgements — and a couple of About pages.

Cover reveal

So here is the final cover:

Can you spot the typographical error?… I’ve decided to keep it there lol, at least for now. And also to give my inner perfectionist a chance to relax.

Going Wide, Going Global

I purchased a bundle of ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) from Bowker and published the book as a paperback on Amazon, as a hard cover on Ingram Spark (which offers it to independent bookstores, libraries, and other retailers), and as an ebook on Draft2Digital.

The book is now available on a wide range of platforms all around the world. That’s cause for a celebration right there! No?

Draft2Digital offers a nice thing called a Universal Book Link on its sister platform Books2Read. Using one link, you can direct readers to get the book in all of its formats wherever they get books around the world. I’m slowly building those links… Here is the UBL for my book of love poems, Hold Me Tight.

Time & Money

This little poetry collection took six months to conceive and bring to this point. It’s been a labor of love! The main investment was my time and focus, which I borrowed from my loved ones a day at a time.

How Print on Demand Works

Print-on-demand publishing is free for authors who can create, edit and produce their own books and upload them. Only when someone orders the book is it printed/produced. The author sets the book’s price and receives royalties from any sales. There is no up front print cost.

Sharing Poetry

I’ve definitely been dragging my feet about sharing the book, even though I feel pretty good about its contents. As the lion in The Wizard of Oz said, “C-c-courage!”

Final Thoughts for Today

Though published, the book is still a work in progress.

I’ve barely touched the promo work that would have to be done for readers and the book to find each other.

I’ve learned so much, and there’s still a lot to learn.

Writing a love poem can lead to the permanent existence of a book of love poems for posterity, what’s left of it.

~ Nan

P.S. I made 4You a FREE pdf sampler of the poems in the book. Click here!

Morning Sunshine: Blueberry Pancakes

Morning Sunshine video: Nan makes blueberry pancakes

I don’t always make breakfast, but when I do, I seem to want to make a video about it and set it to music haha!

This morning, it was blueberry pancakes.

How I made the video

While I was standing around, I took some quick pix and vids.

I sat down at the dining room table with my Motorola smartphone and logged into Canva to made a 20-sec mobile video (vertical short format for social media). I picked a cool mobile video template, uploaded a few of my own images and very short video segments, cropped and trimmed things up, and once happy with it, downloaded it to my phone.

One video segment of me having a bite of pancake took several takes, and even then I had to run it through an Instagram filter and download that. I was wearing no makeup and was basically still in my PJs…

I downloaded the video from Canva to my phone and then uploaded it to multiple platforms. In each platform, I added the same music: The Devil Went Down To Georgia by the Charlie Daniels Band. (Can you guess why I used that song?) I found the right fiddle section of the song and adjusted the soundtrack accordingly.

I added in some hashtags by the seat of my pants, such as #morningroutine #blueberrytiktok but hashtags is definitely an area I could spend more time on researching for optimal discovery.

What am I trying to accomplish with this video?

I don’t know! Somebody please tell me haha!

No seriously, I’m trying to learn to make videos quickly and easily so that I can do it on the fly. In general, videos are great for SEO (search engine optimization) and engagement. Making pancakes tells a little story, and storytelling is great.

Put something out there and see what happens, that’s good feedback.

Specifically with this video, the idea is (1) to give viewers some inspiration for making a yummy quick breakfast with just a couple of ingredients, (2) to show my natural habitat so that people can get to know me, and (3) to put another video out there to see what works.

So how’s the video doing?

It varies by platform. It got immediate attention on TikTok. It’s also on YouTube and Instagram.

Sometimes it takes a while for a video’s views to shape up, but sometimes it takes off right away — or dies a quick but painful death lol. It’s good to see what works and what doesn’t.

So far, the people are liking blueberry pancakes, bagels with opera, poetry, how to start a fire, how to make a seasonal wreath, daylight savings time, St. Patrick’s Day parade, plein air painting, and promotional videos for my books.

#shelfie #4seasonshelf

What's on the shelf today?

On the shelf today are early indoor planting stuff…

• seed packets

• pen & ink sketches of seed packets

• herbs in faux terracotta window planter (indoors)

• clean plastic containers for planting seeds

It's springtime, and the garden adventure begins again here in the Outer Lands Archipelago.

We still have a while until we can plant outdoors, except for certain crops that like colder temps, such as leafy greens, peas, etc., which don’t mind a little frost.

Farmstand Update: What’s In Season

It’s the end of March, and most local farmstands have only one thing as of yet: firewood (see below). But before you know it, you'll see early crops start to come in like rhubarb, asparagus, horseradish and many more bittersweet lovelies. Local chickens are already laying eggs. And fresh daffodils!

Local farm stand with firewood in early spring empty shelves.

~ Nan

P.S. The #SHELFIE short video above is part of the #100daychallenge and will be uploaded to the 4seasonshelf constellation of social media. I created it in Canva, downloaded it, and will send it up to each platform. I’ll also add gameshow sounds on those platforms because it’d be fun. Find and follow @4seasonshelf on your favorite platform!

Hundred day challenge: daily video?

Today, I finished getting dressed when I got the idea to make a short video about my socks and shoes.

I need the practice. Not practice putting on my shoes, making videos! esp with myself in the shot.

Well, here's the video:

I mean, yes, critics gonna critique, and they're not wrong, but I'm just putting my dumb ass out there.

Since I need to do more of this kind of thing, and since the #100daychallenge starts today, and since a good challenge helps motivate me, I'm making content and uploading it for 100 days.

Will my 100th be any better than my 1st? Let's hope so.

~ Nan