Sweet wishes (and plans) for the new year!

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"         Arol Lightfoot

These last few weeks (months, really) have been a whirlwind for me.

And miles to go before I sleep. 
And miles to go before I sleep.

                     – Robert Frost, read the entire poem HERE

It's been a struggle at times, but here I am! I've arrived at the end of year! And it's all the more special because I have so many friends who have been surrounding me with love and gratitude, helping me celebrate the release of The Best of Today's Little Ditty 2017-2018. Thank you for sharing Volume 3 in blog posts and on websites, spreading the word on social media, and purchasing copies for yourself or for poetry-loving friends and family for the holidays!

Thanks to Jan Godown Annino for this great photo to brighten my holiday season!

Christmas is coming!
The stockings are hung—
a ditty collection
tucked into each one.

If you already have a copy and can take a minute or two to leave a review on Amazon, it would help to get the book seen by more poetry fans like yourselves. (For that matter, did you know you can use the same, or similar, review for the other two TLD anthology volumes?)

If you have poems in any of the volumes and an Amazon author page, don't forget to add yourself as an author as well!

I recently received a beautiful gift from Donna JT Smith in the mail. She's given me permission to share it here. I love the way she so thoughtfully expresses her appreciation for these books and for the poets whose work is contained. She pretty much took the words right out of my mouth.


SWEET

Sweet the poems
        Bound with string
Sweet the spirit
        Fresh as spring
Sweet the poets'
        Voices ring
Sweet the songs
        Given to sing
                Sweet the birds
                        Sweet the air
                Sweet the flowers
                        fresh and fair
Sweet the sentiment and thought
Sweet the peace these words have brought.
Sweet the sounds
Sweet the pen
Sweet the visiting again
Thanks to writer
Thanks to all
Thanks to those
        who hear the call.

© 2019 Donna JT Smith. All rights reserved.

Thanks right backatcha, Donna! Thanks to ALL of you who hear the call to take part in Ditty of the Month Club challenges.

This time of year is when I start thinking about what shape Today's Little Ditty is going to take for the coming year. I'd love to interview a few more of you for 2020 Reader Spotlights. If you ask Linda Mitchell, Jesse Anna Bornemann, Jane Whittingham, Rebecca Herzog, or Kate O'Neil, I think they'll tell you the process is easy, fun, and rewarding to read all the poems in response to your very own ditty challenge. Don't be shy! Complete this brief form to start the ball rolling.



I also plan to share more author/editor Spotlight ON interviews next year, more classroom connections posts, and... who knows what else!

An exciting bit of news for me is that I've been shortlisted for the position of Alachua County Poet Laureate here in North Central Florida. I interviewed with our local arts council earlier this week. The competition is stiff, but just to have been given the opportunity to speak about why poetry is important to me feels like a win all by itself. I'm proud of my local government for initiating this new position and, regardless of the outcome, I hope that it might lead to new poetry-related events and opportunities.

So I guess that's it from me for a while. I look forward to returning in late January. If you get a hankering to write some ditties in the meantime, don't forget that you can access links to all of the TLD spotlight interviews HERE and links to all of the final wrap-up celebrations HERE.

Jocelyn Erskine-Kellie

May your holiday season be festive and bright—

and filled with love, laughter, and poetry!

Tanita has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at [fiction, instead of lies].