Happy New Year!

2011 has been an exciting year for me! It was fun to be part of the Paul D. Camp Literary Festival again and I had the pleasure of speaking at Virginia Wesleyan College in Professor Bill Ruehlmann's class for the third time. He's such a pleasure to work with and quite an inspiration.

I had some book signings at a craft show and at the Simon Family Center in Virginia Beach. I also sold books at the Olde Towne Art gallery in Olde Towne Portsmouth. It's such a blast to be around such beautiful artwork. It inspired me to start painting again.

Releasing Poetic Dreamer made nearly every poem I've written now published. Guess that means I need to get busy writing new ones. I've re-released Being Frank with Anne and hope to get busy marketing that again. The new book has Anne Frank's picture on the front cover. I love it. Book Graphics did a great job with the design. You can see it on my widget.

A big thrill this year was publishing inkBLOT, a YA suspense novel with Nancy Naigle under the pen name, Johnson Naigle. I got quite a surprise this week when I found a wine bottle with an inkblot label (brand) and a note inside. It mentions knowing about a certain famous online novel titled inkblot and asked if it was the same vintage. Then it said- quite a plot, Happy New Year. There was no signature. I love mysteries and whoever left the bottle left me quite a mystery. That was so cool!

Another publishing effort this year was publishing Hall Pass, a collection of funny high school stories in ebook form. I hope you enjoy that book on your Kindle or Nook.

We're going to have a new addition in our family in April and we're happy about that. It's going to be a girl!

Paul D Camp Community College's Third Annual Literary Festival - Big Success

Besides music and visual stimuli, nothing inspires my Muse like hearing other authors read their work. I was blessed to once again be part of Paul D. Camp Community College's Third Annual Literary Festival. Emceed by poet and orator Nathan Richardson, it was well planned and organized by Professor and Literary Club Sponsor Ronette Jacobs and everyone on the staff of the literary club. Harriette Arrington, Dean of Academic Programs, engaged the children in another room with her storytelling. Paul D. Camp Community College President Paul Conco did some wonderful storytelling.

Author Annette Montgomery shared her book of history on African Americans in Suffolk. Lots of recognizable landmarks in the photos. Reginald Johns, a poet and motivational speaker, wowed the crowd with his words. I bought a hardback book of his, Love is Life's Lesson. It combines art and poetry. Love it!

As always, Nathan Richardson and Synnika Lofton delivered mighty words with just the right touch. I shared poetry from my newest book, Poetic Dreamer. One of the poems I shared is titled, Go Paint Yourself. In this poem, I imagine coming up behind Norman Rockwell as he paints his Triple Self Portrait. In my hand, I hold an ice cream cone as I await his reaction as he paints. My last comment in the poem as though he were speaking himself- "Just call me Norman Rocky Road."

The Artwork of Lowell Boileau and My Poetry in Poetic Dreamer

I admired the artwork of Lowell Boileau and felt moved to write a poem about his artwork, Riverbend. Here is the resulting poem beside his art. He's a great artist from Michigan. This is the first poem in my new poetry book, Poetic Dreamer. http://bit.ly/i8JtYH See more of his artwork at www.lowellboileau.com www.phyllisjohnson.net