Deserved Laurels for Our JoAnn EARLY Macken!

Remember what Ben Franklin said about “early to bed, early to rise….?”
How it makes a (wo)man healthy, wealthy and wise?

Well,

my TeachingAuthor slot is Wednesday, every other week.
So every other Tuesday night, sometimes way past midnight,  guess who was finalizing her TeachingAuthor post,
battling Blogger to upload links and photos?

But, you know what?
Once I set the schedule to 7:00 AM Wednesday and clicked “Publish,”
I was instantly comforted:
“JoAnn’s next!” I’d remind myself.
I had myself my very own clean-up hitter.
I could count on JoAnn to give our readers sound advice, a reminder to play, plus that touch of Friday Poetry I so covet and admire.

For some strange reason, I was absolutely certain JoAnn was readying her post while I was readying mine, living up to her maiden name, EARLY.

I “attended” Vermont College’s MFA in Writing for Children Program vicariously, thanks to my fellow blogger Carmela and one of my All-time Favorite Children’s Book Authors, Carolyn Crimi.
When they connected me to their class Listserv, The Hive, they connected me to several of my future fellow TeachingAuthors, including JoAnn.

It turns out JoAnn and I share lots besides our Midwest (Chicago and Milwaukee) lives:
a publisher (Holiday House),
past and present SCBWI Regional Advisor roles,
educational publishing experience,
and best of all, of course,
our fellow TeachingAuthors.

I’ve dubbed JoAnn’s September 30, 2011 post “The Earlybird Gets the Story” My Favorite JoAnn Early Macken Post.
JoAnn loves writing first drafts!
Her joy for the process is downright palpable.
She shared this beautiful photo and beautiful poem.

We Are the Early Risers

We are the early risers.
We are drawn to the water
like turtles in spring.
While the sleepyheads snuggle with pillows,
we are shucking off sneakers and socks
to tiptoe through sand dunes
and wade in the shallows
and watch dawn hatch from the waves.

Somehow I became a part of that first person plural “we” and I was rising early,

vicariously, with JoAnn.

I know JoAnn is still rising early to partake of and celebrate all that’s in her Life.

She’s marching forth,
but just in case she tires,
I offer up for resting these deserved laurels.

We’re counting the days, JA, 'til you Guest Post on TeachingAuthors!

Your Grateful Fan Esther Hershenhorn