Author Archives: Lora

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About Lora

Author of WORDS, Freshly Baked Pie, Lucky Me, The Three Witty Goats Gruff, A Sackful of Poems, Bear. To learn more, please visit me at www.lorarozler.com. Thanks for stopping by!

Writing Blind …

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We asked author Victoria Zigler, to share with us her experiences as a writer and voracious reader. Here is her story.

My name is Victoria Zigler, I’m twenty-nine years old, and I’m a self-published author of children’s books and poetry.  I also just happen to be completely blind.

I was born with Glaucoma, which robbed me of the sight in my left eye at some point during my childhood, and later robbed me of the sight in my right eye.  I don’t know exactly when my left eye stopped being useful, but I can tell you that I had the eye out shortly before my sixteenth birthday, because by that time all I could see with it was light and the light caused me severe pain.  Seven years later there was a drastic change in what I could see in my right eye, and eight months after that, a few months before I turned twenty-four, I had my right eye out for the same reason.  My left eye has been artificial since I was sixteen, and my right has been artificial since I was twenty-four, but I know it’s correct to say I still have the eye condition Glaucoma, because I asked the eye specialists.

I learned to read and write when I was young, because my big brothers had homework and I wanted some too.  From the moment I learned how to read and write, I’ve been in love with the written word.  I was three when I learned to read and write print, and twelve when I learned to read and write Braille.  Books have always been my place to escape to when I needed to escape the real world, and writing has always been the easiest way for me to express my thoughts and feelings.  Continue reading →

Happy Earth Day

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“I appeal to all people everywhere to raise their voices. Speak out on behalf of this planet, our only home. Let us care for Mother Earth so she can continue to care for us as she has done for millennia.”

-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Earth Day falls on April 22nd of every year.  It is recognized worldwide and honored with many events to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now celebrated in more than 192 countries each year. I’d like to share a poem I wrote in recognition of Earth Day.  Your thoughts, as always, are welcome.

It’s Time to Give Back

Mother walked along the seashore with her son.
The boy stopped to cool off in the water.
“This ocean was put here for you,” said Mother.
“To bathe you and nourish you and let you enjoy her embrace”

Mother walked through the forest with her daughter.
The girl stopped to cool off in the shade of a tree.
“These trees were put here for you,” said Mother.
“To feed you and teach you and give you a home.”

Mother walked across a meadow with her children.
The kids lay down to rest and gazed at the sky.
“The sun and air were put here for you,” said Mother.
“To warm you and refresh you and give you life.”

The children and Mother came upon an open field.
Heaps of trash, piles of debris, mountains of waste,
All lay where her land used to be.
The children, ashamed, bowed their heads and began,

“Mother, you have given us everything, from land to the sea.
You have fed us, clothed us, healed us if need be.
Consumed in our ways, we lost our path.
We need to do more – it’s time to give back.”

Creative Commons License It’s Time to Give Back by Lora Rozler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

In recognition of Earth Day, here are a few great reads to start up a conversation in the classroom – today or any day.
Continue reading →

This Used To Be My Playground

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GravatarBy Lora

There are many vivid imprints in my mind from days long gone. These beautiful memories live within me and define my childhood. As I go through my day, fulfilling one obligation after another, running from one commitment to the next, sometimes I wish I could just for a moment close my eyes, travel back in time and instantly be there again – the red slide that spiraled for days, the raised stage that I had to jump really high to see past, the zoo only minutes from my home, the convenience store that catered to my sweet tooth, the sprinkler I skinned my knee on, and on it goes.

Years ago, I had a chance to go back to visit my homeland, a place I left 26 years ago but still consider a home of sorts. Nothing prepares you for the feeling you get when you embark on your journey to the past – the nostalgia, the longing, the reminiscent this used to be my playground.

Continue reading →

Learning with Caps – Recycled Play

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f4939b9d9b4f5f90c8240245691056faLearning with Caps – Recycled Play

As a teacher, I find many uses for random household items that most people throw away. Bottle caps, for example, are never disposed of in my home.  Just this morning, my children and I played our own version of scrabble using yogurt caps I wrote letters on. They are a great way to engage children in learning (but I don’t dare tell them that). Sometimes I throw in different size and colour lids, just to see how the kids will fit them into the game.

They love coming up with their own rules (problem-solving, cooperation, creative thinking at its best):

“I know – how about the black ones be free letters?” says A.

“Yeah, we can use them when we get stuck, “ adds B.

I can’t help throwing in my own two cents. “They can be vowels.”

And off we go, making up words vertically, diagonally, horizontally, changing rules, adding rules, anything they want, so long as they are engaged.

scrabble scrabble2
What household items have you saved from the recycling bin? Please share to feature your idea on our blog.

 

All the Colours in the Sky

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All the Colours in the Sky
Liam, age 5

All the colours in the sky –
Violet, yellow, red and blue.
All the colours in the sky –
Pink and purple too.

All the colours in the sky
Indigo, orange and grey.
All the colours in the sky –
What a spectacular array!

Sky

Note: The poem was inspired by Liam’s inquiry-based learning about the sky. His Kindergarten teacher read the book Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds and invited students to take pictures of the sky at various times of the day. We captured a shot at sunset and decided to take it a step further. His teacher liked the poem very much and wrote it up on chart paper to share with the class.
(Mommy only helped a little bit J)

 

Creative Commons License
All the colours in the sky by Lora Rozler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Pall’s Poem

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Pall’s Poem
By Stan Morris

I don’t pretend I know a lot,
about the world in which you slide.
It’s hard to speak to people, you know
I’d rather go spacing and hide.

But I see it makes you happy,
to hang out with a group.
And I know you never mind,
when the group becomes a troop.

So I stay by your side and wait to see
if your eyes will turn to me.

Poetry is calling …

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“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words”.
Robert Frost

“Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks”.
Plutarch

 “A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language”.
W. H. Auden

“Poetry can be dangerous, especially beautiful poetry, because it gives the illusion of having had the experience without actually going through it.”
Rumi

“One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose”.
Voltaire

Hello everyone.  April is National Poetry month – and it so happens, I LOVE poems!  In recognition, I would like to share a couple of poems by two of my favourite authors.

Messy Room
By Shel Silverstein

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater’s been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or–
Huh? You say it’s mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

There is great collection of Shel Silverstein’s work on: http://www.shelsilverstein.com/

My Teacher Calls Me Sweetie Cakes

My teacher calls me sweetie cakes.
My classmates think it’s funny
to hear her call me angel face
or pookie bear or honey.

She calls me precious baby doll.
She calls me pumpkin pie
or doodle bug or honey bunch
or darling butterfly.

My class is so embarrassing
I need to find another;
just any class at all
in which the teacher’s not my mother.

Check out Kenn Nesbitt’s website for other great poems: http://www.poetry4kids.com

Here are some other links to cool poetry pages:

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poemcategories.aspx

http://www.storyit.com/Classics/JustPoems/classicpoems.htm

http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/home.do

http://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/

If you have a favourite poem that you’d like to feature on our blog (perhaps even your own), please submit it to us at wordsonalimb@bell.net.  Remember to include the author’s name.

Please note: Words on a Limb does not claim ownership of any of the poems posted.

Words on a Limb Interviews K.S. Daniels

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kimberly outside2_editedKimberly Daniels is the terrific Goodreads author of The Valkyrie Profiles which is the #1 book of the Valkyrie Trilogy.  We learn some more about her on this installment of Spotlight on Authors.

Kimberly spent four years teaching English Composition and Literature at the University of South Alabama. She also writes Science Fiction (Genre fiction! Oh, My!) and consumes copious amounts of coffee and whiskey (not necessarily together or in that order). When she’s not busy writing, much like a cat, she enjoys napping, running suddenly into a randomly selected room, and plotting the destruction of mankind. She exhibits a curious interest robots, leading to the widespread rumor that she may, in fact, be one herself.

Her current projects include the third installment of the Valkyrie Trilogy and various short stories. Her first novel, The Valkyrie Profiles, was a quarter finalist for Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award in 2013 and the second novel, Flight of the Valkyries debuted in May of 2014 to much fanfare (read: she threw confetti at herself). She also has a prequel short story in the Valkyrie Trilogy, Children of Ymir, that is a Kindle exclusive and another short story in the second Lunar’s Children anthology by Dark Oak Press titled Chimera, which began as horror but somehow still managed to end up as Science Fiction. Much to her own surprise, she currently lives in New Orleans, LA. eating as many raw oysters as robotically possible (that’s a lot of oysters) and working on yet another time machine.

About writing …

When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer?
My first serious thoughts on being a writer began around the age of fourteen. I was really big into Star Wars and read a lot of the books that were written post-Return of the Jedi. At some point, I realized, hey, I could write books like this! So began my first book, never to be finished, handwritten across several black and white Mead compositions books. Eventually, I outgrew my Star Wars fan fiction and by the time I started on my Master’s in English, my first ‘real’ novel was well underway.

What book(s) has most influenced your writing?
I grew up on classic Science Fiction: Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Andre Norton, etc. so those books had the biggest impact on my writing. My prose tends to be tight, no pages and pages on the scenery descriptions for me. As Hemingway said, “Writing is architecture, not interior decorating.” I’ve also been partial to Victorian literature, like Jane Eyre, so I tend to incorporate a lot of gothic elements into my work as well. Some of the books I still read over and over again are Asimov’s “The Caves of Steel” and “The Stars Like Dust”, Philip K. Dick’s “Ubik”, Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”, Huxley’s “Brave New World”.

When and where do you prefer to write?
I prefer the morning, before my head has time to get bogged down with everyday, mundane tasks. The where can vary these days, though years ago I had to be in ‘my writing spot’. I do usually write away from home, but I prefer quiet places, like a dark corner in a locals-only coffee shop. We have a wonderful English Tea Room near my house that I hope to try out soon. Sometimes I like to listen to music when I write. Each of my characters has their own play list on Spotify so that helps me get my head in the right place before I begin.

What was your biggest challenge in writing your book?
With my first book, it was finding the time. I wrote half the book as my Master’s thesis, but right after graduation I took a two year internship at the University of South Alabama teaching four sections of either Composition or literature. I barely wrote at all during that time, but once I finished the internship, I could teach fewer classes and devote half my time to finishing the book.

What advice do you have for other writers?
Read good books! Never neglect your reading for writing; you should do both with equal vigor.

About you …

What do you like to do when you are not writing?
I do a lot of reading, of course, but I also have a horde of rescue pets so they keep my pretty busy too. I just moved into a house that we are renovating ourselves, so I spend much of my free time on the project that is my new home.

Can you share something that is happening in your life that would surprise us?
That’s a tough one. I don’t feel like I’ve ever done anything particularly surprising. I’m a vegetarian, so that surprises some people. I own two pit bulls, a toy poodle, and a cat who all get on swimmingly. I love whiskey and playing dress up on any given day for no reason other than my own amusement.

Do you have any unique talents besides writing?
I took ballet for fifteen years so I’m a pretty great dancer. I also taught myself how to sew a few years back so I could make my own costumes for Halloween and SF conventions.

What can we expect from you in the future?
Many, many, many more books! I’ll never stop writing. I aim to leave me mark on the world by bring people enjoyment through my fiction.

Quick hits …

Is there an author that you would really like to meet?
All of my favorite authors are dead, so it’d be really hard to meet any of them without a time machine. Meeting Neil Gaiman would be cool though. Simon Pegg wrote a book, so I guess he counts and I’d certainly like to meet him.

What book are you currently reading?
I just finished The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain and Unwind, by Neal Shusterman. I just got into Philip K. Dick’s Man in the High Castle, and after that I plan on reading Cress, by Melissa Meyer.

Who designed your latest book cover?
Ana Cruz. She is the absolute best! She’s a pleasure to work with and her art is phenomenal. You can check out more of her work at Anna Cruz @ Deviant Art.

What is your favourite quote?
I’ve got so many, it’s hard to pick just one! I guess I’d have to go with “I write for the same reason I breathe – because if I didn’t, I would die.” – Isaac Asimov. I feel the same way. If I couldn’t write, I think I’d probably die.

Where can new fans can follow you?
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kimberlysdaniels
Twitter: @KimSDaniels
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/ksdaniels
My horribly neglected blog: ksdaniels.blogspot.com
Amazon Author page: www.amazon.com/K.-S.-Daniels/e/B00B084336

The Valkyrie Profiles
By K.S. Daniels
Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Nook

My first book in the Valkyrie series is The Valkyrie Profiles and the second book, Flight of the Valkyrie will be out this summer.

The Valkyrie Profiles: With war on the horizon and a rising body count, Vladia Robespierre must decide if her brother is really what he seems? And if he is the enemy, what does that make her?

 

Kimberly, Words on a Limb would like to thank you for your time.  We wish you much success with The Valkyrie Profiles and future books in this series.