Susi Gregg Fowler

April 2012 - Spring!

Really? April already? Whew. If you check my "writing news" above, you'll see that I have a new picture book coming out next year. In February I signed a contract with Sasquatch Books, a regional publisher in Seattle, for "Arctic Aesop's Fables: Twelve Retold Tales." My husband Jim is doing the illustrations, and as his housemate, I get to peek at the work in progress -- and I love it! This is my first experience working with a regional book publisher and the speed of things amazes me. It's also the first time I've written with a particular publisher and market in mind. Jim worked with the company a couple years ago, had a good experience and they were interested in having him illustrate another book. The editor asked if maybe I had any ideas suited to the Alaska tourism market. I didn't -- but within days, I did, and "Arctic Aesop" is the result.

Meanwhile, I've mostly been working on a children's poetry collection -- actually on two, but I have just finished one of them and I have begun a new chapter book for young readers (about the range of my Albertina books). Spring has sprung. Crocuses and tulips are nudging their way out of garden beds which are still dotted with snow patches, and the wetlands are FILLED with geese and ducks. Because I care for my grandkids after school, I have an excuse to play outside when they get home. Night time is dog walking with Jim and Matisse, music with my dad, and often a return to whatever writing project is holding me in its grip. A good life!

Happy Spring.

12/​12/​11 December Greetings

Checking in quickly here. I've been writing a lot lately -- my regular hodgepodge of things: essays, two picture book manuscripts and a revision (almost from scratch!) of an adult novel. I write every morning, refusing to answer the phone or the door most of the time and I find that as I've become more and more committed to that block of time, I'm actually getting more done. Gee, who'd have thought? As the modern dancer Doris Humphrey said, "Fortune favors the prepared mind," and it does feel as if my writing is getting stronger and that more ideas are coming the more I work. More ideas than time...but I guess that's better than the other way around!

I've had a couple pieces of good fortune lately. First, Skirt! Magazine published an essay -- "No Joke." You can read it on their website (see Quick Links at left) and it's also in their print version. And then today I received word that Underwired will publish another essay, "A Kinder, Gentler January" in their January issue. They published an essay of mine last year. Sometime in the next few weeks (or months) I'm hoping to figure out how to include poems and essays that have been published in print-only journals or magazines on this website, along with links to pieces that are online.

Meanwhile, life is good here in the north country. My illustrator husband Jim's latest book, "Patsy Ann of Alaska," written by Tricia Brown and published by Sasquatch Books, is selling well, and he's had a couple nice art shows in the past year (that's in his landscape artist persona). Our daughters and grandchildren are happy and well, my Dad lives next door and we play music together almost every night. Much to be thankful for.

May your days be merry and bright.



2/​15/​11 Thanks for looking at my website. it's in transition -- as am I. That's what life is, I guess. I spend a lot of my time writing and am not returning to legislative work this year (still feel a little trembly about that -- but happy!). And while I continue to be my grandchildren's primary childcare, they have school (part-time preschool for the younger one) so as long as I'm disciplined, I have several hours a day to write and do related work. My dad and his wife are next door, and time spent with them is another part of my daily routine. So is walking Matisse, my half golden retriever, half standard poodle giant of a dog. Somehow or other, I still haven't figured out where to fit housecleaning into the mix......

A big change in the last few years is that I've been writing more for adults, and while I continue to write for children, I have had some success placing essays and poems in magazines and literary journals and find it rewarding. I have also written the draft of an adult novel, which I'll be working on over the next several months.

I plan in early March to figure out how to restructure this website, delete old material, link to some of the poems and essays I've had published in the past few years, and maybe even start a blog.....but here, today, is where I begin to revitalize my site.

I am working on a project (not the website) and need to return to it, so I am leaving my original website introduction below, only slightly updating it. It is no longer 2006. It is not autumn now but winter -- 10 degrees! -- but most of the rest still works.

(2006 - updated 2011)

I'm sitting at my desk, looking out at the mountains across the Gastineau Channel near my downtown Juneau home. It is autumn, and on this blessedly rainfree day (they tend to be few in a typical southeast Alaska fall), the backdrop of deep green and copper, bathed in golden light, gives me goosebumps it is so excruciatingly lovely. My neighbors' spuce tree waves in friendly fashion, and I am content, for the moment, and cognizant of how fortunate I am.

This, alas, is not always the case. So often I neglect the world right outside my window - an invitation to mindfulness and gratitude - and focus instead on - oh my gosh - this unbelievable clutter that is my writing studio and the seemingly endless list of things on my to do list (which is where?), publishing this website being one of them (as I recall). I forget that I do this work, this writing and its attendant business, by choice -- maybe by compulsion, somewhat, but mostly by choice, by good fortune, and with love.

So who am I and why am I rattling on like this? I guess the "why" is the desire to connect - with readers, with other writers, with students. As with most of us, I could answer "who I am" in any number of ways, depending on the day, the weather, my mood, how reflective I have or haven't been. So, for today I'll say that I'm a writer -- a children's book author and a poet, and I'm a mom, grandma, wife, worker. I've had eight children's books published, seven of them by Greenwillow Books, one by Scholastic. I grew up in Juneau, Alaska, attended Antioch in Yellow Springs, Ohio, colleges in the San Diego area, and University of Alaska/​Southeast. I've worked and travelled from coast to coast and overseas, lived awhile in Greece, spent time in Colombia where we adopted one of our daughters. I've been involved with theater, a women's band, peace and human rights work, public schools and homeschooling, and the Society of Friends (Quakers). My husband and I have two grown daughters and two wonderful grandchildren. My husband is a plein-air (outdoor) landscape painter and children's book illustrator who has illustrated six of my books and another six besides with a thirteenth due out on April 1, 2011. I also write essays and poetry for adults and am embarking on an adult novel rewrite. Wish me luck!

Thanks for checking in. I hope you'll do it again, as the site develops.

-Susi