Big changes a-coming in February 2014!

Oh dear sweet people of the universe. On bended knee I apologize for the almost year-long delay in posting. In February of 2014 I will announce major changes not only with this long disregarded blog, but for this and blog website in general. I will unveil 2 new websites. Well, 1 new, 1 revamped. www.charleswaters.net will be given a total revamped look. It will be used for my professional acting career only. There'll be new headshots, acting reel, voice over samples and other surprises. In addition to that, I have a brand new website called www.charleswaterspoetry.com that will be unleashed upon the world. It will have my Poetry Time webisodes, plus 26 newly recorded poems added to the collection, children's poetry links to articles, interviews about yours truly, a brand new blog and other goodies. There's been very few months I've looked forward to with more hope and excitement than next month. So, thank you for being patient, continue to be so, the all-Charles, all the time websites will be arriving soon!

FUTURE WEBSITE FACE LIFT AND OTHER THOUGHTS

Welcome back to the goings on.

Good stuff to share with you. The website is getting a facelift that would impress Joan Rivers herself. It’s currently being done right now by Isabel Garcia and her company Omnibus Studios in Orlando, FL. My acting reel will be updated as well thanks to the airing of 2 commercials that I filmed this year. They were for the Florida Lottery and Simmons Mattresses.

In February my piece “School Poems” was published in THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK: A BOOK OF FOUND POEMS edited by Georgia Heard which marked the first time I’ve been published in a book.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12220097-the-arrow-finds-its-mark#other_reviews

In August my piece “Muhammad Ali” The Rumble in the Jungle” will be published in AND THE CROWD GOES WILD: A GLOBAL GATHERING OF SPORTS POEMS edited by Carol-Ann Hoyte and Heidi Bee Roemer will be released.

http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/2012/04/5q-poet-interview-series-carol-ann.html

In September my piece “Visiting an Old Friend” will be published in THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOK OF ANIMAL POETRY edited by J. Patrick Lewis (Children’s Poet Laureate of the United States.)

http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Book-Animal-Poetry/dp/1426310099


During National Poetry Month in April I was featured in 4 different blogs:

http://jamarattigan.com/2012/04/12/charles-waters-heats-things-up/

http://www.nowaterriver.com/poetry-month-2012-charles-waters/

http://authoramok.blogspot.com/2012/04/30-habits-of-highly-effective-poets-17.html

http://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/2012/04/z-is-for-zaire.html

I thank Jama Rattigan, Renee LaTulippe, Laura Shovan and Amy Ludwig Vanderwater for the invites. Each of them are strong, talented, successful women who motivate me in continuing to scribble my truths.

I continue to work at the Mouse and Sleuths. I continue auditioning and going to callbacks and I continue to work out at the best gym in America which is Armor Crossfit.

http://www.armorcrossfit.com/

Until next time dear friends I’ll leave you with a children’s poem.

WHO IS SMART
Who is smart, classy, engaging?
It’s easy to see,
Go ahead guess?
(You better say me.)

© Charles Waters 2012 all rights reserved.

SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE

Hola,
Let’s play catch up shall we?

- Still working at the Mouse. Auditioning for other shows on property. Will keep you posted if I get them.

- Still working at SLEUTHS but due to the economy they had to cut back my hours for now. Extremely disappointed but have to believe other good things will be around the corner for me.

- Auditioned for NICKELODEON HOTEL as a host for their SLIME TIME LIVE show. Made it to the final, final list of people they were considering and … didn’t get it. Boo.

- Auditioned and had a call back for UNIVERSAL STUDIOS – ORLANDO. Still awaiting word on that.

- Had a multitude of auditions for commercials and didn’t book any of them until … I booked a FLORIDA LOTTERY commercial. Shot it last Monday the 23rd in picturesque Winter Haven, FL. I play a pharmacist who is answering various questions from an “interesting” customer. Air date to be determined. So happy I got my first booking of the year. Please let it continue.

- Continue to exercise with Jeremy Brassard who has now gone into business for himself and co-created a gym with our good friend Scott Hunter. It’s called ARMOR CROSSFIT. (http://www.armorcrossfit.com/)

- Also continuing the lovely cuisines of IsaVegan. Check it out and “like” it on Facebook please. (http://www.facebook.com/IsaVegan)


- Found out that I’m on the shortlist for a children’s poetry anthology about sports that is being put together by Carol-Ann Hoyte (http://www.scbwicanada.org/east/newLeavesAuthors/carol-AnnHoyte.htm) and Heidi Bee Roemer. (http://heidibroemer.com/) I’ll find out for sure if I make it this summer. It’s an international array of writers submitting work from 5 different countries thus far. Will keep you posted.

- Had 2 poems of mine appear in e-books called p*tag and Gift Tag. Both are compiled by Janet Wong (http://www.janetwong.com/) and Sylvia Vardell. (http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/)

Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/P-TAG-PoetryTagTime-ebook/dp/B005OSJ5PO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1327971483&sr=8-3

Here is my poem in p*tag:

HAIR

Follicly challenged
Is something I’m not,
Please, check out all
Of this hair that I’ve got.

Rapunzel herself
Has NOTHING on me,
A whip of my hair
Could cover a sea

Of boisterous waves
Surrounding our globe—
When eating I need
The patience of Job.


If you counted my
Strands there’d be many—
But oh poor Dad,
He doesn’t have any!

© Charles Waters 2012 all rights reserved.


Here is the link to Gift Tag:

http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Tag-PoetryTagTime-ebook/dp/B0069RU7CE/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327971483&sr=8-2-fkmr2

Here is my poem:

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Gramps gave me his watch
I wanted a super soaker.
He said, "Since Vietnam
This watch was by my side
--Birthdays to reunions
To when Grandma died."
I leapt into his arms
Whispered, "I love you."
He put his head to mine
Then said, "I love you too."

© Charles Waters 2012 all rights reserved.

Until we all meet again all I have to say is, “Charles Waters will be right back after this message and station identification.”

WORKING, READING, WRITING, EXERCISING ... OH YEAH!

April? April? I haven’t blogged since April! Oh forgive this lengthy absence you fine human beings. Let’s play catch up again shall we?

-Working Indy, Idol and Sleuths as always. Auditioning for more shows to keep diversifying myself within the company.

-Also continuing to audition for commercials and anything else my agent puts me up for.

-My acting reel is finished! It looks mighty good I tell ya. http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCharlesWaters?feature=mhum

-Finished another mud run. A 3.2 mile obstacle course called Savage Race. Sliding down muddy hills, running up hills made of sand, climbing up 25 foot walls. All in a morning’s work.

-Am now down 35 inches in my body thanks in part to the workout regime of Armor Gym owner Jeremy Brassard and cooking from Isabel Garcia http://www.facebook.com/IsaVegan.

-Published more poems in various issues of the magazine SPOTLIGHT ON RECOVERY. http://spotlightonrecovery.com/default.aspx

-There was some big news I wrote about in the last blog entry that I wasn’t entitled to share with you until now. My commissioned poem FENWAY PARK was accepted for inclusion in the upcoming book AMAZING PLACES edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins www.leebennetthopkins.com and scheduled to be published by Lee and Low Books in Spring 2014. For those of you who don’t know, Lee holds the Guinness Book of World Records for compiling more children’s poetry anthologies than anyone else in history. Combine this with my poems in the Winter 2012 book THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK edited by Georgia Heard www.georgiaheard.com and SPOTLIGHT magazine and I’ve made more money writing poems this year than any other so far. Please let’s this be just the beginning.

-Thanks to the partial scholarship issued to me I was able to attend the weeklong HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN writing retreat with Rebecca Kai Dotlich as our leader. http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/ Let me tell you this was a game changer for me. From 7:30am – 11:00pm (sometimes later) for 5 days myself and my retreat participants wrote, rewrote, read, received critiques, offered critiques and ate some of the best food I’ve ever had. I came in with an idea for a manuscript and left with that idea not only coming to fruition but then having a heck of a head start on said manuscript. Rebecca is a patient, honest teacher who asks tough questions when a poem needs help and is a cheerleader at her core. What a blessing that week was. I wrote it on Facebook and I’ll write it here, teachers really thing about bringing Rebecca to your school for workshops. You will not be disappointed. www.rebeccakaidotlich.com

-Was asked and accepted to participate in an e-book for teens. Poetry Tagtime or p*tag for short is where a children’s poet writes about a certain topic and then tags another poet to write one of their own. In this installment over 30 children’s poets chose a picture, wrote about what it reminded them of, tagged another poet, they would choose another picture and use any 3 words from the poem that was sent to them. Dr. Sylvia Vardell and poet extraordinaire Janet Wong came up with this idea. http://www.poetrytagtime.com/Poetry_Tag_Time/p_tag.html

I’d like to leave you with a poem of mine. A call to arms so to speak. Until we meet again dear friends.

WHO

Who could distill life’s essence?
Who in the world would show it?
I know for a fact I can
Because I am a poet.

© Charles Waters 2011

CREATING MY OWN LUCK

Well things have been busy in the past 4 months so let’s play catch up.
-Continuing to do the Disney jobs to the best of my ability and am thankful for the employment.
-Same thing goes for Sleuths.

-I will be performing my own poems for the first time on April 23rd at the Orlando Public Library Southwest Branch for their National Poetry Month Celebration. Afterwards there will be a Q & A and writing/performing workshop conducted by myself. This is a big deal to me because after performing over 150 of other people’s poems for 3 years at Poetry Alive at last the time has come where I act out my own words to an audience.

-I’ll also be performing at the IRA (International Reading Association) poetry extravaganza in May which will be held in my own backyard of Orlando, FL. I can’t thank performance poets Sara Holbrook (www.saraholbrook.com) and Michael Salinger (www.michaelsalinger.com) enough for this opportunity.

-I’ve been accepted to the Highlights Foundation retreat called The Poetry Muse which is a week-long children’s poetry residency mentored by Rebecca Kai Dotlich (www.rebeccakaidotlich.com). I was able to secure a partial scholarship for this event which made it all possible. Rebecca has become a welcome addition to my life as I’ve gotten to know her personally aside from the hours I had spent reading her books and performing her poems with Poetry Alive in the past. The retreat will run from August 13-18 in the hills of Northeastern PA near the town of Honesdale.

-3 poems of mine have been accepted by Georgia Heard (www.georgiaheard.com) for her anthology called The Arrow Finds Its Mark: Found Poems. According to Wikipedia Found Poems are: a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and/or lines (and consequently meaning), or by altering the text by additions and/or deletions. The resulting poem can be defined as either treated: changed in a profound and systematic manner; or untreated: virtually unchanged from the order, syntax and meaning of the original.

I should add that in Found Poems you’re allowed to create your own title to the piece as well. I sent Georgia 36 poems, she took 3 of them and they’ll be known in the book as “School Poems.” Needless to say I’m thrilled to be in my first anthology and am looking forward to receiving the check in the mail! The book is scheduled to be released in early 2012 by Roaring Brook Press out of NYC.

-Continuing to write commissioned poems for the magazine Spotlight on Recovery (www.spotlightonrecovery.com). A magazine that deals with overcoming issues that life may bring you; it’s a worthy endeavor spearheaded by a wonderful woman out of Brooklyn, NY named Robin Graham.

-Got another poem accepted by a major children’s poetry anthologist for a big deal publishing house. However I’m not at liberty to reveal anything other than that but believe me once I receive the go ahead I’m shouting it from the rooftops!!!

-Was asked to once again to participate in 30 Poets/30 Days where a new poem by a children’s poet will be published every day during the National Poetry Month of April. This event was spearheaded by poet/social networking extraordinaire Greg Pincus (www.gottabook.blogspot.com).

-My dear friend/web designing visionary Isabel will be giving my website a good old fashioned facelift this month with new additions including my acting reel, more poems and each poem read by me.

-Got cast in a Home Depot commercial where I’m helping customers find the material they’re looking for.

-Got cast in a Pepsi commercial as a vintage baseball player, then a day later found out they didn’t want me after all. This is a good lesson for young people because sometimes you can do the best job you can and still have it not be enough for reasons COMPLETELY out of your control.

-Participated in a Navy Seal designed 3.1 mile obstacle course called The Rugged Maniac in February finishing in the top 3rd of my heat. I was pretty proud of myself, considering that I’ve never done anything like that before. There was lots of jumping in and crawling through mud as well as climbing 20 foot high walls. It was so much fun (or I’m losing my mind) that I’m doing a similar race called The Rugged Warrior on April 30th. Wish me luck … with everything!

TRANSITION

Well as 2010 leaves us let’s do a quick year in review.

ACTING FRONT

-Booked 2 SAG commercials and got my first taste of residual income. Whoever created residuals needs to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom!

-Continued working at the Mouse and being thankful for that good theme park money during these strenuous financial times for our country.

-Attended workshops with the top casting directors in the Southeast and learned more and more about auditioning.

WRITING FRONT

-Continued writing and networking with children’s poets and editors from across the country.

-Was asked by children’s poets Georgia Heard and Lee Bennett Hopkins to contribute to their upcoming anthologies. I sent my poems to Georgia and am still working on the one for Lee.

-Applied for the HIGHLIGHTS FOUNDATION retreat with Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It’s a weeklong retreat where writers get one-on-one interaction with Rebecca as they work on their latest manuscript. Also applied for their scholarship to help defray the costs of lodging and round trip airfare.

-Sent in my manuscript for the NEW VOICES AWARD for minority writers sponsored by the NYC publishing house Lee and Low.

-Attended the NCTE (National Council for Teachers of English) conference held at Walt Disney World. Made MANY new friends and set up a dinner at CAFÉ D’ANTONIO in downtown Celebration, FL for the top children’s poets and bloggers in the country, among them Lee Bennett Hopkins, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Marilyn Singer, Janet Wong, Tricia Stohr-Hunt, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Elaine Magliaro and Sylvia Verdell. The next few days I then met other children’s poets such as David L. Harrison, Carole Boston Weatherford, Arnold Adoff and Joyce Sidman and in the evening dined with Heidi Mordhorst. For a person like me to finally meet the poets whose work I performed with POETRY ALIVE for 3 years was very humbling. To have a chance converse with them was even more so.

PERSONAL FRONT

-Lost over 25 inches in my body (so far) thanks to a personal training/nutrition curriculum designed by Jeremy Brassard with additional nutrition information courtesy of Isabel Garcia.

-Signed up for the RUGGED MANIAC 5K event in late February. It’s a Navy Seal designed obstacle course and is going to be a good barometer to how in shape I am.

What’s most exciting about 2011 is I have a slew of projects that I can’t wait to get too such as an acting reel, performing/recording my poems, manuscript ideas, a revamped website and better health among them. So thank you 2010 for everything and let’s get keep the forward momentum in 2011. Carpe diem!

CONTINUATION

Well heck time just seems to fly by. It’s been a good long while since I’ve updated the blog so let’s play some catch up.

-Continuing to put in consistent hours at the Mouse with IDOL, INDY and once and awhile WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS.
-The same goes for SLEUTHS which I portray the wacky security guard at least once a week.
-Submitted my children’s poetry manuscript for the Lee and Low NEW VOICES AWARD. It was lots of hard work putting it together but I feel like I improved as a writer from the effort it took. I can’t thank Lee Bennett Hopkins enough for suggesting that I submit to them which gave me the opportunity to put something together that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. Also a huge shout out to my meta-readers Isabel Garcia and Jan Eldredge for their thoughtful and honest critiques of every draft I sent them. No matter if I win or not (and forgive me if this to comes off as corny) I’ve learned so much from the process. Especially about listening to critiques and deciding what makes sense to me and what doesn’t, in other words finding my voice. Plus I truly believe that one day it will be published SOMEWHERE.

-Booked my 3rd on camera acting gig this year. This one for Publix supermarket chain where I play a Publix employee who helps a customer find what she needs in the store. So besides pocketing some money for myself and my diligent agent I get another commercial to add to my acting reel which is being put together soon. If you want to act on camera having a reel is a must and thank goodness I have just enough material for Isabel to work her magic and put it together.

-Read some darn good children’s poetry books in the past couple of months during Read-a-thon which I created for myself and would love to one day share with the world. Think of Oprah’s Book Club except for children’s poetry and (as of right now) with FAR less people. Some of the books I’ve flipped over since August include BRICKYARD SUMMER by Paul B. Janeczko, BRONZEVILLE BOYS AND GIRLS by Gwendolyn Brooks and AMAZING FACES edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins. Currently I’m reading a book called THE BALLPARK BOOK by Ron Smith because I’ve been asked to write a poem about a famous baseball stadium. I’m not sure I can reveal more than that right now but I’m very excited about it. The important thing for me at this moment is research, doodling and more research until it comes to me (or I go to it) which in any event takes time.

-Continuing to workout with my trainer and now great friend Jeremy Brassard. In the past 9 weeks I’ve gone down 7 ½ inches in my waist, 2 inches in my chest and have gained 2 inches of muscle in my biceps. I haven’t felt this good psychically in years! I also eat so much better. I wouldn’t even call if a diet. It’s basically a plant based way of eating with lots of smoothies thrown in. It’s very filling and I eat tasty (mostly organic) meals made by Isabel. Oh and once or twice a week I use my Jack La lanne juicer which means (along with my smoothies) I drink my fruits and veggies instead of eating them which come to think of it is something I’ve always wanted to do since I was a child.

With Halloween coming up in a couple weeks I thought it’d be a good idea to leave this blog posting with a poem celebrating that day of disguise. Enjoy!

MY DOORBELL RINGS
My doorbell rings, what a surprise
Boys and girls dressed in disguise;
Pirates, Monsters, Beauty Queens
Each shout, “Happy Halloween.”

Bags are open … Anticipation
All across our grateful nation,
Pop Rocks, Pixie Sticks, Jujubes,
All of them scream, “We want more please.”

© Charles Waters 2010