Validation Is A Wonderful Thing.
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: Small Successes
It would appear I'm about to be published again.

I've said before, I neither claim to be a great writer nor a complex thinker. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and often react without thinking things through. I write the same way. There are times I look at what I've typed and cringe, well, truthfully that's my reaction with most self reviews, but someone out there likes them.

The Editor for Blue Mountain Arts contacted me almost two years ago about obtaining options on 40 such ramblings from my webpage. Thus far they've used three in their hardback book collections but yesterday I had an email and a call from their new editor telling me they'd like exclusive rights to use two on their cards.

Dear Brenda,

My name is James Haley and I am the new permissions editor at Blue Mountain Arts. Thank you for your patience with the market review process. I have good news for you: BMA has decided to buy exclusive rights to two of your poems—“If I had the knowledge to know” and “What defines a strong woman?” from the July 20, 2003, and July 19, 2003, contracts respectively.


Blue Mountain Arts was the mother of the e greeting site: BlueMountain.com. The webpage was orginally started with the idea of garnering business for their line of hard copy greeting cards. I know Books A Million carries them as well as Cracker Barrel - of all places - so I know I'm going to be obsessively looking for copies like a mad woman until I see them actually on the racks.

I've wanted to write greeting cards for a number of years. I know it sounds like a silly goal but a friend, Jesse, and I used to talk about making our own brand of cards with the main theme of "soulmates". She would do the graphics, I would write.

At any rate, the check will be a welcome addition to my stressed pocketbook and I confess to loving the idea of cards having my words beind distributed across the US.

The poems in question are here:

Strong Women

If I Could