Polly Alice Artist & Poet

Love to write? Want to but haven’t? It’s the Polly fall fun tour! Sign up on line. I learned a lot of fascinating cool stuff just from one evening chat with her. !

Well I’m on tour. It’s begun. Thanks to everyone who came to the short story workshop early Saturday morning on zoom with the @jocolibrary. It was so great to get to hear about what you write and share some ways to make a great short story. You can also win an editing session with me or another editor if you enter their short story contest online with the JoCo Library contesta fun chose your own adventure writing prompt. Let’s take an adventure together ! This next two weeks I’m going on tour. It’s a mini tour. It’s local but it’s also virtual. So coming Saturday I’ll be doing another workshop and one on Sunday. And a few many more opportunities coming up. Check out the writers conference opportunities at the JoCo library website. Or go to pollymccann.com for more info.

How you holding up? It’s been a long week. This Saturday. I’ll be up early to share all my joy over how to write the best short stories!! It will be fun and interactive, diverting , cathartic And a bag of chips. Check out Flyingketchuppress.com to get a copy of some of the short story collections I’ve published. ;)

It’s time for a virtual gathering to find out the way to make your own poetry. Let Polly lead you in learning a way to generate poems of your own. And you can find out more about her new book & next reading.

I made. A magazine cover to celebrate the last day before I stayed home. Artists are weird. But at least we can amuse ourselves. Lol.

We are going to make it through this week and then I am going to celebrate with some poetry. Poetry is a life changer. Some people say it’s the best drug in the world. Lol. Some people say poetry fights the decline of language. Some people think it’s fun. I started out really doing poetry 10 years ago with a poem a day challenge. Poetry changed the course of my life. Back then I had a toddler and sometimes writing a poem for an hour was more energizing for me than a nap. Th...at’s saying something for a parent at home. Poetry helps me decide what I am about and where I’m going, it also reminds me where I’ve been and to celebrate the journey; to mark milestones. Poetry is an amazing amalgam of playing with invisible picturesusing only words. Back in April, I did about 20 free poetry workshops for creatives in quarantine. I also celebrated the soft launch of my poetry book with KKFI Artspeak Radio and with a reading with VALA gallery. Well now it’s here! The real (and yet still virtual) launch of my third collection of poetry. You are invited !! It’s turned into a whole weekend of poetry. I’ll be sharing the top methods/ prompts I used to write my most recent poetry collection and a few tried and true methods from those April workshops. The workshop below is sponsored by Johnson County Library Writers Conference look for more events on their website. And my book is here! Now available online for sale: Puss ‘N Bootes: Dark Poems is a collection where each poem is the voice from a folk tale, myth, or constellation story about breaking out into the light. I’ll have autographed copies for sale and will also be able to offer the set of all three books that weekend. Most important. I’m getting a lifetime dream for me I’ll be doing a live reading with the Riverfront Reading Series on Friday the 13th at 8 pm workshop on The following Saturday. Check all my events on FB or on my website. Yes they are all online events. November will be a month for us to reconnect to celebrate poetry, story and art. I’ll be getting my new art website up and running too with super fun celebratory posters and prints for all the books, inspiring journeys, and events both present and past. What makes meeting a goal or a dream special ? Sharing it with you all. And celebrating the small joys and inspiring moments.

I made a video here for you with a kinda Halloween vibe. Lol. I’d like to invite you to this event coming up Saturday, November 7th 9 am to 11 am. It’s called along Story Short. A workshop provided thanks to @jocolibrary We are going to make it through the next week and the let’s celebrate with some easy ways to write short fiction. We have a lot of stories to tell. Stories make our perspective change. It’s a reset. A boost of new creativity and energy. ... *****Long Story Short, a workshop with Polly Alice McCann: Crafting a publishable short story isn’t a mystery. Time tested ways your short fiction can be brought to the next level. Allow readers to enjoy your short fiction, from the first line. Join Polly Alice McCann author and editor at Johnson County Library Writers Conference. Find two books of short stories I've edited for sale online, "Tales from the Goldilocks Zone, and Tales from the Dream Zone featuring many styles and authors of short stories." Online event. Register to receive your zoom link. https://jocolibrary.bibliocommons.com//5f7dce549aadc72f005 POLLY ALICE MCCANN poet, artist. With her MFA in Writing from Hamline University in St. Paul, with an emphasis in poetry and short fiction, her poetry was published internationally in journals such as Naugatuck River, and arc24 in Tel Aviv and elsewhere. Polly’s art has been published in US newspapers and magazines most recently in Rattle magazine. An adjunct writing professor and creative consultant at pollymccann.com, she is also the founder and manager of FLYING KETCHUP PRESS. She says her favorite thing is to tell stories-- other people's, her own-- maybe yours.

Ok. I’d love you friends to join me. Save the date. Don’t forget that this will be a fun time to celebrate the birth of a new book and talk about all your favorite folktales and dark stories fo myths and constellations from a perspective you may have never thought If before. Or maybe you haveif you’ve ever borrowed a pair of boots and promised you could do anything with only a bit of something to call your own? #virtual #youtube event #40yearanniversary of the #riverfront #readingseries #poetry #performance. I’m debating if I should wear whiskers to this and I def need to borrow a pink eared kitty hat. I may have to make one. I’ll think about it. Sometimes a poem is with a thousand words.

I always get the lucky day to read !! Debut of my new book !! #Repost from @riverfrontreadingskc Friday, Nov 13th Riverfront Reading features Ida Bettis Fogle (@idafogle) and Polly Alice McCann (https://www.instagram.com/pollyalice_consultant/). https://riverfrontreadings.com/index.php?p=44&more=1

I’ll be part of this event as the host. Co-edited with an amazing friend and poet @araceliesparza_writer you are welcome to join in to hear the reading !! You can find a few of my poems in the book too along with some art by amazing artists and photographers. Books on sale now online. Plus Thursday through weekend you can get a free kindle copy of the book to review! Repost from @flying_ketchup_press This Saturday At 1 pm CDT we will celebrate the release of #theveryedge po...etry in English, Spanish and French. Where 37 poets and artist share the frayed edges of the hope we hold onto and that hope is each other. So many voices come to the table and you are invited to join us. watch our video to hear more! Or go to the link in our bio. You can zoom in with us to talk to the authors! Or watch online. Please buy a copy online this week! Or get a free kindle copy starting tomorrow through Friday. See more

It’s been a big season for women. The march on the 17th and the anniversary of the 100 years of women voting in the US. Voter suppression still exists and equal rights for women aren’t there yet but this show has taught me so much thanks to the audacity of @gloria_heifner my studio mate. We haven’t seen each other in the studio much due to staying at home but this show has been shining on at Kansas City Community College under the direction of @shaiartist We get to go give an...other artist talk tonight to a tour group. And the show is up through December. I hope you’ll make an appointment to see it or check out the article. http://kcstudio.org/audacity-the-march-to-womens-rights-ka/ I’ll put the link in my bio. If you are someone looking to support artists check out supporting a local gallery or artist this Season. We are essential workers to cultural change, commemoration and celebration. #artivism See more

These are going to be available soon as posters. So cool.