• 01-01-2010: Began posting daily devotions to the Other Food: daily devo’s blog. These meditations are based on the Bible reading guide published by the Canadian Bible Society. Email subscription is available.

• 01-01-2010: The latest Poet’s Classroom column “Shorter, Shortest” is up. Learn about the Clerihew, Haiku, Haiga and Bantu.

• November: A poem I submitted to Good Times magazine was published in the November issue.

• November 1-30: I took the NaNoWriMo challenge and wrote 50,401 words of fiction in November (very raw first draft). I even completed the task six days before the deadline!

NaNoWriMo Winner Goodie

• Faith Today: My review of Barbara Colebrook Peace’s book Duet for Wings and Earth was published in the November/December issue.

• September 2009:
  
  
  • testimony September /09 issue contains an article I wrote about our church’s Downtown Eastside volunteers.
  • Utmost Christian Writers published my poem “Fire Test” in their Genesis Project Collection.
  • Story Mates published my puzzle, “A Lesson to Learn” in their September 20/09 issue.
  • Partners published “Slowest Mammal on Earth” (a piece about sloths) in their October 11/09 issue.
  • Prairie Messenger accepted a poem for publication sometime in the future.
  • Pockets accepted a piece I wrote for their January 2010 issue.

• September 14, 2009: David Matthew Spooner, our second grandson, arrived at 9: a.m., weighing 7 lbs. 10 oz. Welcome baby David!

• June 19, 2009: I will be presenting a workshop on writing short pieces for children at the 2009 Write! Canada Conference in Guelph, Ontario, June 18-20.

• April 14, 2009: I’ll be one of the featured readers at the 2009 Blue Moon Poetry Readings. These poetry readings (usually running monthly from April through early fall) are sponsored by the MSA Poets Potpourri Society and happen in the Clearbrook Library  (32320 George Ferguson Way, Abbotsford, B.C. – 6:30 p.m.
• April 8: Signed up for a Twitter account.  It’s all Michael Hyatt’s fault! My feed is in the sidebar with a link to sign up as a follower.
• April 1-30: I’m celebrating National Poetry Month by writing a poem a day. That’s right – ONE POEM A DAY! Poetic Asides provides us weird and wonderful poets the prompts and the comment space to strut our stuff.  I’m also posting my daily poem on my writerly blog Line upon line.
• March 2, 2009: My contributor’s copy of Sabbath Action Blast arrived. This book has 101 ideas for ways to celebrate the Sabbath or Sunday (I contributed three). Some activities from the book are also online here.
• January 14, 2009: A poem I entered in The Ontario Poetry Society competition “Open Heart For Poetry Competition” was one of 19 to place in over 260 entries. My winning poem, “To Mother” will be included in a chapbook of winning poems.

Conference Information and Registration.

Faculty A- L M-Z



Sabbath Action Blast: 101 Ways to Celebrate God's Special Day

Photo © 2008 by S. Spooner

Wonderful things happened in 2008 – among them, I became a Grandma!

- October 31, 2008: The poem “His Name” won an Honorable Mention in the Utmost Christian Writers Canadian Site winter contest on the theme “Where Is God?”

- September 27, 2008: My devotional, “Stalled on a Dangerous Road” placed third and my poem “Elgin Park” earned an Honorable Mention in the Inscribe Christian Writers Fellowship 2008 Fall Contest.

- August 23, 2008: My poem “Flag” won first place in an Utmost Christian Writers contest for Canadian poets.

- August 1, 2008: I start a six-month writing gig as Utmost Christian Writers monthly poetry columnist. My first article for Poet’s Classroom is “Who’d Want to Read Your Poems?”

- July 15, 2008: My poem “Broken Things” got an Honorable Mention in the Christian Publishers Poetry Prize Rhyming Poem Contest.

- June 11, 2008: My story “Jason’s Picnic” published in Primary Treasure September 22, 2007 won the Word Guild 2008 Canadian Christian Writing Award in the Article – Children & Young Adult category. Complete list of winners here.

- April 12, 2008: My poem “The Prodigal’s Things” won a merit award in the 2008 Utmost Christian Poetry Contest.

- March 12, 2008: A big welcome to Liam Walter Spooner – I am now a Grandma!

- December 1, 2007: My poem “Canadian Rivers” won an Honorable Mention in the Canadian Landscape contest at Utmost Christian Writers – Canadian site.

- November 2007: I joined The Word Guild – an organization that networks and supports Christian writers across Canada.

- September 28 & 29, 2007: On Friday, September 28th, Family Reunion will be part of a book launch event. Saturday, the 29th I will be presenting two poetry workshops. Both of these events are in conjunction with the Inscribe Fall Conference in Edmonton, Alberta.

Photo: The cake with book cover decorations presented to Marcia Laycock and me at the Inscribe book launch event.

- July 10, 2007: I will again be part of the Blue Moon poetry Reading series as a member of the MSA Poets Potpourri Society (July 10, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Clearbrook Library – 32320 George Ferguson Way, Abbotsford, B.C.).

- June 13, 2007: Winner of two The Word Guild 2007 Awards in the “Children and Young Adult – Article” category and the “Review” category. The Winners were announced at an award gala on June 13 in Toronto.

- May 21, 2007: I will be reading from Family Reunion and talking to the Fraser Valley Christian Writers Group about using the internet for writing (7:15 p.m. Alliance Manor Lodge).

- May 2007: Pieces I wrote have been shortlisted in the categories of Personal Experience Article, Column Series and Poetry, 2007 The Word Guild 2007 Awards.

- April 2007: my poem “Converting to Childhood” won a merit award in the 2007 Utmost Christian Writers Poetry Contest.

- March 2007: The poem “Some Words” was chosen, by reader vote, to appear in the second annual ‘Best of’ books published by Infuze Magazine.

- March 2007: Two poems have been accepted by Mark Gilroy Communications Inc. for inclusion in book compilations. “Mrs. Beasley Packed Her Purse” will be in The Bad Hair Day. “A Christmas Poem” will be in A Christmas Wonderland.

February 2007: My second book of poems, Family Reunion is now out. Find out how to get a copy here.

- April 2006: I was appointed Utmost International Christian Poet Laureate.

- April 2006: The poem “Wisdom of the Scarecrow” won honorable mention in the 2006 Utmost Christian Writers Poetry Contest.