When I first saw the advertisement for the National Poetry Writing Month contest, I thought, well, I've tried so many other years. Labored over manuscripts. This time, I am just going to have fun! So, I thought of the road trip we were about to set out upon. I know I could not actually write the poems until April, but I chose to take notes on the locations where we stopped. Then I thought about all the road trips we took when I was a child. Our family would literally sing the Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa. We would all take different parts and sing it. That's when it hit me. "What do you do on a road trip? SING!" All the school field trips, the Girl Scout hikes, we sang. I had fun with the music of the trip. I let go of my concern about winning, and concentrated on just having fun. That is how this book became an award winning book. Got a challenge? Have fun with it. ̃ Linda Trott Dickman

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