Poet Alarie Tennille celebrates the joy of many, many new Christmas books and offers suggestions for books you may want to read.

Poet Alarie Tennille says writing fiction is the polite way of telling lies. This blog includes her poems At Chesapeake Bay and Favorite Doll. Only one is fiction. Can you tell which is which?

Shy, tiny Alarie Tennille moved to a new school when she was in the fifth grade. It was hard to make new friends. To make things worse, she had to write a 5-page essay on “Why I Should Not Talk in Class.” What do you think happened when the teacher read it to the class?

Poet Alarie Tennille loved reading books and loved when her mother read her books that were a bit more challenging. The next thing she knew, she was writing her own stories.

When Poet Alarie Tennille was a little girl, she hated the job of writing thank you notes each Christmas. Then she grew up and discovered it was good training for any fiction writer.

In Part I, Alarie Tennille shared her techniques for coping with stage fright in those days and weeks before your presentation. Now it’s the big day. Alarie suggests ways to calm down and take care of yourself on that day.

Alarie Tennille was shy until middle-age, when she needed to face down stage fright to take her poetry out into the world. She shares her tips on how-to-face-down a microphone and actually come to love performing.

Poet Alarie Tennille made it back to Virginia for her first and so far only hometown poetry reading. Included is a video with excerpts from the event.

Poet Alarie Tennille likes to take bold leaps in finding topics for poetry. The ideas don’t fall from the sky, she sails up to find them. Includes her poem Pencil in a Rare Interview.