Mark McNulty• Show poetry

I am a 30 year old 4th grade teacher, currently living and working in Wilmington, Delaware. While I am very happy with life and work in Delaware, I was born and raised around Boston, Massachusetts - living there for 27 years - and it will always be "home" to me. I have many interests that can vary quite a bit, everything from fishing, to video games, to travel, to being a die-hard Boston sports fan. Among my many blessings, I have a wonderful family, great friends, and awesome students who work with me every day. They all give me energy, inspiration, and many good times.

As far as my writing goes, my primary achievement to date is publishing my debut novel for middle readers, "The Sea Shack". It was written as a tribute to my own grandfather and I am incredibly proud of it. It clearly has a great deal of personal meaning to me, but I am also a strong believer in my own writing and the story's message. I published it on my own and hope to have it published for a wider audience in the future.

I have also completed a second novel that is currently being edited and revised. "Dylan Byrnes & the Secrets of Saldanha" is book one in a series for middle readers and young adults.

Poetry is a relatively new venture for me. I have made many attempts to write poetry over the years but never shared any of it or tried to publish it. The poems I share on this site are the first samples I have allowed others to read, aside from poems I completed for classes back in high school. While I am very confident with my prose, my poetry still brings feelings of insecurity and uncertainty. I am eager to share and receive honest, fair feedback, however. Positive or negative, I look forward to hearing it. Once I get a large enough collection going, I may even publish them on my own someday... more for myself than anything else. We'll see, though. That is still a ways down the road.

Overall, I do enjoy writing poetry. It is incredibly valuable and helpful for me as a writer. In a sense, I see it is a knife sharpener. I really do find my most cozy spot in writing prose, but I need to sit down for hours at a time if I am going to work on that. I do not always have hours. Poetry doesn't demand the same huge time comitment from me and it does not require the long range planning. It helps keep my knives sharp as a writer. It keeps my language tools in good working order. It is enjoyable, but it also enriches my development as an author so I am thankful for the opportunity this site provides me with and grateful to all the great poets on the site who constantly provide motivation and inspiration. I started writing on SharePoetry in November of 2006 and enjoyed it. I began sharing poems on here in late April of 2008 and have been very happy finding my spot in the community.

"The Sea Shack" is available through LuLu.com, my chosen publishing service. If you want to see a preview or learn more about my book, feel free to visit my storefront:

http://www.lulu.com/mcnulty1977

I sincerely appreciate anyone who reviews my poems on here or takes an interest in my other work. Anything artistic depends on feedback from others, so I welcome any and all comments or interest. Thanks!

If you still want to know more about me, you can visit my page on MySpace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=137693156

I am also on facebook but we need to be "friends" before you can view my profile on there... just let me know!

**** One final, personal note: A wonderful young friend of mine, who I consider part of my own family, needs a lot of special care and will need it for the rest of his life. If you feel so inclined, please take a moment to visit the page that has been set up for the Brendan Brady Fund. It would mean a lot to me if you can help in any way, even if it is simply passing the message along. Thank you so very much. www.brendanbrady.org ****