The start of a new year is fun for birders like me – it means I can count and celebrate seeing birds for the first time that year!! Lots of birders love to celebrate their first bird of the year, and every year the American Birding Association picks a bird of the year. (The Bird… Read more »
Big Ideas
What is No Mow May?
What is No Mow May? It’s simple – don’t mow your lawn in May and give bees and pollinators a chance to find food. Grassy lawns are some of the worst things about habitat loss. So by not mowing we can give the non-grass plants a chance to bloom and nourish insects and birds. I… Read more »
Tech Tricks for Writers: Looking for Comps
Here’s a tech trick for writers who are looking for comps. When you are querying a book with an agent or editor, it’s important to have good comps for your manuscript. What is a comp? It’s a book, movie, or story that is a good comparison for your story. It’s telling an agent or editor,… Read more »
2021 Year of Writing in Review
2021 Wrap Up 2021 is almost done. I like to take a look at the past year and acknowledge the highs, the lows, and all of the “I don’t knows.” I have kept a tracking sheet of my writing pretty regularly since 2013. I use Numbers, but I also use a little book. Yes, I… Read more »
Fall Migration 2021 Has Begun!
It’s so thrilling to know the birds are on their way south! Follow along with the raptor migration over Hawk Mountain here! If you can get up early and look and listen in your own backyard, it’s worth it. Get real time bird migration maps at BirdCast!
Researching Nonfiction – Visiting the home of Margaret Morse Nice
I don’t know if I’ll ever write a book about Margaret Morse Nice, but now that I have visited the land where she lived and studied birds, I feel more connected to her. I visited Columbus, Ohio in late April 2021 and made the effort to get to Tuttle Park, which was once the property… Read more »
What’s the name for learning something connected to your main topic?
What’s the word for when you’re learning about one topic, you need to learn about several other things to help you understand the main topic? I’m learning a lot about birding. This means I also have to learn the names of local trees and plants so I can better understand what birds are in a… Read more »
How to Write Poetry Without Writing Poetry
Do you want to write poetry, but think you can’t? Try not really writing poetry. Try finding it. I like reading poetry and I like trying to write poetry, but I’m no expert. Poetry can be intimidating. It can be hard to think of the right words. There are a few ways you can write poetry… Read more »
Ideas for Bored Kids
Need some ideas for bored kids? Many years ago, I sold an essay to Family Fun magazine about a “what to do” idea cube. My kids took an old box and covered it with construction paper. They wrote six ideas, one of each side of the cube. They rolled the cube and voila, they did… Read more »
Best Gift Ideas for 2021 Inspired by What Helped us Handle 2020
I don’t usually write gift guides, but I thought this list of best gift ideas for 2021 might be useful as we eventually leave lockdowns and create our new normal lives. Life after 2020 isn’t going to look like life before 2020. In a lot of ways, that’s wonderful. REALLY wonderful. During the past year,… Read more »