All school year I help my young kids log books. Our school has a program called Ross Reads and as the kids read books and pass quizzes online hosted by Scholastic, my kids earn prizes. They get colored rubber bracelets that signify their total of books read. They earn coupons for yogurt and local attractions. My… Read more »
General writing
When You Love the Story but Not the Writer
Have you ever fallen in love with a book, a movie, a song? Have you ever felt like it spoke to your soul, or resonated with you so much, you wanted to read more or listen to more by the same artist or author? And then you go and do some research on the… Read more »
Details, Details, Details – Details Matter in Novels
“Sometimes I read your stories and I like them, Mom,” said my middle son. “But sometimes, when I read some of your stories, I forget I’m reading. That’s when I know they are really good.” He’s right. And that’s all thanks to details. Everyone know the phrase ‘devil is in the details’ but I don’t… Read more »
Picklesburgh and Pickle Juice
I’ve loved pickles all my life. While I’ve only lived in Pittsburgh for sixteen years, I love the city. And I love that there is a festival all about PICKLES! It’s called Picklesburgh. From their site: What’s the big dill? Picklesburgh is for everyone – from pickle fanatics to just pickle curious. With the… Read more »
I Made a Huge Mistake in My Novel!!!!!!!
OMG!! I can’t believe it!!!! After getting two separate critiques from fellow writers (who were awesome!!!!) and from a very friendly and helpful agent (she’s the best!!!!) I learned I made a huge, really horrible mistake in my novel manuscript!!! And I’ve been sending this manuscript out to agents!!! And they’ve been rejecting it, with nice… Read more »
When A Writer Needs a Peaceful Mind
I’ve been involved in some contentious issues lately, including gun violence prevention. It is a scary, sad, frustrating issue. In order to stay strong, sometimes I need to find peaceful moments. I use the Stop, Breathe and Think app to meditate as often as I can, even if it’s only five minutes in a day…. Read more »
Building a Hut
My fingers are a little sappy as I write this. By sappy, I don’t mean weepy and dramatic, I mean sticky and covered in sap. Because even though I bought garden gloves for my boys so they wouldn’t use mine, I didn’t go and grab my garden gloves when it was time to drag pine… Read more »
Where to Find Ideas for Stories
Ever wonder where to find ideas for stories? Here are fifteen places I find ideas for stories. 1. On a run. “What would happen if I crawled through that drainage culvert?” 2. Reading other books. “What if I combined Polar Express with The Martian?” 3. Cooking. “What if there was a story about spices?” 4. Showering…. Read more »
Stop Summer Slide
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How to Run a Critique Group
What do you need to run a good critique group? First you need people. But once you have enough people, running a good critique group needs something more than just kind words and cheerleading. They need structure. We’re working on tightening up our critique group structure in our SCBWI group and I feel like we’ve… Read more »