I love writing stories, and today I’m going to write an emoji tale. Emojis are so fun. Yes, they irritate some people, but not me. Sometimes I have trouble deciphering them because I rely so heavily on non-verbal communication to really understand what someone is trying to say. My most popular post on this blog… Read more »
General writing
Pennsylvania Books
Ready for a reading list of Pennsylvania books? Last summer, I came up with a “Reading Road Trip” article that described the real places in the U.S. featured in some of my favorite books. As a kid, I dreamed of visiting the places I read about, everything… Read more »
Pig Out for Reading
I remember falling in love with reading. I’ve been reading a lot of middle grade books the past year, because that’s what I want to write. I want to write books like the kind I read from fifth to eighth grade, the kind I re-read and re-re-read. They were the books that really stuck with… Read more »
Books to Read on a Visit to the Southwest
At the end of 2016, we took a family vacation to Arizona. Like all good vacations, I prepared a little reading list for the trip. The Books While we were traveling, I read Land of Little Rain by Mary Austin and Turtle Dream by Gerald Hausman. There were little pearls of word wonder in both books…. Read more »
New Publication: Highlights for Children!
I’m so excited to share that my first piece for Highlights for Children appears in their January 2017 issue. Check out the crafts section for some spinning science fun and you’ll see instructions on how to make a Super Spinner. If your child makes a Super Spinner, send me a photo on Facebook or Twitter… Read more »
New Publication! Aunty Greenleaf and my Encyclopedia Entry
I love encyclopedias. Last year, ABC-CLO accepted my application to write an entry in their encyclopedia on American Myths. The book is now published. It is pretty exciting to see my name in the list of contributors in an encyclopedia. I remember as a kid sitting down and turning pages in our encyclopedias learning about topic… Read more »
Chapters – December 2016
Follow along as I attempt to reach my writing goals in December. Read about my writing goals here. December 1 1:32pm. I’ve completed a first draft of “I Really Love You and I Mean It,” a dummy of “Digit” and a dummy of “Scientific ABCs.” This checks the boxes for two of my picture book… Read more »
My Interview with WOW! Women on Writing
Over the summer, my flash fiction story “Sargassum” was chosen as a runner-up in the Spring Flash Fiction Contest hosted by WOW! Women on Writing. In November, the wonderful women who run that site published my email interview. You can read the interview here. It’s pretty exciting, I think, partly because I mention eating… Read more »
Best and Worst Writing Prompts from Fourth Grade
Fourth grade writing prompts are really useful even for forty year old writers like me! Do you remember any of your elementary school writing? I’ve been cleaning out my basement storage area recently and I found several old essays and projects that gave me a good chuckle. It’s really sweet to look back on the… Read more »
Dialect Ideas for Writers
Growing up in Maryland, I never thought I had a local dialect or accent. I also never thought I lived in the south. But when I went to college, I made friends from Long Island (who had NY accents) and they often commented that I had “such a southern accent.” I didn’t have an accent, I… Read more »