Even since I decided to own that hikes and walks in nature help me unfurl story snags and otherwise come up with writing ideas, I have been spending one morning per week (usually Thursday) on a hike followed by the afternoon at a coffee shop (actually putting words on the page). I have a usual…
While my Christmas wish list includes things very pandemic—sweat pants and self-help books about anxiety—and things very me—roller skates, an old-fashioned bike, and about 600 cookbooks—it also includes plenty of things in the writerly and readerly vein. I thought, this year, I would make a list of great gifts for writers and for readers. Perhaps…
This review has been a long time in coming. Todd Parr didn’t fall onto my list of TBRs in any conventional way (though I just looked it up and one of his books is on the Best Picture Books list). It was more of a way for me to volunteer at my kids’ school. It…
I’ve been in the writing biz for a long time. There is a caveat to that, which is that I have been only part-time in the biz for most of those years, sometimes very part time. In fact, there have been years when I got almost nothing done. And there have been others where I…
There have been many times during my twelve-year-old son’s life that we have tried to force science fiction, and especially Star Wars on him. While he has grinned and born many of these objects (sheets, clocks) and experiences (movie marathons), he has never really clicked with any of it. I should not have been surprised,…
You might think, anymore, that I’m pulling your leg when I say a book was my favorite in fourth grade. It does seem like I say that a lot, but fourth grade was a golden year for me, so by “fourth grade” I mean around fourth grade. And in reality, I’ve only made this claim…
I started off on reading Robert McCloskey way back when my son and I read Homer Price, like a few years ago. Shortly after, I reviewed the classic, Make Way for Ducklings, and then got Lentil from the library. All this time later, I have read all of his picture books (which aren’t many), and…
The following is impromptu flash fiction based on a writing prompt. I found the prompt at thinkwritten.com. The idea was to write about the weather outside my window. _______________ There is something I don’t like about this house: you can’t hear anything. I can look out the windows right now, at the impossibly tall and…
Well, I will have my first writing group Zoom on Wednesday. (Perhaps we were all enjoying being cut off from civilization for a while, but now we know we must connect in order to keep the group alive.) I have so much to report, though there are things I wish I could be saying. Here’s…
In all the slickness of the modern world and with my kids’ gut-level avoidance of “old” movies and books, I’m always so surprised by their love of traditional fables and fairy-tales. Their most beloved book (together) growing up was this random book of fables that used to make regular appearances at bedtime. They loved to…
Announcement time! My daughter and I are headed to China! As you probably know, I very rarely solicit my bloggers. Like when I publish a novel (which is rarely). And when I go on some major humanitarian adventure. This post falls into the latter category. There is a woman from our church who has been…
My husband wanted me to read this. And since I have long joked that once I recommend something to him it’ll never get read… well… somehow that meant I had to read what he recommended. I doubt that drive comes from a healthy place. Even so, my husband, who knows and loves me, thought that…
I should have read this book a really long time ago. Someone whom I admire and love gave it to me with a meaningful inscription in the front, telling me how much it has meant to them. I was younger then, and perhaps a lot less mature. Maybe I wouldn’t even have been able to…
I’ve been meaning to read this one for the past few months, since my daughter had to read it for school, but I have been unable to keep up with her reading (as her speed has increased and my duty as a reading mother has gotten a little out of hand). When we chatted about…
Every once in awhile, I get out of the habit of reading on a regular, usually daily, basis. Often this is the indirect fault of media–TV or internet–but sometimes it’s because I haven’t encountered a good book in awhile so I start dragging my feet. This time, I think it was a combination of free…
There are a few people I will take book recommendations from and they are mostly in my writing group. This particular recommendation, for The Turner House, came not only as a title scribbled on my writing notes, but as a book pressed into my hand by someone else who had just finished it. “It reminded…
Yes, this book is part of a series, but since I only read the first one, I can speak only to that book. As of 2017, there are six books in the series: My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish The SeaQuel Fins of Fury Any Fin Is Possible Live and Let Swim Jurassic Carp Why didn’t…
I must have been writing this review in my head while reading this book, because I feel like I already wrote it. I looked on the blog, I looked in the blog drafts, and I even searched through my Word file. Nothing. Must have been in my head. Why? Because this book is so surprising.…
In my daughter’s sixth grade class for the recent semester, the kids had to read one of four selections that their teacher presented. My daughter did the first read and turned in the assignment, then decided to read the other three before the semester was through. She has always said this teacher had a great…
I bumped the Miss Peregrine series up on my TBR for two very good reasons. First, Tim Burton was working on the movie. I lurve Tim Burton and I see all the movies he makes. Second, I have a friend who was high school buddies with Ransom Riggs and who recommended that I read the…
the starving artist 