“They” (who are they anyway) say that if a child doesn’t make the transition from picture books to middle grade novels, it reduces the chances of them becoming long time readers. I have no idea if this is true or not. Nor do I remember my transition. It feels like one moment I was reading
When I was 12 years old, I sold fireworks under the supervision of my older brother, Neil. The stand (more like a wooden shed) from which we sold, had been positioned on the property not far from my dad’s gas station. Nowadays OSHA would come down on you for doing that, but for us, it
I am very (fictionally) adventurous. One of the great things about being an author is that you get to take virtual journeys with your characters. Note that they are virtual, and to those who ask if my characters are like me, the correct answer would be that they are waaay braver than I am. But
The Sun, the hearth of affection and life, pours burning love on the delighted earth. Arthur Rimbaud The closest I came to anything “midsummer” growing up was Shakespeare. And back then, I didn’t know why it made them all bat crap crazy. My experiences with the sun were limited to burns from, and being told
I do not remember the moment I became a reader. I wish I did. I wish I remembered the book that made me love reading. Maybe it wasn’t a book. Maybe I was born that way. My parents and my grandparents are/were readers, so it could be in my genes. Both parents would read to
I was out in the truck on a lunch run when the radio news update reminded me that June 1st is the official start of the hurricane season (we’re already two letters down in storm names, so a tropical something jumped the gun). For some reason this reminded me of a column I wrote back
My blog post about the book Becoming a Writer, called Daring to Act on Your Dreams sparked a small, comments discussion about fear, that prompted me to recall a wonderful essay on the subject called “Fear, I Embrace You” by Louise Plummer. (Thoughts of a Grasshopper, p. 71) I can’t recall when I first read this essay.
I wanted to thank everyone who stopped by for the LDS Author Blog Hop. It was a lot of fun and I very much enjoyed the comments and was happy to let visitors know that yes, The Moonspinners is both a movie and a book! Now (drum roll) the winner of the digital edition of
I was browsing the Facebook home feed and found this funny tee shirt and had to smile and repost it. I’ve been short all my life, including during my grownup years when I hoped not to be short anymore. My husband is tall. His mom, sisters, dad, brother, all of them tall. My kids are
I’ve kind of gotten in the semi-habit of highlighting books that have impacted my life. I call them my “tattered covers” books, though some are more heavily highlighted than tattered. Not sure why some hold up better than others, but the answer isn’t relevant to this blog post. Today I’d like to direct your attention
