Lose Five Pounds, Save the World
Let us be honest with ourselves. We read books for hope. We fall for characters who change. They overcome odds, grow stronger, face hardships and come out on top. We need these characters. They help us escape, and their terrifying worlds remind us we’re not so bad off. But even more, we need to find the characters within ourselves who can make small, persistent changes for the better. We need to recognize and love who we are, right now, today, even on this… Continue reading
Peace and Love
Wishing peace and love to families everywhere this Christmas and Holiday Season.
We Are Sad
We are sad. Heartsick.
My thoughts and prayers are with the families of Newtown, Connecticut.
Perfect Book Gifts! (For YA and Little Kids)
One of my favorite projects is picking out books for my nieces and nephews for Christmas each year. I have conversations with my husband about the kids and what they’re into lately (soccer, theater, Halo, art, wilderness, princesses, philosophy). I talk to my own kids about their cousins. I have email conversations with some of my sisters about what books their little kids have already read, and I scroll back through my own favorite reads of the year.
The ideal book is a perfect match for the… Continue reading
In the Hole
Last week, I reached a place in my manuscript where I didn’t like the conversation my characters were having. It was trivial boy-girl chatter, and nothing was happening: no trouble, no relationship development. It bored me. I stepped back to question if the scene was worth revising or if it needed to be in the book, and it didn’t. So I read ahead to see where danger in the story made me excited again, and it was a good twenty pages further along.
How, I wondered,… Continue reading
The 6 Stages of Thanksgiving: Race, Stuffage, Shock, Acceptance/Nap, Take-Out, Heave Ho
By now, the Stages of Thanksgiving should not be a surprise. After all, we’ve been through the holiday before. But lest you feel alone in your befuddlement, your sense of what-just-hit-me?, let me let me elucidate a little cycle that’s just played out in our home and share a spark of hope.
1. Race
The Race stage includes anything you did to show up where you belonged, whole and alive: plane travel, roadtrip, and pull-out couch included. You made it!… Continue reading