That was a great line from the movie When Harry Met Sally. I’ll watch pretty much anything starring Meg Ryan. You’ve Got Mail is my Christmas movie go-to. There’s just one scene in it from Christmas, but it’s such a feel-good movie. Just as I will watch anything with certain actors in it, I’m also…
Plans and outlines and hopes and dreams are all fine and dandy, until they’re not. Until Life happens—sticking its nose through the crack in the door that you left open for some fresh air, thinking you were impervious to a stiff breeze. Sometimes, even then, a plan is useful to hold you in place, keep…
Here’s why it pays to read widely, outside of your preferred genre. Ideas spring up like wildflowers from all sources—there for the picking. Part of my morning reading for the past couple of weeks has been a book called Mostly What God Does by Savannah Guthrie. I am not pushing religion on you. I’m just…
Do you take for granted some of the holidays that pop up during the year without really understanding why we observe them? I’ll admit, I do. Case in point—Labor Day. So, since I just returned from a mini vacation with no blog post written yet, I used my research skills (thank you, Google) to try…
The other day, I read an article by a woman who teaches writing to seniors. She said at their age, they should only be doing things that are fun. She was partially right. I think everyone should be doing things that are fun, regardless of their age. And if the fun isn’t obvious, find it….
You may not know it, but you need this Raspberry Streusel muffin recipe I have for you today. There’s not much better than a cup of coffee, something yummy, and a good book. This recipe comes together quickly. If you don’t like raspberries (?!) you can substitute with any other berry. The raspberries won’t be…
What are your kids doing in their free time? Do they even have free time? A recent article in Publisher’s Weekly says that for kids, reading for pleasure is “losing out to other activities.” The article states that according to Circana BookScan, sales of middle-grade fiction—that is, fiction geared to kids ages 8 to 12—has…
Everyone has a story in them. Not everyone wants to write that story, but a lot of people do. I’ve joined several Facebook writing groups and it amazes me the number of people posting something along these lines: “I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but I don’t know how to get started.” Or they’ll…
A friend (who writes picture books) and I were having an interesting conversation the other day about upcoming trips to England, which led to talking about Shakespeare. I’m an English major, but I never appreciated Shakespeare. I know he’s the greatest playwright of all time, and he invented many words that are in our current…
How varied is your reading list? I feel like mine should be full of books about rainbows and unicorns and butterflies since I write children’s books. It’s not. Kids don’t stick to books about rainbows and lollipops, and neither do I. So I read a variety of books. And I get something valuable from each…
