Have you seen this? The letter is from Kurt Vonnegut to a class of high school students in 2006. The student’s assignment was to write to different authors, comment on the author’s writing, and then ask for advice about the writing life. Several authors were queried. Only one — […]
Just curious. What would you classify The Magic School Bus series? Fact? Fiction? Creative non-fiction? If you haven’t seen The Magic School Bus yet, it is a great series of books (and show on PBS) that teaches science to children in way that is completely accessible. My kids love this […]
It has been busy as heck since school let out. Let me tell you. I thought I was ready to have the kiddos home all day (I’m working mostly out of the home office this summer), but even with well thought out activities, it is a lot of stop-and-start. I […]
The central issue that I still struggle with — two years into this research — is this: Can I write a credible biography with only secondary sources? This bothers me, because, well, you know. I want to do the best job I can with Emmett’s story. It isn’t impossible to […]
It is a kind of poetic justice that I would find a trove of information for Emmett’s book in a town bearing his name. I surely did not see that one coming. Emmitsburg, Maryland, is a small college town 10 miles south of Gettysburg, near the state line. What brought […]
Tomorrow, I have a field trip planned to the Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives, and I cannot wait! Why is this such a big deal? Well, other than the fact I love Sisters — I grew up in fear and awe of them, in a good way — this is […]
Emmett had two sisters: Eudora Neely Wilson Smith, and Catherine Elizabeth Wilson Meade. They went by “Dora” and “Katie.” I’ve introduced you to Katie Wilson Meade already; Emmett was very close to Katie, who was born in British Honduras about five years before Emmett and Julian. Even after two years […]
Sometimes, I get discouraged with the writing process. Hell. I’m not anywhere close with the writing. I’m just getting started, honestly. You prep for the book, you research. You outline. You put together the plot treatment, then you outline again. And again. Until it comes together. Eventually, it comes together. […]
Friends, I am writing a letter to this woman today. This is Leora M. Sutton, an amateur archaeologist and a historian who has written several research reports and articles about Pensacola, some of which center on Emmett’s time period. I’d like to get her impressions on Gilded Age Pensacola and […]
One of the main ‘tasks’ in writing Emmett’s story is figuring out who he was. What made him tick. The Writer’s Circle featured an interesting tool for writers to use in character analysis: The 49 Personality Archetypes. I tend to think Emmett’s personality triggers were a combination of prestige and […]
Tell my story. 