This was an interesting question posted to the writer John Updike by John Freeman, an interviewer on PBS’s Blank by Blank. This interview with Updike, who found a way to write with four small children running in and out all day long, intrigued me. I, too, have four small children […]
NPR’s Linton Weeks has a great story on lost American slang from the 1800s, something right up my alley as I write Emmett’s story. Weeks cites James Maitland’s 1891 Dictionary of American Slang, which you can download for your very own, here, via Google Books. It is an awesome read […]
I haven’t posted all that often this month; just a lot going on in and around the writing cave. I’ve been writing a lot on the book. It feels like I’m making progress, but it is really going S-L-O-W-L-Y. The writing process that has always worked for me is to […]
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 — […]
Now comes the hard part. It’s writing time. I took a break for a few days, and I’m finding it hard to get started today. I don’t think of myself as a natural procrastinator, but some days I just don’t feel like it. The pencils feel like they weigh 50,000 […]
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 […]
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 […]
I was in the middle of another post when a friend of mine (a librarian, natch) contacted me about this. He was majorly upset. Hell yeah. Me too. As someone who patronizes libraries, archives, research institutions and museums often (and requires her students to do likewise because it is IMPORTANT […]
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. […]
For those of you who are experienced parents, bear with me. I’m new to handling a tween. It isn’t a lot of fun these days; there’s a lot of pushback from my daughter on the most mundane and piddling little things around here. The angst also gets in the way […]
Tell my story. 