Why you should write your passion
Writing anything takes a long time. When I visit schools and talk about my writing process, eyes glaze over if I mention revising. I suspect a lot of us feel our eyes glaze over when we consider how much revision a piece of writing requires. It would be nice to be...
The wonder of life
Here are 5 (or 6) things worth sharing this month: 1. Reading (MG): “I wondered if ideas were born the same way stars are, starting off small and collecting space clouds and dust until they have enough to burst open.” If you’re looking for a sweet, unusual,...
The power of reflection for focusing our goals
Every new year comes with a bit of reflection. We may do it consciously or unconsciously, but there’s something about a new year that encourages reflection. All those things that have passed and happened in the year before. Or all the years before. Everything we hope...
Why paying it forward is a writer’s gift
One of the most surprising and beautiful things I have learned about the kid-lit community is it is filled with kind and generous writers. There is an unspoken belief among my fellow writers: We need each other. Sometimes, when we’re immersed in the writing world, it...
The mysteries of life and the Internet
1. Reading (MG): I just finished Joanne Rossmassler Fritz’s novel in verse, Everywhere Blue, about a musical girl looking for answers to her older brother’s disappearance. It was a gripping story of love, climate change, and family bonds. Fritz is also the...
Cultivating generosity can make us live longer
I write all kinds of books, but my favorites include books for children and teens. I spend the bulk of my time writing those. And some people like to know why. There are several reasons. But one of the biggest is to “lift as I climb,” as poet Angela Davis says. (The...
There is no right or wrong way to write
Most writers are naturally curious people. We ask a lot of questions about the world. We wonder and challenge and try to make sense of the senseless. And we love to know how other writers do things—how they write a book, how they manage their time, how they...
Emotional examinations of mental health and grief
1. Reading (MG): “How it’s not my brain being messed up, but more my heart being hurt, and how sometimes we think we’re okay, we think we’ve moved on, but then our hearts crack open months or even years later and it’s important to stop, be kind to ourselves, and ask...
Practicing gratitude can transform our attitudes and lives
Nearly every weekday morning, I log onto zoom, where I meet with a group of authors to first write and then discuss our writing time or whatever’s going on in our lives. Recently, we’ve begun adding a time of naming our gratitude, before diving into talks about...
No one likes losing…but we just might learn the most from it
It’s not unusual in my house to hear someone slam through the front door, along with the words, “I’m not playing with them anymore.” This could be for any number of reasons—someone’s cheating (according to the one upset), someone made them mad, or, the most frequent...
