You fight and you fall and you get up and fight some more
Here are 5 (or 6) things worth sharing this month: 1. Reading: I recently finished the lovely middle grade novel, Ruby Lost and Found, by Christina Li. It’s about a girl who’s been sentenced by her parents to spend the summer with her grandmother, visiting a...
We can’t fix a problem we don’t first acknowledge
“Do you think it’s becoming a problem again?” he said. No. But yes. Maybe. Probably. No. Thus began my husband’s gentle reminder not to fall into my self-destructive patterns. We celebrate twenty years of marriage this month. He’s known me more than half...
How to train like a writing athlete
Some creative people think that creativity only happens when the “muse” strikes. That always sounded strange to me. Who was the muse? Am I not my own muse? In charge of my own creativity? If I had to depend on some nameless, invisible muse, who may or may not show up...
Just keep going
Here are six things worth sharing this month: 1. Reading: “I think standing up for yourself always makes a difference.” I just finished reading Ali Standish’s latest middle grade book, The Mending Summer. It was lovely and hard and sweet and infused with magic...
Knowing nothing for certain is a…gift?
I have always loved learning. When I was four, my family lived right across the street from the red-roofed elementary school where I watched my brother get swallowed by the white doors every morning. I couldn’t understand why he got to go to kindergarten and I didn’t....
How to play the mental game of writing
The first year I ran track in middle school, I remember my coach telling us, “Running is about 90 percent mental.” I remember thinking, That’s ridiculous. I’m not running with my mind, I’m running with my body. And my body is too tired for this. And as soon as I...
Fantastic YA reads, a bingeable dramedy, nonfiction to teach you something
Here are 5 things worth sharing this month: 1. Reading: “Its heart was heavier with the weight of the young worker’s words. But should a heart not be heavy, in a world full of injustice?” I just finished Sacha Lamb’s brilliant YA book, When the Angels Left the Old...
The most difficult struggle is the one inside us
We’ve reached that time of the summer where my kids are at each other’s throats, everyone is growing tired of the family togetherness, and the oppressive heat of Texas is wearing our patience thin. And my emotional wellbeing begins to slip. I call this time the...
Practice makes progress: write one sentence after another
There’s a myth out there that says the longer you write the better you get at it. Okay, that’s not a myth. Practice makes progress, after all. But where the myth shows its face is in the belief that as you get better at writing, it also gets easier. Uh…I’m sorry...
A useful web site about books, a lovely YA, and a don’t-miss true story
Here are 6 things worth sharing this month: 1. Reading/readers: Have you met Afoma of Reading Middle Grade? Her site is a wealth of information about middle grade and YA books and includes author interviews and blogs on various subjects. I’ve used her middle...
