I am not a “crafty” person but I found this site with its autumn-inspired craft projects for children of all ages – so much fun, creative and simple, I had to share it with you. The Crafty Crow, A Children’s Craft Collective I love the crafts featured on the home page – all inspired by… [Read More]
Wicked Jack, a Classic Halloween Tale – Presented Live Friday, October 31st at 1:00p.m.
October 1, 2014 By
Being a native of North Carolina, I love the colorful folktales of Appalachia that have been passed on from generation to generation. “Meaner than a rattlesnake” Wicked Jack was one of my favorites. Some say this folktale explains the origin of Halloween jack-o-lanterns! I “dug around’ to find as many retellings of this folktale as… [Read More]
A Quiet Rebel
August 7, 2014 By
Edith Wharton was my kind of rebel: A quiet, well-behaved one. She tended to take practices that were rigidly defined by the Victorian society in which she grew up (entertaining, decorating, traveling, learning, gardening) and “rewrite”them according to her own specifications. In a recent issue of Slate Magazine, Kate Bolick takes a close look at… [Read More]
Writing and Talking
July 22, 2014 By
Awhile back, I wrote a blog (“I Don’t Talk – I Just Write”) about how terrified I was when people discovered I was a published writer and started asking me to do talks. Today I can tell you that not only did I overcome that initial fear, but the talks I do for various audiences… [Read More]
Questions From Kids #2: What Do You Like Best and Least…?
July 8, 2014 By
Who do you work for? Actually, I work for myself. As a “freelance”writer I sell my work to any magazine or book publishing company that would like to publish my stories. What do you like best about your job? The fact that I can set my own hours, work very early in the morning or late… [Read More]
Questions From Kids #1: How Long Did It Take You to Finish Your First Book, Wicked Jack?
July 1, 2014 By
It took me three weeks plus 10 years. I first heard the story when I was in Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago in 1975 and it made me laugh. Ten years later (and by that time I was married with four children!) it popped into my mind and I started wondering if… [Read More]
Work in Progress #16: Leaving the Interstate
June 4, 2014 By
A few weeks ago, I left my desk research, loaded a bunch of books and accordion files into my trunk and drove east. I was on the Interstate for two days before I veered off onto some winding mountain roads that would lead to my destination. “Leaving the Interstate”is the perfect metaphor for the particular… [Read More]
It’s Children’s Book Week! Running May 12-18, 2014. Learn More…
May 13, 2014 By
For 95 years, the importance of children reading and having access to books has been the focus of National Children’s Book Week (NCBW). Special events, contests, freebies and literacy education are presented across the country by the non-profit Every Child A Reader. Teachers, writers, parents, booksellers, librarians, publishers, teens and kids: Find all kinds of… [Read More]
Work in Progress #15: The Joy of a Legal Pad
May 6, 2014 By
There’s a time in my writing process when I have been sweating and agonizing and re-thinking how to proceed with a chapter and am terrified to actually start writing it. The amount of material I have to include seems overwhelming, I need to be sure to include enough warm, human parts in the midst of… [Read More]
Edith Wharton Scorned
April 29, 2014 By
The 2002 book Hell Hath No Fury, edited by Anna Holmes, is a collection of letters written by women at that excruciating, pathetic, heartbreaking, spent, disgusted, disillusioned moment when an affair is ending. Included in the contents, under the heading “The Silent Treatment,”is a 1910 letter from Edith Wharton to her lover, Morton Fullerton, who… [Read More]