Twenty years ago, my husband and I, our four children, and our basset hound, Wobegon closed the door to our house in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania for the very last time and drove to our new home in Richmond, Indiana. I was sporting a full leg cast (a skating accident…don’t ask!) so I had to sit in… [Read More]
Backyard Stories
June 20, 2011 By
In 2004, I signed up for a Highlights Foundation Workshop on writing nonfiction and I grumbled silently for weeks before I set out for Honesdale, PA. The workshop leader, editor Carolyn Yoder, had asked each of us to bring a nonfiction piece about something “in our own backyard.” Up until then I had written about… [Read More]
Tree Calculations
June 13, 2011 By
When I was ten years old, I climbed a tree with my best friend every day of the summer. Its lower branches (all seven of them) began spreading within a foot or two of the the ground and each of them was thicker than the circumference of the two of us when we hugged each… [Read More]
Connie Wooldridge Will Speak to the National Stanley Family Association
June 6, 2011 By
When: Saturday June 25, 2011 Location: Earlham College – 801 National Road West, Richmond, Indiana 47374 Event Description: National Stanley Family Reunion – You are welcome to a weekend of Stanley family fellowship, entertainment, history and interesting family stories and historical sites. Topic: Saturday Evening: “The Story Behind the Stories” by Connie Wooldridge About the… [Read More]
Up and Coming Writers
June 6, 2011 By
Those of us involved with books – writers, editors, librarians, teachers – worry a lot about the whole reading and writing process. Will there be people in the next generation willing to read challenging literature? Will there be people in the next generation who can write articulately? I can name one for sure. She is… [Read More]
Say Thank You
May 31, 2011 By
Anyone out there who thinks saying “thank you” is a lost art should visit an elementary school – any elementary school – and give a presentation. In response to my talk to the 3rd and 4th graders at Crestdale Elementary School last week, I received the most colorful, creative, effusive thank you notes ever: I… [Read More]
A Green Truck
May 23, 2011 By
When I traveled out to Wyoming back in 1998 to do research for When Esther Morris Headed West, I was stunned when I got off the plane in Cheyenne. It was so unlike anyplace I had ever been I thought I might have landed on the moon. I walked across a brief stretch of tarmac… [Read More]
Arguing With Friends
May 19, 2011 By
I met one of my oldest friends in Athens where we both attended a year-long college program. Together we studied the architecture of the Parthenon, flew to Cairo and rode camels, and spent endless hours deciding which Greek island we would sail to next. When the year came to an end, she departed for her… [Read More]
I Don’t Talk – I Just Write
May 9, 2011 By
Here’s something I didn’t consider before I got into this writing business: As soon as you’ve published something, various groups start wanting you to talk to them. My first invitation came from one of my sons’ classroom teachers. What I (terrified!) wanted to say was: “I don’t talk – I just write.” What fell out… [Read More]
Edith Wharton…Pleased
May 2, 2011 By
She would have been pleased with the guests: aspiring high school writers who participated in the Edith Wharton Writing Contest, families and friends, published authors, and people from near and far who simply love books and reading. She would have been pleased at the world class staff that was on hand to show her house… [Read More]