What Might The Young Reader You Once Were Teach You?
I remember the smell of my first elementary school's library: dust, aging pages, and a hint of peanut butter and honey. Actually, the PB & honey was probably left over from the lunch I raced...
The Gap Between Here and My Expectations
What goes through your mind at the end of the day? If you're a creative, I'm guessing you run through a mental account of what you made today. At least, I do. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it,...
The Opportunity of the Blank Page
How do you feel about a blank page? We often talk about the terror of a blank, white page, but what about the possibility? I love this poem from Jacqueline Woodson because it...
Cut Years Off Your Writing Learning Curve with this Mindset Shift
For writers, 10,000 hours is probably an understatement. The writing learning curve is no small thing. Writers twenty years into their careers will tell you they still have miles to go--so much...
How to Best Enjoy a Writerly Play Book Flight
When my best friend, Emily, told me she chooses fiction rather than nonfiction in order to learn and grow, a lightbulb lit up for me. I, personally, am a fan of self-development books but she is...
How to Unstick a Stuck Story: Seeing My Writing Through a New Lens
If we had a Richter scale for the magnitude of a stuck story, I wonder if I could take my lesser moments of frustration more seriously. Maybe I could be more strategic about tackling them for what...
An Invitation to Writerly Play
How did Writerly Play come to be? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thrown up my hands and wailed, “I know I'm capable of more ... but what's the next step?” Sometimes it feels like genuine...
Excuses: The Snarly Enemies of Creative Momentum
I'm not a fan of excuses. And, not in a blow a whistle and shout, "Get to work!" kind of way. More in a roll-up-my-sleeves, experiment-until-you-figure-it-out kind of way. Excuses are snarly enemies...
Collecting Ideas: 10 Quotes to Fuel Your Creativity
The wide-awake way that children's authors view the world that never fails to inspire me. Here's a dose of wisdom to inspire, stretch and most importantly, motivate you to keep collecting ideas....
