For many students who struggle to write, coming up with an idea—or even a sentence—feels like one of the biggest challenges. Often, writers are told to just get words on a page, and the rest will come. But what if your initial words look pitiful and nothing else comes? Bolstering your confidence is a crucial… Read more »
Writing Tips
Story Bite 31: Mentor Books
As I always say at my school talks, mentor books are crucial for me as an author. I read widely, but these favorites always encourage me, teach me, or just lift my spirits when I’m struggling for inspiration. Mentor texts can be useful for writers of all ages, so I hope this story bite will… Read more »
Story Bite 30: To an Empty Page
I hope this writing tip is especially fun for students who struggle to get started on writing assignments. Imagine that you’re having trouble writing. Write an angry letter to your blank page. Let it all out! How do you feel about the writing assignment that you’re struggling with? Do you wish that you could find an… Read more »
Story Bite 29: Word Inspirations and Character Creations
This month’s writing tip involves taking a delightful (and perhaps unusual) word and creating a wholly original creature based on it. The word is crepuscular. This word is used to described an animal or another kind of creature that’s active in the twilight. Your task: Invent an animal (a monster, if you like) that represents this…. Read more »
Rough Times and Reader Impact
(Content warming: suicide) I originally wrote this post (and shared it in my enewsletter) close to the start of the school year, when a tragedy struck my small town: A teenager had disappeared and was found dead. It had a huge impact on everyone in my community, even those of us who didn’t know the… Read more »
Story Bite 27: Shifting Perspective
My writing tip for this month is shifting perspective: describing something that might inspire a strong negative reaction in people with positive words. This can be a fun linguistic game, but also a chance to think of how we view things beyond our own initial perspective. In this exercise, we’re going to: Describe something disgusting… Read more »
Story Bite 26: Starting a Story (With Just Three Words)
For many students who struggle to write, coming up with an idea—or even a sentence— that feels like a good one is one of the biggest challenges. Often, writers are told to just get words on a page, and the rest will come. But what if your initial words look pitiful and nothing else comes?… Read more »
Story Bite 25: Using Mentor Texts
Mentor texts are books that inspire us, books we love that bring great pleasure to our reading—but also can help our writing too. In this post, I’ll explore some ways to use a mentor text to inspire an idea, or just help you with a scene. 1. Choose a book you love, one that inspires… Read more »
A Writer’s New Year’s Resolution
As I’m about to start the New Year with my third book coming up and another new book on the horizon, I want to vow something to myself as a writer. This is something I’ve struggled with from time to time over the past two years, and I know other authors struggle with it too…. Read more »
Story Bite 13: The Very Beginning (Part 2)
In the last story bite, we came up with an idea. Now we’re going to put that idea on the page. And what we’re looking for is…an opening line. First, I want everyone to know that it is extremely rare for a professional author to nail that opening line in the first writing of the… Read more »
Flora is just utterly beautiful in any pose she takes. And she hardly knows it!
#catsofinstagram
I took this pic to figure out what kind of furry visitor I had, and it’s so pretty I need to share. Meet my new friend, a tiger moth caterpillar, which, with luck, will transform soon into a gorgeous moth!
#caterpillar #garden #nature