“I’d love to be a writer,” someone said to me the other day, “but I have no ideas on what to write about.” She seemed to think it was that simple: Just think of an idea…and write it. Nope. Guess again. Yes, a good idea is crucial to writing a book (or writing anything, for...
Month: <span>December 2015</span>
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What’s Santa Bringing You?
I’m sure it will come as no surprise to you that in my childhood one of my favorite presents—for Christmas, my birthday, or “just because”—was books. I absolutely devoured books, rereading my faves over and over, and pouncing on new books like a three-day-hungry feline on an unfortunate rodent. I still love books, only now...
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The Best Payment Of All
I called up a pre-school the other day. I was looking to book myself in for a reading of one of my books. “What do you charge?” asked the woman at the other end of the line. “There’s no reading fee,” I answered. “I just want to be permitted to hand out slips of paper...
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Worth 1000 Words?
Is a picture truly worth 1000 words as they say? Or is a word worth 1000 pictures? Case # 1 (a lack of pictures): I was reading one of the stories in Tuck-In Tales to a group of kindergartners-1st graders-2nd graders. They clamored to see the pictures. I told them there were no pictures. A...
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Knock-Knock. Who’s There?
Lately I have been reading to the kids in an after-school program not too terribly far from my home. I go over there every week or 10 days or so. There’s no set schedule—the program supervisor and I put our heads together over the phone, consult our respective calendars, and work out dates that are...