Clubhouse Jr., Highlights for Children, snow days, Sophie and the Dragon, The Book of Bree, Writing tips
Snow Day in February
Our unexpected snow storm has me smiling. I love walking in the snow, I love making fresh snow cones, flavored with maple syrup. I love making snow angels and snow forts with my grandkids. But mostly (today) I love that I am snowed in all alone, and everything else I had scheduled has been canceled. […]
Tiptoe Through the Tulips
Ack! I see snow in my last blog entry–must get a new blog entry. Okay, so I could do a blog with lots of rain images, and how the rain makes our creative spirits grow, but right now, today, at 3:42 this lovely Tuesday afternoon, the sun is shining, and my red tulips in the […]
Sesame Street, This is Your Life
I received one of the most startling, albeit joyful, shocks in my life two weeks ago when our Western Washington SCBWI awarded me the first Lifetime Achievement Award during our annual conference at Mariott Hotel in Redmond. It was truly a surreal moment to recieve a standing ovation from over 400 of my dear fellow […]
Building a Monster Bug, and Other Writerly Research
I sometimes find myself doing research for my stories in the strangest of places. Like this week when I found myself on a local Seattle pest control website. I love to use animals and bug creatures of all kinds in my stories for kids, and have found it zooms the interest level up when I […]
Bald spots in our writing–and life
My, oh, my–this picture tells it all. My beloved 4 year-old grandson Josh took a pair of kid scissors to his hair this week, and now has an outstanding bald spot. Even the best efforts of Mommy’s favorite hairdresser couldn’t do much about this! Sometimes it’s like that with our writing too. That well-intentioned chapter […]
Vacation Research
Tomorrow I head home from my wonderful San Francisco vacation. The evening sky still glows an azure blue, as I watch the oak trees silhouetted along the top of the ridge outside my bedroom window. I’m thinking of Bree, main character in the novel I’m currently writing. Part of my reason for this visit (besides […]
Watching For Whales
I just got back from a wonderful writing retreat on San Juan Island,For 6 blissful days, I, along with the other 5 members from our Diviners writing group, spent hours at a time writing. We stayed at a wonderful house that looks out over the waters of the San Juan Channel with Mt. Baker in […]
Family Reunion
We did it! 40 of us came together in my Kirkland, Washington home this summer for a long-awaited family reunion. Children and grandchildren, sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews came from New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, California, and even from Berlin, Germany to celebrate. For me, a sun-lit moment occurred when my granddaughter, 2 year-old Anika […]
Backyard Campfire
This week we had a fire in my rose garden. Really. My grandkids (Josh, 4 and Amanda, 6) asked me, “Grandma can we make a fire in the backyard and roast marshmallows?” And I, good grandmother that I am, agreed. First we had to find a safe place to build it. There was a nice […]