Mar
8
2016
Today is my day to blog over at YA Outside the Lines. Our topic for the month of March is WORDS. If you want to get your nostalgia on, you should hop on over to the YAOTL Blog check out how the School House Rocks!
SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK ROCKED THE WORDS!
It’s Great to learn–knowledge is power!
Sep
8
2015
Three day weekends mess me up. The rest of the week I’m usually late for everything. Accidentally doing Monday things on a Tuesday can make things interesting too. In order to solve this problem, I really think we should ALWAYS have three day weekends. One day for running errands and working around the house. One day for hauling kids to sports and doing other high octane fun things and then one day to just chill the heck out.
I see you nodding your head in agreement. The person who can make this happens totally gets a cupcake–a really good cupcake.
But in the mean time, while we’re waiting for the implementation of the standardized 3-Day Weekend format, you can give me a round of applause because I didn’t just write this blog post on time (despite the weekend confusion) but also managed to get in today’s YA Outside the Lines Blog written in a timely manner to. If you’re interested (and waiting for 3-day weekends) you can check it out…Getting Schooled is a Mobius Strip
Now I’m off to get some writing done. What would you do if you had an extra day added to your weekends?
Jan
8
2015
I’m cross posting at the YA Outside the Lines Blog today.
But this one felt important enough to also post in it’s entirety here…
Today I’m going to talk very briefly about diversity in YA, but in a way that is bit different than what I expected to touch upon. Initially, I’d planned on talking about being a girl. It interests me how girls are constantly trying to break glass ceilings in life, but in the world of YA literature, the lion’s share of what is produced tends to be very girl-centric. It bends my mind a little bit to play around with the implications. I wanted to discuss it. I wanted your thoughts.
But unfortunately I can’t really focus on that today.
I’m too disappointed.
When I looked up the definition of diversity it said…A RANGE OF DIFFERENT THINGS.
The word range was the link I needed to write about my growing concerns. More and more it feels like people all over the internet (even in my beloved YA community) are taking pot shots at each other. It feels as if cyber lynch mobs, toting guns that shoot high powered words, are running wild. There is a mob mentality that feeds off the frenzy of taking someone down a notch–of putting them “in their place.” But for what? It appears to be for being “wrong” or dare I say DIFFERENT.
I’ve been watching it unfold for quite some time, but recent events have kickstarted my thoughts. I don’t want to take up your time discussing why so many of us act so deplorably. It makes my head hurt to think about it. Instead I’d like to do one small thing to at least attempt to be part of the solution. I’d like to publicly acknowledge that there are moments when we absolutely should stand up and fight for our beliefs. Those moments are–wait for it–diverse. They mean different things to different people. But I’d like to believe the things worth fighting for (for most people) are good intentioned. Which leads me to bullying. Bullying never comes from good intentions. It is selfish and cowardly. It is small. And it’s not just something children do. I’ve seen a room full of PTA moms make another woman cry. I’ve watched as authors, teachers, police, soldiers and many other dedicated professionals are disrespected when they are trying to give. Perfection is not interchangeable with intention. I can’t remember the last time I was perfect. But there aren’t enough stars to mark how often I’ve tried.
Taking pleasure in making other people hurt is disturbing.
I don’t know how to stop it.
But I believe that small acts, done by many, have the power to make big change.
Haters are always going to hate, but let there always be more of us who are doing something great.
Every day it is your opportunity to be diverse in your thinking and in your actions. Today is your opportunity not to be a bully. It’s your chance to be a range of different things.
Tell me something great, people…
Jul
8
2014
Today I’m blogging over at YA Outside the Lines and this month we are taking about our hobbies and how they inform our writing. I’m spilling the beans on my secret hobby, so you might want to pop over there and check it out.
Here’s your teaser…
Do you have a secret hobby? If you do–I want to hear about it.
Aug
8
2013
Today I’m cross-posting over at YA Outside the Lines and talking about The Truth About Sleep Away Camp. There may be 80’s permed hair for your amusement!
Just a reminder, you still have time to enter my write a review contest!
I also have some up and coming events…
*I’ll be at Oblong Books and Musics HVYAS Birthday Party!! More info HERE!
*Children’s Writer or Illustrator and located in the Hudson Valley? Join us for our local SCBWI Shop Talk Meeting in August. For more information, feel free to contact me directly.
*I’ll also be faculty at my very first conference, which is also the very same conference I first attended as a newbie. Yea, pretty WOW! Registration is still open for the SCBWI Eastern NY Conference on September 21-22nd. Lots of amazing speakers and opportunities.
*September 28th I’ll be part of a fantastic line-up at the Warwick Children’s Book Festival. Details Here
*October 17th I’m thrilled to be a part of the Ulster BOCES FALL INTO BOOKS CHILDREN’S & TEEN LITERATURE CONFERENCE in Kingston NY. I adore hanging out with librarians!!!
And good news…finding me is not nearly as hard as finding a little unidog. So, come hang out and we’ll squee and hug and talk about books and maybe eat some chocolate. I usually have some stored in a bag or pocket somewhere.
Jul
8
2013
I posted over at the YA Outside the Lines Blog today. Want to find you what I was talking about? Here’s your hint…
You can check out the post HERE!
Apr
8
2013
I’m cross-posting about CHANGE over at the YA Outside the Lines Blog today.
For a change–stop on over there. *grin*
Oct
8
2012
Today I’m over at YA Outside the Lines with a blog post that explains why I haven’t written a second completely different blog post here.
It’s called Apocalyptic Scary Stuff and it made me do this…
If you click HERE you can catch my post over there. If you don’t want to travel because it’s a holiday–you can stay here and take a guess about what you think made me look like this LOL!
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