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Colorful, Colloquial Characters (Rated PG for Earthiness)
As a child, and okay, as an adult, too, I happily read Robert Newton Peck’s Soup books. His ability to describe his characters such as Soup’s nemesis, Janice Riker, is peachy. “She was the biggest and strongest and meanest kid that the world ever knew. She had the body of a hunched-back, bowlegged ape and […]
Living Other Lives
The beauty of the world of literature is that it allows you to live other lives. I’ve been an attractive 17-year-old red-head whose many adventures include solving the mystery of who’s trying to harm Fortune, the racehorse on my aunt’s ranch. In the same story, I had the chance to brood (as only a teenager […]
Interview with Author Kathleen Ernst
Kathleen Ernst, a Madison native, is a social historian, educator, environmentalist, and the award winning novelist of 24 books. Her historical fiction for children and young adults include American girl mysteries. Her long anticipated American girl six-book Caroline Abbott series will debut September 4th. The third book in her adult Chloe Ellefson mystery series, THE […]
The Artist’s Spirit
Greetings fellow story lovers, A friend who wrote and illustrated children’s books, Marsha Dunlap, died after a long battle with cancer. One of the first times I met Marsha was during a blinding snowstorm. A small group of us had rented a bed and breakfast and hired an award winning author, Marion Dane Bauer, to […]
Silent Rock
Greetings fellow story lovers, I felt it again yesterday while hiking--the heartbeat of the woods. Does the pulse I feel come from all the creatures watching as I walk down their sun-dappled trails, or from all the past creatures that have lived here? Did they, too, enjoy watching the woods change with the seasons? In […]
Moth Tears
Greetings fellow story lovers, Poet Ted Kooser inspired my muse with the following poem. Lobocraspis Griseifusa     This is the tiny moth who lives on tears, who drinks like a deer at the gleaming pool at the edge of the sleeper’s eyes, the touch of its mouth as light as a cloud’s reflection.  --Ted Kooser […]
Writing is Like Hatching an Egg
Greetings fellow story lovers, Two ducklings hatched out of my incubator this spring. I love this project. Although it demands hard work and patience, it can produce joyous results.  The same is true of the writing process. Stories begin with ideas. The fertile mind incubates a nucleus of an inspirational thought, rotating it in the […]
Inspiration
Inspiration Greetings fellow story lovers, What gets your creative juices flowing? Where are you when inspiration strikes? Among my favorite times in life are those moments when I’m driving along on a long quiet stretch of highway and my mind starts whirling with ideas. It also happens in the bathtub, upon wakening, at my computer […]
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