Letters, Words, Thoughts, Ideas, Stories...

Today I'm off to Books of Wonder in NYC to see an amazing *dazzle* of YA authors . (A dazzle is really a group of zebras, but I've a...

I have RMS. It’s a second-cousin of Restless Legs Syndrome. This one is Restless ME Syndrome and it has one cause: forced separation from my...

Today was dark and gloomy. And a half day for the kiddos. I decided that since Mother Nature was cooperating and it is Poetry Month, we’d st...

I read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton today. I’m not sure why this book took so long to reach the top of my towering tower of TBR. And befor...

Today is April 1st. In the teaching world this is a day of greatness and a day of dread. Dread because it’s April Fools’ Day – and when you...

It wasn’t a lack of interest that was keeping me from Dust of 100 Dogs , but rather a lack of backbone. I didn’t grow one over the weekend, ...

I have real avoidance issues with A.S. King’s Dust of 100 Dogs. I kept hearing the best things about the book, the buzz on the Internet is ...

Sometimes while I’m reading I like to imagine what St. Matt would say if I made him read/ listen to the audiobook. Usually I do this when I...

The writing forces are against me today. It’s like distraction-faries have taken residence in my house. Not only are there the typical distr...

Yesterday I was a stowaway on another school’s field trip to NYC. I then proceeded to hijack the trip and DEMANDED they attended the NYC Tee...

"Your husband is a saint." I’ll admit, I’ve heard that comment more than once. Usually after I’ve done something particularly Tif...

I was feeling optimistic as I brushed my teeth last night. I could do this. I could beat insomnia. I could sleep. I could – gulg, blurble . ...

Remember that zombie thing I wrote about the other day? How I said I felt like my life was overrun by them? It’s baaaack. Today, to celebrat...

Warning: the following blog is cavity-inducing sweet & Cheese Whiz-tastic. I’ve been directing the school play, Annie, for approximatel...

When I participated in high school track, I was a member of the distance crew. I could never be a sprinter because it took me too long to ge...

Dun, dun, dun... here they are. How'd you do? 1. D.: Aislinn (Wicked Lovely) 2. K : Anidora-Kilandra (Goose Girl) 3. B : Cabel (Wake ...

YA and middle-grade authors must have a penchant for unusual names, which is a good thing because I tend to forget character names unless th...

I get very attached to the names of characters I love. When I was seven, I wanted to name my future children Fern and Wilbur. Thankfully I’v...

And survival skills too. It was math class and my students were diligently working their way through some operations with positive and negat...

"July? Seriously?" he asked me. "Yes, bud, July," I answered. "Are you sure?" Because he’s an all-knowing sixt...