“…gather your witches, vampires and bats,
spiders, ghosties and arch-backed black cats.
Stand them together with goblins and ghouls,
then stack them up high on the backs of pack mules,
Or store them in boxes way up in your attic,”
the skeleton in my closet was downright emphatic.
It’s somehow fitting.
The sweeping square is shrouded in silence, but for the dime-size drops of rain slapping the neatly laid cobbled stones under my feet. The typically bustling quad is empty too, except for the line of bicycles strung along the façade of the Alte Bibliothek (Old Library) and three tourists hunched under wide-domed umbrellas staring at the ground.
I’m watching the young men from the west side of the Berlin Opera House, waiting for them to move on so that I might have a second of solitude on my own to pay my respects to a moment in history that must never be forgotten so that it might never happen again. Continue reading
The only thing missing from the stone tower resting up against a craggy cliff side along the southern California coast is a sixty-foot silken braid trailing from the top window slit to the rocky beach below.
Well, maybe the thick, lustrous plait isn’t the only thing absent from the colossal structure. A bare-chested dude decked in board shorts, cupping his hands around chapped lips, shouting, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel you smokin’ fox, let down your mane that I may climb your locks” would certainly complete the picture. Continue reading
We met in Miami when Destiny dropped me in the seat next to you at a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators pre-conference dinner for volunteers and faculty.
Our paths had crossed once before, at my first SCBWI conference where you’d signed one of your fabulous books for me and kicked off the event with a spell-binding key-note beginning with how you remembered a time when blackberries were just a fruit that grew on bushes. Did you ever add apples to that speech?
Thank you, Richard Peck, for Continue reading
Certain words in the English language make me cringe. The short, staccato sound of them wrinkles my nose, puckers my lips, and stabs my ears. One of the two most wince-worthy in my book of offending words has recently sent me on a quest to finding an acceptable replacement even though the short burst that thrusts forth from pressed lips when expressing it ‘speaks’ for its meaning.
Once I’d set my intention, it didn’t take long. I already knew a German substitute was out. Too sharp. Too similar. The French word didn’t strike the right chord, either. Then I hit the mother lode. Italian. It’s not only a tolerable word in this melodic and passionate language, it makes me want to scent it with lavender oil and bathe in its languid luxury. See if you agree… Continue reading
The phone rang once. A clipped voice answered, “9-1-1-what is your emergency?”
“grr-rr—umph bwaa—maaa….”
“I can’t understand you. Can you speak more clearly?”
“grr-rr—umph *cough* bwaa—maa *cough—cough*”
“Are you choking?”
THUMP THUMP THUMP
“An emergency vehicle is on its way—please try to stay calm, and breathe—breathe as best you can.” Continue reading
“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” ~ Anna Quindlen
Reader, Writer, Miner of Moments
Five writers take on their inner demons and the ever-changing world of publishing.
discovering the story it tells
This picayune world, my own private Lilliput.
Autumn memories of longing
Read ~ Review ~ Share
Adventures in Science + Ice + Art
“Books to the ceiling, Books to the sky, My pile of books is a mile high. How I love them! How I need them! I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.” - Arnold Lobel
Just exploring what it is to be human.
VIVIAN KIRKFIELD - WRITER FOR CHILDREN
Decades of her words.
A community of readers
Where the impossible becomes possible
Ramblings
open a book, open your mind
Surviving and Thriving in Northeast Greenland
A word after a word after a word is power. --Margaret Atwood
Children's Author
a frank conversation about writing, publishing and being human.
Children's Picture Books, Fun, Long Island
thoughts on kidlit nonfiction, diversity, and food
Sharing Information About Writing and Illustrating for Children
Writing practice
Author, Blogger, Social Media Jedi
#bookgivingday 14th February 2018
Seeds of peace planted within yourself sprout everywhere
Reviews of Children's Board Books, Picture Books, Activity Books, and Graphic Novels
The World's Greatest Blog. Not. Then again, anything is possible.
'Cause sometimes you just have to put it out there...
Where You Live Happily Ever Laughter!
writing, publishing & literary consultanting. . .
A site devoted to the Young Adult sci-fi/fantasy novel The Eye-Dancers
Flash Fiction, Book Reviews, Devotionals and other things.
Mina Witteman - author | editor | translator | teacher creative writing
Blog & website of children's book author Tara Lazar
From Deal to Debut: the Path to Publication
