Back 2 School

Dang it. Back to school already. Olivia did not want to wake up. Honey, I feel your pain. Gabe was super excited. Olivia, although awake and...

Contest, Contest, Contest!

I have so many reasons to host a contest! I reached 100 followers a while back and didn't have a contest to celebrate. So this is my 115...

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

Today is my daughter Olivia's 9th birthday. We had a little party at Grandma and Grandpa's house with the cousins, aunts, uncles and...

Celebration Time, Come on!

I think it's time for a celebration around here. Who's with me? One thing to celebrate: I finished the first draft of my WiP's ...

FitG Update: Bog Child

This was an awesome book. Here's the jacket blurb to whet your appetite: Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus f...

A Story A Week Update: Go Slacker!

I have a plan for my Story-A-Week. I am going to continue to be a slacker for one or two more weeks. This is why: I'm almost done with t...

Friday Fandango: Chores & Contests

We're easing out of summer into fall SCHEDULES. Part of me loves schedules. The other part of me Hates schedules. My cousin-in-law, Nata...

Nugget: Check Your Sleeve

Today's writing tip nugget is also courtesy of Deborah Halverson 's SCBWI National Conference break-out session, The Ultimate Checkl...

Hi, Mom!

We had our big ultrasound today and found out we're having a girl! This is my favorite shot: check out her hand! Have a wonderful Monday...

A Story A Week Update: Good Duck, Bad Duck

I'm behind on my Story-A-Weeks. Probably nobody noticed except my guilty conscience. All the binge novel writing I've been doing lat...

Bye bye, Mom & Dad!

My parents left yesterday morning. *Sniff, sniff* It was so fun having them here. I've posted a few pictures to document our time togeth...

WiP Wednesday: Feeling My Way

I came back from the SCBWI conference a week ago yesterday and in that time I have managed to write almost 20,000 words in the new draft of ...

Verse Novel Challenge: Out of the Dust

My apologies for my sparse blogs of late. I have three main reasons (read: excuses): My parents are visiting I'm rewriting my book (more...

Nugget: Twist and Drop

(These golden nuggets of writing advice I'm going to share with you from the SCBWI summer conference are going to be short -- for your b...

WIP Wednesday: The Big Toss

Hi, Everybody! I'm sort of back. My body's back. I know because it's hugging my children like crazy, drinking Dr. Pepper, and pu...