My car is covered in a sheet of ice. Somehow I find this more appealing than snow, just because I’m tired of seeing it stacked higher and higher on the sides of my driveway. It’s been one snowstorm after another this winter and a collective weariness has spread over everyone I know. I’m trapped once again in the house with my lovely and loud little children who are having their SIXTH snow day of the season. I figured, as they watch their second movie of the day because I have given up, it might be a good time to get this blog going. Whenever I create something, even if it’s not exactly what I wanted it to be, it still leaves a trail of brightness, of effort, of something new. I missed having a blog. I started a food blog last year when I went through a big cooking binge. I wanted to try my hand at a little food writing, but then I got tired of reporting what I cooked and ate all the time, so I stopped. But I missed the way a blog can focus your thoughts or heighten what you notice about your daily life.
So it dawned on me one day, why don’t I write a blog about writing, which is what I do. I didn’t want to limit myself to craft, or the writing process, or writing in general, though. This blog will certainly be filtered through that lens, but I’m going to give myself some wiggle room. People don’t give themselves enough wiggle room. I find it interesting that when you ask people what they do, they don’t answer “I do (blank) which of course would sound weird. They say, “I’m a doctor… I’m a website designer…I’m an accountant… I’m a teacher.” As if that’s it—that’s all they are. Nobody wants to be put in boxes. I’m a writer, yes, and thankful to be one. But I’m also a lot of other things. I write for children and adults. I’m a mom. I’m a wife. I’m a teacher. I draw and paint. I cook. I clean the bathroom and do the laundry. I do yoga. I sing badly in the car. I am all these things and more.
After writing many mass‐market children’s books based on licensed characters for several years, my dream came true, or I should say one of my dreams came true. I sold a manuscript for my original middle‐grade novel to Random House/Delacorte Press which will come out in about a year. Most of the time it feels really wonderful and satisfying. But right now in the middle of this gray, icy day with lots of editing ahead of me, it feels a little unreal and delicate, like something I have to protect.
I’d like to take you through this journey, this book getting off the ground. I’ll also talk about some of my favorite literature, both for children and adults. Sometimes I might write about finding inspiration, or craft, or revising. Sometimes I might write about my refrigerator that keeps breaking, or my two incredible children that challenge me in ways I didn’t know anyone could challenge me. I might write about Montessori education since I’m also in the process of getting certified to be a Montessori teacher. Sometimes I might even post a random drawing or painting I’ve done. I don’t know. I just need a big, wiggly place for all of it.
So it dawned on me one day, why don’t I write a blog about writing, which is what I do. I didn’t want to limit myself to craft, or the writing process, or writing in general, though. This blog will certainly be filtered through that lens, but I’m going to give myself some wiggle room. People don’t give themselves enough wiggle room. I find it interesting that when you ask people what they do, they don’t answer “I do (blank) which of course would sound weird. They say, “I’m a doctor… I’m a website designer…I’m an accountant… I’m a teacher.” As if that’s it—that’s all they are. Nobody wants to be put in boxes. I’m a writer, yes, and thankful to be one. But I’m also a lot of other things. I write for children and adults. I’m a mom. I’m a wife. I’m a teacher. I draw and paint. I cook. I clean the bathroom and do the laundry. I do yoga. I sing badly in the car. I am all these things and more.
After writing many mass‐market children’s books based on licensed characters for several years, my dream came true, or I should say one of my dreams came true. I sold a manuscript for my original middle‐grade novel to Random House/Delacorte Press which will come out in about a year. Most of the time it feels really wonderful and satisfying. But right now in the middle of this gray, icy day with lots of editing ahead of me, it feels a little unreal and delicate, like something I have to protect.
I’d like to take you through this journey, this book getting off the ground. I’ll also talk about some of my favorite literature, both for children and adults. Sometimes I might write about finding inspiration, or craft, or revising. Sometimes I might write about my refrigerator that keeps breaking, or my two incredible children that challenge me in ways I didn’t know anyone could challenge me. I might write about Montessori education since I’m also in the process of getting certified to be a Montessori teacher. Sometimes I might even post a random drawing or painting I’ve done. I don’t know. I just need a big, wiggly place for all of it.
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