Tag: writing
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March 25, 2024
I was a kid who loved to read, but I didn’t dream of becoming a writer. Books seemed so magical to me that I couldn’t conceive that human beings wrote them. For my 60th birthday, my friend Ann (who is also a writer) gave me the gift of a signed school library copy of E.B.…
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August 15, 2023
One of the many miraculous things about writing for children is that when they send letters, they also send art. Over the years, I have received pictures of Winn-Dixie and Opal, Despereaux and the Princess Pea, Mercy Watson and Leroy Ninker, and also pictures of Edward Tulane. This picture (by Natalie) shows Edward’s dream of…
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May 31, 2023
I remember a school visit a long time ago when a third grader stood up and said: “Can you write a book without rewriting a book?” “No,” I said. “Shoot,” said the kid in a thoughtful voice. “There’s got to be some way around that.” I thought about that child when I woke up this…
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September 20, 2022
“The book should be a ball of light in one’s hand.” A writer friend received this fortune years ago. It seems like pretty profound writing advice, if you ask me. I’ve just finished a rewrite of a novel. “Make it a light; make this story a light someone can hold in their hands.” That’s what…
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September 28, 2021
I knew from a very young age that the written word was something I needed, but yet I struggled to learn to read. It was my mother who led me through the struggle, who held up words on flashcards for me to memorize, who believed in me. Words—the power and privilege of reading and writing—are…
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February 24, 2021
“FOR PROGRESS IN WRITING” I found the lapel pin when I was cleaning off a shelf. I had to put on my glasses to read the tiny words imprinted on it in gold. I can’t remember when I received the pin. My guess is that it was sometime in elementary school—almost half a century ago.…