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What Gets Left Out
In my three decades as a professional author, I’ve written about many intriguing, accomplished people: the Wyeth family of artists, painter Georgia O’Keeffe, abolitionist Lucretia Mott, author Peter Mark Roget, poets William Carlos Williams and Marianne Moore, self-taught artist Horace Pippin, inventor Louis Braille, and most recently Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. In every case, I’ve focused my research on the words and the work of the subject themselves and have created what I hope are poetic and accessible books about these important men and women for young readers.… more
Teaching Writing to Reluctant Writers
—and Who Isn’t One?
“What’s next?” kids — ask, as they whiz through life at warp speed. You’ve seen them constantly check their phones for texts, Snapchat, and Instagram. Kids at video game kiosks hunch over the controls, zapping animated figures and blowing up characters by the dozens. Should the adrenaline abate for even a second, they turn to the next game, in search of that high-risk rush.… more
Teaching Writing to Reluctant Writers — and Who Isn’t One?
“What’s next?” kids — ask, as they whiz through life at warp speed. You’ve seen them constantly check their phones for texts, Snapchat, and Instagram. Kids at video game kiosks hunch over the controls, zapping animated figures and blowing up characters by the dozens. Should the adrenaline abate for even a second, they turn to the next game, in search of that high-risk rush.… more
Nonfiction Setting and My Comfy Chair
I’m fussy when it comes to choosing where to sit. The comfy chair or the well-worn red sofa? Lights on high or nicely dimmed? Soft throw blanket? Sometimes even in a restaurant, I ask to sit at a different table than the one the host chooses because it doesn’t feel right. My husband rolls his eyes.
Setting whether in fiction, nonfiction, or my own family room, holds a special place in my heart.… more
Lisa Bullard
In this interview with Lisa Bullard, author of Turn Left at the Cow, our Bookstorm™ this month, we asked nine questions to which she gave heartfelt answers.
Lisa, thank you for your willingness to share your writing process and your thoughts about mysteries with us. Mysteries have rabid fans and you’ve written a book that’s not only smart and funny and sassy, but it’s a taut thriller.… more
Lisa, thank you for your willingness to share your writing process and your thoughts about mysteries with us. Mysteries have rabid fans and you’ve written a book that’s not only smart and funny and sassy, but it’s a taut thriller.… more
Time Travel
When you tour Rome, you’re not always sure if you’re traveling in taxis or time machines. Down one street, you’re transported back to around 2,000 years ago, watching the Christians take on the lions in the Forum. Head down another street, and you’re enraptured by one of Michelangelo’s Renaissance masterpieces. Turn your head, and you see — the Golden Arches?… more