I have always loved the world of stories, ever since I was a kid. In fact, I loved stories so much that I even made up my own little magazine when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Unfortunately that little venture almost got me expelled when I decided to do a little exposé about…
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There were so many marvelous entries for Best Fantasy Costume that I just couldn’t make up my mind, so I am awarding TWO prizes in this category! One prize is awarded to Ashley for her portrayal of the Mad Hatter, and the other to Tina (and friend) for their costumes of Schmendrick the Magician and…
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“How do you describe a dragon?“ Dragons are a frequent subject in the marvelous messages I receive from readers, and many of them have put this question to me in one form or another. Describing characters well is a great challenge for any writer, and the truth is I use the same three-layered process to…
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Every person, no matter how young, can contribute to making the world a better place. The mass media gives our kids all sorts of negative, demeaning messages — telling them their self-worth comes from what they wear or drink or drive, not who they really are down inside. We need our heroes today more than…
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One of the things that you may already know about me is that I believe that all kids can be heroes; we can do a lot as adults to foster that ethic in young people. For my readers who are parents, I’d love to share some of my ideas on how you can encourage your…
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Welcome back to my website tour series exploring the “For” sections of my website. So far, I’ve covered For Readers and For Educators. I hope you’ve found these pages and the resources within fun and useful. This month, we’ll take a quick tour through the For Writers section. I’m often asked for advice on writing…
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I love summer, and especially summer in my home state of Colorado. I spend as much time as possible outdoors hiking, camping… and just being. There’s nothing that makes me feel more alive and more at peace than gazing across a mountain ridge laced with sun-bright snow. The summer’s first wildflowers — yellow glacier lilies,…
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Last month, I kicked off a series of blog tours, taking you through the “For” sections of my website. I hope you enjoyed the “For Readers” tour and found something new and fun on my site! This time, we’ll tour the “For Educators” section, the largest of the “For” sections. I’ve packed it full of…
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One of the best things about being a writer with lots of loyal readers is the opportunity to answer your questions! From time-to-time I write on this blog to answer some of your questions. This post is about how I develop and write my stories. Q. How do you generate your ideas? A. My best…
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New and aspiring writers often ask published writers, “What’s your process?” It feels a little funny to talk about the writing process, because it’s something I’m always learning about as well — even though I’ve been doing it for twenty years! But I can tell you a few of the things that have worked for…
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