I've always loved libraries. I'm sitting in one right now. My writer friends and I get together a couple times a week to write together in a room in the library ( Read more... )

I’ve had an exciting couple of days. A babysitter in Texas took three children to the library recently and one of them checked out my My Mom’s Having a Baby. The babysitter was “shocked.” You can read the story and watch the video hereInterestingly enough, she didn’t file a complaint with the library or ask the library to remove the book; she took ( Read more... )

It started out like any other write-in…other than my dear friend Kellye from Des Moines came.


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Well, I've been really GOOD about updating my personal journal in recent weeks...but really BAD about updating my blog. A friend said to me, "you call your blog 'A day in the life of a children's book author' and you don't blog about one of the most significant days in your career???" Well, when you put it that way...okay, here goes ( Read more... )

I'm a little past the halfway point of the month. My goals were 1) to complete a draft of my YA murder mystery and 2) to lose 5 pounds. I'm on track with my word count (29,421 words!) and I've lost 2 pounds ( Read more... )

I met up with a couple of writer friends at the coffee shop yesterday. Not so much for writing, but for chatting ( Read more... )

I got ahead on my word count earlier in the week because I wanted to go to Waterloo/Cedar Falls yesterday to see the Painted Pages: Children’s Books Illustrated by Iowa Artists exhibit at Waterloo Center for the Arts (my good friend Jeni Reeves is one of the featured illustrators!) and then go to the Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls to ( Read more... )

I had a moment of What?-Am-I-CRAZY-Trying-NaNoWriMo-Again this morning. In fact, if I'd heard about PiBoIdMo just a few hours earlier than I did, I may have abandoned the whole NaNoWriMo idea altogether and signed up for PiBoIdMo instead. Even though everyone says picture books are a tough sell right now ( Read more... )

So I never thought I'd join a health club...and I did that yesterday (blogged about it, too). Here's something else I never thought I'd do: sign up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) again. And guess what I did today? I signed up for NaNoWriMo.

I have actually attempted NaNoWriMo once before (back in 2007). It did not go well. I simply ( Read more... )

I did something today that I said I was never going to do...I joined a health club! I don't like health clubs. I'm not a sweaty gym sort of person. I'm a take a long walk or take a long bike ride sort of person. I'm actually pretty good about getting exercise (I'd even go so far as to say I'm a little obsessed about my exercise). And thanks to my ( Read more... )