Friday, April 4, 2014

good morning





Henry hobbled around the kitchen this morning and instead of looking like a toddler, he reminded me of an old war veteran with stiff knees. That’s when I realized he had a small piece of raison bread stuck to the bottom of his foot.

“Henry,” I said.  “Is there bread on your foot?”

“Bread, foot,” he said.

“Let’s put the bread in the trash,” I told him.

Ignoring my suggestion, he stared at me. Then he peeled the piece of bread from the bottom of his barefoot and shoved the food into his mouth.

“Or you can put it in your mouth,” I replied.

That’s when he took the disgusting glob of bread out of his mouth, placed it on the ground, and for the second time of the morning, stepped on it.

“Ah,” I said. “So that’s how you got it to stick.”

He smiled and went back to his hobbling.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

what a month of birthdays!


Did you know the following authors were born in March?

Dr. Suess (March 2)
Patricia MacLachlan (March 3)
Mem Fox (March 5)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (March 6)
Jack Kerouac (March 12)
Carl Hiaasen (March 12)
Sid Fleischman (March 16)
Lois Lowry (March 20)
Louis Sachar (March 20)
Tennesse Williams (March 26)
Robert Frost (March 26)

Monday, February 10, 2014

some of my best work





March 17, 1986
I had a good time at school. First, we did morning work. And then, we watched a movie. And then, we had math. But when I got home, my cat was eating my fish. I said, "No, don't do that" and put him outside. I watched TV. And then, I had dinner.

March 18, 1986
My best part of school is lunch. 


I wrote these journal entries twenty eight years ago. I was in third grade. While my penmanship and grammar leave room for improvement, the writing cracks me up.

The day went by sort of ho-hum, and then my cat ate a fish. Oh no! It's a good reminder that conflict works in even the shortest of passages. I also love that there's no reflection about the fish dying. Nope, I simply put the cat outside. Then, I watched TV and had dinner. End of story.

The next entry begins with the best part of school. Lunch, of course.

I wish I had kept more writing from a time in my life when the good ideas were just pouring out.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

word of the week


Our Word of the Week


that I added to the fish bowl on my desk


is...



persnickety (adjective) 1. fussy about small details


Thursday, January 9, 2014

kite tails


I was excited to read the current issue of Kite Tails because there's an entire page dedicated to the Central California Writers' Day Contest.  I'm honored to be included among the list of winners!

Kite Tails is a free online newspaper published by the Los Angeles chapter of SCBWI.  Click here to view the Winter 2013 edition.  (The Writers' Day Contest is mentioned on page seven.)

Monday, December 23, 2013

neat dialogue quiz


After answering a few questions from this New York Times dialogue quiz, I got the following result: I'm from Boston or Providence. That's pretty good. Are they as accurate for you?

Thursday, December 19, 2013

word of the week


Our Word of the Week


that I added to the fish bowl on my desk


is...



drumstick (noun) 1. a stick used for playing a drum 2. the lower part of the leg of a cooked fowl