Welcome to my new blog, which now includes content from many of the blogs I’ve created over the years. You can now also access content via category from this one page instead of having to search for my individual blogs, which were scattered over various platforms and websites.
Try very hard NOT to compare your progress with someone else’s as your success/fail marker. Envy can be a creativity-killer. Set small, concrete, achievable goals, then celebrate each success (no matter how small).
NaNoWriMo begins today! For those who don’t know, the full name of this annual event is called National Novel Writing Month. There are many variations possible for those who want to use this community writing challenge in other ways (I’ll be talking more about this later in this post), but . . .
Photo: With Carrie Davies at Nerd Camp. I continue to be grateful to school librarians for sharing my books and works by fellow creators with young readers. I was lucky enough to meet teacher librarian Carrie Davies (see photo above) in person at Nerd Camp Michigan years ago. I’ve also . . .
(Feel free to scoop the above image for posting elsewhere. You can also access the animated gif version on my GIPHY page.) I’ve had book creators ask me how to find book links for indie bookstores, so here is a short tutorial. For U.S. indies, it’s relatively easy. Just go . . .
I’ve had more questions recently about my art process and materials behind some of my pieces, so I’m going to start posting details about how I create some of my art. If you like my found object art, I encourage you to check out GURPLE AND PREEN by Linda Park . . .
Happy Caps Lock Day! And yes, it is a real thing. Apparently (I’m still looking for a reliable source to verify, since the CapsLockDay domain seems to have been taken over by someone else, be warned), software developer Derek Arnold created Caps Lock Day to poke fun at “typographical conventions.” . . .
Five-Bat ? ? ? ? ? review for HARDLY HAUNTED by Jessie Sima is such a spookily (is that a word?) fun story about a house who fervently wants a family to move in, so tries NOT to be haunted until she realizes that it’s better to just be herself. “She . . .
I’ve never considered myself a cook. Don’t get me wrong; I used to enjoy cooking, back when we lived out in the countryside and when I was still trying to get published and had more time. I was never one of those intuitive cooks, however, and my rare attempts to . . .
Thanks to all who submitted photos for my I’M Books Reader Gallery, featuring fun images of readers and/or various types of creatures with I’m Bored, I’m Sad, I’m Worried, or I’m Sorry. It was too hard to pick just one winner, so Michael Ian Black and I finally declared a . . .
I should have posted this earlier, I know, but I’m still posting about October creative challenges just in case anyone wants to jump in as a creative participant or as a creative cheerleader (ideally BOTH, of course!). Suggestions on how to start participating as a latecomer: Don’t stress about it. . . .