Category Archives: Uncategorized

When J.K. Rowling was writing her now-legendary Harry Potter series, one of the tools she used at some point was a version of storyboarding: She mapped out her chapter outlines and plot points using vertical columns on a sheet of … Continue reading →

The first day of February is the day Langston Hughes was born in 1902. In honor of this legendary poet and the launch of Black History Month, here’s a wonderful poem of his a poetry lover passed on to me: … Continue reading →

Winter Timeby Robert Louis Stevenson Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;Blinks but an hour or two; and then,A blood-red orange, sets again. Before the stars have left the skies,At morning in the dark I rise;And shivering in … Continue reading →

Words of wisdom on words to inspire and light our way today: “Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence. It is no fun to write lumpishly, dully, in prose the reader must plod through like wet sand. … Continue reading →

It all began in a bookstore.I knew almost nothing about Sojourner Truth when I picked up a Young Adult biography of her not far from where she group up in the Hudson River Valley as a slave on a small … Continue reading →

A story: You’re a little girl growing up in a small farming community in New York State in the late 1930s. For your ninth birthday, your grandmother gives you a magical gift: A beautifully bound, slightly oversized book. Published by … Continue reading →

“I think I could pick out the best writers in a strange city room by those who write with their lips moving.” Don Murray Here’s a simple technique I’m playing with: Reading your words aloud or mouthing them as you are … Continue reading →

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.‘Pooh!’ he whispered.‘Yes, Piglet?’‘Nothing,’ said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw.‘I just wanted to be sure of you.’” The birthday card with this little story sits in a spot where I see it every day. On … Continue reading →

This seems to me the perfect poem to savor and enjoy as we experience our own snow days: Snow Dayby Billy Collins Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,its white flag waving over everything,the landscape vanished,not a single … Continue reading →

« The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe. »Gustave Flaubert Does writing make people happier? Reams of research and scores of studies confirm that expressive writing — committing personal experience to paper — has major health benefits: … Continue reading →