Readers the world over love Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series. Everyone from the little girl whose librarian handed her Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown yesterday, to celebrities like Bette Midler and writers Anna Quindlen and Meg Cabot sing the praises of this series. People often ask me, “What’s your favorite book of all time?” and without hesitations I answer, “All of the Betsy-Tacy books, of course.” As a writer, I’ve also learned how to write from reading about Betsy. To help celebrate the re-issue of the Betsy-Tacy High books, here are ten things Maud, Betsy, her loving family, and abundance of friend have taught me about life and writing.

1. Watch sunsets. Pay attention, enjoy life and it will make you a better writer. Nature stimulates your imagination. Betsy-Tacy, Chapter 3 – Supper on the Hill.
2. Never neglect your writing for friends, parties, or nay Sayers. Heaven To Betsy, Chapter 27 – The Essay Contest.
3. Green ribbons, scented notepaper, and adding an “e” to your name won’t make you mysterious, only miserable. Be true to yourself. Betsy in Spite of Herself, Chapter 22 – Betsye into Betsy.
4. If you’re not sure what to write, try a little of everything and see what happens. Betsy-Tacy and Tib, Chapter 5 – Everything Pudding.
5. Lists are part of being a writer. “But perhaps people who liked to write always made lists! Just for the fun of it.” Betsy Was a Junior, Chapter 24 – Growing Up.
6. Stubbornness and the inability to apologize will only bring you and others pain. Betsy and Joe, Betsy and the Great World.
7. Procrastinating until the night before your deadline will keep you up all night and probably cause you to do poor work. Betsy Was a Junior, Chapter 22 – The Consequences of Folly (Gaston and the herbariums).
8. If something’s important enough to you, make sure you grab it and don’t wait around for someone else to provide it. Heaven To Betsy, Chapter 17 – The Brass Bowl.
9. Instead of trying to make enough writing sales to pay the housekeeper for a year, earn enough to pay her for a week. And then another week…and another…and another… Betsy’s Wedding, Chapter 8 – Of Meat Pie and Other Things.
10. Keep submitting. “Many of her manuscripts had made twenty and thirty trips” Betsy and the Great World, Chapter 2 – “Haply I May Remember”