I know Miss Sophie is taking over my Animal Humor Column, but she's just so darn cute. And funny. And generous with her catches. The other night she was shuffling around under the bed (we sleep on the porch) and then we heard crunch, munch, slurp. That's all you...

  My agent has two completed manuscripts that she's going to sell. I have two more that are almost done. Even if a miracle occurred and she sold all four of them today, it's not likely that the last one would even come out until 2011 or 2012. So I ask you...how do I...

Last week I included the statistic that 58% of the US adult population never read another book after high school. This caused quite a stir. The writer, Eileen Cook, and I have been tossing ideas back and forth all week to combat this by developing our own Reading...

As always, free books here.

      Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Arthur Slade. I'm lucky to get this interview because Art is one of those people who actually spends a lot of time writing, not goofing off. Right, Art? Plus he does many, many school visits. If you're a...

Don't let the photo of our kitty, Miss Sophie, fool you. She is one tricky cat and she likes to amuse herself at our expense. Miss Sophie suffers from seizures (not the funny part of this story) and so earlier this year, the vet put her on phenobarbital, which is a...

On Tuesday I wrote 13 new pages. Now if you're a reader and not a writer, you might think, "Yeah, so what?" but if you write, you know that that's a phenomenal writing day for most writers. Yesterday, I wrote nothing. What happened? Did I use up my muse all in one...

58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school. I stole this statistic from Eileen Cook's website. Appalling, isn't it? Not the stealing, the statistic. It gets worse! Drop by and see her post on the Reading Revolution she's proposing. I...

Here’s what’s on offer: BETSY AND TACY GO OVER THE BIG HILL - by Maud Hart Lovelace THE MIDWIFE'S APPRENTICE - by Karen Cushman (MG) JACOB HAVE I LOVED - by Katherine Patterson (it's an old beat-up copy, but what the heck? It's great and it's free!) SO SUPER STARRY -...

  You'll never believe what coolness happened to us this past winter. We had an eagle viewing. Not a spotting, but a twenty minute show! We were sitting at our kitchen table and I saw this GIANT eagle swoop down over a flock of coots and buffleheads. Not ten minutes...

I stole this idea from the fabulous writer, Arthur Slade. Anyone who knows me knows that the first draft is a killer for me. I can revise until the geese come home (we don't have cows here on the lake), but first drafts? I need to be super-glued to my chair. Thus, the...

Today's topic is actually about grade schoolers, but I could see teens jumping on this bandwagon. At East Side Elementary School in Chattanooga, TN, the kids exceeded their reading goals and their reward (besides reading the books) was they got to throw pies at two...

Last week’s winner is Olivia D. She’ll be receiving a book of her choice from my stash! Congratulations, Olivia and thanks for your email! Olivia chose The Boggart and I threw in the second one for fun. Now don't you wish you'd entered? This week, I’ve mixed it up...