A Family of Words

01 Oct
A Family of Words

This week on my homeschool blog Keep the Way, I share how we are a Family of Words. Our view of education puts a high value on literature. Here is a description from my blog: I am passionate about instilling a love of learning in my children. We are a “words” family and value literature, […]

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Review: Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt

30 Sep
Review:  Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt

Lauren Barnholdt is one of my favorite authors. I am working through her list of fabulous books–and she writes it all: chapter, tween and teen–but my favorite is definitely Two-Way Street.   First Some Backstory: I enjoy all YA books–paranormal, urban fantasy, dystopian, coming of age, novels in verse, romantic comedies, and contemporary. But within […]

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WIP Wednesday: Finding what works . . . and doesn’t

29 Sep
WIP Wednesday:  Finding what works . . . and doesn’t

Goals are great things, right? The best part? They’re self-imposed and can change 🙂 Instead of moving ahead with my manuscript and working on those 3 scenes like I wanted, I’ve been preparing my first 7000 words for the Emily contest (deadline is next week). I got my CP’s comments back and eagerly began incorporating […]

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Truthful Tuesday: 5 Random Questions

28 Sep
Truthful Tuesday:  5 Random Questions

Today’s Truthful Tuesday will be a ‘Get to Know Me’ post, via 5 Random Questions 🙂 1. What is your Secret Talent? Playing Mary Had a Little Lamb on the telephone. Wanna learn how? Easy! Speaking from personal experience, it is best to use this trick while on the phone–a normal house phone rather than […]

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Free Write Monday: Strong Verbs

27 Sep
Free Write Monday:  Strong Verbs

I am late for a date with the treadmill–and my current book, Meg Cabot’s How To Be Popular–so this will be brief. How strong are your verbs? This topic keeps coming up and really has me thinking. Cutting adverbs is all fine and good, but using strong verbs that really pack a punch is what […]

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Short and Sweet

24 Sep
Short and Sweet

Today at Keep the Way, my homeschool blog, I shared . . . um, yeah, not much, because apparently, thirty is the age when you start to lose your memory. And, since it was so short and sweet, I will save you the time from blog-hopping, and will post it here as well: Apparently, my […]

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Review: Simone Elkeles How To Ruin series. . .

23 Sep
Review: Simone Elkeles How To Ruin series. . .

For today’s review, I am going to do a two-fer. I am a HUGE fan of Simone Elkeles and own (and read multiple times) every book she has written. I actually studied Rules of Attraction this summer, breaking it down to teach myself more about the actual writing process. Perfect Chemistry was one of the […]

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WIP Wednesday: Into Act 2

22 Sep
WIP Wednesday: Into Act 2

I should explain about my goal for last week. I said I wanted to write 4 chapters. My mom quickly emailed and said I was definitely aiming high. That did seem like a lot. However, the way my story is set up, a chapter is a day, and a day could have anywhere from one […]

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Truthful Tuesday: Pulling a Rachel

21 Sep
Truthful Tuesday: Pulling a Rachel

For today’s installment of Truthful Tuesday, I thought I’d share a bit of my personality. See, I am a spazz. I hear the craziest things that are completely unrelated to anything you were thinking, much less saying. I can be slower than molasses in January.I get overly enthusiastic and excited, and can run off before checking […]

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Taglines

20 Sep
Taglines

My wonderful critique partner, Nancy, and I have been talking taglines/elevator pitches/loglines this past week. Then, it came up at this past Saturday’s YA/MG Writer’s Group meeting, and will be the topic of our meeting next month. Then, this morning, I opened my email and found a series on how to write them waiting for […]

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