Time for the Tuesday Ten, a little meme hosted by Crystal over at Straight On Til Morning ! This week, I'm sharing ten things from th...

Go check out Crystal's Ten by clicking above! Every day is an opportunity for new experiences. Some good, some bad, some completely...

Don't forget to go check out Crystal's 10 for Tuesday! It's Tuesday again and that means it's time for the Tuesday Ten -...

Tonight I sent in my poetry for the third assignment in the class I'm taking. I set out to write poems from the perspectives of diffe...

The end of this weekend is the start of a week that is far too busy for my comfort level. Paper due, testing days, after-school appoint...

Tonight I'm working on poetry. This is the third assignment of four, each a little different but all focused on creativity. I decided...

Summer. 1982. I was seven years old. My tender and loving second grade teacher had told us at the end of the year that in third grade we ...

We have no way of predicting when our time with loved ones will end. In our biggest dreams, we have years and years to spend with family,...

So often I have students (mostly girls) come to me and ask for Suzanne Collins'  The Hunger Games . Now, I can't blame them for w...

Last night was another luscious night of poetry. Here's one example that might be handy in class (especially with National Poetry Mon...

Grandma Cooper was a strong woman. I like to think I inherited her emotional strength and determination. Sometimes I just tell myself i...

I often tell young writers (and old, I suppose) to write what's difficult -- those hard stories are worth writing because it helps us ...

Today slipped by too quickly. I woke at 4:45 to the sound of a puppy needing to go out, and it seems that we never stopped moving from th...

Pilates was difficult today. I'm not as strong as I used to be; my body groans with each motion. It's as if each joint and muscle...

Another walk. Another round of Pilates. The tight pinch that pulls all my muscles together somewhere between my shoulder and my neck is b...

Last night I (finally) received feedback on the revised version of my first short story in the class I'm taking. To be honest, my firs...

Last November I found myself in Boston for the annual NCTE conference. I love this conference, but let's be honest -- one of the hu...

I've been stuck in a circle of sorrow for the past couple months, choosing to have a pity party about my health issues  -- choosing s...

First: Happy Ides of March ! This will be my first time in a few years to not post about the Ides on the 15th, but something has come up t...

Tonight my oldest niece and nephew are spending the night with the Littles. It's been a night full of games, laughter, and getting cre...