Those Millennials. They'll never understand the Boomers. Small Fry! I was supposed to babysit the grandkids, so I texted my daughter "What time are you bringing the small fry over tomorrow?" Apparently she assumed fry meant one child, and reminded me both children were coming. I knew that. I texted back "Small fry IS plural." Small fry means children. Small fry can also mean insignificant … [Read more...]
Get Close to your Readers through Point of View
In any story, there’s a narrator that is separate from the writer. Point of view concerns how the narrator tells the story, and this will determine how close the relationship between the narrator and reader will be. Each point of view, from first person to third to second works differently to move the reader, and through the manipulation of point of view (POV), a writer can create intimacy or add … [Read more...]
Let your children be who they are
Was she? I was sharing some fabulous photos of my mother, who passed away in 2013, when a childhood friend asked me if she was supportive of my writing. My first impulse was yes. Then I had to rethink the question. Was she really? It didn't always seem so. It's true my mother more than tolerated my creative pursuits. She supplied me with pencils, paints, scissors, glue, and giant pads of paper. … [Read more...]
Why we need to write thank you letters
All the Wrong Reasons Not To Peter Ormerod, "a journalist with a particular interest in religion, culture and gender," says in The Guardian that we should stop making children write thank you letters because 1. this apparently distasteful task was unduly forced upon him as a child, 2. it's a charade that teaches children to lie ("sanctioned insincerity"), 3. parents strong-arm children to write … [Read more...]
I Don’t Do Christmas Cookies
There are a dozen other things I'd rather do than bake Christmas cookies, including trimming my dog Clementine's toenails, or possibly, maybe, writing. It takes a lot to motivate me to bake or cook, and unless I've been tricked into having people over for dinner, I'd rather not, especially if the prep and cooking time involves over forty-five minutes, the meal has more than 3 ingredients, … [Read more...]
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