Book Savors by Mary Helen
Clay Fragments by Tam
Cottage Chatter by Tammy (Sorry, but this is an invitation-only blog.)
Slices from the Sofa by Ruth (aka "the other ruth")
Blogs I like to read...
I've been hesitant to compile a list of blogs because of the risk of leaving someone out. Still, here are people who inspire me to keep writing.
Ali Edwards
Carol's Corner
Chasing Stories
Coffee with Chloe
Delivering Reading Passion
Elsie Tries Writing
Holy Experience
Karen's Thoughtful Wanderings
Kate Messner
Living
Pleasures from the Page
Poem Farm
Sharing Our Notebooks
Teacher Dance
Wake Up and Write
Slicers...
Becoming Cathy
Hooplas
Just for a Month
Literacy Learning Zone
Nguyen's Praire Home Companion
Something to Say
Teaching Tomorrow's Leaders
Teaching Young Writers
Word by Word
Writing Me Home
About Teaching...
Patrick Allen
Troy Hicks
Kevin Hodgson
Bonnie Kapplan
Chris Lehman
Creative Literacy
Marjorie Martineli & Kristi Mraz (Chart Chums)
Donalyn Miller
Nerdy Book Club
A Reading Year
The Reading Zone
Mandy Robeck
Katherine Sokolowski
Karen Terlecky
Jen Vincent
Places on the web I learn more about writing...
Avi: It's Avi...so it's pretty great.
Falling Leaflets: A resource for children's authors pursuing publication.
Laini Taylor: Not for Robots
Laurie Halse Anderson: Mad Woman in the Forest
Literary Rambles: A place "spotlighting children's book authors, agents, and publishing."
Mother. Write. Repeat.
Natalie Whipple: Between Fact and Fiction
Ralph Fletcher: Tips for Young Writers
Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators
Twitter: Follow your favorite writers.
Some of my favorite books about writing...
Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and on Life
Jane Yolen: Take Joy
Avi: A Beginning, A Muddle, and an End: The Right Way to Write Writing
Quotes that stretch my understanding...
Laurie Halse Anderson: "I focus on creating situations that force the character out of her comfort zone, raising the emotional stakes as I go along. If I've developed conflicts that are organic and in keeping with the character's world, her response to the conflicts will naturally lead to internal growth."
Margaret Culkin Banning: "Fiction is not a dream, nor is it guesswork. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurate or the work of imagining will not stand up."
Carolyn Coman: I don't create characters so much as I make room inside my mind and heart for them to come and get me. I am drawn to characters who make me feel deeply -- make me mad, confuse me, make me wonder, break my heart, stagger me with what they are up against.
Dodinsky: "Fill your cup with sunshine and laughter."
Doug Lawson: Often I find clues to where the story might go by figuring out where the characters would rather not go.
Pamela Rutledge: Stories are how we think. They are how we make meaning of life. Call them schemas, scripts, cognitive maps, mental models, metaphors, or narratives. Stories are how we explain how things work, how we make decisions, how we justify our decisions, how we persuade others, how we understand our place in the world, create our identities, and define and teach social values.
Words people have passed to me...
From TeacherDance
Elizabeth George: "Let's just muddle through today. That's what I say. We can't take care of tomorrow until it gets here."
From Juliann at Nurturing Curiosity
Courage to Connect by David Spinks
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment.
Who is one person that you’ve been dying to connect with, but just haven’t had the courage to reach out to? First, reflect on why you want to get in touch with them. Then, reach out and set up a meeting.
