CELEBRATING!

Howdy, Campers ~ and Happy Poetry Friday! (Link to PF is at the end)

Look what I found in the depths of my closet:

No TeachingAuthor we've asked remembers who created these t-shirts nor for what occasion...which makes me laugh.                                                                                            

This is our final post celebrating our 15th (FIFTHEENTH!) blogiversary. 

Bobbi wrote a post titled What Comes Next?, Zeena posted Congratulations on 15 years!!! Here's to 15 more!!! Mary Ann posted 15 Years? No!!!  Esther posted  Happy15th Book and Gift Card Giveaway!  and Carmela, our Mother Board Blogger, posted 15th TA Blogiversary and Book and Gift Card Giveaway!

Let me be upfront with you. In my very first post, I wrote, "I learned that in teaching, as in poetry, less is more."   So here's the truth: this post is too long and I'm tired because I'm a puppy mom. I'm sure one day I'll get more sleep, but for now, I'm going to honor my tiredness and turn off my laptop without spending hours making it perfect. 

Because we all know there is no such thing as perfect. 

Over the years...

By the time I wrote my first TeachingAuthors post on May 8, 2009, I'd taught workshops in schools across the globe. But--whoa!--now the head of the UCLA Extension Writers' Program was on the phone, asking me to teach...TALL people?

In that first post, I blogged about how scared I was to teach adults:

"I practiced...by teaching teens at my home. The most important thing I learned from that was not to throw every single solitary thing I’d ever learned at them (those poor overwhelmed kids!)."

Over the years, as a teacher, I have learned to say less (except today on this post...forgive me). 

I've also learned to be more authentic. More human. More me. 

Here's an example:

This morning, my critique group of incredible, smart writers met. We meet every other Thursday at a deli in mid-town Los Angeles. We order breakfast, talk about our joys, our struggles, our kids and/or animals...and when we've finished eating, we get down to business. 

I was feeling weird and less-then last night because I had nothing for them to critique. 

It's dang hard to be honest, but today, when it was my turn, I told them that I was not nearly as brave as they are (believe me: they are seriously brave). When my manuscripts are rejected, or an agent asks for a revision, it takes me forever to send my revised story back. I'm timid when it comes to submitting and submitting and submitting. I'm sure my stories will never be good enough. 

How did it feel to be that honest with them? Good. 

Great, actually. I got support, practical advice and lots of love.

I did bring three picture books published in 2024--I love sharing them and hearing my group's reaction to the work of other authors and illustrators. That was really, really fun. We were all in it together, asking questions like, Did anyone edit this book? and Is this poetry or simply lyrical writing? and OMG I love this book!

I left feeling uplifted.

I've learned (am still learning) to trust that "still, small voice within."

Here's what I tell myself...and my students:

>There is no "right way" to write a book, train a dog or live your life.

>Ya gotta be honest. Telling the truth is hard. It's also what reaches a reader. 

> Listen to that still, small voice within. (Mary Ann's still, small voice has told her to write the book she must write before she dies. Not mine. Mine says to write the book that plops on my head unexpectedly and drips all over my t-shirt.)

>It's up to you to figure out what your fingerprint is... 

...whose advice to take, when to leave a critique group, a conference, an agent (and when to let that manuscript rest for awhile.) 

What's your fingerprint?

Here are three poems 

I've written over the years for our blogiversarys:

TeachingAuthors.com turns 2!

OUR  BLOGIVERSARY! 
by April Halprin Wayland

We six who ride our blog horse here

are rather like that Paul Revere

“One if by land, two if by sea,”
was revolution’s poetry

We TeachingAuthors gallop, too,

to share our lantern light with you

we aim to help, support and cheer

so you can write with joy, not fear

in this New Land: Kidlitosphere

(c) 2011 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved

TeachingAuthors.com turns 4!

       A Blooming Blogiversary

     Sheaves of paper, leaves of prose
     Typing wobbly rocky rows

     Planting tender inkling seeds
     Sowing words on glowing screens

     Underground the spark is struck
     Growing with some care and luck

     First a shoot, then a sprout
     Weeding all the adverbs out

     Seedlings reaching toward the sun
     Readers, writers we are one

     Blooming in the blogisphere
     Post by post, year by year
poem © 2013 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

TeachingAuthors.com turns 1!

BLOG-I-VERSE-A-TREE
by April Halprin Wayland 

How does it feel to cross over this creek,
to fly from tree to tree to you?
To find, in the midst of the jungle a few
readers discerning, kind and true?

How does it feel, week after week,
to water a seed, now one year old?
To watch its young, green leaves unfold
as it gives me back a thousand fold?

I feel I’m Bird, just opening her beak,
at the top of a tree, on the first day of Spring,
easily found on Google or Bing,
joining five friends to Tweet, to sing!

© 2010 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

Here's how I ended my first blog post...it's even truer--today:

So, it's been a process. I've become a TEACHING AUTHOR through the students I've worked with from kindergarten to AARP, through my colleagues, through my own teachers.

I’ve taught in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program for 10 years now [Update: this year marks my 25th year of teaching in UCLA's Writers' Program] and this year: 

I. Finally. Understand:

Teaching is generosity.

I feel incredibly lucky to be part of TEACHING AUTHORS, and look forward to more of this great adventure of camaraderie and discovery and learning from you.

(photo by my husband, who is proud that he's
hard to find on the internet)

Thank you, Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge  for hosting PF!

written with love by April Halprin Wayland 

with help from the film stars of my instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/aprilwayland/?hl=en):

7-month-old Sadie 

and 5-year-old Kitty

15th TA Blogiversary Book and Gift Card Giveaway!

I can hardly believe it, but this Monday, April 22, 2024, [in addition to being Earth Day] will be the 15th anniversary of the founding of our TeachingAuthors blog! To celebrate, we're giving away an autographed copy of a very special book (hint: it was written by one of our TeachingAuthors) PLUS a $15 gift card to Bookshop.org. You'll find the giveaway details at the end of this post. Also, in honor of Poetry Friday, I am including a poem excerpt from our giveaway book. (Another hint for you!)  

When we founded TeachingAuthors back in 2009, I had no idea we'd still be here so many years later! Today I kick off a series of posts commemorating this milestone. Each of the TeachingAuthors will reflect on how her writing, her outlook, and/or the industry has changed over the last 15 years.

In one of my earliest posts here, I explained how I became a TeachingAuthor. At that time, I was teaching writing classes for adults and children at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL and other local venues. Candlewick had published Rosa, Sola, the middle-grade novel I wrote for my creative thesis for my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College, and I was working on several picture book manuscripts--some I'd started at Vermont College and others I'd drafted later. I'd loved reading picture books to my young son and had hoped to publish my own. By 2009, I had received some encouraging rejections, but I never found a publisher for any of those picture books. 

I believe I've shared here before that I think one of my biggest career mistakes was not writing another middle-grade novel to follow up Rosa, Sola. I'd had several ideas, but none of them quite worked. (And I really wanted to publish a picture book.) Perhaps if I'd sold a second novel to Candlewick, they would have published a paperback edition of Rosa, Sola and it wouldn't have gone out of print when it did. But I was honored to have a middle-grade short story published in a Candlewick anthology that came out in 2010: I Fooled You: Ten Stories of Tricks, Jokes, and Switcheroos, edited by Johanna Hurwitz. That story, "Biz Z, Cammi, and Me," allowed me to prove to myself (and the world) that I can write humorous stories. 😀

My career path has taken other unexpected twists and turns. Back in 2009, I could never have imagined that I would write a historical romance set in 18th-century Milan. Or that, after I finally finished it, I'd end up putting the manuscript in the proverbial drawer when I couldn't find a publisher, despite it winning several awards. But that's what happened with my young-adult historical Playing by Heart, as our long-time blog readers may recall. That book's path eventually had a happy ending, though, when it was published by a small press. I was thrilled to announce the good news here in January of 2017.   

The story of Rosa, Sola had a happy ending too. I eventually got my rights back from Candlewick and self-published the novel in both paperback and ebook format. In fact, we celebrated our 7th TeachingAuthors blogiversary with a reveal of the book's new cover and a giveaway. I'm so pleased that readers continue to find and enjoy the novel.

Now my writing path is circling back to the beginning--the very beginning. I started writing as a young teen, initially writing only poetry. I have returned to those roots the last few years, taking poetry classes and having my poems published in several anthologies. (You can scroll down on the Published Works page of my website to read about my most recent poetry publications.)

I've also returned to picture book writing, both fiction and nonfiction. And just two months ago, I announced that I had signed with agent Anjanette Barr of Dunham Literary to represent those manuscripts. I've never had an agent before--back when I started in children's publishing you didn't need one, and you would, in fact, have been hard-pressed to find an agent who represented books for young readers. That's one of the many ways the industry has changed in the last 15+ years.  

For all the writers reading this, I hope the story of my writing journey isn't disheartening. I confess:  there were many times along the way when I was tempted to quit. But I'm glad I stubbornly kept plodding on. If writing is your calling, I encourage you to be UNSTOPPABLE when it comes to pursuing your goals. 

And that leads into the poem I want to share today, which is an excerpt from the very special picture book you can win as part of our blogiversary giveaway. Here's the poem:

Do you recognize it? In case you don't, here's another clue: the full page from the book: 

This page is from TeachingAuthor Esther Hershenhorn's masterful picture book S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet, illustrated by Zachary Pullen (Sleeping Bear Press). One reason this book is perfect for our 15th blogiversary giveaway is because it was published the year we started this blog, 2009. In early October of that year, we celebrated the book's release with a whole series of posts about its making. We gave away a copy then, too!

A second reason why we want to include S is for Story in our giveaway is because it's all about the writing process. Here's a brief description from the Renaissance Learning Site: 

"This book utilizes the alphabet to explain and examine the techniques, tools, and strategies of those who wish to live a literary life, covering writing terms and topics such as genre and story elements, with quotes from famous authors."

But the book does so much more! Esther's energy and enthusiasm for writing and writers shines through on every page. Which is why the third reason why we're including this book in our giveaway makes me sad: S is for Story is no longer in print. 😢

Fortunately for us, though, Esther has a copy she's willing to part with that she'll autograph for one lucky winner. If you're not that winner, I encourage you to check the book out from your favorite library so that it continues to circulate.    

You'll find our giveaway details below. After you enter, don't forget to visit Heidi at my juicy little universe for this week's Poetry Friday roundup. 

To enter the drawing to win an autographed copy of S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet PLUS a $15 digital gift card to Bookshop.org, use the Rafflecopter widget below. (Note: if the widget doesn't appear, click on the link at the end of this post that says "a Rafflecopter giveaway" to enter.)

You may enter via up to 5 options. The more options you choose, the better your odds!

If you choose option 4, you MUST leave a comment on TODAY’S blog post or on our TeachingAuthors Facebook page. If you haven’t already “liked” our Facebook page, please do so today!

If you prefer, you may submit your comment via email to: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.

Note: if you submit your comments via email or Facebook, YOU MUST STILL ENTER THE DRAWING VIA RAFFLECOPTER BELOW.  The giveaway ends May 18, 2024 and is open to U.S. Residents only.

If you're unfamiliar with using Rafflecopter, here’s info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway.  And a second article explains the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address.

Good luck!

Carmela

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Giveaway...It's here! Egyptian Lullaby

I drove to work on Tuesday and found myself sobbing…deep sobs…coming from a wave of sorrow unexpectantly bubbling up from somewhere hidden. Finally, the day had come, pub day for my picture book, Egyptian Lullaby.  It has been a long time coming…five  years…I had anticipated intense joy  but not sadness. And then I remembered that my father had died a little over a year ago.  There would be no phone call today to share the anticipated book birthday. 

 In fact, I was in Cairo exactly a year ago because he passed away on March 19th.

Click here to view post about my trip to Egypt

Even more heart breaking was the memory of my Aunt Zina who had been the inspiration for the book. She too died before the book came out.  Again, there would be no phone call. 

I thought about legacy and memories and what we leave behind as I drove to work to be with with my 19, 5-year-olds. I thought about the lifetimes they have ahead of them. I thought about the audience I wrote for when I wrote this book over 5 years ago.  I thought about the irony that the students who would share this book birthday with me were either yet to be born or were just born.  I thought about how their parents were incubating them at the same time I was incubating this book.  I felt how it all swirled around me... Life and death, beginnings and endings, celebrations and being alone…and I marveled at it all through my sobs.

 

Click here if the video above won't play

Click here if the video above won't play

As an artist, I am always seeking to speak my truth and tell stories through different mediums.  My current way is to write children's picture books.  When I became a parent, I found it difficult to continue to develop as a photographer and visual artist.  My days as a parent were too delicious to divide between being present with my child and creating new works. I chose parenthood and paused my artistic endeavors.  Now that she is transitioning into young adulthood, I am finding the time and energy to return to my former life.  

Picture books seem to come out on Tuesdays.  An odd day of the week to ask children to come to an author event.  This book held so much emotion. It is my love letter to Cairo and all that it means to me. It is also my way to counter the negative media depictions of Arabs that demonize the culture. 

I wanted to acknowledge the day, so I created a photography exhibit with photos of Cairo titled, Dear Cairo...my dear Cairo. The artist reception served as my artist/author event designed to complement the book and carry the same intention and message, to normalize Arab culture for those who are unfamiliar and to celebrate for those who are familiar with it. The Los Angeles photo exhibit is happening simultaneously at two different venues, the Venice Abbot Kinney Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library and Village Well Books and Coffee in Culver City.  Different photos will be on display at each venue as part of the exhibit. There will also be a second artist reception on April 22 4:00pm - 6:00pm.

If you can't see the video please click here

To celebrate the release of Egyptian Lullaby by Zeena M. Pliska, illustrated by Hatem Aly and the 14th Blogiversity of Teaching Authors, we are giving away a copy of the book! See below for instructions on how to enter.

By Zeena

 

________

 

We are giving away ONE copy of the latest TeachingAuthor picture book, Egyptian Lullaby (Roaring Brook Press) written by Zeena M. Pliska and illustrated by Hatem Aly! 

To enter the giveaway drawing, use the Rafflecopter widget below. (Note: if the widget doesn't appear, click on the link at the end of this post that says "a Rafflecopter giveaway" to enter.)

You may enter via up to 4 options. The more options you choose, the better your odds!

If you choose option 3, you MUST leave a comment on TODAY’S blog post or on our TeachingAuthors Facebook page. If you haven’t already “liked” our Facebook page, please do so today!

If you prefer, you may submit your comment via email to: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.

Note: if you submit your comments via email or Facebook, YOU MUST STILL ENTER THE DRAWING VIA RAFFLECOPTER BELOW.  The giveaway ends May 8, 2023 and is open to US. Residents only.

If you’ve never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, here’s info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway. And a second article explains the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address.

Good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

13 Years Ago Today; Plus, Info on April Pulley Sayre's Celebration of Life

In addition to Earth Day and Poetry Friday, today happens to also be our TeachingAuthors' Blogiversary! So this is a special, unscheduled post to commemorate all three aspects of the day, and it contains a mix of joy and sadness. At the end of the post, I share an excerpt from a beautiful Earth Day book written and illustrated by April Pulley Sayre, and I provide information on how to live stream the celebration of April's life taking place tomorrow, April 23.

Hard to believe that we started this blog THIRTEEN years ago today! Four of us still blogging together here were part of that original team: April, Esther, Mary Ann and me. We've been blessed to connect with many wonderful fellow TeachingAuthors on this journey. I was especially touched a year ago when a number of current and former TeachingAuthors gathered in a surprise virtual meeting in honor of our 12th anniversary. Esther wrote about that fun event in this post.   

The TAs also surprised me that day with a basket of lovely flowers. I shared the following photo of it in my blog post from a year ago today:

I love houseplants but don't have much room for them, so I gave away several of those in the basket. I kept two, though. One, the peace lily, is hardly noticeable in the above photo--it's tucked at the back of the basket. But it grew quickly and I transplanted it to a larger pot. The lily recently bloomed for the second time, and the violet--one of my favorites--blooms regularly:

Like our TeachingAuthors team, these plants are gifts that keep on giving! I am so grateful to be part of this team.

And today, on Earth Day, I can't help thinking about my dear friend, April Pulley Sayre, and how grateful I am to have known her for over twenty years. Last November, I wrote of how devastating it was to lose her at such a young age. As I said in that post, her work lives on. 

Many of April's books celebrate nature and the gifts of our planet. Today, I want to share an excerpt from the end of her beautiful picture book Thank You, Earth: A Love Letter to Our Planet (Greenwillow Books), which came out last year:   

These words are especially poignant now that April's gone. 

If you like, you can watch a video of the book's amazing photo illustrations and listen as April reads the book herself here. 

Tomorrow, April 23, there will be a celebration of April's life held in South Bend, Indiana. Unfortunately, I'm unable to attend in person, but I plan to participate in the live stream. Here's the info April's husband, Jeff Sayre, posted on Facebook: 

     "With difficulty and great expense, I have managed to hire and coordinate with an event production crew to shoot and live stream the event. If you cannot attend in person, here is the link to use on Saturday morning. The stream will go live this Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. EDT (we are on east coast time). The event officially starts at 9:00 a.m. It will last two hours with a 20-minute intermission.
     This is not a Zoom broadcast. This is not a Facebook Live broadcast. It is better. However, it is not without the inherent vagaries of intermittent connectivity issues. So there is no guarantee that the event stream will be perfect and go without a hitch. For that reason, the event is also being recorded to be shared at a later date. This is the actual link. Yes, it uses a TinyURL.
      April Pulley Sayre Celebration live stream: https://tinyurl.com/aprilpulleysayre ."

I know many in the kidlit community will be attending the event, and my thoughts will be with them, and especially with April's husband, Jeff.

Don't forget to check out this week's Poetry Friday round up hosted by Margaret at Reflections on the Teche.  

Carmela

12 Years! A Thanku and Another #HaikuFromTwo

Happy Poetry Friday! This post includes a Thanku and a #HaikuFromTwo.

As Esther shared in her post kicking off our current series, this month we're celebrating our TWELFTH Blogiversary! I can hardly believe it's been that long. This blogging journey has been filled with wonderful surprises and blessings. One of those surprises was the TeachingAuthors' virtual meeting Esther shared a photo of in her post. I thought that meeting was to learn some great new Zoom teaching tips from the amazing April Halprin Wayland. Instead, it was a party to celebrate our blog and my efforts to keep it running all these years. My fellow TeachingAuthors showered me with thanks that day. But I am just as grateful for all of them and what they've contributed to this blog over these dozen years. And I'm grateful to you, our readers, for traveling along with us. 

Esther didn't mention in her post the lovely gift my fellow TeachingAuthors sent me that day, as if the surprise meeting wasn't enough:

I smile every time I see these lovely plants (which are still blooming).   

This month, each of us are sharing a favorite post written by one of our fellow TeachingAuthors. My heart is so filled with gratitude for our blogiversary milestone that if felt appropriate to remind you all of Esther's terrific post introducing us to the Thanku: a haiku expressing gratitude. Esther inspired us to feature thankus often over these twelve years. You'll find many of those posts here. I'd like to add one more to that collection:

For my fellow TeachingAuthors and All Our Readers:
       My heart overflows
       like a basket of flowers,
       still growing. Thank you.
©2021 Carmela A. Martino. All rights reserved.

Speaking of haiku, this week I wrote another #HaikuFromTwo. I shared last month about Amanda Davis's #HaikuFromTwo challenge: you randomly pick two words from a book you're reading and create a haiku using them. After Beverly Cleary's recent death, I thought it would be fitting to read one of her books. Unlike most writers I know, I never read any of Cleary's work until I was an adult, and that book was Ramona Quimby, Age 8. A few weeks ago, I finally read the first Ramona book: Beezus and Ramona.  Today's #HaikuFromTwo includes two random words from that book: drawing (page 45) and pretend (page 159):

Be sure to check out this week's Poetry Friday roundup by Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core.

Happy writing!
Carmela

PS: Congratulations to Linda M, winner of our giveaway of JoAnn Early Macken's new book, Grow!

Our 11th Blogiversary!

Hard to believe that today marks ELEVEN years since we started this blog. Happy blogiversary to us!

Last year we did a series of ten posts to celebrate our tenth blogiversary, with contributions from all ten of the marvelous TeachingAuthors who had contributed to this blog over the years. Given the difficult times we're currently experiencing, I think a quieter celebration is in order this year. But rather than let the date go by unmarked, I thought I'd repeat the terrific Thanku poem Esther shared in her post for our tenth anniversary:

           THANKU TO YOU!

     Here’s to our Readers!
     Fans, Feeders, Fuelers all.
     True storied treasures.

poem (c) 2019 Esther Hershenhorn. All rights reserved.

We wouldn't still be doing this if not for you, our wonderful readers. Whether you're a new follower or you've been here from the beginning, we appreciate each and every one of you!

And don't forget to always Write with Joy!
Carmela

My Favorite Post to Celebrate Our 10th Blogiversary

 

This is the closing post to celebrate the ten wonderful years of this blog!   

Happy 10^thBlogiversary to the amazing writers –both past and present-who have been part of TeachingAuthors.com.  They welcomed me into the fold four years ago and I’ve enjoyed getting to know each one of them.  Soon I’ll be giving up my post as a TA, so I’d like to thank my fellow TAs and our readers for making this blog space so special for me.  

I’m closing out the series on our favorite posts.  During the time I’ve been a TA I was working on my latest book, Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington’s Mount Vernon.  I blogged about the process as I worked on it.  So my favorite blog post was the one I wrote a few days before that happy day when my book was released and available for sale.  

This post from December 14, 2018 was a celebration of completion for my book after more than five years of work.  It is also an effort to shine the spotlight on the lives of the individuals I’d been thinking about and writing about for so long.  In this post, I write about how I want to reader to emotionally connect with these real life people.  

For me, it takes a while to move on to a different project once my book is finished.  It is almost like taking your child to kindergarten on the first day of school.   You know it is a happy day and you should be glad that a new phase of life is beginning-but it is hard to let go.  

It is time for me to let go and figure out what project to tackle next . . .   

Carla Killough McClafferty

Bringing Up the Rear--Happy 10th Blogiversary, Teaching Authors!

Hello, readers! It's been nearly 5 years since I blogged here on TA. What a gift it is coming back and touching base with all of you again!

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS, TeachingAuthors, on 10 years of sharing your writing wit, wisdom, and camaraderie with lucky people all over the world. If any of you are just catching up, Carmela's kickoff post is here. As part of the celebration, TeachingAuthors have given away a copy of Cheryl Klein's fabulous The Magic Words. You can see who won, here.

It's been fun reading favorite posts from fellow TAs, present and past, and learning what they're currently up to. I think my own favorite post was one about finding ways to write during busy summers with kids underfoot, Summer Writing--with Kids.

That one caught my eye because, even though my own kids are in their 30s (gak!), we've added 5 grandkiddos to our family in the past 4 years. *cartwheels of happiness* When asked to babysit, I always say "Yes, I'd love to!" even if I'm under a stressful deadline (especially if I'm under a stressful deadline!). I can't resist the little stinkers. I anticipate plenty of happy times with them this summer. I'll be keeping my eyes and ears and heart open--and sticky notes handy. Brilliant ideas can spring from the simplest things....

My list of published books has grown in the past 5 years, too. You can see those on my website, here.  Next spring's picture books include Frog Boots, Where'd My Jo Go?, and We Love Babies!, as well as another title in Nat Geo's Little Kids Big Book series. I've done Who, How, and Why 2, and this next one answers Where.

Meanwhile, I'm still blogging at Picture Book Builders. Hard to believe we've been at it for nearly 5 years. Check us out!

Wishing my TA pals many more years of blogging!

Update from across the years

I'm delighted to be back to help celebrate the 10th Blogiversary of Teaching Authors.

My writing life has changed a good deal since I last blogged. After several years of teaching research writing and English Composition, I realized that I felt drawn to writing nonfiction. I sent out queries (thank you, Laura Purdie Salas for your invaluable information and tools) and began doing a variety of work-for-hire projects. I've greatly enjoyed the work and have published more than 20 titles in the last few years. I've come to realize how my teaching has informed my writing and vice versa, especially as exemplified by these two titles:

http://www.12storylibrary.com/non-fiction/great-tips-on-writing/12-great-tips-on-writing-to-inform/

https://cavendishsq.com/title/Screenwriting

Some things have not changed.  I am busy juggling many jobs and kids' activities and, just like old times, forgot to upload my post yesterday.  Sorry for the lapse.

Wishing everyone a wonderful summer, a break from teaching, and lots of time for writing and living!  -- Jeanne Marie