I committed to a writing career on my 40th birthday–May 27, 1999. I figured that, given the average lifespan of 80 or so years, I was about halfway done with my life, and if I was going to be a professional writer I had better be about it. Do the math. That was 19 years…
I always worry that my novels are too short. Soul Lost is my longest at 81,000 words, but Megan is much shorter, only 47,000. A book that has not yet seen the light of day, The People of the Green Hills, is more epic in my mind, but on paper it is only 67,000 words.…
I got out of the habit of reading during the twenty years that being a mom was my primary concentration. Considering the voracious reader I was before that is really something. I did read the books that my children loved, however, and many of those books are well worth your time. These are my suggestions:…
I love allusions. They create a strong connection between reader and writer, not to mention reader and reader. We’ve read the same books! We’ve seen the same movie! We know the same myths and legends! Allusions are cultural unifiers. Overstating you say? Look at JK Rowling’s Harry Potter. How many of us know that McGonagall’s…
My friend Cathy gave me a book for Christmas entitled Why I Jump by Naoki Higashida. What an eyeopener! How I wish I had read it back in August/September when I started working with some children who were more challenged than any I had ever supported in six years of parapro-ing. The author is a 13-year-old…
Beth Warstadt 