In my writing process, I don’t specifically seek out ideas, so much as I come upon them, serendipitously. But once I come upon the germ of an idea I do my research, mostly exploratory reading.
The coming of the new year always brings me a renewed sense of time, of moving forward. But there was a moment — one New Year’s Eve — when I experienced being lost in time.
I have absolutely no idea when I first heard it, but I can’t recall a time when I ever forgot it. For me — as for countless others — it represents the essential saga of Santa Claus and Christmas Eve.
You said you read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol every Christmas. Why? I have no idea when I first read A Christmas Carol. Perhaps it was read to me.
The question of book reviews is vexing for many writers. Over my years of writing the world of reviewing has changed radically.
I may have told this book story here before, but since it happened exactly thirty years ago…
One of the particular joys of writing for kids is that they write to you.
I was feeling gloomy. It had started to snow. I started a read-through of my current project. A favorite recipe for Tomato Soup popped into my mind.
The more books I begin, the worse they seem at the start.
I was talking to a sixth-grade class the other day when one of the students asked: “How do you make a character in a book, you know, all the different things and feelings she has?”