Real Life is Better Than Fiction

Older kids may balk a little when you make them read over the summer, but they should read. My kids need to read 30 minutes a day. That doesn't take much time out of their bus schedule. Allow tweens and teens to pick out their own books. This will allow them to read what they want to read, making it a not such a "chore." You may even be surprised at the books they choose. Teens, leave me a comment on what your favorite book is so others can get a copy and read it, too! Here is a list for the tweens and teens. Again, this is a very short list, however, some of the suggestions are series. Follow the links to Amazon on the Book Links page for easy ordering. Lord of the Rings Huckleberry Finn Tom Sawyer A Wrinkle in Time Anne of Green Gables Chronicles of Narnia Little House on the Prairie Robinson Crusoe Tale of Two Cities Oliver Twist

Let's not forget about the kids reading over the summer. Reading every day during the summer months helps children retain and reinforce what they have learned throughout the school year. Choose books that go along with what they learned in school, but also choose books that are fun. See if your local bookstore or library has a summer reading program where kids can earn rewards for reading. Here is a (very short) list of books for kids to help get you started. These were some of my kids' favorites when they were little. My one daughter would often bring a pile of books to Aunt Susan when she came to visit. Aunt Susan would bring chocolate and they would read for a while, both of them very happy with the arrangement. If your kids have a favorite, leave it in the comments section to share with others. As always there are links on the Book Links page to make your shopping easier. The Giving Tree Green Eggs and Ham Go, Dog, Go Are You My Mother? Curious George I...

Many people get to read during the summer months more so than the rest of the year. Since I'm a writer, book reviewer, and book club leader, I read A LOT. Many people ask me about what book they should read next. I have compiled a list of some summertime reading ideas. These are all books I have read and enjoyed. Go to the book link tabs if you see anything that interests you for a direct link to Amazon for purchase. These are in no particular order, simply the order I pulled them off my shelf. I read a lot of Christian fiction. If you know of any good books that I should read, please leave me the title and the author in the comments. I am always on the lookout for a good book! Take advantage of the summer months and spend some of that time engrossed in a good book. A Rift in Time – Michael Phillips Hidden in Time – Michael Phillips The Camera Never Lies – Elizabeth Goddard Pieces of Silver – Maureen Lang Back Home Again – Melody Carlson My Heart Remembers – Kim Vog...

Writing is fun! Yeah, that sounds like a teacher trying to convince her students of exactly that! For some students writing is not fun. However, for us as writers, writing should be fun. We should enjoy it. When we enjoy our writing it will show and readers will enjoy reading it.  I re- realized this when I was trying to get my son to do a writing assignment for school. Writing is not his favorite subject. He was to use the alphabet to come up with creative adjectives to describe himself. Whoever thought this was a good idea for 8th grade boys obviously never had a boy for a child. He immediately thought of words for A, B, and C and by then was having so much fun entertaining himself he could hardly write for laughing. He finished the assignment because he was having fun. Next time your writing becomes a chore, take a few steps back. Maybe put one project away and work on something else. It’s okay to work on something that will never be published. It can be therapeutic and do...

It’s here! As some of you may know my mother was also a writer. She and her cousin Kathy could often be found writing together when they were teenagers. Fortunately, my grandfather was an avid photographer and captured those memories on film. I actually have some letters that my mom and her cousin wrote back and forth to each other. They signed them “Little Joe” and “Hos.” Obviously Bonanza was one of their favorite television shows. My mother also had a deep love of history, mainly the Civil War. She and my father belonged to the North-South Skirmish Association, which is similar to reenacting, but the regiments compete at target shooting instead of recreating battles and shooting at each other.   I remember one day when I was young, Mom asked me to clean out from under the couch – that was where we crammed everything when unexpected company came. I took the broom and slid it across the floor from one end of the couch to the other. For the most part it was the u...

The longer I’m married, the more important anniversaries are to me. It seems that more and more marriages are falling apart around us while my husband and I work hard to hold together what we have. It’s not always easy – I can be extremely stubborn at times!    While my family loved Randy, I think we did everything we could to scare him away. One of those times was when we took Randy camping with us. It didn’t end up being the trip of a lifetime for him, yet it was one none of us will ever forget.   On the way to the campsite, we were all fooling around in the car, not thinking that anything was amiss behind us. Only after we arrived at the campsite did we realize the camper door latch was broken and the door had been hanging open for we don’t know how long. Since Randy was the last to pack, all of his belongings were just inside the door. All his stuff fell out of the camper somewhere along the way.   There was nothing we could do, all his things were lost...

  I have always enjoyed spring. Perhaps it’s because winter was so long in NY where I grew up that being able to go outdoors without bundling up was a blessing. (Although spring seems to be slow in coming to VA this year. It snowed yesterday!)   One of the things I loved most about spring was the flowers. When the green tips of the daffodils would first peek through the soil my mom would announce that spring would indeed come despite how much it snowed after she made her announcement. Lilacs are my favorite spring flowers probably because of a combination of their beautiful scent and their purple color. Purple is my favorite. What I wrote about lilacs in my book Come Eat at My Table was one of those things from my real life. At the house where I grew up we had a huge lilac bush. We actually called it a tree because it was so big. Each spring the bush/tree would be full of blossoms. My mom would take some scissors out and cut a bunch of those blossoms to bring in...