Posts Tagged: Writing

the lesser-known superpower of children (thoughts for your Easter weekend)

Every story whispers his name

Have you noticed the super powers small children wield? One morning, I was riding the NYC subway when the doors opened and into the car walked a little child. She was maybe 2. Instantly, all of us—these defended New Yorkers, all avoiding eye contact, all guarding our space—were transformed. We smiled at her. At her… Read more »

Happy Dr Seuss Day! And here are 10 great Seuss quotes

Happy Read Across America Day! I for one will be staying in my pajamas and reading all day long (I have to– I’ve already taken the pledge). And how fitting to celebrate Read Across America Day on the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel– the one and only Dr. Seuss! If you follow me on Twitter… Read more »

workspaces to inspire you

Where do you make art? write? compose? create? When I started out I thought it would be in a library. So I found the perfect one. It was very beautiful. And very silent. And very serious. And all I could think was, “GET ME OUT OF HERE!” I kept looking around at everyone writing great… Read more »

crossing barriers and boundaries

It’s one thing to hold the book you wrote in your hands. It’s another to see it in the hands of a child you have never met at the opposite ends of earth. Over the years Ann Voskamp has shared my books with children all over the world. This photo is of a boy in… Read more »

Where stories come from

Where do stories come from? Does the writer invent them? Or discover them? I’m certain it’s the latter. As least if they are living stories, true stories. (True–whether or not they are factual.) It was that blog from a couple of weeks ago that got me thinking about the promise that God will supply all… Read more »

Supplies and Greek

Are we really to have a blog about office supplies, now? No, fortunately we are not. Instead, we are going to have a lovely way to start the week. It’s Monday and, instead of reading my To Do List, I started the morning reading this–a great reminder from Eugene Peterson: that God is the one… Read more »

why there’s no such thing as children’s books

“I don’t believe that I have ever written a children’s book,” Maurice Sendak once said. “I don’t write for children. I write–and somebody says, ‘That’s for children!’” Madeleine L’Engle said, “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it… Read more »

Running and Writing and Cups of Tea

A few years ago, I was on Fripp, a barrier island in South Carolina. (I was there with great friends on a writing retreat.) I got up early one morning and went running — and happened upon a magical scene… As the mist hung over the marsh, the sun was just rising, a fisherman in… Read more »

Picture Books, Theater and the Turn of the Page

A good picture book is like theater. You’re probably familiar with The Caldecott Medal (awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children). But who is this Caldecott exactly? Beatrix Potter called him, “one of the greatest illustrators of all.” Maurice Sendak credited him with inventing the modern picture book…. Read more »