It’s become a pet peeve of mine, hearing people say the summer is over. By my count, we’ve got nearly two more weeks! Check your calendar: It’s not fall until September 21st!

But to commemorate the unofficial end of summer, last weekend I went to visit my friend Amy and her family at their (fairly) new house.

Amy is not only one of my closest ( Read more... )

Just got back from an AMAZING week in Chicago, where I attended the International Reading Association conference for the first time. My friends Leslie Margolis and Siobhan Vivian were also there, and it was wonderful to see them both-since neither of them live in NYC, I don’t to do that nearly enough.

I felt like a total rockstar when I was there ( Read more... )

Madden and Brody are six and four years old, respectively.  Around the time Madden turned five, I remarked to Amy (their mom) that he’d reached the age he’d have real, enduring memories of later on in life.  I totally remember stuff about being five, and it was a relief when Madden got there because, as I explained to Amy, if I died suddenly, at ( Read more... )

I’m getting a lot of mileage out of this particular Brody story, having posted it on Facebook and Twitter.  Also I’ve told everyone I know in real-life.  So this may be somewhat duplicitous, but I’m going to write about it here too.

Not too long ago, I taught my three-year-old godson, Brody, the lyrics to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.”  I also ( Read more... )

Have you heard there’s a chair trick women can do that men can’t?  I hadn’t, but Lauren Myracle told me all about it today:  Put a chair in front of you and stand a few feet back from a wall.  Bend forward so your body’s at a ninety degree angle and your head is against the wall.  Then lift the chair up and then stand up, still holding the chair.  ( Read more... )

I’m blogging because it’s the time of the day that I’m supposed to be writing, but right now I’m having too much anxiety about my WIP to be in it, so here’s a way for me to still be producing words without being reduced to tears.

I tend to not talk about my works-in-progress; not publicly at least - though if you know me in real-life, chances are I ( Read more... )

So you’ve probably heard me go on and on about this little guy:


( Read more... )

One thing (of many things) that I love about my friend Amy’s son Madden is that whenever I ask him how he’s doing, he says, “Great!”  The exclamation point is part of the quote - the excitement is there, in his voice, like life is good and he knows it.  When I remember, I try to respond the way he does.

Madden turned six years old yesterday.  Six ( Read more... )

I once let my friend Amy remove a splinter from my palm.  She was pregnant with her first kid - a boy, it turned out - and we were hanging out for the final time before she officially became a mom.  I flipped out when I saw the splinter - it was on the thick side, and it was in there pretty deep.  I squeezed my eyes shut tight while Amy went after ( Read more... )

This is a very special Tuesday Friendship Post.  Today is the 3rd birthday of my much beloved godson, Brody Hudson, son of my dear friends Amy and Eric, and brother of Madden.  I love him so much that I named the only recurring character I’ve ever written after him:  A gorgeous, famous actor/heartthrob named Brody Hudson appears in MY SO-CALLED ( Read more... )