My recent trip to New York City was food for the soul. As a reader and writer, I had many moments that fed my imagination and warmed my heart...

A visit to the United Nations was inspiring and fascinating...


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Happy St. Patrick’s Day to friends near and far.

I offer you this Irish soda bread, which I baked yesterday.

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Trying to break into the children’s publishing world is a daunting process. There are many facets of the craft to learn, numerous rejections to collect, many heart-thumping risks to take. Then there are the people who reach out a hand to the new, the nervous, the striving. I’ve seen very accomplished writers take “newbies” under their wing, ( Read more... )

I’m still gathering my thoughts about the wonderful SCBWI Conference I attended in NYC. As always, the keynotes were the highlights for me. It was exciting to hear the words of Susan Patron, Richard Peck, and Nikki Grimes. I will post about them at a later time. In the meantime, one of my best “connection” moments happened outside the hotel, on ( Read more... )

February is here, and most people on Cape Cod were looking a little glum this morning due to the surprising results of the Super Bowl.

Since I am not a big sports fan, my eyes are firmly fixed on NYC and this weekend’s SCBWI Mid-Winter Conference!

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I just returned from a wonderful "sister weekend" in New York. My sister Catherine flew in from Ireland, and I met her at her best friend's apartment in Manhattan. Aside from wonderful meals, great wine, and lots of fantastic conversation, my weekend also featured a bit of driving and 6 hours on a train... three hours down to the city, and three ( Read more... )