I’ve had a few people ask me what’s next on my agenda. I’ve been a little secretive. I’m still going to be a little secretive, but I’ll give you a broad hint at the end of this post. But first, what have I been doing? Reading. Reading and reading and reading. I’ve reread old favorites […]
The Evolution of an Author
Some of you guys have been with me on this publishing journey from the beginning. You’ve watched me break out into the self-publishing market in 2011, make some major mistakes, learn how to rectify them, and gradually come to produce children’s literature that has consistently received high ratings. I was an elementary school teacher, and I’ve […]
Struggling Readers
As I’m preparing for the upcoming homeschool year, I’m going to take a break from book reviews to touch on a related literary subject–struggling readers. I have one of these. In fact, I have two. The younger one is a typical boy who’d rather spend time outside and therefore commits way less than his full […]
Reading Rocks in Rockford
With my kids-at-home schedule, I haven’t been doing author events very often the past two years, but the one in Rockford, MI was fun last year. And it’s free. And my friend and fellow Emblazoner Lisa Orchard lives there. So what the heck. I participated again this year. I even brought my boys, T. Man […]
Mom's bragging rights
Sunday I had the priviledge of helping my daughter publish her first book. It was a high school creative writing assignment that the teacher strongly encouraged her to “try to get published.” Well, I know a little something about that. My only stipulation–she had to use a pen name. So over the weekend I taught […]
A Look Forward and a Look Back
What a year! There are things about 2012 I’d like to repeat and things I never want to go through again. I suppose that’s like any other year. As far as my writing is concerned, it’s also been a mixed bag. Now it’s time once again to pick out the highlights, celebrate the goals met, […]
Tough as Nails? Usually, but…
I swapped out the post I had scheduled this Friday to give you all a personal update. You non-Michigan readers probably don’t even have a clue that I’ve been struggling this summer. Those of you who see me every week are just starting to ask questions. Because I’m usually tough as nails, with the pain […]
An interesting bit of history
Last night I was talking to my elderly uncle who shared a bit of family history I had never heard before. In light of the book I just released, Beneath the Slashings, I found it pretty interesting. It seems I have a great, great, great Uncle Peter whose father died when he was 13 years old. […]
A Canon of Literature
A note from Michelle: Because I’m currently on holiday in the Smokey Mountains, the planning of which took up mucho blog time, and because all the rest of my free time lately has been spent turning The Candle Star into an audio book, I do not have a Friday Freebie for you this week. This post, […]
Indie Endeavors, part 1 – My Eight-Year Journey
Last year, I choose to become an independently-published author (affectionately dubbed an “Indie”). This year, I’m going make an effort to share some of my experiences with others who may be considering the same route. Today, as my first post in this series, I’ll describe the eight-year road that precluded my own decision. Actually, I’ve […]