Category Archives: writing life

You Do You: a collection of essays about raising strong girls

It’s been a week that was many years long.

via GIPHY

One thing is clear. We have a lot of work to do to dismantle the culture of sexism that we are raising our kids in.  It’s each of our responsibilities to challenge the gender stereotypes, toxic masculinity, and rape culture that persists at the highest levels in our institutions. One way to do this is to provide our kids with books that showcase women and girls sharing their stories, perspectives, voices and experiences. Luckily, we now have a new book that does just THAT, across generations, out just this week. I’m proud to have a poem in this new anthology.

You Do You is the sixth book in the New York Times best selling I Just Want to Pee Alone series, which has tackled a variety of topics since 2012 – including parenthood, relationships, and the cult of female perfection – all with a broad range of voices, from the cynical, to the ugly-cry, to the outright hilarious. Continue reading

Litpick Video Review of The Order of the Trees

What a treat to see this video review of The Order of the Trees come into my inbox yesterday! Litpick, a student review site for books, gave the the book 5 stars and a student created this video review. I love how the male student reviewer shared that the book features a strong female character in Cedar, and that it carries a message of the importance of protecting nature.

Thank you, student reviewers of Litpicks!

Blackout Poetry and NaNoWriMo

IMG_6029They opened the library doors for us– our secret society of writers. We headed to the basement, which felt just right.

I sat in the Aldrich Library in Barre, Vermont with an excited and diverse group of writers. Among us were teenage sci-fi writers, a woman who writes about puppies, a 70 + year old man, and a nine year old girl. All gathered to learn about how to participate in the ridiculous National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge– to write 50,000 words in one month.

We talked about plot ideas, best times to write, no editing! and programs that help. We laughed nervous laughs and ate chocolate. Then we started a writing activity, because, well, that is what we do. This one is a fabulous one to do with students, I did it the next day with mine. Continue reading