I hope all of you, my readers, have a wonderful 2025! For your writing prompts this month, you will get…
Read more →ššÆš„ šš©š¦šÆ šš©š¦š³š¦ šš¦š³š¦ šš¦š¢šµš©š¦š³š“, but now there are bodies. And now one, specifically a skeleton, has turned up in…
Read more →In Iceland at Christmas, a giant black cat, JĆ³lakƶtturinn, The Yule Cat, roams the countryside and devours anyone who isnāt…
Read more →For this monthās writing prompts, explore the world of opossums, wake up in a room filled with books that wonāt…
Read more →Fossil fuels are fuels (such as coal, oil, or natural gas) formed in the earth from plant or animal remains.
Read more →
Are you guilty of using as many of these redundant expressions as I am? Until I began looking at these expressions, I had no clue how many of them I had been speaking and writing. Once you look at the expression and explore what it really means, you will see that a redundant expression is…
Reading was a huge part of schooling my children, and we read many books by Mark Twain: Puddnāhead Wilson, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurās Court, and Life on the Mississippi. His life was something we didnāt study though. I knew that he didn’t like people…
No matter where in the United States you live, chances are that will hear Spanish as well as English being spoken. So wouldnāt it be a great idea to start your little ones off learning the Spanish language along with English? Many items, like toilet paper and paper towels, have written on the packaging in…
Arsenic, cyanide, and strychnine are the classic poisons. The seemingly innocent little old ladies inĀ Arsenic and Old Lace, one of my favorite movies, used these three poisons in their deadly elderberry wine. One gallon of this toxic wine contained one teaspoon of arsenic, half a teaspoon of strychnine, and just a pinch of cyanide. Unsuspecting…
Does a bear have clause or claws? Would a scene in a book be climacteric, climactic, or climatic? Would you climb or clime a mountain? Should you heat your home with coal or with cole? Are snowy winter nights coaled or cold? cited, sighted, sited CitedĀ is the past tense of cite. The attorney cited the…
Where did the word āmonkeyā originate from? Adam is supposed to have named all the animals while he was in the Garden of Eden, but there is some speculation about how the monkey got its name. Moneke is the name of the son of Martin the Ape in a medieval animal story. That is one…
Monkshood, the queen of poisons, is known by many names: wolfsbane, aconite, leopardās bane, womenās bane, devilās helmet, blue rocket, and friarās cap. Her beauty is astounding, but her flowers of white, cream, yellow, blue, or purple are deadly. The Plant and its Poison Each part of this gorgeous flower, especially the leaves and roots,…
When you read, the words should magically teleport you to another land, time, or universe filled with other people, animals, or creatures. You lose yourself in a fantasy world and live vicariously through someone, maybe even something, else. The enchanting art of teleportation needs to be used as you write. Put yourself in the place…
Would someone choose or chews aĀ new car? Would one wear a coat when the weather is Chile, chili, chilli, or chilly? When you practice firing your gun, would you chute it or shoot it? charted, chartered If something has beenĀ charted, a course of action has been planned. The captain charted his route before he left…
Why did she want to write a book exploring the boundaries of sexual attraction that society has? How did she research this book? Which character and which scene were her favorites? What age was she when she first had the desire to write? What advice does she have for writers? What made you want to…
Monday, Sunday isnāt a book Ā that every person will be able handle reading. This book explores the boundaries of sexual attraction between older females and teenage boys. To broach such a difficult, almost taboo, subject took skill. Fenton Grace did an amazing job writing this tale of love and betrayal. I knew before I got…
Have you ever been afraid of the dark? Iām sure if you think back to your childhood, you can remember a time when you were afraid of the monster you were sure was hiding underneath your bed, or maybe you were terrified of the nameless creature that inhabited your closet. Miaās Quest for Courage is…
A corset is an undergarment worn by some women to enhance the shape of their body. It is made stiff by whalebone or some other stiff material, and it is tightened by having the laces pulled. Remember Scarlett O’Hara’s tiny waist? She achieved such a small middle by wearing a corset and having the laces…
A phobia is an extreme dread or fear of something. When a person encounters the object of his or her fear, he could experience anxiety, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, anĀ irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, dry mouth, etc. While this person’s phobia may seem outrageous or unreasonable to you, I assure you it is not unreasonable…
The look of wonder and excitement in a childās eyes when he or she is introduced to books and the world of reading is priceless. Most small children are fascinated with flowers. My two-year-old granddaughter loves to watch the butterflies and the bees fly around and land on their colorful petals. Taking a toddler on…
Would you have cereal or serial for breakfast? Does a teacher use chalk or chock to write on the blackboard? Would chard or charred be served with dinner? cents, scents, sense A cent is 1/100th of one dollar, soĀ centsĀ would be more than one cent. Heather was so broke, she couldn’t even afford the pack of…
A beast lives inside of Jaz Barker.Ā Can she learn to control it before someone innocent is hurt? Jaz has a horrible nightmare and wakes up in a puddle of blood.Ā It appears she has had a miscarriage, but she wasnāt pregnant. She is also severely anemic.Ā To treat it, she must keep going back…
Have you ever encountered a cling of koalas? How dark would the sky be if a cloud of bats filled the air? Would a cluster of spiders make your nightmares more terrifying? If you do have a nightmare, would a comfort of cats help to calm you down? A cling of koalasĀ – When a baby…
I never thought of myself as a writer. I never thought I would enjoy it the way that I do today. Like that little boy, Mikey, in the old cereal commercials, I tried it, and as soon as the flavor hit me, I started gobbling it down. Note: This giest post was originally published on…
Which one of the stories in this book is his favorite? Where does he get his inspiration? What is his biggest fear as a writer? What is the name of his band? Note: This interview was originally published on The News in Books on May 13, 2014. Where do you get your inspiration for your…
Something strange is going on in St. Clair, Georgia.Ā People arenāt acting right.Ā One man escapes with his family and hides out in the hills, but will they be able to find safety there? In this book by Stephen Helmes, there are four stories. Three are tales of horror, and the other one is a…
Does a ceil or a seal live in the ocean? Would you store potatoes in a cellar or a seller? Is the temperature be detected by a censer, a censor, a censure, or a sensor? Does perfume have a pleasant cent, scent, or sent? cede, seed CedeĀ means to yield. Knowing that defeat was inevitable, the…
I didnāt set out to become a poet nor did I sit down one day thinking I would try to write a poem.Ā For me it began more circuitously.Ā It began with a foreign tongue.Ā For me, reading and more importantly translating is the way I first discovered the stirrings of my own voice within.…
Told in poetry and pictures, this is the story of Richard Musto, a homeless man who lives on the streets of New York City with aplomb that not many of us would be able to keep if we found ourselves without a roof over our heads, a bed to sleep in, or a refrigerator full…
