Are you a Nervous Nellie? Or perhaps you’re a Negative Nellie. Has anyone ever said to you, “Not on your…
Read more →Why use common words like untidy, contemptible, vain, simple, etc., when describing a person when there are so many fun…
Read more →𝑈𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 is a different kind of zombie book, one that will without a doubt grab your attention. I thought it…
Read more →How would you create an invisible sculpture, and would you be able to sell it? Your town is flooded and…
Read more →Did you know that cats once helped with an ancient battle? Monkeys escape from a zoo, and an emu is…
Read more →Are you a Nervous Nellie? Or perhaps you’re a Negative Nellie. Has anyone ever said to you, “Not on your…
Read more →
What would you do if you found out your uncle, the one you were to stay with for at least the next three months, turned out to be a mad scientist? Nick and Tesla, brother and sister, both eleven years old, get the pleasure of staying with their Uncle Newt while their parents are in…
Envisage is a story about learning to deal with your own insecurities and fears. For years, I battled nightmares, but I didn’t understand how to get rid of them. We didn’t have the Internet when I was a child, so I didn’t know that what I had been dealing with had a name, several in…
Have you ever had a time in life when nothing goes right? When the life you have worked so hard to attain is falling to pieces? Outside of the realm we know and exist in, Dark Time threatens the reality of Paul Trevena and the others who live in his world. Trevena works at a…
Does chicken noodle soup help get rid of coals or colds? Would you store your valuables in a coffer or in a cougher? Is a football game played in a coliseum or a Colosseum? coalition, collation A coalition is a union or temporary alliance between persons, groups, factions, etc. A coalition between the two teams was needed…
The day is dull, dark, and soundless. That is a perfect beginning for a book inspired by any tale of Edgar Allen Poe. In this tale of three little ravens, Edgar decides on this boring gray day to go and see his friend Roderick in his tree house. Of course, his little sister wants to…
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: Puddn’head Wilson, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and Life on the Mississippi. His life was something we didn’t 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 wouldn’t 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 in 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 Cited is the past tense of cite. The attorney cited the…
Where did the word “monkey” 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, leopard’s bane, women’s bane, devil’s helmet, blue rocket, and friar’s 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 a 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 been 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 isn’t a book 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? I’m 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. Mia’s 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, an 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 child’s 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, so cents 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. Can she learn to control it before someone innocent is hurt? Jaz has a horrible nightmare and wakes up in a puddle of blood. It appears she has had a miscarriage, but she wasn’t pregnant. She is also severely anemic. 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 koalas – 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…
