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caroline carefully arranges everything she holds dear

I found a link to this painting at live.life.create.art today and I’m totally breathtaken.  The artist is Amanda Blake, and I just want to stare at this painting all day.  Really, I want to go inside it.  I’d love to know how to paint like that: to know how to make a paintbrush do that…

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you left footprints

Here’s a little photo poem.  The image here comes from one of my very favorite sites, Square America, an online collection of found photographs and snapshots.  And the text comes from something I wrote years and years ago…

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video: 100 things I am grateful for

It’s been that kind of summer.  The kind where it seemed like a good idea to make a list the things I am grateful for.  I set out to make a list of 100, and once I got going, it seemed it would be just as easy to list a thousand. But I stuck with […]

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Favorite quotes from Everyone is Beautiful

A reporter asked me last week to put together some of my favorite quotes from Everyone Is Beautiful for a story she’s doing.  And so I did.  I’ve been writing new stuff, and blogging, and goofing off with my kids this summer–and it had been a while since I’d spent any time with Everyone Is […]

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revising a draft

Here’s me, yesterday, revising an early draft of a story.  This is what it looks like early on–lots of writing all over the page: arrows, carrots, scribbles.  Then I go back and type in what I’ve written.  Then I print it out and write all over the typed pages again, over and over until it […]

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style with style

I grew up with The Elements of Style, but I guarantee my copy was nowhere near this gorgeous. Maybe it’s time for a new one. I might need to get it for the illustrations alone. These illustrations are by Maira Kalman, who also has a gorgeous and super-fantastic illustrated blog for The New York Times. […]

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writing wednesday! too much coolness is not cool

This Writing Wednesday is about naming characters.  And why you have to do it carefully and not just buy a baby book and pick out your favorite names. Here’s the main point of the video (and you’ll notice that I DO NOT actually SAY IT in the video): Characters and names have a relationship to […]

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the body project

After my friends and I did this project there were comments.  Lots and lots of comments.  And many of those comments said this: I want to do it, too! Which gave me an idea.  Other people should do it, too. I cannot tell you how soothing, amazing, and comforting it is to paint words of […]

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do you make an outline when you write a novel?

It’s Thursday morning!  So that must mean it’s time for Writing Wednesday! This question is from Jaime, who wants to know if I make an outline when I write a novel. And the answer is yes. And no. And sort of. [BlueTube]GEuH_wQb09w[/BlueTube] Usually, my outlines are just numbered lists.  Very broad.  The number stands for […]

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