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…
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…
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]