Running Twice as Fast Will Never Get you Here

Ah fiction. It has so much truth to tell… They were running hand in hand, and the Queen went so fast that it was all Alice could do to keep up with her: and still the Queen kept crying “Faster! Faster!”… The most curious part of the thing was, that … however fast they went, […]

The truth behind fiction

Structure is such an interesting thing. Rules, authority, discipline…we rail against is all. Leave us alone! Give us our freedom. Let me do what I want! You’re not the boss of me. Yet, I look back at the times of real growth for me, times that propelled me toward who I am today, times that […]

Wired for storytelling

Some UVA scientists have “discovered” something: “the human brain is wired to connect with others so strongly that we experience what they experience as if it’s happening to us.” Really? People who read books discovered this eons ago. We see what the protagonist sees, hear what she hears, feel what she feels. It’s the magic […]

the Old Way, only better

My kids are remembering “the old days.” A time when cell phone use at schools was hidden in the bathroom so you wouldn’t get caught and have your phone confiscated. “That was like 6th grade, Mom,” she says. I’m not sure her memory is serving her exactly. ‘She’ is in 10th grade. Four years ago is […]

It’s all in how they read it

“LITTLE PIG, LITTLE PIG, LET ME COME IN!”There, did you read that in a big, deep voice? Reverend Miner says, “I hope so, or you’re not a very good storyteller.” Because you want the child to get the message: when danger comes knocking, don’t let it in. Isn’t it funny how children’s fiction speaks so […]