New Beginnings

  The last line of my book, “Mari” says that an end is just a new beginning. For her, life as a caterpillar had ended, and she decided to move forward from the bully onto a new adventure as a butterfly. Her identity had transformed, and so did her actions. Mari not only looked different, but she had brand new behaviors as well. As … Continue readingNew Beginnings

Mari Made It Happen!

Have you ever had an idea swirling around in your mind for a really long time? This happened to me recently. I am not sure what took me so long to move forward with it. Could have been procrastination, or maybe the idea needed a little longer to marinate. (The latter actually makes me feel a bit better!) Like many ideas in life, they … Continue readingMari Made It Happen!

Back to School Blues

I absolutely love summer. Every year I looked forward to sunshine, hot days, cool nights, vacations, sleeping in, and time at home with my kids. As July approached, I would avoid the aisles with the back to school sales when shopping. This has become more difficult to do as these sales seem to appear right after Valentine’s Day. Don’t get me wrong; I love … Continue readingBack to School Blues

The Joys of Summer

Ahhhhh, summer. The running joke is that the top 3 reasons to be a teacher are June, July, and August. As an educator, I remember counting the days until school was out. (Some years I started earlier than others!) The main reason I looked forward to the break was to spend more time with my 4 children. My memory takes me back to those … Continue readingThe Joys of Summer

Bullying

Every time I talk about my book, there is a different slant to the presentation. Sometimes I focus on the writing process, and other times I talk about how I came up with the characters. It often depends on the questions I get asked from students and teachers. I recently spoke at a school, and this time the main topic of conversation was bullying. … Continue readingBullying

Start The School Year With A Clean Slate

Ahhh, the beginning of a new school year is upon us. We are all asking ourselves what happened to our gloriously carefree days of summer as we prepare for the kiddos who will soon be walking through our classroom doors. I remember going to the secretary and getting my class list. My eyes quickly scanned the roster to see if I got “that kid.” … Continue readingStart The School Year With A Clean Slate

The Dreaded Edits

One of the biggest challenges that I have faced with the entire process of publishing a book would have to be the dreaded edits. Back in the day, I used to take my red pen out and mark up my students’ papers so that they could revise them. I framed it in a way that I was helping them, but they rarely thanked me … Continue readingThe Dreaded Edits