Category: Blog

  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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

I’ll never forget the day I decided to become a teacher. I was 8 years old and helping my aunt decorate her 3rd grade classroom on a hot August afternoon. Together we put up bulletin boards, taped name tags to desks, and made sure all of the pencils were sharpened and ready to go. Oh what fun we had in preparation for another school … Continue readingThe Journey Begins

This was the year in which she had the most challenging class of her career, and every day became a struggle for her. I only had her kiddos for 30 minutes a week, and that was enough to make me exhausted. I could only imagine what her days must be like. I felt for her as I too had “been there” with an unruly … Continue readingI could see the weariness in her eyes

I’ve had many people ask me where I came up with the idea for the book, “Mari.” I don’t know exactly how the story popped in my head, but I do know where she was born! For several years, I volunteered at a place called “The Farm.” It was located in the middle of nowhere, but some very special people lived there. They suffered … Continue readingI believe it’s time for me to fly!