Amy Makechnie's Blog

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

doohickey: a small object or gadget, especially one whose name the speaker does not know or cannot recall.

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Published on November 29, 2025 04:12

Happy Thanksgiving 2025

Aloha.

When your four kids can’t come home for Thanksgiving, may I suggest…Hawaii?

Our children are perplexed by this, and our part-mermaid child is VERY SALTY. They do not know who their parents are. We are the totally-traditional Thanksgiving turkey, mashed potato, stuffing, and a gazillion-pie family!

It’s good for them, you know? Keep the kids guessing.

When we landed (after a 5-hour flight, followed by a 7-hour flight), I admit to being jet-lagged, emotional, and a bit homesick for a packed, chaotic house with the darlings, the traditional meal, and have I mentioned the pies? But Hawaii is every bit as lush and spectacular as I hoped it would be.

We are at Kauai, where Jurassic Park was filmed. The island has a fascinating history that I now want to write and paint.

One could get use to island life. So far, I have not seen any dinosaurs, but a lot of very friendly, very chill chickens and nene birds (the state bird: geese).

I will probably come back home. But like I said, it’s good to keep the children guessing.

a hui hou (until we meet again),

Amy 🌴

p.s. when in Hawaii, buy from the locals, especially the fresh coconut milk on the side of the road. make a morning smoothie. my goodness, you shall never be the same.

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

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Published on November 25, 2025 03:03

Thanksgiving

The more thanks I give, the more things flood into my mind. Like right now … fingers that can type, wrists free of carpel tunnel syndrome, a working computer, sunscreen, hair, a warm coat, wind, eggs, and the list goes on and on…and the brain will keep delivering these things the more we focus on all the things.

Seeing the good, feeling this profound thankfulness counteracts the triggers that are all around us. For instance, this was a big trigger for me…

are we for real?

Calm, deep breaths.

I am grateful for clouds…

my friend Julie taught me something about triggers vs glimmers

Today I’m looking for glimmers. You are one of them :)

Amy

p.s. I’m drawing for 15 minutes every day this month, inspired by , which is how these little drawings came to be.

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Last Part:

Visited: Bethlehem New Hampshire for a school visit. It was wonderful. I drove through Franconia Notch, which was like entering winter wonderland. This is what I learned: kids love stories! They love to read and want their own library cards. They are so smart. When I asked what “empathy” was, hands shot up! Same for POV and context - they knew these words and obviously have amazing teachers.

One little girl raised her hand and proudly said she had dyslexia, just like Dav Pilkey. Another girl was named Beatrix, just like Beatrix Potter, who loved painting bunnies.

They are at the age where screens will soon be taking over their lives. Dear readers, please do everything you can to keep kids reading! It is the gift that keeps on giving.

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

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Published on November 18, 2025 08:47

Write With the Door Closed...

A little reminder.

Write with the door closed, Edit with the door open.

First drafts start with just me. The “door” is closed to feedback - and that includes my own negative self talk. The only goal is to finish the draft. I open the door carefully and slowly when choosing first readers and critique partners because I’m a sensitive little flower who is crushed easily.

As each draft becomes better, I open the door wider until it’s finally time to fling that manuscript out the door and into the world. By then it’s no longer mine. “Do your worst…!” as they say.

“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right — as right as you can, anyway — it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it.”

-Stephen King, On Writing

Amy

p.s. I’m drawing for 15 minutes every day this month, inspired by , which is how this little painting came to be. See the little date stamp? It’s so fun to stamp!

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Last Part:

The End: of coaching soccer this season. I looooove this team and am feeling a little sad that it’s all over. Here’s to strong girls and women…and the women we coach with!

Walking: in rain and cool temps. I feel the precursor to winter

Wearing: my favorite blundstones all fall and winter. I have this pair and bought during a Black Friday sale

Visiting: Bethlehem New Hampshire this week for a school visit! Get in touch - I would love to come visit your school, too.

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

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Published on November 11, 2025 03:03

nelly's short horror film & paige's film debut

Hello influencer.

Yes you! You’re amazing. Think of all of the people you’ve influenced (and been influenced by) over the years.1Our families for sure. We start as little, malleable lumps of growing clay, being shaped by daily rituals, chores, instruments played, tone of voice, religion, politics, sports, what we eat for breakfast, what we wear. I mean, it’s practically a family requirement to play soccer in this family (I even wrote a book about it!)

My sister and I grew up running. Therefore, OF COURSE our children would also love running - NOT SO!

Andrea began offering her children $100 if they would run 100 miles during the summer when they were in middle school. She also trained for a half-marathon and roped her son, Caleb, into training with us.

Caleb and his two younger siblings became excellent cross-country runners, and will likely continue into college and beyond. Running will not die with their mother!

Even though Andrea can’t run like she used to, she taught and passed on this activity and identity to the next generation: to love the way your body feels when it moves, to recognize and get through psychological and physical stress, to feel the exhilaration of competition. SHE DID THAT. That’s a tremendous influence. I often think about how our mothers and fathers shape our destinies. What a cool thing (though sadly, sometimes not).

But children will also discover things that seemingly have nothing to do with you. I was amused and baffled when my son started making duct tape everything (wallets, flowers, hats). He crafted swords, tied quilts, and even now, sometimes makes his own clothes.

My love of reading undoubtedly influenced the way I parented and what we did for fun.2 We read A LOT together. Every Wednesday morning was an unmissable story hour. There was little screen time - because who needs a show when you have a book???3

Reading took. Stories took.

A couple of years ago for Christmas, Nelson (nelly mak, to me) gifted me with the screenplay of Guinevere St. Clair that he wrote. It blew my mind and made me cry. On Christmas night, we sat around the kitchen table reading parts. A magical moment.4

Years later, Nelson still loves stories and is in the film program at BYU (he loves it!)5

Yesterday, he showed me a monster’s head he was working on that’s going to come out of a lake and eat someone. It’s made out of cardboard and caulk that he sprayed and shaped it into a giant head (complete with big sharp teeth). I cackle.

I’m delighted he’s found his passion. I’m delighted he’s telling stories - and in a totally different way than I am. At some point - and probably earlier than later - you release that tight grip you have on your children. It’s sometimes crazy to me that we spent every waking and sleeping hour together and then one day, I have no idea what any of them ate for breakfast. But I can guess - because I was their first influencer!

Let them, as they say. They find their way. They’ll surprise you. They’ll delight you. And don’t worry, they’ll totally frustrate you (spice of life!)

Please enjoy Nelson’s latest short film entitled The Wheel Man, which he wrote and directed for the “Spooktacular Festival.” It was nominated for Sound Design, Production Design, and Audience Choice. They ended up winning the Sound Design Award, but perhaps most delightfully to me, he roped his freshman sister, Paige, into making her film debut. Still cackling.

Beware, it’s also SCARY!!!!

When Nelson was creatively crafting duct tape bouquets and making swords out of sticks, it never crossed my mind he’d end up in film. In high school, when he was making a guitar, he talked about business and entrepreneurship.

But he also loved stories, and I like to think that I played a small part in that because I too, love to tell a story (I even wrote a book about it - and he was the inspiration!)

The dedication page of Ten Thousand Tries

Someday, he says, he’s going to have his own production company. Someday, we tell each other, we’re going to make something together. And it’s going to be extraordinary.6

You’ll be the first to know.

Happy November, you Influencers.

Keep going. Read books. Be kind.

Tell me. I’d love to hear about your influencers.

Amy

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Last Part:

Coaching: soccer for one more week, with two really tough away games. SO FUN!

Listening: to The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. As a big letter writer, oh WOW, I LOVE IT.

Wearing: sweater weather!!! My fave even though I detest being cold.

Seeing: leaves falling from trees, colors muted into brown and dark orange

Smelling: wood stoves as a cold, raw November descends

Starting: a habit of art with every day this month I commit to drawing for 15 minutes. Hey, I’m three days in and going strong…

xoxo

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

I’ve vowed more than once to never EVER be like or work for the last boss I had right before my first baby Cope was born.

2

because of my own parents and their parents and their parents…

3

Sadly, having a phone in high school greatly impeded the amount of books they read for enjoyment

4

Except he took out the goose scene; we are still debating the NEED FOR THAT SCENE

5

Phew. Because for years he said he saw no value in school and declared he was dropping out. Parenting tip: no facial reaction and the thrill of repeating this to your mom dissipates

6

said Emma Smith, an extraordinary woman

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Published on November 04, 2025 03:03

When the Dark Was Ours...

A little halloween memory, and a reminder to pull out your markers and color!

Do you love Halloween too?

Amy 🎃

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

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Published on October 28, 2025 03:02

Reading, Watching, Eating: October Edition

A red leaf landed on my windshield. Isn’t it perfect?Things I’m Watching:

Fall. “They” said it would be an ugly brown fall because of the lack of rain but fall came through and there is an astounding menagerie of orange, red, and yellow autumnal beauty in New England. Fall is my favorite. Pumpkins, leaves, wind…

Baby Hal. Baby is visiting and am I really watching anything else??? Look how cute our little baby gnome is (the hand knit sweater was a gift to his mama when she was a baby). I’m obsessed with him (as you can attest from my Instagram stories :)

3. The Typist. My son’s short film submitted to Utah’s “Screamfest.”

4. 1883. It’s heavy, gritty, and sometimes hard to watch. It’s also gorgeous, western cinematography. Starring Sam Elliot, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and my favorite: Isabel May, who plays 18-year-old Elsa who becomes “Lightening with the Yellow Hair,” a nickname given to her by Sam, a Comanche Warrior after they race on horseback (and fall in love). Elsa’s also the narrator and it’s some of the best screenwriting I’ve ever heard…the last two episodes…my heart.

What I Read (and highly recommend!):

For you non-fiction, science lovers, read Outlive by Peter Attia, M.D.: “Aging and longevity are far more malleable than we think; our fate is not set in stone. With the right roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.” The chapters that made the biggest impressions on me were on exercise, nutrition, and emotional health (which packs a big emotional punch). READ THIS BOOK and incorporate bc there is no magic pill. The single most important factor to living better into old age? EXERCISE (better than any pharmaceutical out there).

For non-fiction that reads like fiction, read Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (and then watch the Say Nothing series). Completely captivating…and the audiobook is read with an Irish accent, which makes it that much better.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is a love story with enough mystery to keep the pages turning quickly. It’s described as a woman confronted with an “impossible choice,” which annoys me bc is an affair ever A GOOD IDEA? (and actually not an “impossible choice”) But it’s beautiful writing, nostalgic, and I gobbled it up, teary in the end.

On My Bedside Table:

Heartwood by Amity Gage (halfway through and OMGoodness it’s so good), Newbery winner The Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, by Florence Knapp, The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, and Marty McGuire by Kate Messner…so many books.

What I Listened to:

I’ve never read Lily King, but I have Writers and Lovers on my bookshelf, and keep hearing how good Heart the Lover is. I esp want to read it after “Lily King Writes Her Heart” on this episode of The Book Case podcast with father-daughter duo Charlie and Kate Gibson. “Just because you let someone go, doesn’t mean they do…”

What I’m Eating:

The perfect fall combo: Soft Bavarian Pretzels (made on Thursdays at the local bakery, Blue Loon) with Pumpkin Spice Oat Milk.

Also, freshly picked apples and apple cider donuts. Save me.

Your turn. What’s good these days?

Amy 💖

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Last Part:

Halloween Movies to Watch With the Family: a great round up (with some I’ve never seen!) by (and the second person to recommend Over the Garden Wall this week).

Coaching: Soccer! We’re going into the final stretch of the season with only one loss…better than a winning record though, is our team’s hard work and kindness culture.

Writing: Almost done with a draft which will accompany a query letter…

Visited: This week I spoke with students in Minnesota and they lost their minds when I said 6-7. We also went to Montreal for the weekend. The drive through Vermont was wow (see above on stunning autumnal colors…)

xoxo

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

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Published on October 21, 2025 03:03

Ten Things So Lit

It’s Banned Book Month and I’d just like to say let’s stop doing this in America…

These Egg Bites because writers need to eat. High in protein with no crash or coma following. I eat one nearly every morning and feel goooooood.

My accountability writing buddy: Baby Hal is visiting from Montreal and has reminded me that writing during a baby’s unpredictable twenty minute cat nap translates to words on the page and is exactly what will write the novel - something scrolling will never do!

I mean…how can this snuggle bug not help your plot development?

My son and daughter working on a film together: My boy is studying film and roped his new freshman sister into having a starring role in his next horror film for “Screamfest.” I cannot wait to see the final cut…

How to Love Your Enemies with Arthur Brooks: Weaving together science, story, faith, and humor, Brooks goes deeply personal and issues a clear challenge: if we want a different kind of country, we have to become a different kind of people. Watch him speak at the same university where Charlie Kirk was assassinated a few weeks ago.

What Makes a Boy a Man? Recently, Proctor Academy brought the film, GONE GUYS to campus and engaged in conversation. If you have a chance to watch it, please do! It reminded me of a conversation in Ten Thousand Tries, when Golden’s dad asks Golden, “Is that what makes a boy a man?”

Every single person you meet is wearing an invisible sign that says, “Do I matter?” -from Kelly Corrigan’s conversation with Dave DeSteno, professor of psychology and host of How God Works.

Dory Fantasamagory: 1 a children’s series by author illustrator, Abby Hanlon. It’s funny and always a good idea to read the kind of books you want to write.

The Unexpected Upside of Banning Phones in Schools: KIDS ARE READING BOOKS AGAIN.

On Writing: “Save nothing,” writes Dani Shapiro. “Not for a rainy day, not for when you’re stronger, or less haunted, or your parents have died. Save nothing, because it is in hurling ourselves at the page that the invisible becomes visible, that the thoughts become known, even if not to us, not now, not right away. Save nothing, because the language you find today will be different from the language you will find tomorrow, in one year, or five, or ten, or fifty.”

What’s your “so lit” things this week?

Amy 💖

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

on Hoopla, free audiobook app!

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Published on October 14, 2025 03:03

It's time to sign up for Author Visits!

Happy October, happy fall! I hope school is off to a banger start and you’ve finally caught your breath(?)

I love visiting readers and have finally put together presentation descriptions, something I’ve been meaning to do for ages.

If you’re a teacher, librarian, parent, and/or book lover and interested in an Author Visit, I’d love to come see you!

Available Presentations:

Read the Book and Meet the Author

in person or zoom events

Description: Read one of Amy’s books and then get the “story behind the story” with this fun and interactive presentation where Amy reveals all of the “easter eggs” hidden in the novel that you’ve read. She’ll also cover how she learned to write a book (she studied science in college, not English!), the “secret sauce” to any great novel, developing perseverance, and how hope is essential to finishing. Amy will leave your students with concrete, actionable steps to begin writing, and heaps of inspiration to keep going. This presentation works best if you’ve read one of her books (but not essential!). Grades 4-12; adaptable for younger grades.

Using Real Life to Write Fantastic Fiction

Join Amy Makechnie as she talks about the inspiration behind her books, like how her father’s Idaho cow, a mother’s brain injury, a miniature schnauzer, and a bully (and more!) all became fictional details in her published books. Your students will leave inspired to use their own ordinary events to write extraordinary stories! Recommended for grades 5-12; adaptable for younger grades.

Where Science Meets Literature: the Brain and Heart on Books

Guinevere St. Clair and Golden Macaroni are fictional characters, but their origin was born from the real world. Join Amy for a conversation about the brain, ALS, the heart, and how science and the human body make for fascinating fiction. As a former Anatomy and Physiology teacher, Amy can lead a discussion, but also go deeper with a brain and/or heart dissection, facilitate an anatomy watercolor workshop, and/or help your students create their own zines using the amazing human body. Recommended for grades 5-12; adaptable for younger grades.

Meet the Author and a Dog Who Thinks He’s a Nanny!

For the younger crowd and based on Amy’s most recent book, The McNifficents, which was New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. Do your students love dogs? Then they’ll love Lord Tennyson, an aging miniature schnauzer and the nanny of six rambunctious McNiff children who are all home for the summer. What could go wrong? (A LOT). Part story hour, part conversation about the pets we love and how they inspire our most beloved stories. Grades K-4 with Q&A and coloring pages available.

How to Fund an Author Event?

Schools may not have set aside funding to bring an author to their school, but often times, schools can find discretionary budget funds and/or appeal to donors and parent organizations to offset costs or raise funds - I’m willing to work with you the best I can!

Virtual visits are always an option, and short virtual visits are free. If you’re interested in working together, I hope you will reach out. Hit reply or email: amy.makechnie@gmail.com.

I’ll be speaking to a school in Minnesota next week via Zoom as part of their “Career Day” - another presentation option!

Amy 💖

p.s. Even if your children are grown, or you don’t work in a school or library, please forward this to a teacher, librarian, or book club. THANK YOU so much .

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Last Part:

Listening: Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (read in an Irish accent so I’m really annoying to be around right now :)

Feeling: Very warm! It’s 80 degrees in New Hampshire and sometimes called “Indian Summer” but I don’t know why…

Drawing: Some stories about tuberculosis, inspired by John Green’s new book

Writing: Still working through my gothic romance…we’re going into the home stretch (again!!!).

xoxo

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

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Published on October 07, 2025 03:03

The End of the World

In 1987, REM was a cool new indie band and the year they released The End of the World. I was twelve in 1987 and just beginning to discover “cool indie bands” like Modern English and just barely - and reluctantly - leaving behind playing Barbie Dream House after school. Barbies were out, kissing was cool, and new music came out on tapes and CDs. I was introduced to REM in high school by friends Adam1 and Mark.

When we could finally drive, we drove around Omaha in an old car with the windows rolled down, where I was further introduced to Depeche Mode, U2, and Erasure (an obsession that lasted all summer and played on repeat on my yellow walkman). The music needed to be loud and we had to go fast enough that the wind blew our hair back and we could sing over the music without being embarrassed and then look at each other and laugh.

In those days, if the car was really fancy, the doors and windows were electric and the tape flipped over by itself. Hearing REM reminds me of those hot and humid summer days. And sometimes, the lyrics of The End of the World will randomly run through my mind.

It’s the end of the world as we know it

and I feel fiiiiiine.

This song is oddly comforting, as it was in 1987, when the world was falling apart…or was it? Maybe cable news was just exploding.

Somewhere, for someone, the world is always falling apart. And somewhere, for someone, it’s the best day of their entire life. Earth School is ________________ (I’m going to let you fill in the blank because I don’t have just one good adjective).

I don’t write songs, but I’m dropping some art here because making art is an act of creation, it’s active and it’s hopeful when there are so many things happening that are not beautiful, only destructive and hateful, and make me feel so so sad.2

Most of Sunday afternoon was spent sitting in my study staring at art supplies until I finally just picked up a pencil to silence the imposter voices in my head. The more paint on paper, the more colored pencils, the more hand on brushes, the more the imposter voices saying there is nothing you can do to change anything became a little less loud. And this is when I finally understood the phrase, “making art is an act of rebellion.”

This poem slays me to pieces. I want to recreate it with more beauty and paint.

an old drawing that I like more now than I did then…

Keeping a visual journal would be a really fun way to mark time. I’m especially proud of my watercolor pumpkins, the tree not so much…why is it so hard to draw a tree?

Inspiration this week came from who creates and posts her visual journals and who recently wrote about gathering artists as a “call to action.” Ya’ll, I’m no professional, but I do have colored pencils and crayons.

There’s inspiration everywhere. I’m always drooling over and ‘s work (check out their Letters to a Dead Author collaboration). I love how talks about dropping out of medical school and picking up a pen and now he’s got his first book coming out and is teaching others.

If it really is the end of the world as we know it, at least we went down putting some beauty into the world…

Be a rebel. Make something. Color. Write. Sing your heart out. Tell me about it.

Amy 💖

p.s. eat your yogurt3

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Last Part:

Listening: To the sound of leaves through wind after the sun has set on a blood red sky.

Writing: Still working through the latest draft…almost at the 75% mark which is the “all is lost” moment and it really is sad.

Eating: These cheesy egg bites. High protein, really fast, so delicious. I add sauteed mushrooms and spinach which stretches the recipe to seven. Since the kids are gone, they last me all week!

Reading: Outlive by Peter Attia, MD

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

Adam had a crush on me, my sister had a crush on Mark, and I was pining after Aaron Horn who was dating Tris. Unrequited love all around. I just thought you should know :).

2

The shooting at the Michigan church hit close to home. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I know the inside of that church. I can imagine the scene of shielding babies, small children, and people you’ve loved and served…my heart aches. And turns to fury. America has a serious gun problem.

3

Last week I shared a picture of my fruit and yogurt bowl that I eat nearly everyday for lunch. And that same week, a 101 year old woman shared her secret to longevity: YOGURT three times a day…