Amy Makechnie's Blog

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 .

Leave a comment

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!

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

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

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

Leave a comment

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!

1

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…

I read some great books in September:

The Trouble With Heroes by Kate Messner: library book. From my Instagram review: Finn’s hero dad is gone and Finn is about to fail seventh grade, AND, he was caught on camera kicking over “some old lady’s headstone.” Charges will be dropped if Finn agrees to climb all six Adirondack High Peaks in a single summer. Oh, and he has to bring along the dead woman’s dog.

Misadventures, mud, and unexpected mentors will help Finn find his way. There’s also this terrific theme: when life feels heavy and you’ve been climbing and hanging on for so long - the mountains are there, mighty and silent. They patiently wait for us to find them…and eventually, ourselves. I loved this book!)

My Friends by Fredrik Backman: free Libby audio app. I actually didn’t love the story but I really marvel over Backman’s writing and the way he can always insert big life truths into fiction; he is a master of writing character, ie people!)

A Good Marriage by Stephen King: free Hoopla audio app. A random pick and horror is usually not my thing but this was more mystery/psychological thriller with a horrifying discovery and I could not stop listening. It drew me in IMMEDIATELY. Stephen King is such a terrific and gifted storyteller.

Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green: library book. Could only John Green make tuberculosis fascinating? THIS BOOK IS! Once a romanticized malady of poets and beautiful wan women, it’s now a curable disease of the impoverished - yet it persists around the world. Read it. It’s terrific and I feel called to action…

Writers Need to Eat

I eat this almost every day for lunch:

Fruit - Yogurt - Granola

It’s nothing revolutionary, but I’m going to preach. Start with a pretty bowl and low-fat Greek yogurt to pack the protein. I’ve switched to lower fat because I’m hitting the fat content in my other foods (otherwise, full fat is a great idea). Then rotate whatever produce is in season, with preferably two fruits, so you don’t get bored.

Apples in the fall (so many varieties!)

Cantaloupe and blood oranges in the winter (I don’t combine these two; they’re great alone)

Grapes and more apples in the spring

Blueberries, strawberries, peaches (skinned!), nectarines, and pluots all summer

We’re so spoiled that we can get most of these fruits year round, but in season and local always tastes best. Berries have low glycemic index and @Mary told me to eat them so I do.

Top with homemade granola (flavored with honey or maple syrup, no white sugar) that’s packed with nuts, seeds, and unsweetened coconut. That’s it! My children make fun of me for eating this so often but I just really like it. It’s a super simple, high-protein and nutrient healthy, so tasty, and gives big energy. No mid-afternoon slump - and we writers need the non-slump brain food, right?

Your turn. What are you reading - and eating?

Amy 💖

Leave a comment

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: Three different interviews with Elizabeth Gilbert (Rich Roll, Oprah, Fresh Air) about her new memoir. I’m a big Gilbert fan but I find myself both irritated and drawn in by this latest book. Thoughts?

Coaching: I’m back on the soccer field with my high school girl’s squad and I LOVE IT. Me and my coaching buddy got matching OG Samba shoes and we feel so cool.

is it the coolest or what?!?! SWAGGY!

Painting: Nothing. But I’m writing with my Lamy Safari pen that recommended - and HEY HE HAS HIS FIRST BOOK COMING OUT! GET IT!

Writing: Still working through my gothic romance…last week a python appeared whut?!? (and I really don’t like snakes; but it has a good name).

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 started writing this while sitting in the historic Riverside Church in NYC. It’s where Martin Luther King Jr. preached six sermons. Where Maya Angelou spoke, and Barack Obama did too. Last September, this church and its history inspired me to write about the power of words and how a story is never just a story.

Words hold power.

Words strung together create stories.

And stories move people to do something.

Fall in New Hampshire. Because we had a wet, cool spring and a very hot, dry summer, the forecast calls for brown foliage…but I’m cheering on fall anyway. I love its cool nights and mornings, the lingering tomatoes clinging to vines, the colorful mums, the cute little pumpkins. Also, I’m coaching soccer again and I tell you - being on a soccer field every afternoon with female athletes and a soccer ball is truly glorious. SQUAD.

Want safer neighborhoods? INVEST IN LIBRARIES. A recent study published in the Journal of Cultural Economics examined what happened when a new library branch opened in Kansas City, Missouri. In 2013, they added the thirteenth branch, known as the Woodneath Public Library Branch.

The newly released Tuck Everlasting as a graphic novel1 by our very own . As in she illustrated the whole gook and it’s SO GORGEOUS! I’m in envious awe because I want to paint more and write words and THIS is just spectacular. Friends, Keep Drawing.

Being a writer is risky business says after The Handmaid's Tale was Banned in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) Schools:

“Why? Artists of all kinds – but especially writers – are always among the first to face the firing squads when dictatorships are on the rise. They have no armies. They have no actual legislative or physical power. They have no voter base. They are isolated individuals, and thus easy to eliminate. Above all, they say things that autocrats don’t want to hear, and don’t want others to hear. This is true whether the autocrat is of the right or of the left, and whether religious or secular. Artists are a threat to such people because their art presents full humanity, in all its complexity – the good, the bad, and the ugly. This full humanity is what autocrats wish to destroy, in order to replace it with propaganda featuring perfect versions of themselves. To burn a book is to burn part of the human spirit. And book burnings – and book bannings – are on the rise.” 2

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men 3

What’s Your Unfair Advantage? “Every writer has an unfair advantage—a unique combination of gifts, experiences, and passions that sets them apart and attracts an audience. The trick is to identify what yours is, then put it to good use.” Weeks later, I’m still thinking about how good this is!

A New England lobster roll. Come visit me and we’ll drive to Eventide in Maine or Boston and eat brown butter lobster rolls4 while discussing BOOKS.

Stephen Colbert on the spiritual life. A fascinating, wonderful interview with Father James Martin. Colbert is a devoted Catholic and no stranger to grief. Take a listen to what he’s done with grief, and how he uses his innate gifts combined with hard work to bring joy to millions on the daily. I loved this interview on what it means to make art and make people laugh, despite the suffering in life.

A young missionary taught me that in Brazil, there’s a Portuguese expression: “pode deixar,” which translates to “You can leave it.” There is a time to strive and fight and FIX IT, and there is a time to Surrender. To stop trying to fix someone’s pain or life trajectory. Surrendering is terribly difficult. But those times are also among my most powerful experiences in life. Lay it down. “Give it to God,” as the expression goes. Pode Deixar basically means, “You can trust me. You are safe. You can leave it.”

Carry on, my friends,

Amy 💖

Leave a comment

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:

Watching: Less social media, more sunsets

Listening: To more people in real life

Reading: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

Wearing: Barbie pink toenail polish. Pedicures are such a pleasure (except this last time, the technician told me “if you got Botox and fillers you would be much more beautiful.” okay 😂 )

Gearing Up For: School and library visits (in person and zoom). Be in touch - booking for the school year!

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!

1

An instant indie bestseller! ★ “As wise and wonderful as the original.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review ★ “­Woodman-Maynard achieves the seemingly impossible task of enhancing a much beloved classic . . . This faithful and beautiful adaptation is a must purchase.” —School Library Journal, starred review

2

UPDATE: As of end of September 2, Alberta has “paused” its controversial school book bannings. We await further clarification. POWER TO THE PEOPLE. Protesting is one of the purest forms of democracy.

3

Thanks for this quote,

4

Apparently they ship these lobster rolls?!!?

WARNING: Reading may cause intelligence and other hazards

In my early high school years, I began to have a nagging worry: that I was a shallow and superficial person. That I had no depth. That I knew next to nothing about politics or history or war. I recall having a conversation with my mother when I was around 13 years old. I can no longer remember what we were talking about, but I do remember exclaiming - “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!?!””

My mother raised an eyebrow and very coolly replied, “YOU READ.”

Soon after worrying about my shallowness, I decided I must expand my reading life to more than Sweet Valley High (how I loved Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield) or I feared I would grow up to be a unsubstantial “brainless wonder” or “worthless lump” (expressions uttered frequently by my mother - though not necessarily about me).

My solution to being more substantial was to read something substantial. Knowing next to nothing about the book (but liking the title and knowing it was a tragic love affair), I plucked Anna Karenina off the shelf and made a go of it.

Although the long farming passages made me nearly pull my hair out (short attention span and I’m sure I skimmed most of the book to get to the love affair parts) I surprised myself by also liking it. It remember it was very long with tiny type (about 350,000 words long; the average length of a novel today is 80-100,000 words.) But boy was I proud of myself for reaching The End.

I kept reading. My brain grew. Neural pathways slowly formed. I read books for pleasure and books for school. Gone With the Wind, The Great Gatsby, multiple books about the Lindbergh kidnapping, Marilyn Monroe biographies, Of Mice and Men, V.C. Andrews, Agatha Christie, Huckleberry Finn, The Good Earth, and Anne Frank.

Reading has given my life depth. It’s changed me for the better. At the very least, I’m a little bit less shallow.

I worry about the rapid decline of reading that we are seeing among kids and adults. I worry about what happens to a world and a people who do not know their history and who cannot focus long enough to read words on paper - and who don’t really care.

How Digital Media Turned Us All Into Dopamine Addicts The Guardian. The solution? READ a book

Is the Decline of Reading Making Politics Dumber? As people read less they think less clearly, scholars fear The Economist The solution? READ a book

I’m a High Schooler. AI is Demolishing My Education: The end of critical thinking in the classrom. -Ashanty Rosario for The Atlantic The solution? READ a book

Dear reader, thank YOU for reading. For bringing depth and care to our world.

May we all pass it on.

Happy International Literacy Day (yesterday)

❤️ Amy

p.s. If you could only recommend ONE book to someone right this minute, what would it be??? I’d LOVE to know why…

Leave a comment

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

Watched: K-Pop Demon Hunters on Netflix. Seriously? Yes. Usually not my thing, but made me watch and I’m glad! Golden is now on my running playlist.

Eating: These apple cider donut holes (I actually preferred them before rolling in the sugar coating). Alas, no one else is here to eat them so…help.

Wearing: The love affair is going strong with these New Balance sneakers. So trendy, so comfortable (and you can throw them in the wash).

Reading: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green and it’s so good

Visiting: Hopefully your classroom bc I love classroom visits - get in touch!

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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!

Lit With Amy Makechnie is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I am the passenger who takes constant pictures out the airplane window….

Greetings from a layover in the Chicago Midway airport. I have vowed not to spend any money on food but my flight is delayed and I’ve already eaten my Cheetos, banana, and apple. How long can I hold out?1 The person sitting next to me just pulled out a pulled pork sandwich…

I left Salt Lake City at 3 a.m. this morning after saying good-bye to three of my children who are starting college this week. THREE! I left three kids in Utah! I actually love that they are in the same state (two at the same school) and have so many glorious adventures ahead of them. No doubt some tough times, too. I also love that while we did go shopping The Atlantic confirms that American parents are out of control, my daughters are super into thrifting and wanted to scrap together their own rooms (cool artwork by the wonderful ). PARENTS: LET THEM.

What I’m reading on the plane? Compulsively turning the pages of Jodi Picoult’s Plain Truth. I had to download on my Kindle because Paige and I were both fighting over the paper copy, but she started it first, so... Plain Truth is a Jodi P. favorite. She lives in NH and is the author that made me want to write books.

When I finish Plain Truth? I have John Green’s new book Everything is Tuberculosis in my backpack!

Jenny Han’s Book to Netflix gold: I’ve watched the first two seasons of The Summer I Turned Pretty and plan on watching the third season asap. The show isn’t real but the people playing the characters are. When fans need to be reminded to stop bullying. geesh.

I saw a lot of parents in tears this week - kids too - as they said good-bye. While moving my youngest daughter into her dorm, we went to a BYU women’s soccer game - something I’ve been wanting to see live for years! I have to admit I wanted to be on that field so bad. It brought me back to my college days, club soccer, anatomy lab, so much dating drama, and cross-country try-outs. All of these young kids making small and big choices that will lead them somewhere…there will be successes, regrets, and no do-overs. Choose wisely.

I loved BYU President Shane Reese’s comments to the incoming class: you belong here. we love you. Paige: “Yeah, I knew you’d eat that up.” Our young adults are cynical, wise, savvy - and I hope - just as idealistic as I felt all of those years ago.

By the time this is published I will be driving my oldest daughter, Cope, and baby Hal to Montreal, Canada, to reunite with Kaden, who is starting at McGill’s graduate school program. I have already cried and have already called dibs on reading Charlotte’s Web to Hal for the first time. And then, Gregor and I will drive back home to New Hampshire and there will be no children in the house…2

I understand the midlife crisis. We’re content and/or maybe not. Our homes are a little closer to being paid off but we’ve taken on debt to get our kids through school. We’re worried about our aging parents, our young adults, the state of the world, politics, and retirement - which is suddenly and supposedly not that far away. We’re letting our hair go gray (maybe when I’m 60?) or fighting Father Time with botox and lips fillers (I refuse). I have friends who are happily married, but some are getting divorced. - we grew together or we didn’t. Jen Hatmaker and I are the same age: different life stories, but hers resonates; the choices we make really matter, and also, life throws so many curve balls. Every life choice has led us to exactly where we are.

An empty nest is a little terrifying. Who am I without being needed so much? The inimitable felt so lucky to reach 50. I’m going to embrace and lean into that feeling. We really are the luckiest. At 19 I had tons of angst, too, but I also felt we were all on the precipice of something really big and great: we could do anything. It kindof feels like that now.

I’ll see you on the other side - my flight and those little graham crackers are calling!

Amy 💖

Leave a comment

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:

Bye: All the kids in one week. Plus baby Hal. What the heck?

Wearing: This New Balance sneaker…so comfortable and cool! My kids call me “Grandma Influencer” when I wear them. They think they’re so funny.

Entering: Goodread’s Giveaway for Sue Monk Kidd’s Writing Creativity and Soul. Does anyone ever win Goodread Giveaways?

Giving: A copy of The McNifficent’s with - go to her Substack and win this book - yes, someone is actually going to win and I will personalize it!

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!

1

I was successful :)

2

but there will be two barking miniature schnauzers

First the books and then some brain food!

Here is what I read in August and highly recommend:

Beloved by Toni Morrison (Libby audio, read by the author; masterful, disturbing, and brilliant with a ghost child as a main character. This is a hard listen, but persevere. Frequently banned.)

Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Hoopla audio; a middle grade murder mystery and it’s fantastic!)

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (again) (Kindle; I read this again so I could write a critical essay for a MFA application1. It’s just such a brilliant book and now on Netflix.)

Stay: A Story of Family, Love, and Other Traumas by Julie Fingersh (Hoopla audio; not something I was looking for but was “recommended.” It irked me in the beginning bc of what I wrote about last week - woman and creativity can coexist! But Julie is a great writer and tells a wonderful & heartbreaking story. Blurbed by Anne Lamott.)

I guess it was an audiobook month for me, even though I have stacks of paper books on my bedside table. I’ve been holding baby Hal at night so my daughter can get some good hours of sleep before nursing. Hal and I fall into a half-sleep before I can even open a book. It’s such a treat to hold a newborn and how lucky that our reading can shift to “listening” as needed.

In the middle of: Covenant of Water (hardback), The Trouble With Heroes (hardback), and a reread of Rebecca (audio).

And you? Any good books?!?

Writers Need to Eat:

The old and outdated stereotype of great writers drinking scotch, smoking cigarettes, and surviving on peanuts all day - while churning out pulitzers - is laughable. Let me tell you, that’s not going to work long-term, most esp not for humans with even a hamster to take care of. Long-term, our stories and sentences need our best brain function. And that means good food made with real ingredients!

I’m with Michael Pollen: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Pop tarts are out. Protein and fiber are in.

So I give you my latest breakfast go-to: Spinach-Egg Scramble.

It’s protein and nutrient packed, super filling, delicious, and fast.

Spinach-Egg Scramble (feeds two):

4 eggs, scrambled

Shredded Mexican Cheese (or whatever cheese you like)

A dash of Milk

Fresh Spinach (I like the pre-washed big tubs)

3-5 Mushrooms, sliced

One Tomato, chopped (straight from the garden if you’ve got it!)

Directions:

Heat your big skillet, pour in some Olive Oil, sprinkle Salt and Pepper. Throw in two big handfuls of Spinach and the sliced Mushrooms. Saute a few minutes. Add Eggs (previously beaten with Mex Cheese, Milk, Salt and Pepper to taste). Add the cut Tomato at the end.

That’s it! Cook and stir to your satisfaction (I like my eggs well done).

You can add ANY vegetables. Our neighbor brought us broccoli, zucchini, and squash that you can be chopped or grated. I’ve grated leftover baked potato into this dish, and really love olives and feta. This breakfast not only makes me feel full for a couple of hours, but also gives me great energy and doesn’t put me in a coma - which is helpful when you have things to do that require brain activity (re: everything).

Sadly, in my vast and repeated experience, pasta and sugar guarantees a full-blown coma. And thus, not my best (or any) writing.

Now, eat some real food and go forth and write that masterpiece!

What are you reading - and eating?

Amy 💖

Leave a comment

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:

Holding: Sweet baby Hal

goodness, babies are miracles

Packing: To take two daughters to college on Wednesday morning

Meeting: My son’s college girlfriend as soon as we step off the plane

Painting: Something for ‘s Substack. eek.

Writing: A young YA gothic romance in the vein of Rebecca…but scarier!

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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I got into Hamline University’s Master’s Program for Children and Young Adult literature - wahoo! I’m mulling the financial cost/investment…

Today is my 28th wedding anniversary. I like to joke that marrying my husband was the best thing I ever did for my writing career. He was the English major in love with big words, while I majored in Science with the goal to “train athletes.” Now we do both, but our roles somewhat reversed. He’s the Athletic Director and I’m writing books. Maybe we both taught each other something.

I’m also a mom. I’ve spent the majority of adulthood taking care of my “sweet bambinos” as my mother would say (queen of the nicknames). I suspect most women of the same. And then the sweet bambinos grow up and have more bambinos! The world is not just a little thrill when there are babies. I’m also a writer. This is a post to celebrate that intersection.

At eleven days old, Baby Hal got his library card, making him the youngest card-holding member in New Hampshire :) I’m so proud.

Doesn’t baby Hal look thrilled? And he picked a classic first story!

The Fantastic Ursula K. Le Guin was a mother. From The New Yorker: “An artist can go off into the private world they create, and maybe not be so good at finding the way out again,” she said. “This could be one reason I’ve always been grateful for having a family and doing housework, and the stupid ordinary stuff that has to be done that you cannot let go.”

Some favorite Kidlit ers who write AND illustrate books for kids (the mothers are grateful) include , , , with and …who else?

Watching my daughter become a mother has me remembering my younger mothering days and the amount of writing (and cleaning and shopping and bill paying and etc etc) I did with one hand while rocking and nursing and singing to the babies…multi-tasking might be a myth, but IDK, mothers know how to do it. I have such tenderness for them.

This Olga Masters quote on writing and motherhood has always resonated with me: “Many people have said to me, ‘What a pity you had such a big family to raise. Think of the novels and the short stories and the poems you never had time to write because of that.’

And I looked at my children and I said, “These are my poems, these are my stories.”

Children are a fountain of never ending inspiration. They’ve made me a much better writer. Pay attention to all of the funny, obnoxious, sweet things that children do and you’ll get golden stories. Write down their funny quotes. Each one of my books have relied heavily on real life with kids: Using Real Life to Write Fantastic Fiction, Part I and Part II.

I loved reading about the poet ’s balancing act of creativity and children.

Joan Didion wrote Blue Lights after her daughter Quintana Roo died at age 39 from complications of flu and pneumonia. Quintana, she said, "had no idea how much we needed her. I needed her in the sense that she was ... simply the center of my life." Same, girl.

“In A Room of One’s Own (1929), Virginia Woolf argued that, historically, successful women writers have not been mothers. Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, and George Eliot - ‘not one of them had a child.’ Do children stifle creativity? Statistically, it’s not true. I concur. While it is challenging logistically, we can get more creative with our time! Here’s baby Hal on a towel in the middle of the table. I’ll concede that this gave me exactly four minutes of uninterrupted writing time before he was once again demanding attention.

Hal and his adoring mummy

There will be interruptions and spit up, exhaustion and too little sleep.

There will be days when you wonder where you have gone,

If you’ve been swallowed by a great whale of doubt and washed up dreams.

Go with the current

Fight against it when you must

Paddle

Swim hard

The tide recedes.

Find the quill

Put pen to paper,

believe you have words we need to read.

That’s your lifeboat.

And mine, too.

Amy 💖

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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:

Watching: Chiefs of War on Appletv about Hawaii’s native chiefs uniting against colonialism. I was surprised by how invested I am! Is it Jason Mamoa?

Listening: Dr. Stacie Sims on the Mel Robbins podcast: The Body Reset: How Women Should Eat & Exercise for Health, Fat Loss, & Energy. I learned a lot!

Reading: The Trouble With Heroes by Kate Messner. Loving it.

Smelling: The face and head of a newborn baby. The absolute best. Baby Hal and parents are moving soon so tell me how to bottle this new baby smell?

Wrestling: With onesies. And cloth diapers. The new parents are much more virtuous and earth conscious than I was.

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!

If you’ve ever wanted to write a picture book, read on. We’ve got Mia Wenjan on the stack!

Hello, Mia!

1. Picture books can appear so simple on the surface, but they're incredibly challenging to write. Can you walk us through how a tiny idea or a single character in your head transforms into a 500-word (or less!) manuscript? What's the most difficult part of that process for you?

For me, it all starts with the structure, but that is because I struggle to write lyrically. For example, I worked on a picture book story idea for years, but it finally hit me watching a Zoom picture book talk at a library in Long Beach, California, that I needed to rework my manuscript into a Reverso Poem format {Barbed Wire Between Us, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación, published by Red Comet Press}. Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime!, illustrated by Kai Gietzen, published by Eifrig Publishing, is about a stay-at-home dad trying to get his toddler to take a nap. It’s told as if a fight announcer is calling the match. We Sing From the Heart is centered around the lyrics to a song Simon Tam wrote about his nearly 9 year battle to trademark his band’s name.

Once I find the structure that works for a picture book, it’s easier for me to find the words to fill it in.

2. The adage 'show, don't tell' is a core principle of good writing, but it's especially true for picture books, where the art does much of the storytelling. What is a concrete example from one of your books where your words created a moment that an illustrator brought to life?

In Sumo Joe, illustrated by Nat Iwata and published by Lee and Low, I had this funny moment when there was a close-up of the brother and sister who looked identical, except for their hairstyles. This spread got cut because Nat’s drawing style was full scenes, and a close-up would have been weird.

While I was sad to lose the visual joke, Nat surprised me with a visual joke of his one when the pillows used to make the sumo ring turned into a pillow fight. It was the perfect ending to the book!

3. Practical advice for writing a picture book and actually getting it published???

It’s easier to get a picture book published than to get an agent.

It’s easier to get a picture book published than have the first printing run sell through.

Creating an author platform will help with both getting an agent AND getting your book to sell. An author platform is basically the author’s influence that can include a website, newsletter, nonprofit, and social media followers.

It’s never too early to grow your audience EVEN if you are pre-published. It’s also helpful for picture book creators to have some kind of cause to champion. It can be anything from helping writers get published to promoting banned books. I think that authors feel more comfortable promoting something besides themselves and a cause helps them create a community.

Thank you, Mia!

Mia Wenjen blogs at PragmaticMom.com. She is the President and Co-Founder ReadYourWorld.org, a nonprofit that puts diverse children’s books into the hands of readers. Her picture books include The Traveling Taco, We Sing from the Heart, Sumo Joe, Food for the Future, Changing the Game (as someone who is passionate about female athletics, I’m all over this!) and the forthcoming Fortune Cookies for Everyone.

Honors for her books include: ALSC Notable Children's Book, Carter G. Woodson Book Award Honoree, Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, Massachusetts Book Award Long List, Julia Ward Howe Prize for Children's Literature Winner, California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner, Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year, and Junior Library Guild Gold Selection.

To learn more, check out Mia’s website, MiaWenjen.com, and follow her on social media @pragmaticmom.

Questions about picture books? Readers, write that book!

Amy 💖

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The Last Part:

August Book Recommendations: featuring The McNifficents! (it really is a good summer romp). Thank you,

Holding: baby (I’m obsessed and in looooove)

Pretty much all I’m doing these days. And I’m reminded that this is really really GOOD work.

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!

Inspired by a New York Times Opinion reel entitled, “How to Read Like a Human Being” and ‘s recent Ireland post - she sent postcards to her paid subscribers (brilliant!)1

I will send these to my nieces and nephews (who will owe me big time :).

If Books Were Our Friends, postcard edition:

but clean up with your friends :)

If books were our friends…we would have a lot to love! They are everywhere; in the library, grocery store bins, little free libraries, school, and are born from other friends - the trees!

Treat your books like your friends. Some you see all of the time and some you hang out with only once in awhile; both are special.

New books are new friends! Dive into different and then feel the shock of seeing yourself in books (and friends :)

Be a messy reader (but help your friends clean up). Nonfiction for facts and fiction for truth. Classics and fantasy, silly and serious. Read alone and together.

Read with your children for as long as you possibly can…you may be surprised how long that is.

Like all true friends, books will be there when you need them.

If you’ve ever asked, “I wonder what it’s like to be be another person?” you’re reading like a human. And a friend.

Amy 💖2

I love that one reader (hi Connie!) is on a mission to collect all twenty-nine Judy Blume books (whose books are some of my best friends). Deenie and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great sit on my bedside table for a reread.

In case you missed it, here’s what I read in July. My new (and old) friends:

What are you reading? I always love to hear…

Leave a comment

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:

Watched: Killers of a Flower Moon. I was disappointed. We didn’t even finish it. From a storytelling perspective, I think it really missed the mark. Every story needs a hero and this one had no hero to root for! Thoughts? I’m told I should read the book.

Visiting: Gaffney New Hampshire this week. This was a paid library visit, but funding was cut. I’m still going bc I will travel to my readers when I can!!! Support the arts!

Eating: All the blueberries everywhere. Summer produce <3

Biking: Lots of bike rides with Gregor.

And FINALLY:

Holding: The sweetest little baby in all the land. In the early morning hours this past Sunday, my daughter and son-in-law brought home the most darling baby boy. They will call him Hal. Extra special is that we live in a place called “Halcyon Valley” that translates to “heaven.” This is it, friends. We are so in love…

Baby Hal. Heaven.

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!

1

I’m super critical of my handwriting and don’t feel like I know what I’m doing with lettering and paint. I want everything to immediately look like ‘s work. But I also know that this is a craft and requires PRACTICE. We just have to start and go from there.

A shout out to my author/teacher friend Kari Allen who is taking painting classes this summer!

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The third postcard down is a nod to some favorite classics AND fellow authors on Substack. I love their books so they must be my friends :) Harper Lee, Daphne DuMaurier, Stephen King, Caroline Starr-Rose, Charlotte Brontë, (memoir forthcoming!)