Why I read I read because of things I don’t have: Severe physical and mental difficulties Dyslexia ADHD A cruel or abusive spouse A full-time job A war-torn country Or an unsafe neighborhood And because of things I do: Time Attention Economic means Interest Ability Access to a library Education. I read because I couldn’t watch TV in the middle of the day while my toddlers were playing, but I could listen to a book. I read because focusing on my exhaustion at 2 am with a newbo

A boy flies a kite in a field. A windy park, some extra time to kill, two people: a boy and his mom. The mom knows one kite will be difficult; the other--not so much. She wants to give her son the easy choice, but he won’t have it. He wants the challenge. She watches as he throws the kite up in the air and dashes away, the kite crashing to the ground again and again. She wants to make it better, easier, to take away the challenge, especially when he becomes frustrated and it

In The Unselected Journals of Emma Lyon by Beth Brower, one of the main characters (Islington) has his Thursdays. Thursdays are a day when he doesn’t commit to doing things he doesn’t want to do. A day when he has his friends over, and there is no agenda other than to read good books, eat good food, and make the occasional comment, but only if you want to. I think that is lovely. What would you do on a Thursday? I've tried for years to have my own version of Thursdays, but a

I have a vision in mind of where life will lead. I plan it out in neatly printed rows next to hopeful checkboxes: call the doctor, take back that shirt, say no to that activity (why does saying no feel like so much more effort than saying yes?). I know what a typical Tuesday should look like because I scheduled it, prepared for it, and prayed about it. But here it is, another Tuesday that typically does not look like the one I planned. I feel burdened by the weight of bless

In the end of The Quest for the Silver Fleece, one of the main characters, Mary, who started out as a bright and promising school teacher is left sickly, barely functioning and divorced. Even though her story starts out a happy one, it ends unhappily. And that is something some readers hate. Many readers love rosy endings where everyone rides off into the sunset: handsome, charming, beautiful and fulfilled and though, I admit, I am a sucker for a good ending, it is not a requ

Revision is a part of the writing process where you decide what you want to keep, what you want to take out and what you need to further clarify. I’m a college writing instructor and one of the things I’ve been surprised at the most is my student’s reluctance to revise their papers. This is far more than laziness or lack of instruction. They genuinely seem terrified to do things like move a sentence or change a word or two. Once I asked my class a technical question about