Excited to attend the SCBWI Summer Spectacular and learn and grow in our craft! Thank you ⁦@cuppajolie⁩ and ⁦Jennye Kamin⁩ for the welcoming and informative orientation! #scbwisummerspec #scbwibird

#scbwibird Writers & Ilustrators: Do you have a favorite animal companion while you work? Love our group tag because my writing buddy is my parakeet, “Elfy”(who even joined us on our mountain vacation!) He became ours 8 years ago when he was my twins’ preschool pet and we bonded.

Favorite quotes from gifted author Philip Pullman, “If you want to develop your craft as a writer, READ!”; “Hope is a virtue, not a temperament.”; “Storytellers’ responsibility is to the story, to tell the story as best as they possibly can.” Thank you, #scbwi #scbwisummerspec ❤️

Judy Blume: “Be fearless, honest, & brave in your writing.”; “Go deeper into the characters”; “Get rid of the critic & censor on your shoulder.”;”1st draft is cutting the jigsaw pieces, 2nd draft is assembling/coloring.”; “Determination is as important as talent”#SCBWISummerSpec

Kwame Alexander: “If you are going to be a writer, you have to be living a life that is worth writing about. How do you bottle up this inspiration that comes from the world and give it back in a way that is inspirational and meaningful?” Love this! Thank you, #SCBWISummerSpec

I remember the day my daughter and I bought “Each Kindness” at her school book fair. Now a middle schooler, we sat together in complete awe and admiration listening to gifted Jacqueline Woodson read from “Brown Girl Dreaming”, “Show Way”, & “The Day You Begin.”❤️#SCBWISummerSpec

Jane Yolen: “Picture Books are the closest you can get to poetry...Are lyrical, visual, compressed, & have an arc.”; “A manuscript in a drawer cannot be sold. Don’t shy away from any project. Leap forward with passion and perhaps it will be your best book.” ❤️ #SCBWISummerSpec

Can’t wait to order Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple’s poignant upcoming release, “I Am The Storm.” Beautiful job channeling turbulence and uncertainty into resilience and hope on the written page. Illustrations are gorgeous too! Thanks for the great preview at the #SCBWISummerSpec

Jason Reynolds: “Novel writing is a microcosm of the human experience.”; “Live in a space of authenticity.”; “Every single form of writing to me is poetry. There are 10 words for a reason, but there are 10,000 underneath it.“; “Be there and extend grace to kids.”#scbwisummerspec

Grace Lin: “Picture books take small moments and give them great importance. They validate children’s experiences.“ ❤️#SCBWISummerSpec

“It feels good to do good, to make the world better. We care deeply about children & teenagers.” Laurie Halse Anderson. “I want to have made room for the Latinx authors coming behind me; stories varied in country of origin, range of human experience.” Meg Medina #SCBWISummerSpec

"I hear America singing, the varied carols that I hear...Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else...Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs." -Walt Whitman

My scenic writing view. Florida tropical evening. ❤️🌴 Scope for the imagination!

New powerful exhibits on display in the Gallery conta.cc/2FhHQbA

Special memory, Oct 14, 2016. Author school visit at Tinker K-8 and Read-a-thon Celebration! My how our world has changed since then. Can’t wait until the pandemic is over and large student body group gatherings are safe again.

Over 20 Navajo voters rode three hours on horseback to cast their ballots in #election2020 on Tuesday. Community leaders feared widespread disenfranchisement in Navajo Nation, where mail can take weeks to arrive — if it gets there at all. nyti.ms/38gh9jA

Happy Veteran’s Day to all who have served. Your service and sacrifices are appreciated.

Eek--the gift edition of my inaugural poem will have a foreword by the incomparable @oprah ! I’ve gotten so many requests for the poem’s text, & I’m so grateful that I can gift it to the world in a new way.✨✨ Penguin Random House 🐧🏠📚 penguinrandomhouse.com/books/689867/t…

20th Anniversary. So many horrors, so many heroes. Remembering brave lives lost, national unity, and how "ordinary people came together in extraordinary circumstances." Lifting up firefighters, medics, doctors, nurses, police, intel, military, and families who lost a loved one.