reviews

noodling

By Kate / August 10, 2015 /

This morning as I headed out the door for a walk, there was a crispness to the air, a hint of fall. I always feel melancholy as summer winds down, and that’s there—the knowledge that another summer is coming to an end, and that fall, then winter are right around the corner. But mixed in…

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our first mother-daughter book review

By Kate / September 10, 2014 /

I’m sorry for my long silence this summer. I’ve been juggling so many things, and I just couldn’t get here and catch up. I’ll be better this fall, blogging about my ghostwriting gig, and teaching and posting a few reviews. But today I’m happy to revive the blog with my first mother-daughter book review! The…

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in the clouds

By Kate / July 30, 2013 /

My favorite day of travel is the day I return home. Even the excitement I feel heading out on a trip—to a writing conference, to a workshop—can’t be beat by the day I get to go home, to D, to my girls. When I arrived in New York on Wednesday, I was filled with melancholy—my…

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I had him at chicken cacciatore

By Kate / May 2, 2013 /

It was June, 1998. D and I had just started dating, but it felt like it might turn into something serious. He was playing for the Minnesota Thunder professional soccer team at the time, and was traveling a lot, but between trips, I invited him over to my tiny studio apartment for dinner. At this…

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it’s good for everyone

By Kate / March 21, 2013 /

I don’t usually post about self-help books. In fact, I’m sure I never have. And that’s because I don’t usually read them. But when I was contacted by a publicist at New World Library about Renée Peterson Trudeau’s new book Nurturing the Soul of Your Family, I said yes, send me a copy. In some…

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writer's workshops

By Kate / November 30, 2012 /

I’m really excited about Patricia Zaballos’ book Workshops Work!: A Parents Guide to Facilitating Writing Workshops for Kids, which is just out. Patricia is an expert homeschooling writer mama, and I’m so glad to know her. She loves words and inspires others to find the joy in words. (She writes the blog Wonderfarm, and if…

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reading woolf

By Kate / September 2, 2011 /

It’s been a melancholic week, even with the serious basement cleaning that D and I accomplished last weekend. (I’m still on my mission to de-clutter.) Stella started back to school on Monday, and she is thrilled to be a second-grader. Thrilled. She comes home full of stories about her day and her new classmates, and…

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quietly joyful

By Kate / October 25, 2010 /

Both D and I were out with the stomach flu last week, and I’m having trouble getting back in the groove. Usually illnesses don’t keep me away from my computer; I work even when I’m not feeling well. But the stomach flu is, of course, a different kind of animal, and for much of the…

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an exact replica

By Kate / July 30, 2010 /

I read a lot of heartbreaking books. Not surprising, I guess, considering I read mostly motherhood literature and there’s a lot of heartbreak possible with the whole motherhood thing. Oh, I realize that there are funny books about motherhood out there, as well—I’ve actually been told that those are the only ones that sell—but those…

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plot, narrative urgency, and children’s lit

By Kate / June 17, 2010 /

The other day Stella went to the library with my mom and she came home with The Boxcar Children. When she pulled it out of the library bag, I started to squeal, “Oh that was one of my favorite books growing up. I can’t wait to read it to you!” I could tell she was…

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