In honor of it being the birthday of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Narnia, which is sixty-eight years old this week, under the magical gazebo for MMGM I wanted to share some memories of my summer C.S. Lewis study abroad program. I also have some great Narnia-themed products and books to share. When I was a young girl, I discovered the world of Narnia and wonderful books by C.S. Lewis, never suspecting that those wondrous moments stepping through the wardrobe would shape my writing and love for portal fantasy stories. I didn’t know about the spiritual allegory…
Fall Delights! What’s coming from Thorn & Vine
I’ve been collecting great ideas for a wonderful fall series and wanted to give you updates about what to expect and some recent happenings! Due to a death in the family and some tech hiccups, the blog has been a bit sporadic. Thanks for your patience as we fixed everything! And nurtured our family for a while. Sometimes it’s important to slow down and simplify things while caring for one another. The good news, now, is I will share great content and hopefully some neat guest authors this fall. From entertaining posts we’re looking at changes at Disneyland (what will…
Happy Birthday Percy Jackson And The Jewelry Of The Gods
How meeting Percy Jackson shaped a generation of tween adventure books AND What the jewelry of the Greek and Roman gods might have looked like I’ll never forget the first time I read Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. Oh, I loved that scene in the museum where everything goes wrong and the hero side of an awkward kid emerges with lots of magic and mythological characters coming to life. And the fact that the story continued with other novels and took us through all kinds of adventures meeting making real and mythic history come to life was so…
Pitch Wars 2018 #BOOSTMYBIO
My WIP: LAUREN GOLDRAY AND THE CRYSTAL TIMESCOPE Middle Grade Fantasy This is my entry for #BoostMyBio for Pitch Wars 2018. Thank you to Auggie for hosting this great time to visit and meet other aspiring authors and get more involved in the fun of Pitch Wars, and everyone who makes this such a super event. About my WIP: When I was in gemology school (at the Gemological Institute of America – GIA) we studied the history of gems. I kept being intrigued that there were still unsolved mysteries about certain centuries of techniques and gems with special powers or…
Great Fake, Great Escapes – Royal Wedding Repost
In honor of the Royal Wedding, I’m re-posting this fun tidbit about the royal crown. Did you know there’s a mystery right there? What are your plans for the wedding this weekend? Did you know that the large ruby, called the Black Prince’s Ruby, on the front of Britain’s Imperial State Crown isn’t a ruby at all? For centuries there was no way to really tell the difference between red spinel and rubies. But this gem has such a rich history that its value stands out. Touching the lives of royals The gem’s first documented appearance is in fourteenth-century Spain….
How Huey Lewis Taught Me The Art Of Possibility
Recently I read that Huey Lewis, a great rock star with songs like “The Power of Love” from Back to the Future, “I Want A New Drug”, and “If This Is It” that were especially popular in the ‘80s, has suffered extensive hearing loss. I was remembering how he impacted my high school and early college years, hoping he recovers well. A dream come true When I was in high school, I wrote a letter thanking him for his great music and message (against drugs) and somehow, miraculously, it actually made it to him! I had seen him in town and…
One little voice
Can one little voice make a difference? I hope so. Having taken pause to notice a few things in the world, and help us craft our own world a bit more after our recent move, I’m going to be fine-tuning the blog and my social media in the coming months. A force for the positive It’s been a bumpy year and I can’t thank my writing community and friends enough for your support. I’ve noticed that even the smallest gesture can make a difference – an email, a call, a positive or funny post on line. Just that one little…
Great Reads: Tesla’s Attic by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman
This week under The Magical Gazebo, where I like to sit for the reviews, is a super middle grade adventure by best selling authors Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman called Tesla’s Attic. Rating: 5 stars out of 5 stars. Is it a clean read? It depends. A couple of things to consider: What could make this slightly more young-adult aged is some kissing and one character’s assumptions about life. Also, Nick and his family are dealing with losing their mom and one of the characters perishes in the novel, too. I feel it’s not completely clean, but the great writing,…
Great Reads: Max Tilt: Fire The Depths by Peter Lerangis
New from Thorn & Vine: MMGM Book reviews! Due to the terrific response to our December, 2017 post HERE about great reads for kids, we are going to regularly be featuring new (or favorite) books for middle grade and young adult readers. I’ve listed the link to MMGM below as well. This week under The Magic Gazebo, where I like to sit for the reviews, is a super middle grade adventure by author Peter Lerangis. You may already know him from his fantastic series based on Greek myths, The Seven Wonders. He’s started a new series recently based on the…
Cheers to 2018! Great things on the way this new year!
Greetings in the new year! I’ve had a quiet holiday, our first in our new home in the Bay Area. I wanted to touch base and let you know what’s coming up this first part of the year. 2017 was an emotional year, supporting many who’ve lost everything in life and need to make a new beginning. I’m finding I need a reboot as well, so will be refocusing the blog on the following areas given some neat opportunities that have recently come to light. Series: Becoming a resilient writer After 10 years of corporate writing and years blogging and…
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