Fresh back from teaching Mastering Setting with Kelly Going (K.L. Going), I am excited about a concept that arose and wanted to share it with my writing peeps. On Friday evening, we were fortunate to have Melanie Hall as a a guest. Melanie is an illustrator whose work I would characterize as musical and flowing….
Author: kimgriswell
I'm an author, an editor, a writing coach, and a workshop leader. I spend my days asking questions and looking (or listening) for answers, and thinking up ideas for new stories to write for my favorite audience: kids! I guess I'm just about as curious as Rufus Leroy Williams III, the intrepid pink hero of my picture book series from Sterling Publishing, is persistent. Did you know that in 5000 B.C. people blamed 'tooth worms' for their cavities? Neither did I until I developed THE HAUNTED OUTHOUSE for the Bathroom Reader's Institute. Turns out, ancient dentists filled the wormholes with metals like gold or silver. Except the Aztecs. They used a mix of iron, water, and belly-button lint. As you'll discover by reading RUFUS GOES TO SCHOOL, RUFUS GOES TO SEA, and RUFUS BLASTS OFF! I believe that reading opens up worlds for young people. Books did that for me, and I hope my books will do the same for today's kids.
Chocolate Whipped Cream
Today I’m thinking about chocolate whipped cream and that, sometimes there really can be too much of a good thing. I asked the young barista at Bloomsbury Coffee House in Ashland for “just a little” whipped cream. She proceeded to pile a chocolate whipped-cream mountain atop my almond milk mocha. I’m not quite sure why…
Join the Wild Girls
I just finished reading The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy, a writer whose work I had never read. It’s a middle grade novel about a girl who moves across country—from Connecticut to California–the friend she makes, and the stories they begin to write. It’s a book about writers and it’s a book for writers. There…
Grounded (in a good way)
What is it about moving that sets one off track for months? I was thinking about that question this morning, and how since I moved to Ashland I have done almost no writing. I’ve been settling in, trying to master the new editing job, enjoying the new town, trying to get my (adult) kids on…
The Worst of Times? The Best of Times . . .
What happened this weekend in Arizona had me despairing about the state of my country. Will we never learn to swim above it all? The violent rhetoric, the us-vs.-them mentality that leads one human being to hate another because of the difference in political affiliation or church membership or income level or skin color? While…
New Year’s Tangent
We wake up this morning to a new year. Will today be just another day? This year just another year? Will we succumb to the humdrum routine of modern life with its whirl of spirit-numbing lights and noise? Or will we live this year fully awake to the wonders around us? I don’t know about…
Cozy Up and Write
The shortest day of the year has come and gone, yet outside my window rain still falls. Whether it’s snow or cold or drizzle, winter has a way of keeping us inside for a season. Why does nature require this fallow time? Why can’t the sun shine and the air blow warm on bare skin…
At Rainbow’s End
If you squint and look closely you’ll see a rainbow arching behind Portland’s Hawthorne Bridge in this photo. It blazed across the sky after one of those December deluges that leaves your pants soaked to the knees–even though you’re carrying an umbrella which has probably turned inside out anyway. Rainbows are like finished stories. You’ve…
A Perfect Time for Book Buying
One of my favorite bookish quotes comes from Erasmus: “When I have a little money, I buy books; and if any is left over, I buy food and clothes.” At this time of year, I like to remind everyone who writes that books and magazines make perfect gifts for everyone. And if those of us…
Chai and Chi
One of the most interesting parts of working in cafés is the opportunity to overhear conversations. This afternoon, the background “music” for my pot of eggnog chai (total yum!) was a Portlander who was fretting over how badly his “chi” was affecting his ability to grow his business. If he could just get his chi…
Cozies & Kim Griswell 