This is a place to find biographies for young readers about people who've led interesting and challenging lives, plus check out my Downloads for other short stories and creativity exercises. 

April was a busy month for me. I finished a second draft of a book for an educational publisher’s upcoming new biography series, finished revisions on my new young adult novel, went to Texas with the family for a week of spring break vacationing, and participated in the Western Washington SCBWI’s Inside Story event.

The Inside Story event featured local authors and illustrators sharing their stories with librarians, teachers and booksellers. It was fun. My “to read” list is now longer, I met a lot of interesting people, and I got some great tips on how to present book ideas to the publishing world. The event was hosted at the very cool Mercer Island Books; if you're in the Seattle area, check the store out!

Also, you can pop over to my Facebook page to see the results of a little experiment I hosted in April. I posted an opening sentence and ask page visitors to help build a short story, line by line, just for fun, to get our spring creative juices flowing. Two people took up the challenge and we created a little story that you can read. The opening sentence: He refused to wear shoes to school. And nothing was going to make him change.

I hope you’re getting sun and warmth wherever you live, instead of hail, snow, flooding and tornadoes!