Stories, plays, books, articles and classes for children, teachers and writers.
Posted in A Writer's Life, Holidays and Observances, Writing for children on Oct 13th, 2009
I threw my back out and couldn’t sit at the computer long enough to write a post, but I’m back now (and so’s my back).
Today is National Face Your Fears Day. I really like this one. It’s the opposite of the old maxim, “Don’t look back, something may be gaining on you.” I prefer to [...]
Posted in A Writer's Life, Writing Basics, Writing for children on Oct 7th, 2009
I am working on Halloween costumes for my granddaughters (fairy dresses with “ice cream cone hats,” as ordered). As I was tweaking the pattern for the dresses, I realized how similar my process is in both sewing and writing.
When I was a beginning seamstress, I did exactly what the pattern directions told me. Now, the [...]
Posted in A Writer's Life, Writing for children on Oct 5th, 2009
I got to do a reading of Oh No, Woolly Bear on Friday. It was a great experience, as usual, and really got me psyched up to do more school visits. My goal for this week is to get at least ten more visits lined up. There are plenty of schools on this side of [...]
Posted in A Writer's Life, Holidays and Observances, Writing for children on Oct 1st, 2009
I ran across a great website, Brownielocks, that lists holidays and observances for every day of the year. Today is International Older Persons Day. The World Health Organization classifies older persons as over sixty. I haven’t quite achieved older person status, but I’m getting closer by the minute.
With the demise of extended families, elders were [...]
Posted in A Writer's Life, Writing Basics, Writing for children on Aug 1st, 2009
I have a daughter,Heather McFadden, who is a really cool writer and who has been challenging herself to do writing exercises on her blog.
I decided to come up with my own version of a writing challenge by coming up with prompts for myself that are geared to writing for children. I’m going to do [...]
Posted in A Writer's Life, Writing for children on Jul 21st, 2009
Just spent a week at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautuaqua, New York with some amazing folks! People who write for children are way cool. It was more like a family reunion than a conference even though it was the first time many of us had been there. Still waiting for my chi to catch back [...]
Posted in A Writer's Life on Jul 6th, 2009
If you’ve been to my site before, you have probably noticed that I’ve changed my name. There’s a very good reason for this. Names matter. The wrong name can really weigh a person down. If you don’t believe me, ask Archie Leach (better known as Cary Grant). The right name, on the other hand, is [...]
Grian McFadden writes award winning fiction and non-fiction for and about children, as well as teaching materials for various educational publishers.