What am I supposed to give Anthony as a wedding gift? I asked Kristin, my bridesmaid and person-who-was-married. I mean what kinds of things do brides give their grooms? I was thinking of hiring someone to clean the house before we left for the honeymoon so we’d come back to a spotless house. Is that a good wedding gift?Um, no, she said gently, so as not to make me feel like an idiot. It should be something personal. Like, you could paint him a picture, or make a scrapbook, or write him a poem...A poem? Why, I had at least a dozen poems Id written about him that heed never seen. And ...

Why Johnny Can’t Writeby Mark Pennington, MA Reading Specialist and author of Teaching Essay Strategies ©2002 Pennington Publishing“Johnny is a creative story-writer, but he can’t write an essay to save his life.” Does this ring true for your child or student?Johnny has had some good writing instruction. He can recite the steps of The Writing Process from the posters he has seen in every classroom throughout his elementary school years. He knows all about Writers Workshop. He would know what to expect if the teacher had written “Writers Conferences” or “Response Groups” on the white board as parts of her daily lesson plans. Johnny’s writing portfolio is chalk full of fanciful stories ...

Step into a bookstore or a library and you are surrounded by books. Walk up to a stranger and ask them if they have ever wanted to write a book. Chances are they will say yes and tell you right off what their book idea is. So why oh why are there so few authors. Really, how many authors do you know?Why, when so many people have wonderful book ideas, are there so few authors?The answer...Life.Time, fear, money, family...they all get in the way of people attaining their dreams. What is getting in your way?The only difference between the authors of all the books on the bookstore shelves and all the folks ...

Step into a bookstore or a library and you are surrounded by books. Walk up to a stranger and ask them if they have ever wanted to write a book. Chances are they will say yes and tell you right off what their book idea is. So why oh why are there so few authors. Really, how many authors do you know?Why, when so many people have wonderful book ideas, are there so few authors?The answer...Life.Time, fear, money, family...they all get in the way of people attaining their dreams. What is getting in your way?The only difference between the authors of all the books on the bookstore shelves and all the folks ...

Famous List Makers. Did you happen to read Nick Hornby's novel, "High Fidelity," or see the movie by the same name? In the film, John Cusack's character, record store owner Rob Gordon, is a list-making fiend. He has lists of the Top 5 Episodes of "Cheers," the Top 5 Pop Songs About Death, the Top 5 Elvis Costello Songs - and even the trite Top 5 Movies. In fact, his list of the Top 5 Worst Breakups is the central plot point for the story.And unless you've been living under a rock for the last 20-plus years, you know that David Letterman has immemorialized the Top 10 List. We are a culture ...