Lauri Meyers .

I don’t like going out to eat. It's not that I don't like to eat - I do. It's not that I love cooking - I don't. It's that with little children, a sit down dinner at a restaurant is only just below the joy of having a crocodile nibble each of your toes slowly as an appetizer rather than just gobbling you up in one bite. If you're one of those people who believe children should be seen and not heard, then you would not want to dine with our family. They are nice kids and oh so delightful. But even the most pleasant of children cannot sit still for 70 minutes. (I saw one try once, but his insides kept jiggling so much he finally imploded. I could barely finish my ice cream after seeing that. ) At an Irish pub the other night, I was burning quickly through my usual bag of tricks. They colored, emptied my purse contents, and made a condiment tower. The girls even explored the restaurant's antiques, pondered how to access the apps on an old

The coolest thing happened to me this week: I had sneaked off to the office to steal 10 minutes to write while the girls hosted their 13 th Barbie wedding for the day. Not having any formal ninja training, my attempts to slip away are usually quickly thwarted.  I heard the wedding break up (something Ken said wrong, apparently) and little voices checking the bathroom for mommy (I hide there a lot.) Four feet pitter-pattered up the steps, and I was found before my chair was even dented. But they decided to play together in the office, so I kept working. They were playing "see who can scream the loudest." I'm not sure who was winning, but I know I was losing. Once that game was complete (thankfully prior to my stabbing myself with a #2 pencil,) they moved into a pretend game. One was the mommy, and one was the baby. (paper image by Billy Alexander via sxc.hu) At one point, the baby turned to me and asked "Mommy, can I have more milk in my bottle?

Sure there's lots of discussions on whether writers should blog. In the context of the "to blog or not to blog" discussion, blogging is considered one of two things: 1) Advertising or 2) A Distraction. Blogging can certainly do a great job at those things.   Fox in Box (Fox b y  Marcin Rybarczyk , Box by Billy Alexander, via sxc.hu) I know you have lots of other priorities like feeding your family or earning real money or showering once a week...blah, blah, blah...but as  a blogging convert, I can tell you there are many benefits of blogging for writers -and for anyone - to consider.   Seven Sweet Side Effects anyone could experience from blogging: 1.       Share your knowledge about, well, anything with, well, anyone who happens by. You love Health Food? Great tell us about it and enjoy acknowledgement from others who do too. 2.       Build community with other people who love the same things (Stargazing? Pickle-making?) Discuss the most current to

I had the pleasure of kicking off the   NaPiBoWriWee event hosted by Paula Yoo on Wednesday with my post:  7 Simple Steps to Write 7 Picture Books in 7 Days.  Stop on over to have a laugh and join in the challenge to write 7 drafts in a week! On the downside this week, I had the misfortune of realizing my childhood memories wouldn't work in my writing because they are extinct .  Take for example: Lauri wrapped the telephone cord around her finger and listened to Zack's story about making the winning shot in the basketball game. All the loops of the cord were stretched straight as she sought one more inch of privacy. Unfortunately, she ran into her big sister who was tapping her watch. "I have to go," Lauri said. "You say bye first." "No you," Zack said. "No you," she giggled. Her sister pounded the receiver with a sneer. Click. This is a real telephone. (image by Rybson via sxc.hu) See what I mean? First of all, cords?