A bookcase of days

I’ve written about my great-grandmother’s diaries—how they’ve provided insight into my family, how I’ve used them as research for some of my historical fiction, and how they influenced me to begin my own daily diary-writing practice 25 years ago. 

For many years my mother was the keeper of the diaries. Whenever I visited her, I’d spend several hours reading through them. And when my mother prepared to move out of the house I’d grown up in, she sent the diaries to me. Now they’re displayed in a bookcase in my bedroom—which, until our young-adult children leave the nest for good, is also my writing space.

There, they’re just a reach away, so I can research and immerse myself in historical New England. When I was writing Full Cicada Moon and wanted to know the weather each day in 1969, I turned to her diary. As I’ve been writing the middle-grade novel Family of Ghosts and wanted to understand how women’s suffrage, World War II, and the influenza pandemic affected her and her small New Hampshire town in 1918, I turned to her diary. As I wrote the adult verse novel The Women of Shunem and needed details about the death of her son, I read her 1937 diary. And as I’ve been writing the adult novel Restored and wanted to know anything about the inn that was once a birthing hospital, where my mother and uncle were born, I read her diaries from the 1950s and ‘60s.

When I find a bookcase for my own diaries, I’ll post a photo of them.

Happy reading and writing!

My 2021 reading challenge

Like many people, I have stacks of books that I’ve wanted to read for months (and some for years). Somehow, knowing my house is filled with unread books is like knowing my fridge is full of food but going out to eat.

But lately, the growing book inventory had gotten out of hand. And now that I’ve exchanged my technical writer and editor career for full-time writing, I have the time and mental energy to do more reading.

So, last December 2020 I decided to become more disciplined about reading the books I’d collected, and set a modest goal of reading one book a week in 2021 (so, 52 books). After I finished a book, I could either give it away or keep it. But, because part of the goal is to reduce the stacks, I must have a really good reason to keep a book I’ve read. For example, a nonfiction book has information I want to reference or a novel has a compelling voice.

Here’s the list of books I’ve read so far in 2021. We’re entering the 16th week of the year, so I’m ahead in the challenge!

Buy from your local independent bookstore—buy Indie Bound!

1. The Book of Boy - Middle-grade fiction by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
2. Enchanted Air - YA verse memoir by Margarita Engle
3. From the Desk of Zoe Washington - Middle-grade fiction by Janae Marks
4. The Skin I’m In - Middle-grade/YA fiction by Sharon Flake
5. Deluge - Poetry by Leila Chatti
6. Save the Cat Writes a Novel - Nonfiction/how-to by Jessica Brody
7. Irish Tales of the Fairies and the Ghost World - Fiction by Jeremiah Curtin
8. The Tradition - Poetry by Jericho Brown
9. The Balloonists - Poetry by Eula Biss
10. Ghost Of - Poetry by Diana Khoi Nguyen
11. Brown Girl Dreaming - Middle-grade verse novel by Jacqueline Woodson
12. Mermaid Tales: Books vs. Looks - Chapter book by Debbie Dadey
13. Outrun the Moon - YA historical fiction by Stacey Lee
14. Show Me a Sign - Middle-grade historical fiction by Ann Clare LeZotte
15. May B. - Middle-grade historical verse novel by Caroline Starr Rose
16. Kent State - YA historical verse novel by Deborah Wiles
17. Systems for the Future of Feeling - Poetry by Kimberly Grey
18. The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history - Nonfiction by John M. Barry
19. Like the Willow Tree - Middle-grade historical fiction by Lois Lowry
20. Penny from Heaven - Middle-grade historical fiction by Jennifer L. Holm
21. Countdown - Middle-grade historical fiction/documentary by Deborah Wiles

Happy reading!