Blog

What do a ballpoint pen and a stick of a roll-on deodorant have in common? Would you believe the ballpoint pen inspired the roll-on deodorant? The inventors of  roll-on deodorant sticks saw how the newly-invented (1940’s) Biro pen delivered an even flow of ink, and adapted the idea to create an even flow of liquid …[ read more ]

Inspiration: the word “inspiration” comes from the Latin word inspīrāre, which means to breathe upon or into: in + to breathe  (in + spīrāre) . It also means “to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence.” The original idea was that something outside of a person affected them in such a way that it changed them. That’s what I …[ read more ]

When I was younger, I wrote  stories about what I dreamed about at night. As I grew older, I dreamed of writing full-time. Now, I still write what I dream, but my dreams of writing full-time have become a reality! The Bronze Dagger, my middle grade fiction novel about a 12-year-old living in Ancient Mesopotamia, …[ read more ]

A ten-year-old dream will soon become a reality! About ten years ago my husband and I obsessed (okay, only I obsessed) over a 3,000-year-old bronze dagger we saw at an antiquities store. Teaching 6th grade social studies at the time, I imagined showing my students the ancient dagger while teaching them about Hammurabi and Ancient …[ read more ]