by kristinoakley | Nov 25, 2020 | Homeschooling, Unschooling
Note: The following essay was written by my daughter, Caitlin Podemski, for her college admission applications when she was seventeen. Caitlin was accepted into the four colleges she applied to and decided to attend Drake University where she graduated cum laude with...
by kristinoakley | Nov 14, 2020 | Conferences, Newsletter
Last weekend, I attended the Writer’s Digest Annual and Novel Writing Conferences from the comfort of my home in Madison, Wisconsin. I like my place, but I would have preferred meeting agents, editors, and other writers in New York City at in-person events. Yet,...
by kristinoakley | Nov 10, 2020 | Homeschooling, Unschooling
If you are struggling with the hassles of online public schooling or are concerned about sending your children to a private school, why not give homeschooling a try? But where do you start? Here’s my easy checklist to get you organized and on your way. **Many...
by kristinoakley | Oct 30, 2020 | Books and Movies, For Readers, Newsletter
Happy Halloween! I love this spooky holiday when we delight in scaring each other by telling ghost stories and watching horror movies. This Halloween, I’d like to share with you what I think are some of the scariest scenes, TV shows, movies, and books. One of...
by kristinoakley | Sep 13, 2020 | Conferences, Newsletter, Writing Life
Throughout your life, you experience life-changing events — your graduation, the first day of your dream job, your wedding, the birth of your child, traveling abroad, grandchildren, and more. Your career might offer you life-changing opportunities as well. As a...
by kristinoakley | Aug 30, 2020 | Creativity & Craft, Newsletter
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve made an important decision–I’ve decided to put my writing first. To you, this may seem an obvious thing to do, especially if you have a 9 to 5 job. If writing is my job, and it is, why don’t I just set aside...
by kristinoakley | Aug 8, 2020 | Newsletter, Unschooling, Writing Life
Almost the minute I began drafting my first book in 2008, I volunteered to work for writing organizations. But this year I vowed to pull back from volunteering and devote more time to my writing. Little did I know that my writing would include starting a new blog on...
by kristinoakley | Jul 12, 2020 | Newsletter, Writing Life
Back in May, I sent the seventh draft of The Devil Particle manuscript to my editor Tim Storm confident that he’d suggest a few minor changes and then my young adult novel would be good to go. Nope. Tim had major issues with the structure of the story,...
