by kristinoakley | May 17, 2020 | Homeschooling, Newsletter, Unschooling
I know this is a stressful time for everyone, particularly for parents. They have to juggle working at home or making ends meet without an income while schooling their children. I have some advice–don’t school your children. I can hear gasps, but...
by kristinoakley | Apr 19, 2020 | Newsletter, Writing Life
It’s been over a month since my last newsletter. Honestly, with everything going on, I just wasn’t feeling it. My creativity was nil. So, instead of trying to scrape something together, I pored myself into revising the latest version of The Devil...
by kristinoakley | Mar 1, 2020 | Fictional Research, Newsletter, Writing Life
While marketing Carpe Diem, Illinois and revising The Devil Particle manuscript last week, I made two discoveries: there’s an art to writing book blurbs and evil can be measured. One of my 2020 goals is to sell more eBooks through Amazon so I signed up...
by kristinoakley | Feb 7, 2020 | Books and Movies, Newsletter
This Sunday marks the 92nd Academy Awards. My younger daughter and I are heading to Milwaukee for my niece’s Oscar party and we can’t wait! In preparation for the party, we’ve watched as many award-nominated films as possible. This year there...
by kristinoakley | Jan 18, 2020 | Books and Movies, Newsletter
Knowing that reading is crucial to good writing, I thought I’d read enough dystopian novels to write a good dystopian myself. For instance, I’ve read The Hunger Games trilogy, The Divergent Series, The City of Ember, The Giver, and Wool. I’ve also...
by kristinoakley | Jan 4, 2020 | Newsletter, Writing Life
A lot of people don’t like New Year’s resolutions but I’m not one of them. I like imagining the new year as a fresh page, a fresh beginning, an exciting time of new possibilities. Starting a new year is a great time to evaluate what has worked in the...
by kristinoakley | Dec 21, 2019 | Creativity & Craft, Newsletter
Happy December 21st! I hope you’re spending the weekend sipping hot cocoa or mulled wine (Glogg anyone?), while wrapping gifts, baking cookies, or decorating the tree and watching Love Actually (my favorite Christmas movie), It’s a Wonderful Life, or Elf. ...
by kristinoakley | Dec 7, 2019 | Books and Movies, For Readers, Newsletter
A year ago, I mentioned the Icelandic tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve and spending the whole night reading and drinking hot chocolate. Brilliant! With that in mind, I recommended books I’d enjoyed throughout the year worthy of a Christmas Eve splurge....