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....
by kristinoakley | Nov 23, 2019 | Books and Movies, Newsletter
Last weekend, I traveled with my younger daughter, my sister, and my niece to a magical world of stories — Walt Disney World. We explored as much of the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, the Animal Kingdom, and Epcot as we could in three days, walking ten miles...
by kristinoakley | Nov 9, 2019 | Creativity & Craft, Newsletter
It’s official–I’m a Wrimo which means I’m participating in NaNoWriMo. No, that’s not a new weight loss program or exercise regiment. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and is a project that inspires people to write 50,000...
by kristinoakley | Oct 18, 2019 | Books and Movies, Fictional Research, Newsletter
I just finished reading Stephen King’s latest novel The Institute and it’s now one of my favorite books by this master. The stakes are high in this tale of kidnapping, telepathy, and saving the world. The tension is palatable, the characters are...
by kristinoakley | Sep 22, 2019 | Books and Movies, For Readers, Newsletter
My daughters and I take one big trip together every year. This year we went to San Francisco and Napa Valley — we just got back on last Monday! We’re huge bibliophiles so we manage to sneak in a stop at a bookstore, library, or an author’s favorite...
