Thanks to Clipart Library for these pretty fireworks! After having participated for the past few years, the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge has become something of a tradition in my home. If you've never taken part in the Reading Challenge, the basic idea is that participants are encouraged to expand their reading horizons through a series of…
Before I decided to leave the classroom to pursue a career in writing, I taught English/Language Arts at the middle and high school levels. One of the concerns that I frequently heard from parents was regarding reading. Usually the conversation involved the parent saying something like this: "I've been trying to get my kids to…
This week I finally had a chance to read Riley Sager's Lock Every Door. I had read one of her other novels (Final Girls) earlier this year as part of the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge and really enjoyed her writing style, so I was excited to dive into her newest book. Lock Every Door is a…
As someone who is always carrying around a book, I find myself reading in public on a frequent basis. Some of the places I have been caught reading include, but are not limited to: restaurants, public transportation, doctor's offices, grocery stores, sporting arenas, movie theaters, and work. But while reading in public can be a…
What kinds of things scare you? During this time of year, our thoughts may turn to ghosts and zombies, killer clowns, or other murderous characters from horror movies...the "things that go bump in the night." A close friend once told me that she found psychological thrillers far more frightening than traditional horror movies, because they…
Does anyone else get annoyed by all of those Internet lists telling you what you should and should not have in your home? It seems like I'm always coming across these things, and the vast majority of them only serve to make me mad. All of them attempt to tell you how best to create…
Yesterday morning, while I was out running errands, I ran across something that made me super nostalgic. One of the local elementary schools had a sign out in front of the building advertising the Scholastic Book Fair. Do you remember getting books from Scholastic as an elementary student? I certainly do! Scholastic was a big…
There's something about the concept of the haunted house that has always been fascinating to me. I think some of my interest goes back to when I was a kid, watching Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! for the first time. It was one of my favorite shows when I was younger. As an adult, I'm still…
When you think about horror, who is the first contemporary author that springs to mind? For me, it's Stephen King. The first time I read King's work was in college, when a friend recommended that I read Salem's Lot. I found the novel interesting and began to seek out more of King's work. I haven't…
October is one of my favorite months of the year. It's a time when the temperature finally begins to drop, hockey season officially starts, and the leaves turn beautiful colors...at least in theory. (Today's forecast was decidedly more consistent with summer than fall.) And of course, there's also pumpkin-flavored/scented stuff everywhere... I don't know if…
