H.O.P.E. 3: New Year Goal Setting and Wishes For Writers

H = Hope, Happiness, Horizons Do not lose hope—what you seek will be found. Trust ghosts.Trust those that you have helped to help you in their turn.Trust dreams. Trust your heart, and trust your story. —Neil Gaiman https://writersrelief.com/2018/12/20/17-inspiring-hope-filled-quotes-from-famous-writers-writers-relief/The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does.” –…

Hope 2: From Despair to Hope in Children’s Literature

Fairytales usually have happy endings despite terrible things happening to the main characters like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow-White and The Three Little Pigs. Then, there are classic stories that are so full of despair they can make children cry, but yet hope shines through and they become stories that children remember for the…

H.O.P.E = Health, Opportunity, Peace, and Education for all in 2022

Also, see https://eileenmoynihan.wordpress.com/kids-and-teens-fan-club/ My hope for 2022 is that people all over the world experience good health, have opportunities to work, live a decent life, have peace in their lives and countries, and have a chance of gaining an education. This may not be a realistic wish but with hope, anything is possible if we…

Bells 3: An Expression Of Many Things

Anyone who follows my blogs will know that I have been doing a series of blogs on the theme of bells. I got a lovely comment on Goodreads after my first blog on the theme from Kelly Santana-Banks. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15326387.Kelly_Santana_Banks Kelly wrote: ' Hello Eileen,This was an interesting blog post regarding bells, their history, and associated…

Bells 2: Books For Children To Ring In The Festive Season

My theme for my Christmas blogs is Bells. Why? Because they are festive, beautiful, musical, draw attention and make us recall memories of times past...just like the holiday season. So, I decided to take a random look at some children's books with the theme of bells that are for sale. I cannot personally recommend them…

Interview with Rose Byrne: Writer, Playwright and Screenwriter

Rose Byrne 1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? I'm from Dublin, Ireland, but I've been living down in County Roscommon for twenty years now with my husband and family.  2. What do you do when you are not writing? I'm busy with family life and I love watching television dramas and…

Bells: Ringing Out Times In Our Lives

Also see https://eileenmoynihan.wordpress.com/kids-and-teens-fan-club/ What Bells Mean To Me I have always loved bells. Whenever I hear them I want to stop and listen. They can be joyful, magical, enchanting, pleasant, or sad, serious, a warning, an end. Whatever the message they are sending it is always something I will remember... a day in spring, a…

Darkness and Light 3: In Writing

Contrasting Dark and Light As they say, "Nothing in life is ever black or white"; there might be a lot of grey areas. To make interesting characters and plots you need a mixture of light and dark and to show that a bad person may have some good traits and a good person may have…

Darkness And Light 2: In Children’s Books

Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes 'Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales, and Arabian Nights have many much-loved stories which have been shared with generations of children. In more recent times many have been turned into Disney films. If you look at some of the original versions many parents might be shocked at their darkness,…

An interview with the author, Patricia Stinson

I would like to introduce you to Patricia Stinson, a writer living in Minnesota, in the United States... Please tell us where you grew up and a bit of your background. Happy to do so, Eileen. I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States of America, and grew up in the small suburb…