Julie+Anne+Lindsey+-+Writer

[] and has offered to help us in our inquiry.
A little bit about her in her own words...

====// "As an only child I had always had plenty of time to people watch and make things up. When I didn't think I could make a living at the latter, my love of people led me to a BA in Psychology instead. A few years and three kids later, I dicovered the thrill of writing. Writing lets me harness my seemingly endless ssupply of energy and enthusiasm and create something of value in the wake." //====

She will help us starting with the next week. Hooray!

Hi Class! I had so much fun listening to your questions! I laughed when I saw "How much time do you spend writing?" because I write all the time. When I'm not writing, I'm reading! Words are such powerful little things, aren't they? This is why I love them... Close your eyes and think of the color white. DId you do it? You did! I bet everyone in the whole class saw the same thing. Words can tell us so much! Now try this. Close your eyes. On your white screen, make a rainbow in your mind. Isn't it beautiful! I love rainbows. One little word can fill your whole mind with color. How do you feel when someone tells you "I love you." It feels good. Warm and wonderful to hear we are loved. I'm sorry to do this, but how do we feel when someone says something mean to us? I know. It's very bad. Mean words can hurt us the way kind words can lift us. I bet you never thought of how a tiny little word can change your day. I love to write because I want to make people smile. I like to be silly and I like to make people feel good. I know words can help me do that. I hope you'll use your words today to make someone smile. Maybe, if you have time today, you can write down a word that makes you smile and pass it to someone in your class...maybe even give it to your teacher. Never under estimate the power of your words.   Wonderful thoughts! Here are our replies, Julie! ................................................................................................................................................................  Oh! I enjoyed your words very much! Your teacher is doing an amazing job with this project. I cried when I watched the video of the blind man. It made me want to answer your question: Why did I become a writer?  I wasn't always a very good girl. I got into a lot of trouble and I met a lot of people who also got into a lot of trouble. One day I started to see that all my friends were sad. We were sad because we got in so much trouble. We were sad because we thought the world we lived in was all there would ever be. But my world was small. I only saw the people I wanted to see and only did the same things over and over. I took a chance and applied to college. I hoped to learn how to do something that could get me a good job one day. When I got my first test grade back I was shocked. I got an 'A.' I was smart! I didn't know it. I'd spent so long doing the wrong things that I believed I was like the things I did. <span style="background-color: #f9f9ff; display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #f9f9ff; display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">I wasn't. <span style="background-color: #f9f9ff; display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #f9f9ff; display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">We aren't what we do. We aren't what we wear. We aren't where we live or who we know. We decide. Who we are is a choice and we are free to make a new decision about who we are anytime we want. I decided I wanted to be big. I wanted to tell other people making bad decisions that they don't have to be sad. They can be whatever they want. <span style="background-color: #f9f9ff; display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #f9f9ff; display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;">I went to college for years to earn a degree in Psychology so I could tell people they had choices. Then, I got married and had three babies, so I didn't get to tell people what I wanted them to know. <span style="background-color: #f9f9ff; display: block; font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;">About three years ago, I read a book that made me very happy and I thought I can write books! I can stay home with my children and still tell people there is hope and love and goodness in the world. I can write stories to make them smile. I made a choice NOT to let my situation (being at home with my children) keep me form following my dreams (making people smile). So, that is how I decided to be a writer. Writing lets me talk to people I will never meet in my life by letting them read my words instead. <span style="font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;">There is no impossible dream. You are smart, strong, creative young people with a world of possibilities ahead of you. Whatever you choose to do, no matter how impossible it seems, if it is in your heart to achieve it, you WILL. **<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;">Hi again, Julie! We loved your message as you can see from our blog comments! :) **

<span style="font-family: verdana,arial,sans-serif;">................................................................................................................................................................  Thank you for all your wonderful responses! I sat and read them all with my children. They had a great time hearing from you too! One day this week, I hope to send a short video of them to you. They want to say Hello and introduce themselves. Who wouldn't want to meet you guys? You are all amazing. Today, I thought I'd answer your question about what I do when I'm not writing that helps my writing. I love to read. When I can, I read. I read everyday. I think the more I read, the better I can write. Reading opens up your mind to endless stories from other writer's minds. I get to explore new worlds and solve mysteries and have adventures I would never have thought of on my own. I LOVE to read! Reading is very exciting. And it's food for your brain. Sometimes reading a fun new story will give me an idea. Then, I have a new story I want to write because I was inspired. Reading also teaches you new words. I think words are fun. Sometimes when I'm reading I keep a notebook with me and will write down words I see that I don't know. I look them up later and try to use them when I talk or write so that I remember them. I like new words. Did you know that whatever you learn is yours to keep? Forever? Think about this...Someone can take your things form you. I certainly hope they never would, but they could. Or, we can lose our things. We can break our things. Things can disappear for a lot of reasons. But what we learn is ours to keep. No one can ever take away what we have hidden in our hearts and minds. It's ours. Forever. So, I treat reading and learning like I'm a pirate out at sea collecting my treasures. All the things I can learn are my treasures. Something fun about your treasures is that we can share our knowledge with as many people as we want and it never gets smaller. What you learn is yours. Yours to keep and yours to share and you still have as much as when you started. Amazing! What are you reading now? Tell your friends about it! I can't wait to hear. What are your favorite stories? And why are they your favorites? **Wow, this was a wonderful entry! We apologize for the belated comments but the school was closed due to the weather conditions and the internet connections was not very good at times.** .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... Thank you for sharing what you're reading with me! My kids were excited to find you're reading many of their favorite books as well. In fact, a couple of you mentioned some I grew up reading! Judy Blume is a life long favorite of mine. Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing and SuperFudge are ones I loved reading as a third and fourth grader. We bought all the Junie B. Jones books when my oldest son, Noah was in Kindergarten. He loved them until he decided they were for girls because she was a girl. Silly boy. Junie B. is hilarious for everyone. Now he reads Goosebumps books and is trying to tackle Harry Potter. I was rally impressed to hear how many of you are reading those! Harry Potter books are HUGE. You have to really want to read those to finish one. They're the longest middle grade books I know of. Good job kids! My youngest son is in kindergarten this year. His name is Andrew and he like Spongebob books. Do you guys know Spongebob? Very silly guy. My Little Miss, Lily, loves all stories. She'd listen to me read a shopping list. She just loves words like her mom. She reads the Rainbow fish and Dr. Seuss a lot. We have a family favorite called Are You My Mother? It's a very cute book about a bird who hatches and his mother isn't there. She went to get food for him, so he goes looking for her. I read love stories and mysteries and books for teen agers a lot because those are the kinds of stories I write. I need to keep up with what is selling and what readers are loving in those areas so I can do a good job at writing my stories. I took a few pictures of my kids this morning with their books. We have Noah age 8 (he loves long hair. Ugh. I wish he'd cut it but that crazy Justin Beiber had long a hair for a while so Noah like it. Andrew is 6 and Lily is 3. Here they are: [|My_kids.jpg] [|Noah.jpg] [|Andrew.jpg] [|Lily.jpg]

With apologies for the belated replies (we had the school closed repeatedly AND had a midterm break this February!) these are our comments! :)

Hi Everyone! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come back and see you. Life has a way of going from boring to busy when you least expect it. For the next 2 months I have an event to attend each week with my newest book. In between the events I will prepare by signing my books and practicing speeches if I'm teaching a class. I made gift bags and chocolates this week for an event this weekend. I like getting to go out and meet people.

Many of you asked what I'm reading. I like to read books for teen aged people because I want to write books like those. So, over the past two weeks I've been reading The Hunger Games. Do you know this series? The movie came to theatres and I bought the first book. I really enjoyed it. As soon as I finished it, I went to see the movie. Then I read the other two books in the series. Here in America, The Hunger Games is a HUGE thing. People are talking about it everywhere, reading the books, dressing like the characters to go see the movie. It's a fun thing to be silly and do I guess, though I am a little too old and my children are still too young. This is the movie trailer: media type="custom" key="14139730"

The Hunger Games books are very exciting. The author makes you feel as if you're part of the story and I had fun reading them. Things happened quickly. The action is exciting. There was lots of running and danger and my heart pumped very hard. The final book was called Mockingjay and it was sad. I wouldn't read that one again.

Meanwhile, my oldest son, Noah and I began a series called 39 Clues. Have you heard of this? We're on the fist book and are enjoying it so far. I hope you are all enjoying some good books and writing in your journals and making plans for summer. The weather's getting warmer. Summer is coming! ........................................................................................................................................................................................................