I took the photos above from the Penguin Random House page on which you can sign up to get news and information about Emma Brodie, the lovely spotlight of this month’s author post. I have to admit that I’m going off-script today because Songs in Ursa Major isn’t a romance novel, though it’s romance-adjacent. I’ve decided…
Author: caritagardiner
139. Why Join a Book Club or Literary Society
[I took a screenshot of the image above from the FVCC Book Club’s page, but I’m pretty sure it’s a public image.] You might not be surprised to learn that I read a lot for work. Generally, I re-read the books I’m teaching at the rate my students read them, and I read and mark…
138. Why I Save Things
I recently drove (yes, by myself) to Chicago to retrieve some of my possessions that have been in my mother’s house for decades. Among the items, I picked up a set of dishes left to me by my maternal grandmother, a plaque for the Amherst College championship basketball team I managed, family photos and photo…
137 Why I Grade Online
What you see above is a short part of a student’s marked, revised essay (from four and a half years ago). That I could easily find the essay to use for my screenshot already gives you my first reason for grading online. With organized folders (that are simple to create), I can keep students’ work…
136. Why Jojo Moyes
I’ve been writing once per month about various romance writers I’ve found during this, my year of romance novels. I came across Jojo Moyes through the glorious medium of Netflix, when I happened upon Me Before You, a 2016 romance starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin. Moyes has written twelve books, nine of which I’m looking…
135. Why “They Are” Is Okay
I took the photo above from Personnel Today’s article, “Gender Identity: How to be More Inclusive When Using Pronouns.” I’ve always been all for inclusivity and for calling people what they want to be called, but for a long time, I had a grammar hangup that got in the way of this value. I wondered…
134. Why Embrace Dissonance
[I took the cartoon above from Libby Buckfelder’s Slide Share explaining cognitive dissonance theory.] You’ve entered yet another week in which my idea comes from what I’ve heard on Peloton, in this case, from two instructors. Ross Rayburn talked (in his yoga flow class on April 9, 2021) about the importance of grounding down and…
133. Why I’m Not Too Busy
I took the photo above from a website called appreciation at work, in an article asking, “Are you too busy to learn how to overcome busyness?” I think the question and the image capture how many of us feel a lot of the time; if we don’t do eight things at once, we’ll never get…
132. Why Joanna Shupe Gives Second Chances
I took the above photo of Joanna Shupe from her website, which you should check out at some point before or after reading a ton of her books. I decided to focus on Shupe in this month’s romance author/trope spotlight because I love what she does with her heroines. While my post on Lisa Kleypas…
131. Why I Don’t Care What You Think
Check out Tuukka’s “I don’t care about anything” face. Pretty cute on him. The title of my post is an exaggeration, but now that you’re here, let me explain what I’m thinking. As you know, I work with teenagers, and I’m always floored by how much of their energy and attention goes into paying attention…