Storytelling. Fact and fiction. One word at a time.
I’m not a fan of shopping or buying much, but what I have bought into is Christmas. It took some time, but I did it. I love Christmas. I fell in love by the spoken law of a beautiful older Greek woman. You can read about it here. And over the years that I have... Continue Reading →
New Year, New Me?Nah. I like the current me quite a bit. I like the tenacity I’ve shown over the years of teaching and writing—lugging heavy boxes of books to book fairs, chatting with new readers and fans of our books. I like the openness I bring when welcoming new folks into our book world.... Continue Reading →
Fan mail that is... Paranoid about spam, I clicked on an email I didn’t recognize. The name was Ali. I do not know an Ali. Turns out it was not spam at all. It was a forward from my WordPress contact page. And it was fan mail! I got FAN MAIL. Here’s what she said:... Continue Reading →
Living a silly little life and mastering the art of enjoying the small things, I’ve reconstructed my life over many years, and now I find fun in almost everything. I try to say yes to as many opportunities as I can. But once in a while, I do have regrets. If I recall the lessons,... Continue Reading →
I’ve been avoiding a movie on Netflix called The Life List. It stars Sofia Carson and Connie Britton, and it’s based on the novel of the same name by Lori Nelson Spielman. The story follows Alex, the main character, who has to complete a list of goals she wrote as a teenager—found by her late... Continue Reading →
I sold a beret on Facebook Marketplace. I’d had it for a very long time and only wore it a few times. This particular brand sells new for anywhere between $60 and $95—wow! I picked $20 as a fair price, and a buyer reached out quickly. I told her to come by after 4:00. The... Continue Reading →
I was leaving school. It had been a long day. There was a lot of cleanup and correcting to do in the art studio at this old school. The burden of my backpack reminded me I still had work to finish. I pushed open the door, having spent the entire day inside. A warm breeze... Continue Reading →
I have a peony bush in my backyard with about fifteen giant, soft-pink blooms. Every morning on my way to the car, I stop to sniff them—because really, isn’t that the best way to start the day? It's the small things in life One morning, I leaned in toward the biggest blossom. Peonies aren’t just... Continue Reading →
What Prompted This Post? The prompt: I was at a party Saturday night when one of my new friends mentioned that she had added My List, My Rules to her 2026 reading list. She explained that she just had too many books to get through first. That’s fair, and I genuinely appreciate that she’s interested... Continue Reading →
In the washroom at school, over soapy hands, a colleague asked if I had any exciting plans for winter break—traveling anywhere, doing anything thrilling. "No. Nothing exciting. No. Not going anywhere." I watched the temperatures drop. Drop. Drop. And with them, my enthusiasm for anything beyond crawling into a warm, cozy cave with a hot... Continue Reading →
Angie Counios 