Amy Makechnie's Blog, page 3

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Last Part:

Nine days until Cope and Kaden’s baby is due!!! (Cope is my oldest daughter :) Baby is due on Pioneer Day which is fitting because Cope wore pioneer bonnets all through her childhood, hehehe. Are we excited? Oh my, we are excited. We don’t know the gender and are keeping the paparazzi informed via the “BBC” (Baby Bump with Cope) on my Instagram. This week, according to thebump.com, she’s the size of a small pumpkin. She feels like a large pumpkin.

I painted pumpkins using this book as a reference. Pumpkins are fun to paint, maybe not so fun to carry around in your stomach…

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

I started reading The Hobbit but gave up…maybe I start with Lord of the Rings?

Bone and muscle health!

3

Should I have an Amazon storefront? I’m so conflicted about Amazon but I still do a lot of recommending and shopping there. And wouldn’t it be nice to reap some of the benefits from that?

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Published on July 15, 2025 03:03

Great Fiction: Start With "What if..."

Hello readers, and happy hot July…

I’m writing a book right now (headed toward the finish line, hoping to nail the ending), and trying to keep the story moving quickly.

I’m remembering this piece of writing advice:

Start with a “what if” question.

What if two fourth-grade boys prank their strict principal, Mr. Krupp, by hypnotizing him? What if when they snap their fingers, he turns into Captain Underpants - the hero of their self-written comic books that Mr. Krupp confiscated!

What if there was a mouse who loved his little motorcycle and the only way to keep the motorcycle safe was to go to school with his pal, Ryan?

What if you spent every summer on a private island with your beautiful, perfect family, only to wake up to a foggy memory of a terrible accident and a devastating secret about the people you love most in the world - and that you, yourself, are the biggest liar of all?

What if a painful divorce leaves you adrift and so you embark on a year-long journey to rediscover pleasure, spiritual devotion, and balance, ultimately finding your way back to loving yourself? Also, what if you pray and eat a lot?

Do you recognize these stories?

The “what if” question gets to THE STORY right away, and in fiction (and even memoir), story trumps all. "Meaning” or “message” is simply a by-product of a story well told.

“What if” lets the reader experience and feel and live the story, too, instead of feeling like the writer is preaching or “hitting us over the head” with a lesson (ugh!)

To write great fiction means to trust that meaning will emerge as we put our unique and complicated characters in sticky, messy, complicated situations. They will - or they won’t - find their way out (which already sound like a good story to me!)

I have to be reminded of “what if” and “story first” again and again.

When you’re writing for kids, it’s tempting to start thinking about “imparting wisdom” or “what kids need right now” or even the adults who will first read and recommend your book before they buy or give it to a child. But this mindset can easily get in the way of the most important thing: the story.

Story is what I was reminded of when reading Captain Underpants. I was instantly delighted. I laughed. It was funny and so real. I was back in third grade again. Glorious.

Was there meaning? Yes, it’s there! But it’s the “what if” that keeps you turning the pages. And wow, who knew that meaning could be found with a wedgie? hahaha.

STORY FIRST. Always, last, and always.

What’s your “what if”?

Amy 💖

writing stories is easy. said no one ever.

Shop my favorite “what if” stories at BookShop.org and get free shipping for (anti-) Prime1 Day!!!!

Favorite Middle Grade Fiction

Favorite Young Adult Fiction

Favorite Adult Fiction

Favorite Memoir

The Last Part:

Sibling Shenanigan Books for Summer: featuring The McNifficents! Thank you,

My Heart: breaks for Texas…NPR reporting

Pixar: what happens when “messaging” overtakes story…? (it’s not good)

Ran: a 5k with the family for the Fourth of July! Me and Cope placed first in our age groups, but COPE IS 37 WEEKS PREGNANT, whut?!?

Painting: I’ve fallen off the wagon. again.

Wearing: Chaco’s. All.Summer.Long.

Re-reading: We Were Liars, Ralph S. Mouse, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

I haven’t broken up with Amazon, but I do like to support local bookstores by buying my books from them!

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Published on July 08, 2025 08:58

The Best Time and Place to Make Art

The other day we had a baby shower for my oldest daughter. Two hours before guests arrived we commissioned Winnie-the-Pooh food tags. However, Brynne, (aka the “real painter”) had to go to work and so I said I would do it. whuuuuut?

I ran upstairs, found my neglected watercolor paper, brushes, and paint, cut squares with our old and rusty paper cutter, and literally traced Winnie the Pooh characters RIGHT FROM MY COMPUTER.

Never mind they weren’t perfect (difficult with thick watercolor paper), the clock was ticking.

It was great, hurried fun.

I was telling myself MAYBE NEXT TIME DON’T START TWO HOURS before guests are arriving but I’ve changed my mind. The ticking clock made for part of the fun. More time would have just given me more time to overthink, overanalyze, stew, fight the imposter voices, etc etc. My task was to work really fast and be happy with whatever happened.

I’ve been reflecting on this, realizing that the best place to make art is right in your own home, right here and now. My mother is always drawing pictures for her grandchildren as she tells them witch stories - they are delightful!

My normal world:

my mother is fun!

Try it! Draw for the kids, the parents, the grandkids, your nieces and nephews, the neighbors and their kids. Draw for the dogs.

Work really fast and give yourself a hard stop.

Wow, if we did this every day, we’d get really good pretty quick.

I finished within thirty minutes of guests arriving and then raced to the bathroom to do something with my humidity-electric-socket-looking curly hair (which turned out not as cute as the pooh cards).

The cards were cute, totally imperfect, and I got lots of external validation with - “what? you did that?”

Yes, I did. And so can you.

Adults making art is so delightful because it’s unexpected! If I imagine my dignified dad holding a crayon and drawing a picture, it makes me laugh. Why? Give the man some crayons!

Art is not for the select few. Like Brene Brown says, creativity is within all of us - it just requires a mix of vulnerability and courage. Both of which we have aplenty.

Speaking of creativity, all the food was my husband’s idea and doing. This is his way of being creative. I am the happy beneficiary.

Think about how crazy brilliant creative we ~~have~~ get to be as adults. We talk about losing creativity as we age, but I think it’s more like the battlefield of life changes and we adapt - we continue being super creative to survive each and every life situation.

We often stop doing the things we think of as “creative” like coloring and painting and making up wild stories (actually, NVM, aren’t we always making up wild stories in our head?)1 but that doesn’t mean we aren’t creative -

Ya’ll, we ARE CREATIVE.

No matter your job, being a human requires a tremendous amount of imagination.

All of the pivots, instant “out of the box” decisions during a personnel or child crisis, the juggling of schedules, the sibling wars, the summer calendars and chore charts, the “reframing”, the listening to different Points of View, the teaching, coaching, and adapting to fit someone else’s learning style. We adults do very creative work all of the time - at home, at work, at play (I hope we are playing).

Life-ing and parenting are the perfect training grounds for creative work. You’re already doing it. There will be a hundred creative opportunities just today if we pay a little more attention to them.

You have to be more intentional about picking up a paintbrush or actually writing the story instead of keeping it in your head, but look at your track record. You’ve already proved your creativity in thousands and thousands of ways as a living human being.

Practice every day art on your people, the neighbors, your colleagues, the dogs. They’ll love it. And so will you.

You don’t have to worry one second about “being good” or monetizing your creativity. Just do it because it’s fun, satisfying, and brings joy to the soul - most especially yours.

Let me reassure you: anyone who gets a homemade card or handwritten letter or dinner bouquet will be THRILLED. You might even inspire them to make their own creation.

I’m seriously going to buy my dad some Crayola crayons, and he just turned 70. I can’t wait to see what genius comes out of him (right, dad?!?!)

Yes, I believe you can.

Carpe Diem, friends,

Amy 💖

Substacks making art that I love to drool over:

(Illustrating life and stories)

(Children’s illustrator)

(Artist, author, teacher, stunning watercolorist)

(Children’s writer and illustrator)

(Comics and musings about life)

(New Yorker cartoonist and matador)

(Writer and teacher, draws pretty things!)

flowers. what a marvelous creation.The Last Part:

Sibling Shenanigan Books for Summer: featuring The McNifficents! Thank you,

Eating: So much watermelon I’ve actually turned into watermelon.

Querying: my next book. Racking up some nice rejections once again.

Wearing: Trader Joe’s SPF 40 sunscreen, also called a “Goop Dupe” b/c it goes on so nice and sheer and is great to wear under make-up. And for only $8.99 compared to Goop, it’s a no-brainer!

Reading: We Were Liars. Again. Could it be the most perfectly paced book with the greatest plot twist ending ever? I read it (and cried. again) and then watched the series. I have thoughts.

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

Brene Brown will tell you “beware of the story you are telling yourself” !!!!

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Published on July 01, 2025 03:03

the best time and place to make art

The other day we had a baby shower for my oldest daughter. Two hours before guests arrived we commissioned Winnie-the-Pooh food tags. However, Third Child (aka the “real painter”) had to go to work (rude) and so I said - “I’ll do it!”

I ran upstairs, found my neglected watercolor paper, brushes, and paint, cut squares with our old and rusty paper cutter, and literally traced Winnie the Pooh characters RIGHT FROM MY COMPUTER.

Never mind they weren’t perfect (difficult with thick watercolor paper), the clock was ticking.

I matched Pooh-character paint the best I could with what I had and I was done!

It was great, hurried fun.

I was telling myself MAYBE NEXT TIME DON’T START TWO HOURS before guests are arriving but I’ve changed my mind. The ticking clock made for part of the fun. More time would have just given me more time to overthink, overanalyze, stew, fight the imposter voices, etc etc. My task was to work really fast and be happy with whatever happened.

I’ve been reflecting on this, realizing that the best place to make art is right in your home, right here and now. There are so many opportunities. My mother is always drawing pictures for her grandchildren as she tells them witch stories - they are delightful!

My normal world:

my mother is fun!

Try it! Draw for the kids, the parents, the grandkids, your nieces and nephews, the neighbors and their kids. Draw for the dogs!

Work really fast and give yourself a hard stop.

Wow, if we did this every day, we’d get really good pretty quick.

I finished within thirty minutes of guests arriving and then raced to the bathroom to do something with my humidity-electric-socket-looking curly hair (which turned out not as cute as the pooh cards).

The cards were cute, totally imperfect, and I got lots of external validation with - “what? you did that?”

Yes, I did. And so can you.

Adults making art is so delightful because it’s unexpected! If I imagine my dignified dad holding a crayon and drawing a picture, it makes me laugh. Why? Give the man some crayons!

Art is not for the select few. Like Brene Brown says, creativity is within all of us - it just requires a mix of vulnerability and courage. Both of which we have aplenty.

Speaking of creativity, all the food was my husband’s idea and doing. This is his way of being creative. I am the happy beneficiary.

Think about how crazy brilliant creative we ~~have~~ get to be as adults. We talk about losing creativity as we age, but I think it’s more like the battlefield of life changes and we adapt - we continue being super creative to survive each and every life situation.

We often stop doing the things we think of as “creative” like coloring and painting and making up wild stories (actually, NVM, aren’t we always making up wild stories in our head?)1 but that doesn’t mean we aren’t creative -

Ya’ll, we ARE CREATIVE.

No matter your job, being a human requires a tremendous amount of imagination.

Geesh, the number of “creative” chore charts I’ve made. All of the pivots we make, instant “out of the box” decisions during a personnel or child crisis, the juggling of schedules, the sibling wars, the summer calendars, the “reframing”, the listening to different Points of View, the teaching, coaching, and adapting to fit someone else’s learning style. We adults do very very creative work all of the time - at home, at work, at play (I hope we are playing).

Life-ing and parenting are the perfect training grounds for creative work. You’re already doing it. There will be a hundred creative opportunities just today if we pay just a little more attention to them.

You have to be more intentional about picking up a paintbrush or actually writing the story instead of keeping it in your head, but look at your track record. You’ve already proved your creativity in thousands and thousands of ways as a living human being.

If you’re looking for creative opportunities, look no further than the life you’re already living. Practice on your people, the neighbors, your colleagues, the dogs. They’ll love it. And so will you.

You don’t have to worry one second about “being good” or monetizing your creativity. Just do it because it’s fun, satisfying, and brings joy to the soul - most especially yours.

Let me reassure you: anyone who gets a homemade card or handwritten letter or dinner bouquet from you will be THRILLED. You might even inspire them to make their own creation.

“Neurons that fire together, wire together,” so the more we tell ourselves YES WE CAN, the more we’ll hear it…and believe it.

I’m seriously going to buy my dad some Crayola crayons. He just turned 70. I can’t wait to see what genius comes out of him (right, dad?!?! my dad was my first paying subscriber. Is he the best or what? :)

Yes, I believe you can.

Carpe Diem, friends,

Amy 💖

Substacks making art that I love to drool over:

(Illustrating life and stories)

(Children’s illustrator)

(Artist, author, teacher, stunning watercolorist)

(Children’s writer and illustrator)

(Comics and musings about life)

(New Yorker cartoonist and matador)

(Writer and teacher, draws pretty things!)

flowers. what a marvelous creation.The Last Part:

Sibling Shenanigan Books for Summer: featuring The McNifficents! Thank you,

Eating: So much watermelon I’ve actually turned into watermelon.

Querying: my next book. Racking up some nice rejections once again.

Wearing: Trader Joe’s SPF 40 sunscreen, also called a “Goop Dupe” b/c it goes on so nice and sheer and is great to wear under make-up. And for only $8.99 compared to Goop, it’s a no-brainer!

Reading: We Were Liars. Again. Could it be the most perfectly paced book with the greatest plot twist ending ever? I read it (and cried. again) and then watched the series. I have thoughts.

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

Brene Brown will tell you “beware of the story you are telling yourself” !!!!

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Published on July 01, 2025 03:03

When the Last Child Leaves You

If children have one flaw, it’s that they grow up.

Our youngest of four children graduated from high school. I may pretend I have other things to do, but these children have been my life and job for twenty-six years. It is a strange time. I feel like either I’m the one graduating - or being pushed off a cliff.

Everything is yours for a time, and then it isn’t. Everything is borrowed, and everything is temporary while you are here… -Brianna Wiest, The Pivot Year1

I know that being a parent is really about working yourself out of a job. We actually want them to leave - it could be otherwise :)2 (remember when I said I didn’t want to get old? I have evolved.)

Yet the feelings swing wildly between extreme pride and accomplishment to an astounding amount of nostalgia and grief.

My go-to grief strategies have a pattern:

run, cry, read

repeat.

The running and crying are are an essential and special type of therapy for me. As for reading, our pal Caroline says, “books will always give me a resigned perspective. Good books might not solve every problem, but the shared experience with a book is comforting.” I like that. I concur.

Side note: I kindof love graduations because every year I’ll hear a speech that MOVES ME. This year: Mark Moore 3 and Steve Carell - YOU MUST GET TO THE DANCE PARTY.

Okay, so we’ve gone on some runs and we’ve cried.

Now to books saving us, or at least providing comfort:

These Books Showed Up For Me:

I read six books over the last few weeks and I’ve been reflecting on how each of them have comforted me as I process who I am exactly without children living at home.

OLIVETTI by Allie Millington

ANNA KARENINA by Leo Tolstoy4

THE BURNING SEASON by Caroline Starr Rose 5

HAPPINESS FALLS by Angie Kim

THE LET THEM THEORY by Mel Robbins6

THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS by Dav Pilkey

Let’s play a game!

Match the quote to the book:

A.

“When you say Let Them, you give other people the space to feel their emotions without needing to fix them. When you say Let Me, you do what’s right for you, even if it upsets someone, which is how you take responsibility for your own life.”

B.

“Only one thing can help us now,” said
George.
“What?” asked Harold.
“Rubber doggy doo-doo,” said George.” 7

C.

LIGHTNING CUTS

across the sky.
The lantern casts
strange shadows.

Thunder booms
close enough
I feel its echo
in my chest.

…

A fire tower’s the safest place
a person could be in a storm.

D.

“She hardly knew at times what it was she feared, and what she hoped for. Whether she feared or desired what had happened or what was going to happen and exactly what she longed for, she could not have said.”

E.

“The human species, you see, is full of flaw:
Breakable bones. Scratchable skin. The daily need to defecate.
But the worst one by far is that they grow up."

F.

“For the rest of our lives, every time one of us goes somewhere and doesn’t return on time, doesn’t let the others know where we are, we will remember this time, what can happen. And we will fall apart.”

ANSWERS:

(1 E) (2 D) (3 C) (4 F) (5 A) (6 B)

Are you wondering WHY I read Captain Underpants?

Well, now I know what all the hype is about! I’m not the target audience, but I laughed. A lot. In fact, I felt like I was in third grade again and that was fun.8

Each one of these recent reads comforted me in some way, even the one about boys cracking jokes about the hilarious word “underwear.”

“I suppose there is really only one place to go. The library.
What is it about books that helps us be brave?" -Olivetti9

If I were giving a graduation speech this year, I would tell the graduates to do two things:

Show up for your people (as our speaker Mark Moore did)

READ

Read deeply and widely. Question everything, and for heaven’s sake use PRIMARY SOURCES.

Oh, and dance parties will always help.

I will read, and I’ll also remember the little girl who had to have her dad sit with her through half of first grade because she missed her mama so much. Yes, this is a true story.

And just see how she flies now.

We will get through - and books can be a part of saving us.

Amy 💖

The beautiful children…happy graduation, everyone!The Last Part:

Sibling Shenanigan Books for Summer: featuring The McNifficents! Thank you,

Movies I liked while on vacation in Yellowstone…Hitchcock, The Hill, and Dirty Dancing (I’ve seen it a dozen times. It’s just so good).

Painted: Winnie the Pooh food tags for my daughter’s baby shower - I will show you!

Querying: My agent retired so I’m on the hunt again…life feels hard

Smelling: My garden peonies. Oh, I love them so. Did you know? If winter is too mild, peonies might not bloom at all, or they will be weak bloomers. Their color will be less vibrant and they will struggle to thrive.

Under the cold, hard, frozen ground, there is important work going on. The long winter months in New Hampshire are not an interruption to the growth of the flower, but a necessary part of the plan.

Here she is in bloom 🌸

In bloom. Just like me and you…

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

Brianna, knowing just how to twist the knife in my heart

a Jane Kenyon poem and it’s marvelous

3

Mark and Sandra Moore lost their son, just before senior year began and was a close friend of my daughter’s. “Patrick,” she said, “made caring cool.”

4

I listened to this on Hoopla…all THIRTY THREE HOURS of it. Whew.

5

This is an amazing post about Caroline’s drafting process!

6

There’s some controversy over this book - as to whether Mel Robbins actually “came up with it” - and I think it’s important to be aware

7

Did you laugh?!?

8

Also, Dav Piley’s author bio is a favorite: “When Dav Pilkey was a kid, he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. He was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit out in the hallway every day. Luckily, Dav loved to draw and make up stories, so he spent his time in the hallway creating his own original comic books—the very first adventures of Dog Man and Captain Underpants.”

9

I loved Olivetti so much that after I listened to it, I immediately bought it!

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Published on June 24, 2025 03:03

Ten Things So Lit

There are magical and wonderful things everywhere. I’ve been especially attentive1 to them lately, leading up to an epic trip to Yellowstone National Park. Here are ten things so lit (some more literary than others) and worthy of a share…

Last month I led a workshop focused on how being still in Nature can help us feel and hear the Divine .2 The best part was how much I personally got out of it by preparing and reading. The next best part was learning from the audience. "Our family went on a national park tour last summer and observed the devastation of massive forest fires, but also learning how necessary they are; later that year my husband was diagnosed with an illness that literally felt like our lives were burning down…I remembered that forest and how it recovered and even found healing, regrowth and strength from ashes. Not a dry eye.

Yellowstone3: Coincidentally(?), I read THE BURNING SEASON on the plane4 while traveling to our family reunion (my parents, four siblings, and their families). It was incredible. Not only did everyone get along(!) but the park was stunning. Old Faithful was still smoking (on average, it sends burning hot water into the sky every 92 minutes). Did you know that the Yellowstone fires of 19885 is the largest wildfire in the recorded history of National Parks in the United States?

Can you spot the moose that took it’s time crossing the river we were paddling down?

We saw BUFFALO(and moose, elk and wolves + so much more…)

Gorgeous and hot Thermal Pools and Mud Pots with lots of warnings to stay on the boardwalk lest you be scalded to death (as many as twenty people have been boiled…). Can you imagine walking along in the 1800s and coming across hundreds of different-sized pots and lakes and holes filled with colorful boiling water that occasionally smell like rotten eggs? (sulfur!)

SAVE AND FUND OUR NATIONAL PARKS! When President Theodore Roosevelt visited the Grand Canyon in 1908, industries wanted to mine it — but upon seeing the landscape’s unparalleled beauty, he announced in a speech, “leave it as it is… The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children and your children’s children and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American, if he can travel at all, should see.”

On a Summer Reading Note: if you’re looking for a “McNifficent” summer read-aloud, READ THIS! Lord Tennyson, the dignified miniature schnauzer and his six unruly charges will surely make you smile and maybe even laugh out loud 😃 you can get a pdf preview HERE! BONUS if you like SIBLING SHENANIGANS like and I do. Thank you, Julie!

The National Endowment for the Arts6 has been defunded by about $27 million at the time of me writing this. Thousands of small and underfunded organizations desperately depend on this funding for ART AND DANCE AND WRITING PROGRAMS FOR KIDS and small press literary magazines.

Meanwhile Trump celebrated his 79th birthday with a $45 million dollar military parade (appallingly reminiscent of Hitler’s demand for his own birthday military celebration). Friends, our taxes funded this while our community programs are being defunded.

However…

DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING? While visiting family in SLC, we got wind of a No Kings protest happening at the University of Utah, so off we went with our free, homemade signs to march and mingle. It was amazing to be with so many peaceful protesters, estimating around 10,000! "Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right."7

In America, we have no Kings, no Queens, no nobles, no dictators, and no emperors. We have no slaves, no serfs and no subjects.

Just us—‘We the People.’ -Jamie Raskin

Fathers. I don’t know when I was last with both my father and husband on Father’s Day. How lucky I am to be surrounded by the best men. Enjoy some wonderful fatherly books drawn by writer and illustrator …

I’m flying back to New Hampshire in the morning where the peonies are about to burst and the strawberries are making their appearance. We’re back to where we started: there are so many magical, wonderful things...

Keep Going. Find the Divine. It’s out there.

READ. And Keep Writing.

Amy 💖

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

“Attention is the beginning of devotion”

I focused on my own experiences, the brain on nature (endorphins, serotonin, cortisol), Naturalist writers (Thoreau, Walden, Robin Wall Kimmerer), women in the bible (Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Deborah, Ruth, Mary), and Jesus himself who was taught by his mother and used the natural world to teach in parables (mustard seed, lilies, sparrows) and also went off by himself when he needed to pray, meditate, and recharge.

3

Yellowstone (roughly 400 miles) is mostly located in Wyoming, but a few parts extend into Montana and Idaho.

4

THE BURNING SEASON is a MAGNIFICENT book by author Caroline Starr Rose. Completely riveting and so compulsively readable that I finished it by the time we had flown across the country. It’s SO GOOD!!!

5

Why is the government website down on this event???

6

This is not “so lit” news but massively important to know about

7

Maybe my favorite MLK jr speech, I Have Been to the Mountaintop, given on April 3, 1968, one day before he was assassinated at age 39.

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Published on June 17, 2025 05:03

In Conversation With Author Caroline Starr Rose

We are welcoming Caroline Starr Rose to the stack today! Caroline is a super amazing human with a fantastic new book out, THE BURNING SEASON (with multiple starred reviews). It’s lyrical, beautiful, and a page-turner.

I bug Caroline all of the time via email. We have a shared love of books, nature, motherhood, and both just started taking creatine (drink it with orange juice, she said, and I did). Yes, Caroline has changed my life for the better.

The Bio (read the longer version here; it involves koalas, emus, and Vegemite)

Caroline Starr Rose is a middle grade and picture book author whose books have been ALA-ALSC Notable,* Junior Library Guild, ABA New Voices,** Kids’ Indie Next, Amazon’s Best Books of the Month for Kids, and Bank Street College of Education Best Books selections. In addition, her books have been nominated for almost two dozen state award lists. Caroline was named a Publisher’s Weekly Flying Start Author for her debut novel, May B. She spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico and taught social studies and English in four different states. Caroline now lives with her family in her hometown, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

THE INTERVIEW!

Your latest novel, The Burning Season, has both emotional resonance and historical significance (fire lookouts!). How do you approach researching for middle-grade readers, striking the balance between factual accuracy and crafting a compelling narrative that draws young readers in?

I try to include in my books what is relevant to my character’s world. There are facts that need to be there for the reader’s understanding and for the plot to develop, but I aim to keep the focus on what my character knows (or needs to know) rather than shoehorning information in. Story should always trump facts, and the character holds the lens we readers view the story through.

Many aspiring authors dream of finding their unique voice. When you look back at your journey from your debut, May B. , to The Burning Season , how do you feel your authorial voice has evolved, and what advice would you give to someone trying to discover or refine their own distinct writing voice?

That’s an interesting question! I think learning to listen to my writing is the easiest way to describe the experience. I’ve learned to trust the voice of each story and each main character (because I believe each book does have a different voice while still connecting to the author’s overall voice, if that makes sense). I feel like I am often circling the same themes in my writing, things that ultimately inform my voice: character’s finding their places in the world, a reverence for nature, experimenting with the ways words sound on the page, and unique settings. I also strive for a sensation I want readers to have with each book — it’s kind of like mood but it’s more than that. I believe that informs voice, too.

You've written both verse novels and traditional prose. The Burning Season is written in verse (which I find so incredible!). What draws you to a particular form for a story, and how does the choice influence your writing process?

I have never been a natural at plotting, but very early on I know the form a new project is meant to take. I can sense if it’s meant to be a verse novel or a poetic picture book or multi-POV prose and so on. I think this comes from that sensation I’m trying to convey to readers, but it also is because I think a lot about how and what form communicates. I believe there’s a “best way” to tell each of my stories, and I’m grateful I am able to discover it early on in the creative process.

When you're deeply immersed in a story, bringing characters and worlds to life, what are some of the most surprising or unexpected discoveries you've made about yourself, your characters, or the writing process itself? Any 'aha!' moments that shifted your perspective?

So many things! It is always a bit of a shock when a story takes a turn I didn’t expect or a character reveals something I didn’t know. I’m as surprised as the reader coming to the book for the first time.

One thing writing has taught me is I don’t have to get something right the first time (or the first fifty times). As challenging and sometimes frustrating as the writing process can be, it is freeing to know practice (in the form of revision) and the passage of time help me grow and see things I couldn’t have discovered early on. Writing really is one of those “trust the process” experiences.

For those who are nurturing the dream of writing their own book someday, what's one piece of practical advice and one piece of encouragement you would give?

Read and read and read! Read everything. Please don’t set aside this joy (which I’m assuming you have if you want to be an author) because you’re now writing. What else will inform you, feed you, entertain you, teach you, inspire you, challenge you, guide you, or befriend you like a good book? As for practical advice, the thing that kept me going during the twelve years it took me to sell my first book was believing I had something unique to say and trusting my work could only get better if I kept at it. This is true of everyone who dreams of writing.

Thoughts on AI? Should an author use or not use in any particular way?

I’m not one to tell others what they can or can’t do, but I don’t use AI outside of those responses that pop up on Google. (I realize I’m sounding ancient and out of touch, and that’s fine with me!) I also know I’m personally happier staying away from platforms that have used authors’ stolen work to train AI. I don’t think AI is all bad. My son is actually in grad school right now getting a degree in AI. He has shared good things happening and a lot of incredible potential. I’m just not interested in involving my creativity with it. For me, it was ethically gross to hang around on social media sites powered by companies that have stolen my novels and thousands of other people’s books. I left social media a year and a half ago and am much, much more creatively happy. I heard author Martha Brockenbrough once say that while AI’s “creativity” will continue to improve, any AI-created art can’t ever mirror the human experience or the human heart, which is what we all consciously or subconsciously long for when we read.

Next book you're really looking forward to reading? And what are you writing?

Chris Baron’s Spark comes out in July. It’s another middle grade verse novel about wildfire! I can’t wait to read his approach and see where the story leads.

Next up for me is a picture book coming August 2026 called Books Up the Mountain. It’s the story of the Pack Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression. Think of book mobiles but on horseback. I love how these Book Women (as they were called) served their communities by bringing books to patrons in remote Appalachia who’d never had library access before.

In spring 2027 I have another verse novel publishing called Song of the Raven. It’s about a young raven named Tumble as she and her siblings, Muddle and Bone, leave their nest and learn to fend for themselves in the beautiful and brutal raven world.

How can we help you further launch this book into the world?!

Thank you for asking such an important question. There are so many ways to help a new book: buy a copy for yourself or a young reader, gift one to a local school, ask your library to purchase a copy, leave a review on a website, and if you loved it, tell a friend! Word of mouth is the secret sauce in a book’s “success”.

Thank you so much, CAROLINE. And now, everybody…go get this book! Or ask your librarian (because librarians can do anything and everything). And then, PLEASE, review and recommend - starting with a share of this post. It’s so good. And so are you, Substack pals.

Amy <3

Don’t be shy.

Share

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

Summer Reading:

Hey! I have another PERFECT summer read for you…The McNifficents!

Every day, Lord Tennyson the Miniature Schnauzer does his very best to care for the six McNiff children and keep them from destroying their pink New England farmhouse— and the rest of the town for that matter. But when summer vacation brings the kids home together all day, his chaos-containing skills are put to the ultimate test.

You can get your copy wherever books are sold and at BOOKSHOP.ORG (which is a little cheaper than Amazon right now!)

After you read it, invite me to your school this fall and we’ll talk about the book! I have the cutest miniature schnauzer stuffie that I bring everywhere. It’s a big hit.

Buy this book :)

Stay tuned for a summer reading list - I have a whole bunch of great books for you and the kids…!

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

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Published on June 03, 2025 03:02

Ten Things So Lit

This crabapple tree outside my writing window: that only blooms for one week every year…this was the week.

16 years ago. my heart.

THIS STORY: They call it soccer for 'grannies.' It's fierce — and it's fun and I’m all over it.

NPR: I love my NPR socks and tote bag and this statement: “We serve the public interest. It’s not just in our name - it’s our mission. Across the country, locally owned public media stations represent a proud American tradition of public-private partnership for our shared common good.” Democratic countries have public radio - and it’s so good! SAVE NPR.

Miss Austen on PBS: Public broadcasting is television and radio that was created to serve communities and the public rather than commercial interests. It’s known for its educational and cultural programming rather than news programs. Democracies have public broadcasting. SAVE PBS.

On Writing: “The villain should bring out the best and worst in the protagonist. The best villains get under the protagonist’s skin. They get in their heads (sometimes literally). They start messing with the protagonist’s identity and make them question themselves. But they also inspire your protagonist to tap into their best qualities in order to defeat them. They must dig deep, learn, and perhaps acquire talismans in order to grow powerful enough to defeat the villain. (This growth constitutes a character arc).”
How to Create a Great Villain by Nathan Bransford (thanks, Caroline)

How (and Why) to Submit to Literary Mags and Small Presses with

com·mence·ment

/kəˈmensm(ə)nt/

a beginning or start.

My youngest is graduating from high school this Saturday. My heart is walking outside my body. I’m pondering this work: commencement.

Curious about exploring your spirituality? Ask yourself these 4 questions: “A person’s spiritual practices can offer a sense of calm and a deeply personal journey. You don’t need to be religious to form a meaningful connection with something greater than yourself.”

These words from Pope Leo X1V: "It is never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda or by means of power. Instead, it is always and only a question of loving, as Jesus did.”1

This quote: “Who is to say plutonium is more powerful than, say, rice? One takes away a million lives, the other saves one hundred times as many."

N.K. Jemisin

Don’t Give Away Your Power by “Look, there is being aware about what is going on in the world and there is volunteering your time to make a change (even if it’s just making a phone call or giving a donation) then there is just giving up your energy and your brain power when it could be dedicated to your creative practice or acts of service or being present for people in your life.

It’s your power.

Use it wisely.

Do not give them your power. It’s yours. You need it. You keep it. Then use it.

These words on rejection by Maggie Smith from her newest book, Dear Writer.

By talking about and normalizing each no—each misstep, failure, disappointment—we remind one another that no one succeeds all of the time, and certainly not quickly. We’re all playing the long game, and the only way to fail at the long game is to give up. To refuse to play.

It’s May. It’s so busy.

Keep Going. Keep Writing.

Take time to notice the crab apple trees. Soon the blossoms will fade and the lilacs will bloom.

Amy 💖

portrait by !

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Last Part:

Summer Reading: May I suggest THE MCNIFFICENTS?! A summer tale of a beloved dog and his unruly charges…

Seeing: My newly planted tomato plants (28)

Smelling: The first blush of lilac

Hearing: Graduation bells

Tasting: Ollipop soda - better for me than Diet Coke, no?

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

Always check your sources. I first posted this Instagram quote attributed to Pope Leo XIV only to find no evidence that he ever said them…

"Brothers, sisters…
I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left.

To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.

I, too, was angry with God.
I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine.
And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.

But then I discovered something:
God doesn't shout. God whispers.
And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.

I don't come to offer you perfect faith.
I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.

I'm not asking you to believe in everything.
I'm asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.

I'm just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son... and yet she cooked for others.

That changed me.

So if you're broken, if you don't believe, if you're tired of the lies...
come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.
No one here will ask you for a VIP card.

Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.

God doesn't need soldiers.
He needs brothers.

And you, yes, you...
are one of them."

Robert Prevost (Leo XIV) NO RELIABLE POPE SOURCE FOR THIS QUOTE despite it moving me to tears…ah well.

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Published on May 20, 2025 03:02

The Mother Who Made Me a Reader

Happy Tuesday, book lovers!

Here are two favorite pictures of my mom. In the first picture she’s got a shovel in one hand and a feminist manifesto in the other (at least, that’s how I always envision this scene :). She may have just been dusting (nah).

The second picture is her as a senior in high school in 1972, “when not many girls had short hair,” and becoming Utah’s state debate champ. As you can imagine, she’s always been able to form a good counterargument for everything!

She married at 19, had twins at 20 (me and my brother), and delivered my sister at 21 (practically triplets)! We lived in untidy “squalor”1 (her words) as my dad was working and going to school and my mom was finishing her bachelor’s degree. She would go on to get her Master’s and eventually, her Doctorate. BIG RESPECT!

My mother LOVES reading. In our family, it was the way to all knowledge. I clearly remember once exclaiming, “how am I supposed to know that?!?”

She gasped and said, “YOU READ!”

We could very well have been discussing Winston Churchill, economic prosperity, or photosynthesis, but I swear I was no older than eleven.

And thus I learned: if I wanted to know something (or converse with her), I better open a book.

My mom would always rather read and learn than cook and clean. This has had a profound and important impact on me. I feel little guilt for leaving dishes in the sink or the floors unswept so I can grab moments to write. She was not big on guilt in general.

She was big on education. I once heard her say, in response to a young mother saying why go to school if I’m “just” going to stay home with kids?” My mother exasperatingly, said, “DO YOU WANT THEM TO BE MORONS?”

I covered my eyes and died in the seat next to her but now I find it hysterical. And um, right?!?!

My mom has always struggled with energy, which I just thought was normal. Coming home from school, I would run up the stairs to find her laying on her bed reading a book (a Hershey’s candy bar wrapper nearby). The t.v. was never on during the day - but there were stacks of books on the floor next to her bed which she would swap out weekly.

Here she is with my newborn baby Brynne in 2004. I’m not sure how much of The Bean Trees Brynne absorbed, but all of my children have sat and laid by my mother for hours of their lives listening to stories from books and “from her own mind.”

Books are my life, and I owe that to my angel mother :)2

Who taught you to read and love books?

I’m thinking of the women who do so much of this ordinary-extraordinary work - like teaching children to read, taking them to the library, reading stories in a rocking chair. Perhaps this is your nudge to give her a call, send a text or a handwritten letter.

And - I love you, Mom. What a lucky lucky duck!

Amy 💖

Last Mother’s Day I wrote about some of my most favorite mothers in literature…

Career Day:

I was at a middle school this week talking about what it’s like to be an author. Here’s what I know about that: evolve or die :) I’m going through a big transition stage on this front and it’s very difficult. The question I’ve had to seriously consider is, “do I keep going - or do something else?

School visits: Looking for a class visit? Let’s talk creativity, brain and books, resilience and story, the power of reading and writing…be in touch.

Summer Reading:

Hey! I have a PERFECT summer read for you…The McNifficents!

Every day, Lord Tennyson the Miniature Schnauzer does his very best to care for the six McNiff children and keep them from destroying their pink New England farmhouse—and the rest of the town for that matter. But when summer vacation brings the kids home together all day, his chaos-containing skills are put to the ultimate test.

You can get your copy wherever books are sold (she said like a traveling salesperson…) & at BOOKSHOP.ORG (which is a little cheaper than Amazon right now!)

And, after you read it, I’ll come to your school and talk about the book! I have the cutest miniature schnauzer stuffie that I bring everywhere I go, and it’s a big hit :)

Buy this book :)

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

“a very bad or dirty condition”

how Abraham Lincoln referred to his mother, and a term we like to tease my mother with

I’ve written about noticing before, featuring Sherlock Holmes.

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Published on May 13, 2025 03:02

if you see something...say something

In high school, fearing that I was a shallow person who only liked to read Sweet Valley High (true) I decided the solution was reading a “classic.” And so I plucked Anna Karenina off the shelf in our home in Omaha, Nebraska.1

Although it was very very long (about 350,000 words; the average length of a novel today is 80-100,000 words), I surprised myself by liking the tragic and doomed love affair (of course I did).

I’m listening to this story again (via the free Libby app!) - ALL THIRTY THREE hours of it, and give my 16-year-old self props for sticking with it. Really, how many words do we need on Vronsky’s race horse, Fru Fru?2 or Levin’s fields?!!?

This is an introduction to a tiny theme I’m plucking from Anna Karenina: we should say the things we think in our heads. Especially the good, kind ones. We so often admire something about someone and instead of saying them - which would spark joy - we keep them to ourselves. And thus, the moment for joy between two people passes.

In Anna Karenina (I’m 19/33 hours in), the weight of what Kitty and Levin cannot say out loud to one another is driving me mad! (But I also know the ending of their story, so…)

Usually the expression, “see something, say something” is a warning of sorts, to keep us safe. On the English subway, it was repeated over and over: “See Something, Say Something - Sorted!” (we still say this to each other all of the time…in an English accent.)

Of course, to say something kind, first we must notice.

What others miss, he notices.

"You see, but you do not observe,"

he famously tells Dr. Watson1 when explaining how Watson has seen the steps leading up to their apartment at 221B Baker Street countless times but cannot tell him the exact number of steps.

And remember: attention is the beginning of devotion.

My daughter was a very nosy baby. Said more positively: incredibly observant. This trait has become a superpower. Wherever we go, she is watching and observing and then saying it out loud - ooooh, I love your shoes! that’s the prettiest shirt! you have the most gorgeous hair!

She’ll say these things to complete strangers and it never fails to make that person smile (even when her sisters say, COPE!). And then she goes on her merry way, leaving the world a better place.

Well, I think this is a good way to live. When we see something, we should say something.

Tjasa Owen is one of my favorite artists! She wrote this yesterday.

SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.

“I love your shoes”

“What a gorgeous sunset”

“Rain is so romantic”

“You have the nicest smile”

“Thank you for watching out for your brother”

“I can see you are working so hard - I’m proud of you”

Recently, a young reader made my day by emailing me this:

There was a dopamine burst inside of me. I’m sure I was happier for hours, making everyone around me a little happier…

So I write today in hopes to encourage you (not only to read Anna Karenina :) but to do your part for world peace and tell her you like her shoes. or her smile. or anything else that is true and kind.

This week, Kelly Corrigan wrote: “One year from now, the world will look exactly as the 8 billion of us have made it look.”

“Words of affirmation” is my love language, so I give “See Something, Say Something” five stars.

❤️ Amy

Tell me your stories of “see something, say something.” I would love to hear…

If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books 🙏 and then I will do cartwheels because you have made MY YEAR of writing possible <3

The Last Part

Watching: rain, rain for days…flowers are popping, worms are swimming

Smelling: wet grass and wet dogs

Tasting: rain, of course; I’m making myself go for long walks

Hearing: the peepers are insane right now (little frogs who peep at dusk!)

Reading: Anna Karenina and A LOT of chapter books (research)

Cheering: Remember how much I loved JAMES? It won the Pulitzer!

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The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair is part-mystery, part understanding of the human heart 💖

Ten Thousand Tries is Golden’s quest to save his dad and the soccer team ⚽

The McNifficents is one summer with six rambunctious kids and their miniature-schnauzer nanny 🐕 New Hampshire’s 2024 Great Reads for Kids selection!

Lit With Amy Makechnie is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

(it always gives me great delight to tell someone I’m from Nebraska). They immediately imagine corn and cows…this would be a true Nebraska visual.

My daughter, Cope, named her high school bike, “Fru Fru” after Vronsky’s horse. This gives me pleasure on so many levels - mostly that anyone in high school reads Tolstoy!