Amy Makechnie's Blog, page 7
September 17, 2024
Swamp Maples and Soup
New Hampshire Swamp Maples. Oh, glorious September. Did you know? Swamp maple trees grow in swampy areas and are usually the first leaves to change colors in New Hampshire. It’s still a bit hot (80’s!) but we’re starting to see red, orange, and yellow leaves popping. It makes the heart sing…
A contract has been signed 😊 can’t wait to share more with you…
From James Clear, Atomic Habits Newsletter:
"The rules:
(1) know precisely what you want,
(2) determine the cost of what it will take to get it,
(3) don't bargain over the price."
Fall soccer. Autumn afternoons on a soccer field? I feel great joy coaching my amazing girls!!! (all good until you get hit in the head with a ball. Slightly concussed, I’m fine?).
“Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”
—Jalal al-Din Rumi
I Made This: Easy Chickpea, Cauliflower Curry and it was delicious. It’s super healthy and planet-friendly (we’ve been eating less meat…and I LOVE meat). Here is an interesting NPR read about meat, climate solutions, and men.
This painting is called “The English Major” by Janet Hill. I wish I had bought it when I was in a bookstore in Cedar Rapids, IA. Isn’t it gorgeous?
Paint a stack of books with me! Tutorial by the wonderful
Mary Oliver, always:
"Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell About it."
A Fall Soup I’ve Been Making on Repeat:
Grab a book and enjoy a cozy September weekend (or weeknight dinner!) with this super-easy tomato-vegetable soup. So tasty.
Tomato-Vegetable Soup:Gather up all of the waning tomatoes and vegetables from the garden, your fridge, or the seconds rack at the grocery store. I used tomatoes, onion, carrots, red pepper, celery, and a giant zucchini bc nobody likes the giant zucchinis. No need to peel anything (except carrots if you like). Chop.
In a pot, pour a healthy dollop of olive oil + tablespoon of garlic + sea salt. Heat until fragrant.
Put all tomatoes and chopped vegetables into pot and bring to simmer. I simmered mine on low all day. No need for any water - the tomatoes contain a lot. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste. And that’s it. If you feel the tomatoes are a little too acidic, add a dash of brown sugar.
If you like smooth tomato soup like I do, put the immersion blender right into the pot and whirl away (blender also works). Eat with some crusty bread (or a homemade grilled cheese sandwich with colby jack cheese, and OMG, life is good. This soup will also make you FEEL so good.
Amy 🍁
The Last Part:Worrying: post-pandemic, kids are not reading the state of middle grade books is really worrying me.
Author Visit: I visited Norwell Middle School this past week. SO FUN. Want a school visit? Be in touch!
Reading: My first Lucy Foley book
My Youngest is a senior…ya’ll, where does the time go?
head up and into the crowd…
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 🙏
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I love your comments, so please keep them coming. I will respond to each one (even if it takes me a bit … )
Love, Amy
September 3, 2024
Artists are Always Working
I decided to try out my new Lamy fountain pen. It reminds me of the coveted calligraphy set with interchangeable colored ink given to me in sixth grade that I adored. I bought the fountain pen after getting a gift card for filling out a paper survey that took hours. It was an actual packet that I hauled around the airport for multiple flights, half-cursing all of the time it took.
But nothing gets between me and a $75 Amazon gift card. Hence the new fountain pen. I’ve never spent $21 on a pen, but this is a very special pen recommended by and - who am I to argue with greatness? Plus I had the gift card. I also bought dog food bc life is really romantic like that.
I really really like it. Smooth like buttuh’.
The watercolor paper I used has a gigantic crease down it and I - DANG IT - messed up one of the words.
I thought I was getting black ink. Ohn Mar Win uses brown.
Oh, the many ways we get ourselves worked into a bunch. I’m not doing this right!!! Or is this just me?
I’m really going to try and stop doing that.
This new school year is all about PRACTICE.
My new mantra is PROLIFIC, not PERFECTION. Read this by , be horrified to see yourself amongst the hoarders of unused pristine notebooks “bc I don’t want to mess them up” and then… throw off the shackles that chain you!
Make a mess.
This school year, my art practice begins in earnest. With my new fountain pen and lots of watercolor. (I wanted yellow like but it cost $5 more and…dog food).
And we haven’t even talked about this quote. It resonated. Last night I scrawled down an idea at 3a.m.
Those creatures upstairs are always working…and down below, too…
“Let’s face it—artists are always working, though they may not seem as if they are. They are like plants growing in winter. You can’t see the fruit, but it is taking root below the earth…The life and the work are equally important. You cannot separate one from the other. The work changes the life, and the life changes the work.”
— André Gregory
Thank you, Caroline, for your blog post featuring this quote! and for the inaugural use of the fountain pen.
What is taking root in your creative earth?
Maybe we can support each other….
Amy <3
The Last Part:Coaching: I’ll be on the soccer field again this fall! Oh my, I still need to buy the new cleats I told you I was going to buy…
Back to school: Still feeling fall nostalgia. My youngest daughter is a senior. We’ve been here before…but I’m feeling it…will eat a burger for dinner as consolation.
The air: Can you feel and smell the change in the air? I love fall. SO MUCH.
Cold plunge: Still plunging with oldest daughter, Cope, who you may call “Professor” (her dream :) She just accepted a part-time position teaching medieval history at a university close to MEEEEEE….
If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any of my books + bookmark! 🙏
August 27, 2024
#13 What to Read
I have zero problems putting aside a book I’m not loving (why you should read books you hate), but August was a great reading month. Four highly-recommended books for you…
two memoirs, two children’s; all goodYOU COULD MAKE THIS PLACE BEAUTIFUL by Maggie Smith. Oh this book. Ann Patchett blurbed, “This books is extraordinary.” I concur, as evidenced by the many dog-eared pages. It’s both sad (divorce & loss) and terribly hopeful (love, children, writing). I am a huge fan of ‘s poems (Good Bones), and loved this memoir, reading it in nearly in one sitting, sorry when it was over…I loved it.
There are years that question and years that answer.
- Zora Neale Hurston
CONSENT by Jill Ciment. After listening to an NPR interview between Terry Gross and Jill Ciment, I was curious. Jill Cement was 17. Arnold was her 47-year-old art teacher. He was married with two children (uh…NO.) But Jill and Arnold stay happily married for forty-five YEARS (he died at age 93). MeToo forced Ciment to dive into some good and uneasy questions….
Had Arnold experienced the sea change of the MeToo era, would he have come to believe that he crossed a line when he first kissed me?
Does a story’s ending excuse its beginning?
Does a kiss in one moment mean something else entirely five decades later?
Can a love that starts with such an asymmetrical balance of power ever right itself?
FISH IN A TREE by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Sixth-grader, Ally, is incredibly smart, but has an embarrassing secret…she can’t read. To get around this, she creates clever, yet disruptive distractions. “She’s afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb?” (break my heart). The other hero of the story? A TEACHER who knows how to help Ally with her undiagnosed dyslexia.
If you judge a fish by is ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.
No, great minds don’t always think alike. I think you’ll love this.
REFUGEE by Alan Gratz. Josef is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany, the threat of concentration camps looming. Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994, with riots and unrest plaguing her country. Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015, his homeland torn apart by violence. All three will go on harrowing journeys across the sea facing unimaginable dangers. Separated by continents and decades, all three will have a connection to one another as they escape…in the same vein as Ruta Septys, an engaging and important book for kids and adults.
What are you reading?
Amy <3
Painting:painted books this week (I adore this stack) and here’s a replay link so WE CAN ALL PAINT THE BOOKS! Excited to give this a try.
Draw Your WorldNo. 45: Some of My Favorite Books For Creative InspirationI have so many books, but I don’t actually read that much. I mean, I’m always reading—online news, posts here on Substack, magazines—but finding the time to sit down and finish a novel or biography is rare for me. I seem to use all that time for drawing and writing in my sketchbooks instead. Recently I read…Read more2 days ago · 42 likes · 15 commentsWhat I painted: Inspired by Jon Haidt’s (THE ANXIOUS GENERATION) and ’s post entitled FOMO: We now fear taking part more than we fear missing out.
The Last Part:A Race: I was runnnnnnning (said Forrest Gump) a 10-miler with my nephew over the weekend. So many hills. I’m just so happy I can still run.
Back to school: Fall is my favorite, but I usually have days of melancholy with the transition to school days…I’ve decided not to be sad for long. We get to live and that means time ticks forward. It could have been otherwise.
Cold Plunge: This morning my daughter and I biked to the lake, plunged into the cold, and biked back home dripping wet. It was glorious. Do you cold plunge?
If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any of my books + bookmark! 🙏
August 20, 2024
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?
It’s been an epic summer of travel, happiness, milestones, and vows to start eating better. Here are ten So Lit(erary-ish) things to share with you:
Your response to me keeping a sketch book when traveling. My accountability buddy, Julia, wrote There is now a small sketchbook (that has lay dormant for years) and a pencil pouch of colored and drawing pencils now in my "Friends of the Wythe County Library" bag that I take everywhere. Along with a notebook for writing ideas. Julia’s email made me so HAPPY. It’s another reminder how we need and inspire one another! Some latest sketches from Iowa…
I FINALLY saw Hamilton at Eccles Theater in SLC. It was brilliant.
A few dazzling lines by Lin Manuel Miranda…
”Every other Founding father story gets told. Every other Founding Father gets to grow old. And when you’re gone, who remembers your name? Who keeps your flame? Who tells your story?”
"Young man dying is easy living is harder!"
"The moments that you're in so deep, it feels easier to just swim down..."
"Legacy... what is a legacy? It's planting seeds in a garden you'll never get to see"
“Forgiveness. Can you imagine?”
"When my prayers to God were met with indifference, I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance"
"I know my sister like I know my own mind, you will never find anyone as trusting or as kind..."
"In the same spot your son died is that why?"
Are you now rapping along with me? What a show.
Beatrix Potter. When “scuppered” on the side of the road for five hours in England’s Lakes District, I was comforted to at least be wandering Beatrix conservation land. And then wrote about Beatrix Potter’s Naturalist Notes. As an ardent Peter Rabbit fan, I’m obsessed (and thought maybe Jillian wrote this just for me :).
Eric and Mel’s Wedding. Why is this literary-ish? Well, the words. My brother is such a good writer (former editor-now-attorney). His words have helped us all navigate profound grief after the unexpected passing of his wife, Cassie, eight years ago. Eric recently wrote: For a long time, I never thought I’d get married again. Looking back, I feel like grief had become so intertwined with my life that it had become a part of me and my identity. Giving up that grief has, at times, felt like turning away from my past. As I started to grieve less, it felt like I started to care less. That, in turn, made it feel as if Cassie slipped further and further away… Giving up my grief and watching the memories slowly fade away has often felt like enduring a second death. Yet, at the same time, Mel has brought a degree of happiness I never thought I would have in life. She has taught me how to love myself and embrace all of the love in my life, past and present, while showing me that the life we are building enhances, rather than diminishes, the love we experience in life. At Cassie’s funeral, I made a comment that I hoped would one day come true but, before Mel, was doubtful that it ever would: “We should consider ourselves fortunate knowing that our profound grief is born in our profound love for Cassie. And knowing we have loved until it hurts, we can look forward to the day when the hurt finally subsides. And all that will be left is love.”
Mel has played such a huge part of us healing and knowing that it’s okay to make room for more love. I made a reel of their wedding bc I really like doing that :)
A Fiction Writing Contest. Write a story with 1000 words or less, with the main character being a TEACHER. The judge is bestselling author, ALA Carnegie Medal and LA Times Book Prize winner Rebecca Makkai. DETAILS HERE (I’ve already started mine!) Deadline: Sept 1, 2024.
Avid Letter Senders, you better send that Last Letter to Your Lover now - Forever Stamp prices are going up :( The Postal Service projected a $6.5 billion loss for its fiscal year. So when you get my next letter, you’ll at least know that I really, really love you (the only thing so lit about stampflation).
“Creativity is not about being artistically accomplished or professional. On the contrary. The benefits may be greatest if you are a beginner,” Arthur Brooks for The Atlantic writes. “Make creativity a life habit. That means working at your creative practice regularly, not just when you feel like it.” Living up to our creative potential might be the simplest way for someone to improve their life, and I’m down with that.
Remember: “Do not get discouraged…it may be the last key on the ring that opens the door.” -Mrs. Charles M Cowman, Jim Reimann via
I Mean, the Girl Can Write: After releasing The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift, the 14-time Grammy winner wrote on Instagram that the collection of songs "reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time - one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure. This period of the author's life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up. There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted. This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it. And then all that's left behind is the tortured poetry."
I try to make a new drawing or painting every single day, writes Catherine Raynor. Watch Catherine bring Bennet the Basset Hound to life, HERE. inspires me, and I love that she shares so much of her process.
Have a great - and literary - in this penultimate week - of August…
Amy
The Last Part:Tapering: For a 10-miler this Saturday. Hills, hills, and more hills race. Sometimes I ask myself why I do these things :) Oh wait, I’m gonna run ‘til I’m dead. Run with me!
Scheduling: I love author visits. My first one of the fall is in Norwell, Massachusetts. Will travel. Be in touch.
Eating: The plums and nectarines falling from my parent’s tree in Utah (I packed a BUNCH in my suitcase and only one got smashed).
Reading: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Praying: For Patrick <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 🙏
August 13, 2024
Craft Talk: Take a Journal & Stay off Your Phone
In anticipation of traveling internationally for ten days with very little WiFi access, I readied my neglected journal.
“Readied” meant unearthing it from the pile on my bedside table, choosing all the pens (in multiple colors and size options), and taping in small watercolor squares in case, you know, I wanted to watercolor on the side of the road.
How quaint. How sweet.
This last felt somewhat unrealistic, but when our car sustained two slashed tires in the middle of English mountain goat country and we had no cell service for five hours, out came the journal and watercolors. And the more I wrote, sketched, and painted, the more I wanted to write, sketch, and paint.
It’s one of my best memories of the trip.
It’s really FUN to keep a journal like this. It’s not fancy or professional, but it works. Drawing a little scene also helps me remember a place better, and writing the details and history of a place next to a small visual cements that experience in my brain even more than just writing about it does.
Rules for a travel journal?
*There are no rules
But Here Are Amy’s Hot tips:
*Choose a journal or notebook you are excited to write in (mine is a cheap one from TJ Max for less than $10).
*Pencil for quick sketches
*Black pen. My favorite HERE, HERE (ON SALE), and HERE (ON SALE)
p.s. None of these are necessary; use whatever tools you wish!
Want to paint? I have several watercolor journals, but I kindof like the notebook with my taped-in watercolor paper. At some point, I REALLY want to make a watercolor notebook like does.
We (meaning I) can get so hung up on "doing it like so and so” that it stalls any progress. Remember, the enslaved Egyptians had to put their feet in the water before the Red Sea parted!
In my backpack I now carry a little bag that contains a pencil, sharpener, black pen, tiny tin of watercolors, paper towel, and paper cup. Easy.
Be prepared to experience joy.
I could have paid $$ for daily roaming international cell coverage, but I didn’t want to. My husband paid for coverage so we could use Google Maps (the biggest reason I hesitate when thinking about breaking up with my iPhone). And because scrolling through my phone was not an option, I read a book or painted. Bliss.
I took my journal with my to Ely Iowa last week (for their One Book, One Community read of Guinevere!) and will take it with me this week as I travel to Idaho for my brother’s wedding.
What fun memories we can make painting or sketching little scenes from where we are in life. inspires the masses with his simple daily sketching of his new baby - what a darling keepsake! I’m inspired.
I’m trying to do this more often in my day to day life, not just when I travel. If I carry my backpack, it’s easy to pull out my little bag of watercolor essentials, even when in a waiting room. An unexpected benefit? It delights strangers! You will encounter far more smiles using a sketchbook than a phone.
If you’re a writer, you need to be practicing the craft of observation, correct? Why not sketch the dog on the couch? The tree outside your window? The glass of water with lemon floating?
“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.” -Frederick Buechner (via Caroline Rose Starr)
I’m here to remember and encourage both me - and you - to take the journal with you. Ditch the phone. Turn it off, or put on airplane mode.
Jot down feelings, impressions, overheard conversations, plot points. Sketch something just for you (no one is judging!!!)
Be prepared for your creativity to skyrocket. The brain is amazing. Once you switch gears and eliminate the possibility of checking social media or email, the brain will switch gears with you.
You will fall asleep and wake up with FRESH IDEAS or THE PROBLEM SOLVED because of those notes you took and the painting you worked on for ten minutes earlier in the day.
Those “creatures upstairs” keep working when you’re resting (they’ve told me so over and over again).
How do you keep a journal? Carry it with you? Do you ever sketch?
Amy
The Last Part:Packing: For my brother’s Idaho wedding! From so much sadness to so much love…it’s a story I’ll have to tell you…
Eating: The tomatoes keep on coming! So yummy.
Reading: You Could Make This Place Beautiful by LOVE LOVE LOVE
Remembering: Iowa last week. So beautiful. I’m from Nebraska and it felt like going home - and suffering through cross-country practices in the humid afternoons…
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 🙏
August 6, 2024
#12 What to Read: August Edition
Hello readers!
My father used to say that the older he got, the faster time went. I have to concur. How is it already August? I love the fall, but am trying to hold on to long summer days.
Here are three books I recently read and enjoyed. Since we have the same taste in everything (right?), I’m sure you’ll like them, too…
ONE OF US IS LYING by Karen M. McManus: Five teenagers walk into detention center. Each has a secret. Only four walk out. Who killed Simon and why? A Young Adult whodunnit that has rocketed to bestseller stardom, I finally read and enjoyed.
SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson: A friendless outcast in ninth grade, no one will speak to Melinda after she called the cops at a party last summer. Why? Another mystery but with a hugely important message of consent: speak up. I plucked this from a bookshelf while at a family reunion and was thus unavailable for the next foreseeable hours as I HAD TO FINISH. I promptly handed the book baton to my sister who was then unavailable for her next foreseeable hours. Slim, heavy topic, light touch. I realized, oh, this is why Laurie Halse Anderson is such a big deal. Remarkable writing with no graphic scenes, no language, you just GET IT by how Anderson writes the story. HIGHLY recommended for pre-teens and up.
ME VS BRAIN: AN OVERTHINKER’S GUIDE TO LIFE by Hayley Morris: With an hour to kill at a Cambridge UK bookstore, this is the one I ended up on a couch with. Me vs Brain is a series of essays about Hayley’s anxious brain that won’t shut-up. It’s funny, completely irreverent, and totally exhausting. Like some college roommates, you know? :) (p.s. the so-comfortable REEF sandals I’m wearing in this picture were a WALK-EVERYWHERE WINNER).
I started two New York Times Bestseller books that died a slow death on my bedside table. In Olympic-style, they were disqualified from competition. DNF. I almost listed them here, but what if someone threw my book under the bus and then drove over it a few times? Am I far too sensitive??? Anyway, it’s quite fascinating which books make it onto bestseller lists and are a no-go for me…
Books I’m excited to read: SANDWICH by Catharine Newman (I loooove a good family drama), FELIX POWELL, BOY DOG by Erin Entrada Kelly (pairs well with The McNifficents!), MONSTER TREE by (I’ve been doing a lot of research on the secret lives of trees; fascinating), JAMES by Percival Everett (a reimagined Huckleberry Finn and Pulitzer Prize Finalist), and THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese (his first novel, CUTTING FOR STONE, blew me away).
And now…what are you reading or recommend?
Today is the day! THE MCNIFFICENTS launches in paperback!If you’d like a copy of this book, or would like to give to a child or classroom, leave a comment and I’ll pick a winner to send a signed book to!
More McNifficent Giveaways: Afoma and on Instagram!
WORDS I LIKE:
LAST BITS:Watching: Simone Biles and the US Women’s Olympic Soccer Team!!!
Packing: For Iowa! Leaving tomorrow for a Guinevere St. Clair party
Eating: Bright red tomatoes from the garden. Salt. Bliss.
If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any of my books + bookmark! 🙏
July 30, 2024
A Literary Tour de Force
A mere twelve days ago, Gregor and I landed in London and took “the tube” (subway) to King’s Cross, where we ran to our daughter Cope who has been studying at University of Cambridge for a year - what joy, what bliss!
And where exactly did this grand reunion take place? Right in front of Platform 9 3/4, where Harry Potter embarked on his great adventure to Hogwarts (platform 9 3/4 is fictional, but is now a tourist site in the subway station). King’s Cross was J.K. Rowling’s inspiration, and you know how we love when real life informs fantastic fiction!
A star for each of the HP movies filmed at the King’s Cross subway stationBesides a stellar graduation, this was a serendipitous beginning to a literary tour de force through three countries...1
Here are TEN THINGS SO LIT(erary) from across the pond!
Cambridge University, England. Cope graduated with a Master’s Degree in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (British history from around 410–1066 AD and yes, mumsie is so proud!) from Cambridge, one of the oldest universities in the world, founded in the year 1209. This is where King Henry VI would later found King’s College. Across from King’s College is the little church, Great Saint Mary’s, which has a first edition King James Bible (1611) on display.
By foot, Cope gleefully toured us through castles, cathedrals, churches, and the oldest bookstore in the world. Cope is the girl who’s had her heart set on Cambridge University since the age of eight, when she discovered the history lectures of Henry VIII and his six wives. The rest, as they say… “is history.”
Cambridge Library, England. Cambridge University Library began as a collection of manuscripts stored in chests, but it’s now become one of the world's great research libraries, holding more than 6,000,000 books, 135,000 manuscripts and 1,000,000 maps. Also on display, is the Murder by the Book: A Celebration of 20th Century British Crime Fiction.
The Great Court at Trinity College was the race that inspired the great Chariots of Fire court run. As you may have guessed (or not), Chariots of Fire is one of my all-time favorite movies. If you don’t know the story of the Scottish Christian, Eric Liddell (who ran 100 years ago this Olympic games…), the time has come. “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast! And when I run I feel his pleasure.”
The astounding architecture and feeling of Ely Cathedral in England where the Am I My Brother’s Keeper exhibit by sculptor Sean Henry was on display - WOW, the stories behind these faces…
After having tea and scones in The Elephant House Cafe in Edinburgh, England (where J.K. Rowling famously penned Harry Potter), have a stroll down Victoria Street (the inspiration for Diagon Alley), find Thomas Riddle’s grave in the Kirkyard cemetery, and peer through the wrought iron gates to view the castle-like school founded in 1628 for the "puir faitherless bairns", (Scots: poor, fatherless children or orphans) which inspired Hogwarts.
Also of GREAT INTEREST…the Kirkyard cemetery was where the body snatchers would steal bodies to take to Edinburgh College - and why they were the foremost pioneers in medicine (I want to write that book!)
Ah, ye lads and lassies, let us gallivant to Inverness, Scotland in the Scottish highlands to find our Scottish clans and see where The Battle of Culloden occurred. The battlefield was inspiration for Diana Galbadon’s Outlander series. There really was a Fraser clan (“Jamie’s” Fraser gravestone had fresh flowers by it, hee hee).
Stirling Castle, Scotland is old and incredible and near the William Wallace monument of Braveheart fame. Cope maintains that “Outlaw King is much more historically accurate than Braveheart!”
The Lakes District National Park, England. Let us drive over the stunning hills of Scotland (on the terrifying left side of the road) and down through the Lakes District National Park. SO GORGEOUS! I was SO EXCITED to arrive at the World of Beatrix Potter and Bronte Parsonage museum. Alas, adversity struck. Instead of historical museums, we sat on the side of the road awaiting help2 after sustaining two flat tires (darn that narrow, rocky road!). No matter, we wandered the actual hills that Beatrix surely wandered and later bought to put into conservation land. The Lakes District was also where the Bronte sisters lived and wrote. It was so astoundingly beautiful that those five hours on the side of the road weren’t a waste. Rather, I felt quite akin to my literary sisters. How’s that for a positive pivot?
Next let us fly to Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavík via Icelandicair where one can layover for days and feel you’re in the Netflix Icelandic show Trapped. Experience the incredible waterfalls, geysers, volcanic rock, purebred wild horses, and the invisible elves and Huldufólk (supernatural creatures that live in nature and who can make themselves invisible at will…I’m obsessed).
And lastly, for everyone’s literary-cinema enjoyment, recreate Daniel Day Lewis’s “I WILL FIND YOU!” Last of the Mohicans waterfall scene at the Seljalandsfoss waterfall in Iceland. Prepare to be AMAZED, get SOAKED and feel invigorated, all while laughing your head off at your Academy-Award acting dramatics.
And that’s a wrap. The world is amazing. There are stories everywhere. What a thrill.
Amy ❤️
p.s. find any stories of your own this week?
The paperback of The McNifficents launches one week from today! Want to host a giveaway or help get the word out? Please and thank you.
I hope you’ll get a copy now so you can laugh all the day long with all your little friends.
If you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of any of my books + bookmark! 🙏
1bless our son-in-law who shared extremely close quarters with his in-laws for ten exciting/exhausting days…
2Help came by way of a stranger-turned-life-long friend, Sue. “What the heck, I’ll drive you.” She drove us an hour away to a car rental place at what shall be known as the most terrifying break-neck-speed ride of my life. We made it two minutes before closing. Hallelujah SUE!
July 16, 2024
If You've Ever Loved a Dog...
Hello readers!
Today is my mother’s 70th birthday. My mom is possibly the biggest book lover and best storyteller that there ever was. I blame the piles of books around my own house entirely on her - in the best possible way. We are working on a book together! It’s about witches, which was her great childhood love, and I’m bound and determined to see it published before she’s too old to visit bookstores in her beloved witch costume.1
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! (isn’t the art great?)
In other news, THE MCNIFFICENTS launches in paperback on August 6th! I really hope you’ll order a copy! Paperback is so much more affordable than hardcover (Barnes and Noble is offering their 25% off sale, but see if your local indie bookstore will also honor this deals - which ends July 17).
This book, my friends, is for every person who has ever loved a dog, likes to laugh, and really loves the chaos of childhood…
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.
Baby Sweetums is still refusing to walk, nap, or listen to anyone; Ezra is trying to keep a snake as a secret pet; Annie and Mary’s fighting is worse than ever; and Pearl and Tate are scared of just about everything. And when a particularly tempting troop of baby chicks arrives at the house, even Lord Tennyson finds he can’t stay on his best behavior.
There’s a chicken death scene that comes entirely from real life. Oh dear. It was traumatic. There were tears. It’s in the book (I obviously have no shame).
To entice you further! I’ve teamed up with McNiff illustrator Ariel Landy who has created an original McNiff print. Order a paperback, send me a receipt at amy.makechnie@gmail.com, and I’ll send YOU a signed print in the form of a postcard. I will write you (or your classroom) a personalized note that you can hang in your classroom or home, give to your favorite young reader, or use as a bookmark!
Visual instructions (that I spent far too long on Canva on :)
But will you like the book? I am always hesitant to buy a book unless I’m sure I’m going to like it.
Reader Elizabeth and the state of New Hampshire say you will like this book!
"The writing is strong, and Lord Tennyson has an arch, competent manner in keeping with his professional role model, Mary Poppins....Chaotically entertaining." -Kirkus Reviews
"A lively role-reversing family story...Makechnie invites readers into a sometimes frenetic household that’s frequently suffused with love and laughs. Humor abounds in quirky details—avian creatures named after Downton Abbey characters, Tenny’s formal inner dialogue and love of the film Mary Poppins—while the siblings’ bickering, teasing, and supportive interactions ring true." – Publisher's Weekly
“It’s sooooo funny!” -my little friend, Anders :)
Are You a Teacher, Librarian or Learning Specialist?Order a book for your class and I will happily zoom with your class for free this fall!
Finally, dear readers, please this book with all of your teacher friends….
If buying the book isn’t in the budget right now, there are ways you can help!*POST A REVIEW on Amazon or Goodreads or Bookshop.org
*POST A REVIEW on social media like your Instagram story or Tik Tok
*ASK YOUR LIBRARIAN to order it or get as an interlibrary loan
*Tell your local indie bookstore about The McNifficents
*Suggest it as a book club book for you, your child, or school
*Include The McNifficents in your own newsletter or email (use any of the graphics here or screenshot anything from my Instagram)
*WORD OF MOUTH (it’s still the #1 way to move book sales)
Thank you, thank you.
It’s really hard to sell a book - if you can take a few minutes to do any of the above, I am VERY GRATEFUL.
Another option … all content in this newsletter is free, but if you would like to support my work by upgrading to a paid yearly subscription, I will very gratefully send you a signed copy of any one of my books + bookmark + McNiff print.
Thank you mcnifficent readers.
Until next time, keep reading and writing…
xoxo
Amy
Thank you for reading Lit With Amy Makechnie. This post is public so feel free to share it.
And…Happy Book Birthday: to Felix Powell, Erin Entrada Kelly’s new book launching today! Another terrific book for dog lovers!
Learning from… I’m inspired by her books and drawings
Packing: for our trip to England to see daughter Cope graduate from Cambridge. She sat in a pub the other day and watched Canada play Spain in the Euro Cup. Epic!
Feeling: so so hot. We are seriously considering air conditioning…bc I’m wilting
Reading: I just finished two bestselling Young Adult books that I’m excited to share with you. What are you reading?
Lit With Amy Makechnie is a free newsletter for all, but if you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of one of my books + bookmark! 🙏
1My mom and dad have a little extra storage room in their basement that my mom instead turned into “the witch room.” When visiting, all of the grandchildren sleep there and for some reason we all think this is totally normal.
July 9, 2024
Summer is Winning
Summing up summer so far…
Back to writing about writing next week…
xoxo
Amy
McNifficents in Paperback
The McNifficents launches in paperback on August 6th. Relive your childhood by reading this book and laughing your head off (at least, that’s what the kids tell me).
A special offer … all content in this newsletter is free, but if you would like to support my work by upgrading to a paid yearly subscription, I will be incredibly grateful and send you a signed copy of any one of my books + bookmark.
Lit With Amy Makechnie is a free newsletter for all, but if you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of one of my books + bookmark! 🙏
June 25, 2024
#11 What to Read
Dearest Gentle Reader,
I do not purport to be Lady Whistledown as others have for a traitorous reward (yet can you blame Ms. Cowper?1 “In season” with no offers of marriage! Being a woman of the Regency-era would lead anyone to such desperation, would it not?)
Lady Whistledown I may not be, yet I have news of greatest import. Prepare yourselves for another delightful discourse on the happenings in book land.
Alas, I have not read so many books this past month, nor to my potential, as this household is in the throes of transition from school to summer, with children and four-legged creatures alike, home and underfoot.
Ah, the delicate dance of motherhood—a role so often overlooked amidst the pomp of society's affairs. The responsibilities that accompany one's maternal duties are as detailed as the most carefully woven tapestry, and yet, they often unfold behind closed doors, away from the scrutiny of the public eye. It is a role that requires patience, fortitude, and a keen sense of decorum, lest one's offspring become the subject of sordid whispers.
Though I speak of the mothers, let us also pay tribute to the fathers in this month of June, whose importance and influence transcends the mundanity. Here are some of our most beloved tales with the paternal role on full display (and some of my favorite books…):
The iconic Ramona and Her Father (a Newbery Award winner)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (graphic version)
Things My Son Needs to Know about the World by Fredrik Backman (moving, humorous essays on fatherhood to a newborn son)
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Barack Obama (belonging to two worlds, belonging to none)
The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Claire by Amy Makechnie (a man’s love for his wife, observed by his precocious daughter)
Ten Thousand Tries by Amy Makechnie (a boy named Golden, and his hero dad)
Educated by Tara Westover (a father’s mental illness and dysfunction, yet completely and utterly compelling)
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (a vibrant, dysfunctional, and brilliant memoir)
Yes, I raise my quill in solidarity to parenthood. We are in gratitude.
Without further adieu, my latest reads:
The middle grade novel Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead is for those seeking a coming-of-age journey through eighth-grade-era intrigue, where outright betrayal, scandal and secrets abound between best friends.
Beach Read by Emily Henry is a contemporary tale of romance and steamy swooning which mirrors one’s desires for a happily ever after. I must admit, reader, phrases such as “my whole body heated until I felt like lava, burning and liquid,” makes this Whistledown imposter wretch, but this quill will also report of surprisingly deep introspection amidst all of the flushing of cheeks and “crooked corners” of Gus’s mouth.
picture books are magicNow, pray tell, if you wish to fill your head with stars, as Edward Hubble once did, may I suggest a telescope borrowed from your local library? One must take this opportunity to sing the praises of our dedicated librarians and the great service they do for America’s (esteemed or teetering?) democracy. Now is the time to unplug, get your library card renewed, join a summer reading group, and fill your mind with knowledge and pleasure - in the way only a book can.
“We do not know why we are born into the world,” Edward Hubble once wrote, “but we can try to find out what sort of world it is.” Ah yes, I concur, and books are exactly the right way to discover what sort of world it is.2 “For then you know there is nothing to worry about - nothing at all.”
Though I have not the talent nor tongue of the perspicacious3 Lady Whistledown, I have delighted in practicing a new narrative “voice.” It is astonishingly fun and I urge you to incorporate into your everyday conversation this very minute! Then leave a comment. No doubt we shall all thrill in our collective responses.
Yours in literature and Whistledown,
Amy
Ha. That was fun. Yes, I’m watching Bridgerton. I love the time period, family drama, matchmaking, costumes, hairstyles, romance, intrigue. I love it with one exception. You’re watching with your family and BAM! An explicit, over-the-top s-e-x scene that this quill finds unnecessarily gratuitous4 and exploitive5 - and thus hard to recommend to my wholesomely minded peers (as we all aspire to be, do we not!? Well, maybe not…)
Hm. Perhaps there is some scathing Whistledown in me after all, she wrote gleefully.
A Sweet Deal for YOU
The McNifficents launches in paperback on August 6th. Please consider purchasing a copy!
A special something for paid subscribers: all content in this newsletter is free, but if you choose to support my work with a yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of one of my books + bookmark + McNifficent family print painted by illustrator Ariel Landry (while prints last)!
School Visits:Would you like a school visit this fall? Be in touch and/or please pass my name on to a teacher or librarian! I love in-person visits.
In a cabin in the woods, will they survive…?By the time you read this we’ll be hosting a large family reunion lakeside, right here in my little town. My parents, siblings and their families are all coming (me and my twin brother are the oldest of five). The optimist in me says that good times are being had by all. Memories are being made. I hope it is the same for you <3
Lit With Amy Makechnie is a free newsletter for all, but if you’d like to support my work with a paid yearly subscription, I will gratefully send you a signed copy of one of my books + bookmark! 🙏
1trying to prevent spoilers!
2Lady Whistledown interjects
3a keen understanding and insight, able to notice and comprehend things that are not immediately obvious. A perspicacious person is sharp-witted, astute, and perceptive, often able to grasp complex concepts or see through superficial appearances to understand the deeper truth.
4the scene serves little or no narrative purpose and is included purely for shock value or to attract attention.
5such scenes exploit or take advantage of sexual content for sensationalism rather than meaningful storytelling.
