Kristin Sample's Blog, page 3

Read Stagecraft for FREE

Next week, starting on Monday, Ill be publishing my novel STAGECRAFT here under the tab Read Stagecraft (FREE). Every few days, Ill post another chapter. So it will be serialized. Just like how Charles Dickens used to do. Except I wont get paid like him or be responsible for some of the greatest British novels of all time like him or write about super poor people like him.

Still, we do how Chuck Dickens do.

Look for the Prologue on this website on Monday morning. If you have to stay inside...

First publication of 2020

I had my first publication of 2020 yesterday! Feels good. It feels especially good when I’ve been trying to get this one story published for about a year. I saw Sandra Cisneros speak at Hockaday last February and she said, “Don’t write what you remember. Write what you’d like to forget.”

Her statement inspired me to write “ren fair” which I did…that night…and edited it…that night. All in a the space of about two to three hours. (C.K. helped edit the story as well! Thank you!)

“ren fair” is...

The Sample family “best of ” from 2019

Here’s our “best of,” our new favorite hobbies, foods, etc, and a look toward 2020. Enjoy!

From Kristin…

Best book I read: The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

Best new habit: Meditating (Get the calm app! It’s amazing!)

Best binge watch: Fleabag on Amazon Prime

Biggest let downs: Game of Thrones series finale and Daylight Savings still being a thing

We love a good themed party here in Dallas.

Word for 2020: Manifest

From C.K….

Best book I read: Night’s Watch by Terry Pratchett

Best...

The Sample family Christmas letter: 2019 edition

I usually send this with my Christmas cards but I boycotted those this year.

Okay, I sent a few.

Anyway, I was just setting up my new planner for 2020 thereby looking at my 2019 planner…thereby reading all the goals I wrote down and didn’t hit this past year. So, I thought to myself…let’s write the Sample Family Christmas letter and totally sugar plum coat everything!

Beaches, Jamaica August 2019: The kids mention going back to Negril at least once a week. And I think about Jamaica…every...

No Christmas Mailing this year

Christmas 2009: Me pregnant with Jackson and Thatcher (3)

This post is a little bah-humbug so if you’re listening to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and really feeling the spirit of the season, you should probably skip it. I’ll post a nice “The Sample Family in 2019” essay soon.

Jackson’s First Christmas in 2010

A few weeks back, I got a Return to Sender card in the mail. I opened it and found it was a Christmas card I’d sent to a family in North Carolina.

FROM 2016!!

...

Rancho Loma

C.K. and I went to Rancho Loma this weekend in Talpa, TX. It’s about two hours or so outside of Fort Worth. Wide open roads. Wide open sky

new writing: first pub from One Square Mile

I am working on a collection of short stories. After hearing Sandra Cisneros speak at Hockaday last winter, I was inspired. She said, “Don’t write what you remember, write what you wish you could forget.”

What an interesting way of looking at writing. Most writers abide by the wisdom of “write what you know.” And that’s true, but Cisneros’s twist on that advice really affected me.

Hockaday saddle shoes.

I was so affected that I came home and wrote the first vignette in the collection “the...

8 GOT Characters Who Will Die Tonight

8 Characters Who Will Likely Die in Tonight’s Episode of Game of Thrones

There are only four episodes left of Game of Thrones. Like four and done forever, people.

Tonight’s episode of Game of Thrones will likely spend the entire hour in the throes of battle. Showrunners have dedicated entire episodes to battles before (the Battle of the Blackwater, the Battle of Castle Black) and with this impending battle being the most important (we’re not talking kings and lords, we’re talking zombies an...

Some musings on writing and teaching in 2018 & some goals for 2019

2018 A Look Back: Writing and Teaching

I wrote my goals for 2018 in the front of my planner last year. As I transferred info from one planner to another, I was pleasantly surprised; I had actually accomplished a few of my bigger goals. I finished Stagecraft—a novel I’ve been working on longer than I care to say. I started it back when we lived in New York after reading Megan Abbott’s Dare Me, a noir thriller about cheerleaders. I can do this type of story with musical kids. And that’s exactly...

Our 2018 Christmas letter

December 2, 2018

Dallas, TX

Dear Family and Friends,

I can’t believe how fast this year went. I thought I’d take a moment and share some of what’s been happening with the Sample family.

Jackson, the easy one, is in third grade at our local public elementary school. He loves math and playing tag on the playground. He plays soccer, takes Hip-Hop class, and this summer, he started guitar lessons at a “School of Rock” type studio. And he loves playing guitar! He’ll be playing a rockin’ versio...