Magazines
I love writing for magazines - especially writing fiction. I thought I'd share a few of my favorite sales and why they are important to me.
My very first story to appear in a
national magazine was called "Halloween Isn't Fair" which
appeared in Jack and Jill in 1992.
This story was inspired by my experiences as a room mom
helping in my daughter's classroom. I began by pondering why a kid
would have strong feelings about what is served for the Halloween
party. What if she had a friend who was diabetic? Someone who
couldn't eat sweets. The story evolved from there. I knew that
Jack and Jill needed holiday stories and healthy stories, so
this seemed a good place to try. They also liked recipes and
activities, so I included a recipe and a an activity that my
daughters loved - painting cookies.
"Cliff Diver" is a profile I wrote for Child Life. They had a section called "Odd Jobs." I'd written a couple "Odd Jobs" for them previously. We were planning a trip back to Denver, Colorado where we'd lived at one time and I remembered the cliff divers at a restaurant called Casa Bonita. Cliff divers in a restaurant, now that's an odd job. I contacted the restaurant and asked if I could interview one of their cliff divers. They said yes. I took my husband, Don Ford, along to do the photography as I was scared of taking quality pictures in such a difficult environment. See pages from the article above and you'll see he did a terrific job! The story appeared in Child Life's June 1994 issue.
When I was a child, I was very shy. A
resulting story based on that shyness appeared in the April 2000
issue of Highlights for Children. "Carrie Rose Hated Red"
was also inspired by my niece Tracy, who decided that people who
weren't shy had more fun, so she joined the drama club.
Read the story on this site. And here's a link to the illustrator who did Carrie Rose's pictures. I love what Laura J. Bryant did with the story.
Another favorite story was based on a mission trip to eastern Washington where my
daughter and some other girls participated. When Brio
magazine arrived in our mailbox, my daughters raced to see who could
get to it first. So selling this short story to Brio was
especially rewarding. Funny, though. When the girls who had gone on
the trip saw the story, they asked, "Why didn't you use our real
names?" I told them because I wasn't there and it wasn't a
report of what happened, but fiction based on stories I heard of the
trip. The story "Building New Walls" appeared in the March 1996
issue. The editor set the story in Arizona, probably due to my
references to sagebrush. I'd originally titled the story "Knocking
the Walls Down" in reference to breaking down prejudice. The
editor titled the piece in reference to the construction project in
the story.
So, now you've heard about my daughters' favorite teen mag. When I was a teen, I liked to read
the church take home paper, Straight. Never imagined then
that I'd write for them, but did. Even more fun was when
Straight was renamed Encounter and printed on glossy paper. I still
write for Encounter. This story was based on a friend's
report of what happened to her niece. I used my daughter's barista
experience to help with the details. I love what the magazine did to
the title "Steamed," which appeared in their July 23, 2006 issue.
A sampling of magazines who have published my pieces
Articles in Children's Magazines
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Articles in Other Magazines
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Short Stories in Children's Magazines
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Online Articles about Writing
- "Is That Right?"
- "Perfecting Dialogue Punctuation"
- "Listen to the Teen Voices"
- "Tips for Writing Puzzles and Activities" written with Christina Wilsdon
- "How to Submit a Manuscript Cover Letter"
- "The Process of Getting Published"
Online Parenting Articles
- "Rainy Day Campout" - knowonder!, November 2009
- "Creative Activities for Little Ones" - knowonder!, September 2009


is a picture book that will be coming out in August 2012 from Unibooks, a Korean publisher, for their ESL program for 6 and 7 year olds.
As the title implies it is based on the Aesop fable of the same name. This is just an illustration idea for one page in the book.
is a picture book for 2-6 year olds, illustrated by Jennifer Heyd
Wharton. This book was chosen
as a 2000 Read, America! Collection Selection. It's
the story of what a young boy plans to teach his new sister when she
arrives from across the world. (
