Michelle Dearmin Preston

Writing Magic

All books are magic. My adventures in writing children’s fantasy, living life and devouring books.

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Educational Neglect

My middle daughter is sick again. This has been happening a lot this school year. She’s had an illness or maybe a series of illnesses that the doctors have had a hard time diagnosing. It’s been going on for two months now, and she has had four different rounds of medication. On top of everything…

October 29, 2015
My Daughter, The Doctor

I thought I would add a follow up to last week’s post. Last Monday, my daughter auditioned for her school improve team, followed by auditions for a couple of outdoor plays which are part of a local park festival. It was a long day, and she was exhausted by the time she finished the last…

May 24, 2015
What Sad Looks Like

When my daughter was in third grade she decided she wanted to be in the school talent show. I signed a permission slip, and together we chose a short humorous poem for her to read—Cartwheels from the book Hey World, Here I Am! by Jean Little. On the day of the talent show, my daughter…

May 17, 2015
The Six Page Essay

My daughter, who is in high school, came up to me while I was writing and announced, “My history grade is about to improve. I wrote a six page essay on my test yesterday.” The ex-college teacher inside me winced. In a cautious voice, I asked, “Did your teacher want a six page essay?” “Well, he…

September 24, 2013
Objects In The Mirror May Be Different Than They Appear

Okay, the title of this post was suggested to me by the stupid accident I had the other day. I managed to injure my head and neck in the public swimming pool. I was trying to demonstrate how to do an underwater summersault, and the bottom of the pool turned out to be closer…

August 8, 2010
Revising My Fast Draft

My initial reaction upon reading my rough draft: absolute terror.

July 14, 2010
I Don’t Dance

I wonder sometimes what other writers do when they send out a manuscript. Do they celebrate? If any other writers read this, I would love to hear what you do.

June 30, 2010
Sweating the Small Stuff

Every year I tell this to freshmen students, encouraging them to find a peer or relative to read their papers before turning them in. So why do I think I am the exception to this rule?

June 17, 2010
Roses and Blueberry Jam

Every now and then, I don’t recognize myself. It happened just yesterday. I was working in my rose garden–pulling weeds, clipping off dead branches, and spreading mulch. When it was done, I sat back to look at it, and it looked pretty good. Then all of a sudden, I saw my garden through the…

May 31, 2010
On Juggling

My sister used to juggle raw eggs. She would stand there in the kitchen deftly passing the eggs from hand to hand with one eye on my mother—because the whole display was aimed at her. Mom hated the willful destruction of perfectly good food. I would watch with wide-eyes, torn between admiration and horror.…

February 28, 2010