by Rochelle Melander You know as well as I do that most people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions. And it’s not because we didn’t want to start a meditation habit, eat less, or write that book. It’s because we didn’t have a system set up to support us. Here are five tools you...Read More

by Rochelle Melander “Oppression cannot be fought without the power of community. In order to solve problems, we have to work together. Many youth who are working to end child marriage know this.” —Sonita Alizadeh Frustrated with economic hardship, unemployment, class struggles, and political extremism, an artist established a union of artists to fight fascism....Read More

By Rochelle Melander I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking. —Albert Einstein I’m participating in a 30-day brainstorming challenge for children’s writers called Storystorm. I set aside time each day to read the post and then doodle my ideas. Only this year, I do more staring than writing or...Read More

by Rochelle Melander “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.” ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés The news regularly reports tragedies, including multiple mass shootings. Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, founder of Your Local Epidemiologist, reports, “As of...Read More

by Rochelle Melander For more years than I can count, I’ve been marking pages of the books I read, copying out quotes in a journal, and reflecting on them. This has been quite a year, and I’ve depended on my books more than ever. Here are a few of my favorites from this year’s stack...Read More

A Proven Journaling Tool by Rochelle Melander Les Brown said, “Live out of your imagination instead of out of your memory.” TL;DR Summary: This post teaches you the best possible self journaling exercise. In four twenty-minute chunks, write about your life one year from now–in the present tense. When we vision from our memory, we...Read More

by Rochelle Melander Do you ever wish you could travel back in time, and give your younger self a gentle nudge or a kick in the pants? After her mother died suddenly, Ellyn Spragin longed to know how her mother had felt during significant moments or handled difficult situations. Spragin sought answers from women she...Read More

by Rochelle Melander When it comes to writing in chaotic times, there are tools most of us overlook: Rest. Renewal. Recovery. When the fight is difficult, we might feel like there’s no time to rest. People need us. But if we’re going to be in this for the long hall, it’s important to take a...Read More

by Rochelle Melander The most important thing is to hold on, hold out, for your creative life, for your solitude, for your time to be and do, for your very life. —Clarissa Pinkola Estés What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? If you’re like 80 percent of the population, you check your...Read More

An Interview with Harold Eppley by Rochelle Melander Harold will appear at Boswell Books next Sunday, November 23 at 4:00 PM. Visit Boswell Books online to register. Tell us about your novel, Deadpan. Deadpan is a middle grade novel-in-verse about Jackson, a 12-year-old boy from Milwaukee who cannot smile because he was born with an...Read More