Mystery stories are a lot of fun to create with friends and family because of the complexity to the plot. Even if you are making this story alone, your story will still be a hit with your family and friends. And what should your mystery be about? The Mystery of the Missing Blueberry Pie?,Rumors of the Time-Traveling Gate?, Murder on 12th Street?… [...]

Have a friend that’s not feeling good? Write a get well letter and show how much you care and miss him or her. In addition to the basket, we are going to create a get well basket too. For this story project, you will write up a friendly letter recounting some things you want to do with your friend after s/he [...]

Want creative writing ideas on how to rework your favorite stories? Here are some typical avenues fanfic writers use to add, subtract, revision their favorite stories: Rewriting Ending Ever got to the end of a story and hated the ending? Rewrite the ending of an existing story to the one you believe should-have-been. This is a fun and easy way [...]

Remember the good old days when you used to recite children’s rhymes with your school buddies? An apple a day, Keeps the doctor away… Many nursery rhymes appear as songs and poems. If you’re working with someone on this project, each person can make a short rhyming poem and form a collective of poems. Elements of Children’s Rhyme Synonyms/related: nursery [...]

Children Audio Books (audio stories) are terrific gifts for children, family, and friends. My siblings and I received such a special gift from one of our aunts one year. We got a whole set of cassette tapes with fantastic stories, Aladdin and the Forty Thieves, Beauty and the Beast, and we listened to them every night before we slept. Now you can [...]

Build good writing skills with these three tips for beginning writing… Unlike natural talents, good writing skills can be learned and practiced! Children and adults too can benefit from the suggestions below: Reading builds perceptiveness to structures of writing and helps build familarity with vocabulary. Have a great time improving your writing skills without even knowing it. This is perfect for [...]

My first encounter with Alice is the Disney movie version of the story. Only later did I discover that it all started from a storybook written by Lewis Carroll.   Alice in Wonderland Storybook Characters Alice – the heroine of the story that explores the world of Wonderland Alice’s sister – reads out loud a pictureless book with Alice at the [...]

This is a list of highly recommended books for children ages 10-12. Many of them were written over 50 years ago and therefore, the morals and language can be trusted without review from even the most conservative parent.   Three Go Searching by Patricia St John In Three Go Searching, Patricia St John once again brings her skill of keeping [...]

The adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a masterpiece created by Mark Twain and there is no end to its thrilling murders, ingenious plots, and great escapes. It begins when Huckleberry (Huck) is taken by his father to a cabin and held there by force. Then Huck, always the ingenious boy he is (sorry girls) escapes in a canoe! The end [...]

As he walks down the streets of the small town of Beaufort, South Carolina, 57 year-old Landon Carter thinks back to when he was 17 years old…and his life was changed forever. Jamie Sullivan was not the most popular kid in high school. Her father was the preacher, and she didn’t do any of the things that ‘normal’ kids did. [...]

She was the monarch that shaped Shakespeare’s time, and the woman who would rule the world. But even Good Queen Bess had her problems. Rearing a Queen At 3PM on a foggy September Sunday, King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn delivered a girl: Elizabeth Tudor, named for both of her grandmothers. The date was September 7th, 1533. [...]

“I veer away from trying to understand why I act. I just know I need to do it.” He was born Ralph Nathaniel Twistleton Wykeham Fiennes on December 22nd, 1962 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. His name isn’t pronounced in the usual way. It’s “Rafe.” (With a long ‘A’ and a silent ‘L.’) And ‘Fiennes’ (pronounced “Fines”) is Norman in origin. [...]

“Actors are rogues and vagabonds. Or they ought to be.” Dame Helen Mirren was born Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov on July 26th, 1945 in Chiswick, London, England. And although she grew up among the middle class, she has the blood of Russian nobility. (Her paternal grandfather was stranded in the UK after the Russian Revolution.) In fact, the Mironov family is [...]

The Art of Allowing was made popular by Esther and Jerry Hicks. It’s a deceptively simple concept. At first it seems very similar to the idea of Laissez Faire. Webster’s dictionary defines Laissez Faire as, “a philosophy or practice characterized by a usually deliberate abstention from direction or interference especially with individual freedom of choice and action.” This is a [...]

This section is dedicated to a comprehensive review of law of attraction books and their authors. Much of the time each author has a primary spiritual philosophy that colors every book they write and it’s not usually one text, but a body of work, that gives their greatest insights. Because of this reviews are organized by author first since often [...]

Conversations with Katherine is the saga of Rudy Krause and his relationships with two mothers—the one gave him life and the one that raised him. One destroyed his self image and the other helped him find the person who became lost and taught him how to love himself, his work and his life again. What makes Conversations unique? The book [...]

Passion. Betrayal. Decadence. Grief. Triumph. No, this isn’t one of William Shakespeare’s plays, but themes from his very life. His work is the most read and studied of all time, second only to the Bible. Clearly, England’s national poet was a man of extraordinary talent, but how did he live? Read on, my friends… (Note: Much of the information below [...]

He wrote over 150 of them. (Actors have a lot of down time…) On this page you’ll find all of the Shakespeare Sonnets, with explanations and analysis. But first things first: What IS a sonnet? Simple. A sonnet is a poem with rules. The word itself derives from the Italian sonetto meaning “little song”. To illustrate let’s have a look [...]

Shakespeare quotes are invaluable wisdom passed down through the ages. His words and phrases are the primary reason he lasts and lasts. Think about it: “All the world’s a stage,/ And all the men and women merely players.” This quote from As You Like It is one of his most famous. And for good reason, because we can all relate [...]

This is the place to start. The Shakespeare plays are all listed below. Shakespeare’s Perspective William Shakespeare never wrote his plays for publication. He had no idea he would be famous for the next 500 years. In fact, in 1592 he was making good money writing simple poetry for noblemen. But when the theatres in London re-opened in 1594, Bill [...]