Blog Posts for Jacquelyn Mitchard

Seventeen Things My Kids Said About School

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:53:12 -0700

SEVENTEEN THINGS MY KIDS SAID ABOUT SCHOOL1. We had inside recess today because of the windshield factor. 2. If it was bad to squeeze her head, it’s too late because I already did it. 3. We prayed before snack. We prayed the food would be good. 4. I want to make friends but the teacher interrupts me when I’m talking. 5. I did fall asleep in class. ...

Fairytale Endings in Kidnappings are … Fairytales

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:28:53 -0700

The story of Jaycee Lee Dugard – abducted at age 11 from her school bus stop and reunited with her family 18 years later – is hailed as a miracle, a reason to hope for those few but anguished families who, each year, lose children in so-called “stereotypical kidnappings.” A “stereotypical kidnapping” is one in which a stranger steals a child, takes the child away at least overnight, ...

On the Dumb Side

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:40:00 -0700

I'm not that smart.It bothers me. Being smart enough to know you're not that smart is probably the unkindest cut. It's like being able to quote from the passage that uses the words "the unkindest cut" but not being smart enough to make it up.My big ambition as a writer is to writer a ghost story. A ghost story is a very, very delicate thing.Susan Hill's novel, The Woman in Black, ...

Death Porn

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:55:16 -0700

In a 2008 issue called 'Gone Too Soon,' PEOPLE magazine's editor admitted that when Elvis died in 1977, PEOPLE, then a new magazine, feared that featuring the passing of the acknowledged scion of modern rock and roll would be "too morbid." In a magazinedevoted to "the headlong energy of celebrity and popular culture" readers, the editors feared, would recoil. Instead, the ...

Rehab for Jerks

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:14:23 -0700

Many people consider their children heroes because they endure devastating and sometimes life-threatening health circumstances with grace and courage.Many parents see their children as heroes because they overcome bullying, criticism, social cruelty, addiction, bulimia ... and triumph.Some parents consider their children heroes because ... they die or endure harm for that which they believe. I ...

Just Darn Good Journalism

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:28:35 -0700

Michael Jackson was hardly cold when a perky anchor-ette from Entertainment Weekly popped up on CNN outside UCLA Medical Center with a scoop -- a photo of the dying singer inside the ambulance as paramedics worked to resucitate him (although one was evidently hoping his cell-phone battery would last). "Wow," said Larry King, in the same tone of voice Walter Cronkite used when we, as ...

Simultaneous Inspiration

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:31:10 -0700

How many times has it happened to you?You think of an idea for a story or a novel and it's a winner; it can't lose; you feel as though you're just taking time for a stroll aorund the park before you turn in your Power Ball winner.And it's not three days before you learn:Somebody else thought of it. Not someone long ago -- you're not channeling Charlotte Bronte. A friend thought of it and is ...

Back To The Future

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:54:42 -0700

Fijians don't have a word for stress.I just watched five strong men bury a gigantic fish and packages of breadfruit bound with coconut bark in a pit of hot stones, then cover it to cook under huge leaves of the elephant ear tree. When they finished, they all cried, "Bula!" which is the Fijian word for hello and about everything else joyous. This "lavoro," or feast, is given ...

Ms. Dowd Sort Of Regrets

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:50:39 -0700

I have plagiarized. Once.And it was inadvertent.That can happen. At the time, I thought I had changed my own prose enough so that it didn't read like the sources it came from but I hadn't and also, I had no original sources -- only the ones I offered in my bibliography. It was many years ago. I was desperate for money and very young (this is not a defense, but a description). Assigned by a ...

Around the World, The Word is "Obama!"

Jacquelyn Mitchard — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:54:16 -0800

I'm in Fiji this morning for work. It's beautiful, balmy, welcoming and about as far from the two feet of snow we left behind as any place we could find on this green earth. But the swimming and the sunshine and the abundance of the Fijian people and their lush landscape isn't the best part of this visit. It's this: Every single person we meet-from the village elder to the Australian footballers ...