by Mary E. Cronin | May 1, 2017 | Conferences-workshops, LGBTQ+, SCBWI
Take risks: that was the most powerful message I took away from the New England SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators) regional conference, I’ve been home a week, and I’m still reflecting on moments and messages from the conference. It’s a...
by Mary E. Cronin | Mar 20, 2017 | Cape Cod, LGBTQ+, Middle-grade fiction
If you write middle grade fiction, it can be difficult to keep track of the ebbs and flows of a middle schooler’s daily life if you are not the parent or teacher of kids this age. I interviewed a middle school guidance counselor (I’ll call her Ms. Counselor) for...
by Mary E. Cronin | Jan 17, 2017 | LGBTQ+, Poetry
I am thrilled that my poem “We Know How to Do This” is included in the voices of dissent in the anthology If You Can Hear This: Poems in Protest of an American Inauguration. Published by Sibling Rivalry Press, the anthology is available through Amazon, or...
by Mary E. Cronin | Oct 12, 2016 | LGBTQ+, Uncategorized
Searching for My Sidekick: I wrote that essay three years ago, as I remembered my childhood friend Wilfredo on his October 12 birthday. I’d recently learned that he had died, and I had an unsettled feeling, wondering about the circumstances of his death at age...
by Mary E. Cronin | Oct 7, 2016 | Cape Cod, Community connections, LGBTQ+, Teaching
“Thank God I’m gay.” Those are words LGBT advocate Cyd Zeigler and his husband exchange each day. Part affirmation and part words of gratitude, Zeigler’s words electrified the audience of student-athletes, coaches, advocates, and educators. We had gathered in Hyannis,...
by Mary E. Cronin | Oct 4, 2016 | LGBTQ+, Middle-grade fiction, Teaching, Uncategorized
There is nothing like that clean-page feeling of fall! I have been energetically contributing to blogs, writing articles, and revising my middle grade novel ever since I turned that page to September. A few links: My article “Coming Out to My College...