Blog Posts

As writers who serve with the Florida Writers Foundation, we’re passionate about improving literacy skills in our home state, an issue that extends far beyond our ability to sell books. While state data shows some improvement in student literacy, the national trend for both students and adults reveals a decline in reading scores since 2022.

When I was little, I used to sit in the closet of my father’s office surrounded by books. I would open them and look through the pages wishing I could read. By the time I learned, I spent the rest of my life catching up, reading as many books as I could. I am a

My town, Maitland, is small. So is Maitland Public Library. But it’s our library and it’s a treasure, a beating heart of the community from the get-go. It occurs to me that a ridiculously high number of my most satisfying experiences as a writer have taken place within its venerable walls, and within those of

Literacy is the ability to read, write, and comprehend proficiently. Those who are literate have the world by the tail. They can get through school without the stigma of being insufficient; without the pressure of being “found out”’; without the crushing weight of feeling they are unworthy, unnecessary, and less than everyone around them. They

As we celebrate another holiday season, gift-giving tops our to-do lists. As writers—and this may be preaching to the choir—we have a perspective on that both personal and universal. Most of us have books on our wish lists. We want books, and constant reading anchors our growth as writers. But asking for books also helps

In a public high school in the Midwest, mid-1970s: Something I had said, done, written, or scored on an aptitude test got me slotted into advanced-placement English class. I don’t recall having any say in the assignment. Regardless, it wasn’t working; for me. Henry James? Steinbeck, Faulkner, the Brontë sisters, Fitzgerald? I didn’t get them. I