Older Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Computer Illiterate

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I’m a certain age. Don’t ask what that age is. Just take my word for it. Suffice it to say that I’ve used computers for decades.

But lately, I’ve read narration in books or heard speakers joke about having to help older people—their parents or grandparents—use apps and other programs on their phones or computers. One person quipped, “Your grandparents don’t know how to open a pdf.”

That remark prompted this post.

Believe it or not, personal computers actually existed in the nineties (and even before that). They were low on RAM, sure, compared to computers today. But they were around, as were many different types of software.

When my parents were alive, they had computers. My dad had three. He used to change his computer every few years like some people change cars.

This is not to say that every older person is computer literate. But many people who were adults working in the nineties undoubtedly used a computer in an office setting. And those who are still working in offices have seen many shifts in technology and have weathered those shifts. Many are grandparents who don’t need help opening a pdf.

Maybe it’s time to retire the assumption that every older person is incapable of navigating technology, like conducting transactions online, using apps, or speaking to Siri or Alexa (or Anita as a Saturday Night Live skit hilariously mentioned; yes, I laughed at it).

Okay, this post is almost done. And there isn’t a young person to help me upload it. Guess I’ll have to somehow figure out how to do that on my own . . . after thirteen years of writing this blog. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

Has anyone ever made an assumption about what someone your age (whether you were older or younger than that person) can or can’t do? How did you respond?

Computer from somewhere online. Pinkie Pie photo by L. Marie. Pinkie Pie, computer, and chicken are from the My Little Pony Equestria Girls Minis Pinkie Pie Slumber Party Bedroom Set by My Little Pony.

Spring Trees

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While on a drive, this tree caught my eye.

Ah, spring.

We get so used to trees looking like this:

But every spring, they blossom, going from “death” to life.

Here are some photos taken by my friend Ginger at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University.

  

Photos by Ginger V.

I’m also reminded of another tree I photographed ten years ago and posted about here. I think of it as the optical illusion tree, because it looks like two trees, but is really only one.

   

Seeing the blossoming trees in spring causes me to think of dreams I’ve had that I thought were dead. A “winter” of blighted hopes will do that sometimes.

You know what that’s like: constant, unwarranted criticism; people around you who pooh-pooh the notion of your dream coming true; a string of disappointments and setbacks. I’ve experienced those.

But I look at the trees and note the pulsing life within them. They weren’t “dead”—just dormant. Waiting for spring.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens photos by Ginger V. Bare tree photo given to me by someone I can’t recall just now. Other photos by L. Marie.

Star Trek—In Honor of My Dad

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Have you been watching the news about the Artemis II mission? I saw part of an NBC video in which a detailed list was given of what the crew ate for breakfast. 😊 It made me hungry.

Still, the excitement over the mission caused me to reminisce not about past space launches, but about a franchise I grew up watching: Star Trek.

The H & I (Heroes & Icons) channel has a lineup of Star Trek shows five nights a week in this order: the OG series; Star Trek: The Next Generation; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; and Star Trek Voyager. I hardly ever make it to Voyager. But I used to love watching it when it was on network TV.

I have mentioned in posts before that I grew up reading science fiction because that was my dad’s genre of choice. (My mom preferred to read nonfiction.) So, if a science fiction show was televised, I watched it, unless I was in college. I didn’t watch much TV while I was an undergrad.

Many of my favorites from childhood through adulthood: Doctor Who, Futurama, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, Babylon 5, Firefly, The X-Files, etc.—there are too many to name here. I discovered some of these shows later through Netflix. Like Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5—two of the best science fiction shows ever.

I also streamed or watched on DVD the Clone Wars animated series [both of them; the first was developed by Genndy Tartakovsky (image at the left) and had episodes that were five and ten minutes long]; Star Wars: Rebels; Star Trek: Prodigy—and others.

    

But the Star Trek reruns get more of my attention, because they are less angsty nighttime fare. A good way to relax before going to bed.

I realize science fiction is not everyone’s cup of tea. But I think of many of these stories as space fairy tales. (I grew up on fairy tales also.)

A science fiction book, A Wrinkle in Time (by Madeleine L’Engle), inspired me to write stories for kids. Though I mostly write fantasy stories now, I still love science fiction. And since today is my dad’s birthday, I especially wanted to honor him through this post. (He passed away in 2024.)

Like science fiction? Hate it? What is your genre of choice for books or TV shows?

Show logos found online. Other photos by L. Marie.

Bear with It

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So, I started a crochet project recently: a bear pillow designed by DeBrosseNYC, a shop I discovered on Etsy.

I am here—the pillow base. I should have started with the ears. But no. I decided to tackle the hardest part first.

Why is it hard? Look closely at the yarn. It is thick. Once you crochet several stitches, the holes disappear. You have to feel your way through each row to make sure you complete it successfully.

       

The pattern designers suggested using stitch markers (the little “safety pins” in the photo below) to mark certain places in the row. Using them helps to prevent frogging—a term that means ripping everything apart and starting over because you made a mistake. (See this blog post if you wonder why it is called frogging.) With yarn this thick, making a mistake is easy.

As an added precaution, I mapped each row to make sure I have the required stitches. (See note card below.) Each row has an increase of eight stitches spread evenly on the row. I want to make sure I place them where they should be.

It’s extra work, I know. But I bear with it (see what I did there 😊), to keep track of my progress and avoid mistakes.

This reminds me of what I do whenever I write a novel: I keep a calendar of story events. I know what happens every day—even if I skip days in the narration. I found a calendar online that I could write on in Microsoft Word. This one also has the moon phases, which is great information to know.

I started keeping a calendar when one of my grad school advisors challenged me to map the hero’s journey in my novel. Since I have three main characters in three different areas who eventually meet up in one spot, I needed to map their movements.

I “frogged” several times as I wrote the novel, especially when the characters moved from place to place in my made-up world. Sometimes, I miscalculated travel times. That meant rewriting.

This is not to say that you have to do what I do. I’ve reviewed and edited manuscripts by some authors who prefer the “next day”/“next week” method of timekeeping without the minutiae of mapping each day. If that is your preferred method, more power to you.

However, I had the unpleasant task of having to tell a publisher, “This narrative is off by three months” during a manuscript review. Why? Because of an accumulation of “next days” and “next weeks” that didn’t add up to the story’s purported nine-month schedule.

This is the kind of “frogging” you don’t want.

How do you keep track of your story events? Do you use a calendar? Why or why not?

Photos by L. Marie.

Take a Peep

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Recently, my sister-in-law asked me to try the following version of Peeps:

What are Peeps? Marshmallow candy. Certain kinds of Peeps pop up around Easter and other holidays. Supposedly, you can find other kinds all year long.

I am generally not a fan of Peeps. If you were to stick them in an Easter basket and hand it to me, I would probably eat everything else in the basket and then ditch the Peeps. I like marshmallows, but not Peeps. Still, I told my sister-in-law I would try the Dr Pepper Peeps.

And you know what? I didn’t hate them. The tanginess of the Dr Pepper and the gooeyness of the Peeps caused me to actually want to eat another one. So, now I can’t say I dislike all Peeps.

Sometimes the combination of flavors in a piece of writing helps sway someone who normally isn’t a fan to come over to your side.

Years ago, one of the faculty members of my grad school read a few sample chapters from one of my young adult novels. She said that while she wasn’t a fan of fantasy, my pages made me her want to read more of the story. Perhaps it had the right combination of Dr Pepper and marshmallows. 😊

Have you tried Peeps? Are you a fan? Not so much?

Has someone ever persuaded you to read a genre you normally dislike? Or, has a genre blend (i.e., fantasy/mystery; paranormal romance) caused you to enjoy a book you would probably reject had it not been a genre blend? Do tell!

Photos by L. Marie. Other Peeps photo from the Peeps website.

Homogenizing Voice: To Do or Not to Do?

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As I looked through the copyeditor’s comments on a nonfiction book I coedited, one of the queries caught my attention.

He wanted me to change a phrase that has regional variants. Depending on where you live, different from, different to, or different than might be used.

I understood why he wanted to make the change: because of variants used in America. Knowing what region of the world the author dwells in, I marked stet (let it stand or don’t change) on his comment. Changing the phrase to reflect what is common in America seemed to dilute the author’s voice.

Voice can mean an author’s personality and style or the point of view in which a story is written (like first person).

Copyeditors thrive on consistency. I have been a copyeditor, so I understand the desire to be consistent with the rules of style guides like The Chicago Manual of Style. But there are times when the rules need to be broken. Maintaining voice is one of them.

Copyeditors follow the proofreader checklist. But they can make more changes than proofreaders are allowed to do.

Voice is what makes dialogue sound authentic and distinct. Frodo the hobbit doesn’t sound like a person living in the twenty-first century. (And he wouldn’t since his author, J. R. R. Tolkien, lived in the twentieth century! 😊) He is a fictional character in a made-up world. His speech has a certain cadence.

But how many times have we read books in which the expressed desire to appeal to people today results in characters in historical settings sounding like they’re used to scrolling on Instagram or TikTok?

I get it. Many people like that sort of thing. But I find it difficult to submerge into a book world if I continually read words coined in the twenty-first century, in a certain region of the world, but the book supposedly takes place centuries before that.

I understand certain stylistic choices. The movie A Knight’s Tale was meant to be anachronistic. I enjoyed it for that reason. But when I’m told that people today won’t read something unless it fits how they sound or think, my hackles go up.

Anyway, that is just my opinion. How are things with you?

Person with a pen from wisegeek.org. Proofread image from dreamstime.com. A Knight’s Tale poster is from somewhere online.

With the Greatest of Ease?

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During Alysa Liu’s free skate program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the commentators mentioned how relaxed she looked.

Screenshot taken from NBC Sports video.

One of them said that Liu said, “I don’t need a medal. I just need to be here and show people what I can do.” (Click here for that video.)

She glided over the ice, seemingly “with the greatest of ease” to borrow a phrase from “The Flying Trapeze” (the original title of a nineteenth-century song by George Leybourne with music by Gaston Lyle), while doing moves like a triple Axel, a quadruple Lutz, and many others.

Screenshot taken from NBC Sports video.

I wondered how many hours she practiced to look so effortless. Well over ten thousand over fifteen years of skating. This means she endured many falls and failed attempts at jumps.

Many writers can relate. Words are our triple Axels and quadruple Lutzes. We approach the blank page day after day, year after year, many of us without the gold medal and the applause. But we still do it, don’t we?

I always laugh when someone says writing is easy. Good writers make it look easy. They’ve logged in tens of thousands of hours and words numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They go past failed attempts. Past rejections and people proclaiming that they’ll never make it.

So, here’s to those who keep at it, despite the naysayers, many of whom would never have the courage to put pen to paper.

Watching Alysa on the ice and the joy she exuded that day in the sport she clearly excels at encourages me to keep writing. I hope that encourages you too.

Two Summer Series, Two Outcomes

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My younger brother, niece, and I love watching a quirky animated series on Disney + called StuGo (created by Ryan Gillis).

Here is the premise, which I copied from Wikipedia:

Six gifted middle schoolers are invited to a mysterious island in the Caribbean for what they believe is a prestigious summer camp. They soon discover, however, that the camp is a ruse orchestrated by Dr. Lullah, a mad scientist who resides on the island. Unable to leave for three months, the students must navigate the island’s dangerous flora and fauna, much of which has been created by Lullah.

Meanwhile, Phineas and Ferb (created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh), another series taking place in the summer, features the antics of two stepbrothers.

The show’s premise from IMDb:

Phineas and Ferb invent, scheme, and stay one step ahead of their bratty sister. Meanwhile, their pet platypus plots against evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

We love this show too. It had four seasons (2007—2015) and was renewed in 2023 for forty new episodes. StuGo, however, was canceled after its first season.

We tried to figure out why. As I mentioned, both series take place during the summer. Both involve kids going on wild adventures where their inventions and brainpower play a part. However, in StuGo, the kids often were acted upon because of the machinations of Dr. Lullah. Case in point, here is the premise of one episode, “Diorama Drama”:

When the kids explore a vending machine, they fall into a room housing a diorama of Dr. Lullah’s island, but the figurines come to life whenever they are put in the diorama and wreak havoc on the actual island. This leads to Pliny facing off against a gigantic Pteranodon on the diorama.

We wondered if the show was deemed too quirky. But a YouTuber blamed the lack of marketing and the positioning of StuGo just on Disney’s linear channel first, rather than also on their streaming platform, Disney +. The show didn’t appear on Disney + until several months after it debuted. Consequently, he opined, it didn’t get the audience it needed.

Have you seen either show? What show have you liked that wound up canceled? How did you feel about that?

While you think about that, Marie Bailey, you will receive a signed copy of The True Ugly Duckling by Sandra Nickel!

Marie, please comment below to confirm. Thank you to all who commented.

StuGo and Phineas and Ferb show posters found online. Author and book cover courtesy of Sandra Nickel.

Check This Out: The True Ugly Duckling: How Hans Christian Andersen Became a Swan

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It’s been a minute since I’ve posted one of these! I am more than pleased to have back on the blog my friend, Sandra Nickel, who is here to talk about her upcoming picture book bio, The True Ugly Duckling: How Hans Christian Andersen Became a Swan.

It was illustrated by Calvin Nicholls and will be published by Levine Querido on March 3. Sandra is repped by Victoria Wells Arms.

El Space: Why was it important to you to tell Hans Christian Andersen’s story?
Sandra: When my daughter and I learned we were neurodiverse, I did a lot of reading to learn more about what that meant. As I was doing this, I discovered that experts believe Andersen was on the autism spectrum. I also found out that Andersen considered himself the original ugly duckling.

Many neurodiverse children struggle with feeling like an outsider. I know I did. And so did my daughter. So, I wanted to write about Andersen in a way that would resonate with children who felt different. I wanted to write about him as others hadn’t yet done. Not as the great storyteller who has since been cast in bronze, but as the “ugly duckling” who struggled during his growing up years, until he found his way.

El Space: What was the research like for writing The True Ugly Duckling?
Sandra: The research was all about understanding Andersen’s growing up years. I wanted to learn the different events that led him to say that The Ugly Duckling was the story of his own life. To do this I read Andersen’s own autobiographies, as well as biographies written about Andersen after his death.

Photo by Thora_Hallager

El Space: The cut paper illustrations in the book are very beautiful. Please tell us why that style was important to the story.
Sandra: Andersen was an accomplished creator of paper cutouts. In fact, you can find his work in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  But cutting shapes was also integral to his growing up years. We first see him cutting from cloth, then from paper. I believe the repetetive action of cutting must have been soothing to him. In fact, he often carried paper and scissors with him when he told his stories in public. That way he could focus on the creation of cutouts as he spoke.

Illustration by Calvin Nicholls

El Space: What was the collaboration process like for you and the illustrator, Calvin Nicholls?
Sandra: We had absolutely no contact until the book was completed. Zero. I didn’t even see sketches. Arthur Levine provided Calvin with my text, and then for two years he worked tirelessly on his intricate, three dimensional cutouts. It was such a beautiful surprise when the completed book landed in my inbox!

El Space: What was the acquisitions process like at Levine Querido?
Sandra: Levine Querido publishes only work by diverse creators. I knew from Arthur Levine’s acquisition of Lyn Miller-Lachmann’s Ways to Play, that he considered neurodiverse persons as being within his mission. I asked my agent to submit to Arthur, and he was immediately interested. I feel enormously lucky that I had him and his team as partners for this book.

El Space: What do you want kids to take away after reading The True Ugly Duckling?
Sandra: My hope is that this story will help children understand Andersen as he really was. Not some distant, historic person who created The Princess and the Pea, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor’s New Clothes, but as a boy who used his originality to find his place in the world. Who used his originality to become a swan.

El Space: What are you working on now?
Sandra: I am sorry to say that it is a complete secret. I hope to tell you more the next time we talk—when L. Marie’s and my book is the focus of this wonderful blog.

Aw. 😊😊😊 Thank you, Sandra, as always, for being my guest!

Looking for Sandra? Check out her website, X, and Instagram.

Looking for The True Ugly Duckling? Look no further than Barnes and Noble, Target, Levine Querido, Amazon, Chronicle Books, or a bookstore near you.

One of you will receive a preorder of The True Ugly Duckling. Comment below to be entered in a drawing. Winner to be announced sometime next week. You will get the book after it is released on March 3, 2026.

Check out Sandra’s other picture books!

     


Author photo, art spread, and book covers courtesy of the author and Goodreads. Hans Christian Andersen photo from Wikipedia.

Hummingbirds of Hollywood

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Okay. I promise I’m not intentionally doing a series on the animal kingdom here on the blog. Charles Yallowitz does that on his blog. But I can’t help posting about what I’ve noticed lately.

The other day, my brother, sister-in-law, and I watched Hummingbirds of Hollywood, an episode on PBS’s Nature program. Maybe you’ve seen it. (Here is a link to it.) It focused on a woman named Terry Masear who rehabilitated injured hummingbirds. (She also wrote this book.)

None of us knew much about hummingbirds—I least of all. Some friends put out hummingbird feeders, so I’ve seen hummingbirds in the summer. But I didn’t know all of the awful ways they can be injured. For instance. did you know that if you pour sugar water on a hummingbird, it can damage the bird’s wings, leaving the bird gravely injured?

Another thing I found fascinating: the aggression of hummingbirds. They will attack each other. I’m not sure why I found that surprising. Maybe you already knew this and I’m just naïve.

I am reminded of a video I watched on YouTube on a penguin chick toddling along, minding his own business who was suddenly attacked by adult penguins. Thankfully, he was rescued and returned to his dad.

In the hummingbird episode, the physiology and psychological makeup of hummingbirds were discussed. Great information for writers developing hummingbird characters in their stories or characters who care for hummingbirds. I don’t yet have hummingbirds in my stories, but you never know when one might crop up!

What nature documentaries have you seen recently that you recommend? (I have a set of Planet Earth DVDs, just in case you were thinking about recommending them.)

Here is another article on Terry Masear.

Another article on hummingbirds.

Photo of Terry Masear found at PBS Nature website.