Jane Roper's Blog, page 28

"Papa, where are you going with that axe?" Thus (chillingly!) begins Charlotte's Web, which I finished reading to the girls a few days ago. It was awesome — both the book itself, and the experience of reading it aloud to the girls. I hadn't read it since I was a kid, and it was a... Read the Rest »

As you may already know, I am not what you'd call a crafty person. (Cunning, yes. But inclined toward making crafts, no.) We usually go half-assed or store-bought when it comes to things like holiday decorations. But last week, I was feeling inspired. I'd noticed so many lovely (and not-so-lovely) wreaths on doors around town,... Read the Rest »

Is there such a thing as a donkey fetish? Wait – don't answer that. Googling it now. Hm. That was….strange. And not nearly as scary as I anticipated. (Go do it later, after you read this post.) But there is something…randy…about donkeys, right? Or maybe I'm just thinking of the movie Bachelor Party? I remember... Read the Rest »

There is something lurking in the corner of my home office that makes me cringe every time I look at it. Something I've been neglecting for well over a year now, which just keeps growing, filling me with an ever-increasing feeling of dread. Is it a gangly, overgrown houseplant? An unwashed Tupperware container, sprouting mutant... Read the Rest »

  I'm very excited to be part of the lineup at Small Press Saturday, next week at Newtonville Books — one of my favorite local bookstores. I'll be representin' Last Light Studio (publisher of my novel Eden Lake). Also reading are poets Ellen Kennedy and Mark Pawlak and fellow novelist Christopher Boucher. Hope you can... Read the Rest »

I've noticed a trend. On blogs. Where people write one or two sentences or phrases. And then insert a line break, and start the next one. I'm not sure quite why they do it. I guess they think it makes the blog easier to read. But does it? Oops – that was three sentences. Did... Read the Rest »

This is a picture of a house around the corner from ours. Others just like it, equally or more Halloweened out, are starting to pop up all around town. And the girls LOVE it. Which is fun, on one level: "Wow!" the girls will say as we stroll past a house with plastic tombstones in... Read the Rest »

Introducing the official non-trailer for Eden Lake, which neatly sums up my feelings about podiatrists and writers in ironic ski hats. Not to mention book trailers in general. Enjoy! And pass it on.  

I started writing my novel, Eden Lake, in early 2006 and finished it in the Spring of 2008. Before I named it, I did a quick Internet search to see if there was another book by the same name, just in case. (Titles can't be copyrighted, but it's always good to have a unique title.)... Read the Rest »

  I'm thrilled to be a part of this great new anthology, with short essays by 16 mom bloggers on the stories and secrets they said — or didn't say — to their mothers. My essay recounts the scandalous thing I said to my mom at the tender age of ten (something that still embarrasses... Read the Rest »