Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. Louisa May Alcott

I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.  Pearl S. Buck

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.  Tom Clancy
 
To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make.  Truman Capote 

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.  William Faulkner

Only amateurs say that they write for their own amusement. Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth... But amusing? Never.  Edna Ferber

Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it. Madeleine L'Engle
 
If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. Toni Morrison

I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself. Mark Twain

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Thomas Edison.

By Susan Sundwall

I think I see a shaggy snowman

pushing through the door.

No wait, it's only Skip, my dog

who's dripping on the floor!

Oh no! He's got that certain look

that tells me he will shake

His tail, his rear, his big ol' head

And what a mess he'll make!

Oh Great, I think I hear my mom,

she'll have a cow, for sure

if I don't find a way real quick

to dry Skip's soggy fur.

I hurry, cuz' it's melting fast

and Mom has her own laws

No dogs allowed inside the house

with crusty iced up paws!

She's coming up the basement steps

as Skip stares up at me.

There's only one thing left to do

I guess we'll have to flee.

I grab my hat, I grab my coat,

back out the door we run.

So Skip can shake the snow away

out in the winter sun.

HALLOWEEN THINGS

These are the things of Halloween

A ghost, a witch and Frankenstein green

A pumpkin, a bat and a bushy tailed cat

My big brother Tom in his old wizard hat

Knocking on doors all down the street

We fill up our bags with good things to eat

There's Billy Taylor dressed like a ghost

Without any pillows, he's fatter than most

We're lucky we didn't see Sally Ann Green

They say that she's really a vampire queen

We hear a cat hiss, an owl gives a hoot

We drag ourselves home and lay out our loot

It's spooky and silly and great gobs of fun

Oh, how we hate to see Halloween gone