So the punchline is: some of our friends collaborated to compile an “Advent of Books” for our Bèbè this year. What?! Yes, you read that correctly, they coordinated, conspired, and compiled a collection of books so he can open one every day between December 1 and Christmas Eve. Opening a book every single day? Yes, please. He’s basically living my … Read More
Books Read//First Half of 2018
For those of you who don’t know, my goal is to read 52 books a year. I rarely accomplish this, but still I adore having goals. Between grad school, working full-time, and trying to get our book launched (publication date is January 22, 2019 – mark your calendars!), reading has often taken a back burner in life this year. That … Read More
Under the Influence
In photography there is a thing known has “finding your voice.“ It means finding your own unique photo style, the way you want to tell stories to the world with your camera. Many times photographers simply imitate someone else’s style and photography. (In fact, most photographers I see today look like a dozen other photographers out there.) Finding your own voice … Read More
The Heart’s Invisible Furies I Book Review
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne has been getting rave reviews everywhere I’ve seen it posted, so I was stoked to finally get my hands on a copy. (Thank you, library.) The whole time I was reading this book (all 850 pages of it), I was thinking, “Wow, I can’t wait to review this!” It opens with a bang: … Read More
Rooted
We asked our followers on Instagram if anyone was interested in being a guest blogger on Blake & Beckner. Cassandra submitted her poem, Rooted, and we had to share this young talent with you all. Cass is 17-years-old and loves to read and write. She started her blog as a form of self expression and a way to talk about anything … Read More
Letter to an Author
In 1980, a 17-year-old student named Jay Williams wrote to Roald Dahl for some writing advice. Dahl, who is one of history’s best-selling fiction authors, with over 250 million copies sold worldwide responded: Dear Jay, You are asking too much of me. You must realise that I get an awful lot of these letters and you can’t expect me to write … Read More
Note to Self: to Be Read Once We Get a Publisher
[Because this should be embarrassing to admit but sometimes – often? – I write myself notes.] June 9, 2017 Dear Layne, Congratulations! You’ve come so far, baby girl – you and Lindsay have a publisher. That’s a Huge Freaking Deal. We’re so incredibly proud of you and know how hard you’ve worked to get to this place. We think it … Read More
Carry On | Book Review
Let me (Lindsay) cut to the case, Carry On was a difficult read at the beginning and the end. When I first read about Simon Snow in Fangirl, his inspiration was obvious – it consisted of 8 books revolving around a boy wizard chosen to defeat…something.” Insert eye rolls here, but I overlooked it in Fangirl. After all it wasn’t the … Read More
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo//Book Review
For those of you who don’t know, the Beckner half of us (that’s me!) is in grad school right now, so reading for pleasure is almost a thing of the past. The piles of to-be-read books around my house continue to grow, grow, grow – much to my husband’s chagrin. That being said, I sneak in a good book in … Read More
Thank You
THANK YOU to… Our first round of beta readers and dear friends and sister, Anne and Catherine. Thank you for being the first eyes to see the (very terrible “first” edition of our) book. Catherine, you broke our hearts when you told us you didn’t love any of our characters and that you were bored by our story… but you … Read More