As far as I know, my upcoming  book DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS is the only YA out there dealing with compulsive hoarding. Like most authors with "issue" driven books, I didn't set out to become an expert in hoarding, although we do have someone with hoarding tendencies in my family. I simply read an article in a magazine about a woman who grew up in a hoarded home and got inspired. My character Lucy goes through a lot in the book, and I think teens and adults who either live in a hoarding situation or with other big secrets will identify with… Continue reading

This week, we’re celebrating C.J. Omololu’s debut! Cynthia Jaynes Omololu majored in English at U.C. Santa Barbara because she liked to read, not because she liked to write. In fact, for years all of her journals ended on or about January 21st because writing about her life was well…boring. After her kids were born, she discovered that she did like to write about the lives of fictional people, and that the voices in her head often have interesting things to say. Cynthia lives in Northern California with her Nigerian husband (hence the vowel-filled last name) and two sons. Here’s a little bit… Continue reading

I thought about calling this post “Why Toddlers and Tiaras is Good for You”, but then I figured there might be one person out there who hadn’t seen this TLC reality show. If you’ve missed this show on Wednesday nights (must-see TV if you ever want to feel like a good parent), it is about tiny kids in lots of makeup and frilly dresses and why they will end up on a psychiatrist’s couch sooner rather than later. I love this show. I’m not afraid to admit it. I also love Your Kid Ate What?, Half Ton Teen, John and… Continue reading

I’ve been thinking a lot about branding lately. Not the kind of branding that involves cows and red-hot iron rods (although we were just in Texas), but the kind of branding that defines you to your audience. Quick—if I say Sarah Dessen, what kind of books do you think of? Yep, contemporary fiction with a romantic bent. Neil Gaiman? Slightly-scary fantasy. R.L. LaFevers? Adventure, ancient curses and feisty girls (if you haven’t read any of the Theodosia books, shut down the computer and go get one now…we’ll wait). These authors all have a strong brand—pick up a book and you… Continue reading

Last Saturday I got an important phone call – not from an agent or editor, but from a friend. “I was walking by Diesel Books this morning and they had your book IN THE WINDOW,” Alice said. Anything else she said was lost in the squealing from my end that followed. Not only was this the first sighting of my book When It’s Six O’clock in San Francisco “in the wild”, but it is technically not due out until July 20th, so I was caught off guard. Of course, the very next day I got myself over to the bookstore. As… Continue reading

For much of my childhood, we were a household of females. My mom, my sister and I lived in a house where nobody left the seat up, most of the dirty clothes actually made it into the hamper and nobody knew how to make realistic machine-gun sounds or burp the alphabet on cue. We also read a lot. Fate now smirks when she sees me, as I am the only female in a house full of males – even the dog and both of the cats are boys. The presence of several Y chromosomes in my life has made me… Continue reading

I'll be the first to admit I'm not an early adopter. I got my first laptop only two years ago (and now I can't imagine living without it) and it took me ages to do stuff online (ditto - my entire working life is now online). My aversion to cell phones is bordering on legendary and I can't text anything at all. Ever. I actually have a fourteen year-old girl on retainer to translate English to text if I need to use it in a book. I now spend way to much time on FaceBook and I've started using our… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: Clarion
• Release Date: July 20, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0618768271
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

When it's six o'clock in San Francisco, what time is it where you live? When it's six o'clock in San Francisco and Jared is just starting his day, it's eleven o'clock in Santiago, where Elena is hard at work on a math problem at school. When it's six o'clock in San Francisco and eleven o'clock in Santiago, it's four o'clock in Cape Town and Nkosi stops to look at used CDs in the market. When it's six o'clock in San Francisco, children all over the world are busy going… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
• Publisher: Walker
• Release Date: February 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

When 16 year-old Lucy comes home to find her mother dead under a stack of National Geographics in their garbage-filled home, she hesitates as she starts to dial 911. She hardly notices the mountains of stuff that fill every available space in the entire house or smells the decay anymore - but she knows the paramedics will, and so will the news cameras that will follow. They'll notice the garbage and the smell and wonder how anyone ever lived like this. Only freaks live like this. As she stares… Continue reading