Write what you know.

You’ve heard that advice before. Probably from the first time you were told to write a story. “Don’t try to get all fancy. Just stick with what you know.” Or, “If you have trouble creating a character, base him/her on someone you know.” It’s sound advice and I’m not going to knock it. And it works for any genre. That evil mermaid from a favorite book? I’m betting money SOMETHING about her was modeled after someone.

But…

Of there’s a but. All this becomes a problem if you’re ONLY basing characters on people you know. If you become too scared to step out of the box you’ve decorated so well to see if you can thrive without it.

My first manuscript was a story about three generations of one Russian-Jewish family. I liked to think of it as a Russian-Jewish JOY LUCK CLUB. It had romance, death, war, betrayal. It was a great premise. A 350 word epic. But it didn’t move. It didn’t sing. The reason? I based too much of it on my own family. Each time I dared to get creative, a voice in my head screamed “That’s not how it really happened! What will your parents say? Get back in the box!” Now, if this was a memoir, this would have been fine, but it was supposed to be fiction. In fiction, events don’t happen as they would in real life. They move quicker, toward something. There are obstacles at every step. My manuscript had obstacles but they didn’t factor in how they should have. The last 1/3 of the manuscript worked the best because that was the part most loosely based on my own life. That’s when I got my A-HA moment.

When I write now, I start with a voice. Sometimes it’s voice of someone I know/knew. Other times, it’s just a girl or guy with something to say. Along the way, they develop. I let my characters borrow some of my traits, some of people I know. I think a small part of me (like how I would react to a situation) appears in many of them. But I know to keep the story moving now, to not hold too tightly to a memory or vision of someone.

The goal is to keep stepping outside the confines of my box.

I was supposed to post yesterday, and for the first time since I began writing these Connect posts, I’m late.

Why? Health issues, family issues, revisions…just life. It happens, sure. But what can we do to avoid delays like this?

The obvious answer is to write things down on a calendar, which I started doing, and that has helped immensely. However, even with calendars, we get bogged down. Sometimes, I feel like I’m juggling twenty balls in the air at once, and I don’t know how to keep them from falling (ok, since I can’t juggle, this analogy… Continue reading

My dad’s birthday is today so in honor of this exciting day, I asked readers and writers for books they liked to read with their fathers. [**NOTE: Moms can read all the books below too**]. The compilation below is based on their suggestions. One writer told me that reading with his dad was the one common language the two of them had during the writer’s teenage years. I’m sure others can say the same. The list below is broken down by age group and is—by no stretch of the imagination—complete. However, I found this TERRIFIC blog called Book Dads (… Continue reading

Kitty Keswick

This week, we’re celebrating Kitty’s debut! Kitty Keswick has been an Anglophile since age four when she saw Robin Hood and fell head over heels in love. As she grew up on her grandfather’s California vineyard, Kitty’s imagination was her best friend. At a very tender age, she started writing her stories and reading them to the grapes.

Kitty spends her days with werewolves, Valkyries, vamps, and other creatures that go bump in the night. Check out her website www.kittykeswick.com… Continue reading

It has been a really trying week in my writing world. And it’s weeks like these when I especially choose to remember why I write. People often ask me about how it feels “doing what you love.” When I answer “awesome” or “wonderful”, I’m not lying, but I also don’t provide the full picture. Mainly because it would take a long time and a deep discussion. Sometimes, people ask me if how I write has changed since getting published. For this answer, I go into the lengthy point mentioned above.

Let’s be honest. Once you’re published, things do change… Continue reading

The Best Ever Writing Advice for Adults and Teens

In the year since my novel, Forget-Her-Nots, came out, I’ve had an amazing time meeting readers, teachers, librarians, and flowers lovers. They’re always eager to hear about the language of flowers and how I came up with an original focus, but the question on many minds is:  What writing advice can you give me?  With the boom in teen fiction, so many book lovers dream of writing the next Hunger Games or The Sky Is Everywhere, two of my recent favorites.

What is the best advice… Continue reading

I have been doing many school visits recently. The students’ maturity and talent greatly impressed me. Their willingness to get feedback was impressive as well. I don’t think I was ready to hear true critique and utilize it properly until college and beyond. More than that, these students taught me about myself too. I realized I miss teaching. I never thought those words would ever leave my mouth. But they began as whisperings in my head and then before I knew it, they were out in the world.

I’m not naïve. I understand that the way students behave for… Continue reading

The holiday festivities are never complete without food. Good food brings families together, cultures, and serves as a reminder for memorable events.

I love when authors incorporate food into their novels. Weaving in recipes or delicacies adds layers to the characters and lets the reader know more about them through a topic everyone can relate to.

My debut novel, Inconvenient, often mentions Russian food, and when I wrote about the dishes I was brought back to family gathering with those foods, cooking with my grandma and shaping the cookies just right, bringing the foreign food to school and… Continue reading

December is a time of year when many of us turn to traditions: holiday decorations we’ve had for years, family and religious rituals, special music, favorite movies–and, of course, the stories. The holiday books and poems.

A Christmas Carol and the poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (more commonly known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”) spring instantly to mind. But over the years, we’ve built up quite a body of literature from different faiths, and with thousands of different takes on the season.

Today I’m fondly recalling The Great Christmas Kidnaping Caper by Jean van Leeuwen… Continue reading

Vicky Whipple

This week, we’re celebrating Vicky’s debut! Vicky Whipple is an avid student of life’s great lessons. She grew up as Vicky Le Grand—an energetic “navy brat” who loved the outdoors. By the time she graduated from high school she’d gone to 11 schools. Along the way, she struggled with school’s demands, especially reading, due to a learning disability. Aided by wonderful teachers and a patient mother, she wrote her first story in the second grade; it was published in the school paper… Continue reading

Stuart Stotts

This week, we’re celebrating Stuart’s debut! Stuart Stotts is an author, songwriter, and storyteller from Deforest, Wi. He’s made his living for nearly 25 years as a performer, working in schools, libraries, and community events. He also leads teacher workshops around the country as a Kennedy Center Teaching Artists, and as a frequent keynote presenter for early childhood conferences.

Stuart lives in Victorian house in Deforest.King He loves to ride his recumbent bicycle and spend time at his cabin in the… Continue reading

M. G. King

This week, we’re celebrating M. G. King’s debut! M. G. King grew up in southern Indiana on the Ohio River. She always wanted to be like the town’s librarian, who drove a rusty bookmobile through snow and chased off neighborhood bullies so children could check out her books. Although King hasn’t found anyone willing to let her drive their bookmobile yet, she’s held lots of other jobs, including camp counselor, ESL teacher in Japan, and registered nurse in ICU, transplant… Continue reading

Recently, a good friend and writer posted about the appropriateness of YA novels for certain audiences. His post made me think (yet again) about our role as writers of the YA genre. Are there topics we should avoid writing about? How much sex/violence/profanity is too much? And what is our responsibility in creating strong female/male characters? Truth is, I don’t think we have a responsibility.

We are writers. We write books. We write about topics that we hope will touch and impact others. Some of us just write to entertain. When it comes to my novels, I don’t write… Continue reading

The other day on Twitter, I was talking about the change in spelling from “all right” to “alright.” When I was growing up, teachers pounded it into my head that there was no such word as “alright;” it was a heinous misspelling of “all right.”

And now, “alright” has become accepted usage. It’s hard for me to get used to, but the fact is that our language changes. Words fall into and out of fashion; old rules die (You can now end sentences with prepositions!), spelling changes, and new words appear (internet and teh, for examples that didn’t exist… Continue reading

Nancy Gow

This week, we’re celebrating Nancy’s debut! Nancy has always tried to do the things she enjoys most. She was a rock singer in her late teens and twenties, with the lead role in a hit rock musical and life on the road with a wonderful band called Software. Then she did a complete “about-turn” and became a yoga teacher, immersing herself in yoga postures, breathing techniques and meditation. This was followed by the perfect combination of the ridiculous and the sublime when… Continue reading

Margie Gelbwasser

This week, we’re celebrating Margie’s debut! Margie Gelbwasser was born in the former Soviet Union but spent most of her life in New Jersey. She has written for a variety of magazines, including Ladies’ Home Journal, SELF, Girls’ Life, and New Jersey Monthly. Her essays about growing up Russian and Jewish have appeared in the anthology Waking Up American: Coming of Age Biculturally, as well as in Lilith Magazine, and SMITH Magazine. Her debut YA novel, INCONVENIENT, tackles Russian-Jewish themes too. When… Continue reading

Barbara A. Binns

This week, we’re celebrating Barbara’s debut! B. A. Binns is the pseudonym of Barbara Binns, a retired Information Technology expert who finds writing an exercise in self discipline, and the perfect follow-up to her life as an adoptive parent and cancer survivor. She is a member of the American Library Association (ALA), Romance Writers of America (RWA), the Chicago Writers Association, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). She writes… Continue reading

Who: Library, school & nonprofit book clubs for teens and middle-graders are eligible for this giveaway sponsored by the Class of 2k10.

What: Five prize packs are up for grabs. Each prize pack contains 10 copies each of 3-6 different titles! There are 2 MG packs and 3 YA packs.

When: Entries accepted through November 11, 2010.

Where: http://community.livejournal.com/classof2k10/27411.html… Continue reading

Cindy Callaghan

This week, we’re celebrating Cindy’s debut! JUST ADD MAGIC is Cindy Callaghan’s first novel. It was inspired in part by her own three children. In her day job she does marketing and PR in the pharmaceutical industry. She has two other MG projects in progress.

Here’s a little bit about JUST ADD MAGIC (Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin M!x).

When Kelly Quinn and her two BFFs discover a dusty old cookbook while cleaning out her attic, the girls decide to try… Continue reading

Jennifer A. Nielsen

This week, we’re celebrating Jennifer’s debut! Jennifer lives at the base of a very tall mountain in Northern Utah with her husband, three children, and a naughty puppy. She loves the smell of rainy days, hot chocolate, and old books, preferably all at once. She is a former speech teacher, theater director, and enjoyed a brief but disastrous career as a door-to-door pollster. In her spare time, Jennifer tends to panic, wondering what she has forgotten to do that has… Continue reading

People often talk about writing being isolating. Just you, a desk, characters. There is no office or boss nearby or co-workers sharing birthday cake du-jour. Some writers say they thrive on that. They say there’s nothing they would like more than to hole up in a cabin in the woods and be one with the squirrels and bunnies. Others take on the isolation as martyrs, saying they don’t want it but the separation fuels creativity. I have talked about the isolation too, about how I wish I had more feedback, some pats on the back, a cafeteria with co-workers who… Continue reading

In the past month, the world of young-adult literature has been responding to challenges against several books, among them Laurie Halse Anderson’s SPEAK, Kurt Vonnegut’s SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, and Sarah Ockler’s TWENTY BOY SUMMER. The Speak Loudly community (http://speakloudly.org/) formed as a result.

In this post, teacher Risha Mullins recalls challenges to YA books such as Jo Knowles’s LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL–and many others–and the chain of events that ultimately cost her her job.

First, she describes students who grew to love books so much that they hung posters for them, recommended them to other students, and swelled… Continue reading

Heather Ayris Burnell

This week, we’re celebrating Heather’s debut! Heather Ayris Burnell lives and writes on a secluded mountaintop in Washington State. She’s a full-time mom of three and a part-time librarian at North Central Regional Library where she spends most of her hours shelving books in the children’s section and dreaming up new picture book displays. BEDTIME MONSTER is Heather’s first picture book. She’s already dreamed up a great monster/bedtime book display and can’t wait to add her book to it!… Continue reading

While there are many “titles” I use to describe myself, “Juggler” has not once followed my name.  Still, each day while attempting to balance the needs of work and home, I find myself juggling a long list of responsibilities.  The one ball that teeters in the air and occasionally drops these days is my writer’s pen.  (Although I no longer use a pen to write, the imagery is still apropos.)  Each day, depending on what is transpiring with our child and school and our home life, I try to fit in some quality writing time.  At this time in my… Continue reading

Judith Graves

This week, we’re celebrating Judith’s debut! Residing in a northern Alberta community, similar to the fictional town of Redgrave, where UNDER MY SKIN is set – Judith unhappily endures snow in the winter, and runs away from bees in the summer. A firm believer that Canadian teen fiction can be sexy, action packed and snarky – Judith writes paranormal stories with attitude.

Here’s a little bit about UNDER MY SKIN (Leap Books).

All her parents wanted was for Eryn to… Continue reading

Who: Anyone who wants to support banned books!
What: Wesley Scroggins, a parent in Republic, MO, is challenging SPEAK, SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE, & TWENTY BOY SUMMER at the Republic High School for being immoral, filthy, and unchristian. Win a prize pack of the challenged books and some yummy (naughty) dark chocolate to go with them!
When: 9/19 through 9/24, winner announced 9/25/2010
How: Leave a comment and tell us what you’re doing to speak up against censorship at this entry: Win a Wesley Scroggins Filthy Books Prize Pack
Where: For more details about the initial controversy and to enter your… Continue reading

Lisa Desrochers

This week, we’re celebrating Lisa’s debut! Lisa Desrochers lives in central California with her husband and two very busy daughters. There is never a time that she can be found without a book in her hand, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise. Growing up all over the United States has inspired wanderlust and she loves travel, which works out well, as she lectures internationally on a variety of health care topics. She… Continue reading

I recently submitted a pitch to a magazine about diversity in children’s literature. I acknowledged that there are far more offerings than when I was a child, but we can do more. When the editor wrote back and rejected the pitch, I was surprised. Not because of the rejection (that happens), but because of the reason for it. He said most authors know techniques involved to make books diverse and everyone is aware of the need for such books.

In the conversations I have had with my writer friends, I found this not to be true. Yes, we all… Continue reading

From the time I was little, I found libraries to be a special place: hushed, orderly, full of possibility. They smelled of paper and old bindings. They were full of books you could read for free. Nobody would kick you out for looking at a book too long.

I didn’t know that even then there were many kinds of libraries, and they housed more than just books: music, manuscripts, audio recordings, documents of all sorts, artwork, maps, etc., etc. I didn’t yet realize that libraries also serve as community centers: the sites of meetings, lectures, lessons, concerts, tutorials… Continue reading

Denise Jaden

This week, we’re celebrating Denise’s debut! Denise Jaden is, or has been, everything from a professional Polynesian dancer and fitness competitor to a mushroom farmer and church secretary. Most of her time now is spent homeschooling or playing with her six year old son or in front of her computer writing.

Denise’s writing has appeared in Mississippi Crow Magazine (Spring, 2008), The Greensilk Journal (Fall 2007), and The Tidepool Fiction Ezine (Spring, 2009). Her first novel for teens, LOSING FAITH… Continue reading

I am giving away 16 YA novels signed by the author, gift certificates, ARCs, and more!

Twenty Boy Summer, Struts and Frets, Flash Burnout, Haven, My Invented Life, Donut Days, Indigo Blues, My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters, TMI, Shadowed Summer, 8th Grade Superzero, Lipstick Apology, Swoon at Your Own Risk, Jane in Bloom, Waiting to Score, and The Secrets of Truth and Beauty

Just visit my blog For One Mentally Minute, leave a comment, and you are entered.

The contest runs through midnight October 15th… Continue reading

Jacqueline Houtman

This week, we’re celebrating Jacqueline’s debut! Jacqueline spent way too many years learning to be a scientist (27, if you count kindergarten). The best part of all that school is that some people, especially her parents, now call her Dr. Houtman. In the rare moments she did not spend in the lab, she did theater to feed the rest of her brain. Then she came to her senses and started over as a freelance science writer and editor. She has written for… Continue reading

Inara Scott

This week, we’re celebrating Inara’s debut! Inara Scott grew up in the winter wonderland of Buffalo, NY. Consequently, she spent much of her childhood complaining about being cold. To spare the world her whining, she fled the cold climate and eventually wound up in the Pacific NW, where the old Doug Fir trees and thick ferns make you think you’ve wandered into a fairy tale. Inara loves to hike, canoe, and play outside. She is addicted to yoga. Despite being a writer… Continue reading

CBAY Books is conducting a book trailer contest for The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate. Kids ages 7 – 12 are eligible and can work together in teams. The winners (inside the continental US) will get an in-person author visit from me. You can find all the details here: CBAY BOOKS VIDEO TRAILER CONTEST. Entries must be received by September 30, 2010.

Happy Creating!

Donna St. Cyr… Continue reading

Depending on your geography, school has already started or will be in session shortly. If you are geographically lucky, you won’t hear the chiming of the school bell until after Labor Day.  In south Louisiana we return to school in early August, the absolute nastiest time of the year (unless you enjoy 95 degree heat and 99 percent humidity).

In the school library, my favorite part of the new school year was introducing new books to my students. Boxes from orders placed the previous May always greeted me like Christmas presents waiting to be opened.  After a summer of… Continue reading

Who: Book bloggers (any teacher, teen, librarian, bookseller, reader, etc. who blogs about books)
What: Win the chance to host the exclusive cover reveal of FIXING DELILAH by Sarah Ockler on your blog and receive a signed hardcover of the book
When: 8/12 through 8/15, winner announced 8/16/2010
How: Leave a comment with a link to your blog at Who Will Reveal the Fixing Delilah Cover?
Where: For more details and to enter your blog, visit Who Will Reveal the Fixing Delilah Cover?

There has been a lot of talk lately of adult readers’ interest in YA novels–specifically, this New York Times Article. Some explanation is that this literature is supposedly easier to read and has less pages. I believe this is definitely true in some cases but not all or even most. My take on why more adults are gravitating toward YA? The connection.

There are common themes in YA lit, be it in fantasy, paranormal, or realistic genres. There is usually a romantic scenario, a friendship gone wrong (or one that characters are struggling with), search for identity and/or… Continue reading

One thing people often say about Cindy Pon’s SILVER PHOENIX is that it will make you hungry. And it’s true; the young heroine of this story has plenty of delicious meals in between riding dragons and fighting off monsters.

In “The Literary Glutton,” an essay in EX LIBRIS: CONFESSIONS OF A COMMON READER, Anne Fadiman theorizes that food is most appealing in books when the character is hungry. (“The best food writing is associated not with decadent repletion but with hunger.”) Some of the most memorable food scenes I’ve read have been in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s LITTLE HOUSE books… Continue reading

This week, we’re celebrating Patti’s debut! One of Patti Zelch’s fondest childhood memories is of her family’s’ weekly visit to her hometown library in East Liverpool, Ohio. That family ritual created a love for books that traveled with her when she and her husband moved to south Florida. There she read to her three children, shared books with the pupils in her elementary school class and used picture books to introduce lessons to her middle school students. After fifteen years of teaching, Patti retired and became a student. She earned her MFA at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky, and pursued… Continue reading

Tameka Fryer Brown

This week, we’re celebrating Tameka’s debut! Tameka Fryer Brown has gone from medical supply sales rep, to stay-at-home mom, to children’s book author. She’s worked with children of all ages in various church and volunteer organizations, and as a Teacher’s Assistant at her children’s Montessori school. Around Our Way on Neighbors’ Day is Tameka’s first published picture book.

Here’s a little bit about AROUND OUR WAY ON NEIGHBORS’ DAY (Abrams Books for Young Readers).

Neighbors gather on a… Continue reading

Having finished my copy edits last week, I am now in the homestretch of the publication process. And what have I learned from point A to point B–from the conception of idea to numerous revisions to final copy edits? That what I knew about revising and editing prior to writing this novel was squat.

To me, editing and revising amounted to the same thing: proofreading. Often I saw that something didn’t work, but I was at a loss at how to fix it. I may have realized certain characters and/or plot themes weren’t gelling, but correcting the issue usually… Continue reading

Romance with friction has long been popular, going back to the days of PRIDE & PREJUDICE (remember Darcy’s snottiness at the beginning of the book?), and even before that. Quite often this plotline goes: Guy makes obnoxious, even insulting comments. Girl therefore despises him. But girl finds herself attracted to guy, even though she doesn’t want to be.

As readers and writers, one question to ask ourselves is: When is a relationship attractively peppery, and when does it veer into abusiveness? If the relationship is abusive, what stand does the story take–is the relationship glorified, or does it have… Continue reading

I will admit I’m very late warming to the concept of listening to books. I spent so much time as a librarian reading aloud to my students, and as a mother reading aloud to my children, that I should have realized how much I would enjoy listening to stories myself. We never did the books on tape, or more correctly for today’s technology, audiobooks,  during our car trips because my children all preferred to read their own stories. Actually, they often wanted me to be the narrator while in the car, and I never really tired of that position, I… Continue reading

Bonnie J. Doerr

This week, we’re celebrating Bonnie’s debut! Bonnie J. Doerr has been wild about nature from birth. When she was a child Bonnie built huge nests of mowed grass, placed basketball-eggs in them, and became an eagle. She floated, eyes only, above the lake’s surface and became an alligator. She collected weeds, seeds, and flowers to arrange on a makeshift fruit and vegetable stand. Then she designed signs to attract buyers for her harvest. Unfortunately, her scribble was legible only to the squirrels, chipmunks… Continue reading

When I taught middle school, whenever the subject came to creative writing (anything from poetry to stories), the majority of girls in the class would sit up straighter and give me their full attention (for five minutes anyway) and the majority of boys would slump down in their seats, groan, and begin to doodle. When I tutored, most of my students were boys as well, and the biggest issue they had trouble with was writing.

This isn’t news. There have been various studies about boys excelling in math and sciences and girls in literature and writing. However, I don’t… Continue reading

This summer, my thoughts turn to the pleasures of rereading, even though I have a stack of shiny new books still in my to-be-read pile. Sometimes I want the comfort of familiarity, or I want to discover something new in a book, to mine it more thoroughly for all it can offer. I reread Main Street (Sinclair Lewis) annually, and I marvel at how the story of a young housewife in WWI-era Minnesota is relevant today in so many ways.

There are also some recent books I read once and enjoyed and admired.  I’m looking forward to going back… Continue reading

A couple of links crossed my radar online this week that sparked a little light bulb of both frustration and inspiration.

The first link was to an article that discussed research showing that simply providing books to read over the summer to students from low-income families made a major difference in the children’s reading levels. Studies have shown that the lack of access to books over the summer causes a slide in reading ability. Provide them with books and surprise, surprise, they read and achieve! (#mce_temp_url#)

This also made me think about how much money… Continue reading

This week, we’re celebrating Janet’s debut! Janet Fox currently lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband and high-school age son. But her heart is in Montana, where the family has a cabin in the mountains not far from Yellowstone. Her work has appeared in Highlights for Children and Spider magazines; her non-fiction middle grade guide, GET ORGANIZED WITHOUT LOSING IT (Free Spirit Publishing, 2006), continues to be a top seller. She will graduate with an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts in July 2010, and has been a Regional Advisor for… Continue reading

Kristina McBride

This week, we’re celebrating Kristina’s debut! Kristina McBride, a former high-school English teacher and yearbook advisor, wrote THE TENSION OF OPPOSITES in response to the safe return of a child who was kidnapped while riding his bike to a friend’s house. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two young children. This is her first novel. Visit her online at www.kristinamcbride.com.

Here’s a little bit about THE TENSION OF OPPOSITES (Egmont USA).

Two years ago Noelle disappeared. Two long years… Continue reading

I’m a fan of back matter in books.  Back matter provides additional information to the body of the book.  Back matter may include anything from an afterword to an epilogue to an index to a glossary to a musical score to photos, and more.  One often finds back matter in nonfiction books, yet children’s picture books may also contain back matter.  Occasionally, back matter reveals the author’s motivation and/or writing process, or suggests a relevant game or related project.  Ultimately, back matter can provide additional content for teaching or instruction so it may add value in a classroom or simply… Continue reading

Adrienne Sylver

This week, we’re celebrating Adrienne’s debut! Adrienne Sylver grew up in Ohio, where she rooted for the Cleveland Indians and learned to appreciate a good stadium hot dog. She has a master’s degree in magazine journalism from Ohio University. Like many Buckeyes who dislike shoveling snow, piling on fifteen layers of clothing, and blowing their nose for six months of the year, she escaped after college to the sunshine of Florida. Okay, over the years she’s come to appreciate cooler weather, good hair days thanks… Continue reading

So, the internet is full of lots of tons of tasty, nutritional tidbits tucked away in every little corner. Unfortunately, if you aren’t looking, you can miss some of that wonderful cybergoodness – and even if you are looking, you can’t do everything. So, I only recently stumbled upon Mother Reader’s wonderful reading and blogging challenge. Click on the pic for all the details.

So, when I read about the challenge, I thought what a great way to start summer reading! Then I looked… Continue reading

Dawn Lairamore

This week, we’re celebrating Dawn’s debut! Dawn has always loved fairy tales but thinks you can only take so many sweet, proper princesses and ferocious, fire-breathing dragons.  She thought it would be fun to write a fairy tale where the princess and the dragon weren’t what you expected.  She can’t embroider or walk with a book balanced on her head, so, much like her character Ivy, she would make a pretty terrible princess.

Here’s a little bit about IVY’S EVER AFTER (Holiday House)… Continue reading

I recently began reading a book that was recommended to me by numerous people. Because so many of these people had different literary tastes from one another, but all agreed on this book, I was sure I would enjoy it too. The topic certainly spoke to me, but then I began reading. After the first few sentences, I wanted to put the book down, but I made myself finish the first chapter. It didn’t get any better for me, and I was disappointed because I really wanted to like it.

Before I had my son, I… Continue reading

One of the best days I’ve had since my book came out was a visit with a student book club at a local high school. The students hashed out the topics and themes in the book, debated several issues, critiqued the writing, and drew parallels from the book to their own lives.

Reading is a solitary pleasure, but it doesn’t have to stay solitary. Seeing those teens engage with my book made me wish that more students could have this opportunity–to discuss a book from many angles, to go beyond classroom lessons.

Here are some things to think… Continue reading

Jennifer Cervantes

This week, we’re celebrating Jennifer’s debut! Jennifer discovered writing later in life. But she loved getting lost in books from the moment she could read. When she gets writer’s block she likes to jump on the trampoline with her youngest daughter, but sometimes they just lie on their backs and watch the clouds inch by.

Here’s a little bit about TORTILLA SUN (Chronicle)

Tortilla Sun is a tender, magical story about 12 year old Izzy Roybal who is sent to spend the summer in her nana’s New… Continue reading

Holly Schindler

This week, we’re celebrating Holly’s debut! After obtaining her M.A. in English in 2001, Holly Schindler decided to nix the idea of a full-time job in order to pursue a writing career (her lifelong dream). After wearing out half a dozen or so keyboards drafting too many manuscripts to count, she was thrilled to sell her debut YA novel to Flux! A BLUE SO DARK  will release May 1, 2010. A second YA (PLAYING HURT) will follow in 2011, as will a romantic comedy for… Continue reading

Targeting that Eager Tween Audience

My novel, Forget-Her-Nots, is considered YA, but it’s for ages 12 & up, which puts it into the younger YA category. And I can’t tell you how many people — especially parents, booksellers, and librarians — have told me they’re grateful for that!

There seems to be a gulf between MG novels for ages 9 to 12 and most YA novels, which are for ages 14 and up.  Many YA readers these days are in their twenties even. So what about those 12 to 14 year olds (and many 11 year olds) who… Continue reading

Leah Cypess

This week, we’re celebrating Leah’s debut! Leah Cypess wrote her first story in first grade. The narrator was an ice-cream cone in the process of being eaten. In fourth grade, she wrote her first novel. It was about a girl who was shipwrecked on a desert island with her faithful and heroic dog (a rip-off of both The Black Stallion and all the Lassie movies, very impressive).

She then took a few detours on her way to becoming a full-time writer, the most time-consuming… Continue reading

Jennifer R. Hubbard

This week, we’re celebrating Jennifer R. Hubbard’s debut! Jennifer R. Hubbard lives and writes near Philadelphia. She is a night person who believes that mornings were meant to be slept through, a chocolate lover, and a hiker. She has been writing ever since the age of six, when she used to write and illustrate her own picture books. She will read almost anything, but prefers to write short stories and young-adult novels. THE SECRET YEAR is her first published novel. She blogs at… Continue reading

So,  the big Book Expo America – BEA- is coming up in May in New York. It’s advertised as “the largest publishing event in North America”.  As a new author with a tiny publisher, whose book wasn’t due out till the fall, I did not get an opportunity to experience the buzz last year.  Now, however, with my book in some brick and mortar stores, a second printing, and my publisher’s partnership with NBN, a major distributor for independents, I’ve been invited by my editor  to sign books in the NBN booth.

Aside from… Continue reading

I’ve learned a lot about this business of writing for young readers since I started a scant five years ago–at least that’s when I recall declaring that as a goal. I’m sure the idea was tumbling around in my head a lot longer than that.

One thing I’ve learned is patience. From the initial idea to “The End” (when those two word really mean what they say) is sometimes years. I’m not sure readers know how long it takes to create something worthy of publication. I’m sure I didn’t before… Continue reading

Christine Brodien-Jones

This week, we’re celebrating Christine Brodien-Jones’ debut! Christine Brodien-Jones grew up in LeRoy, New York, and is a graduate of Emerson College, Boston. She spent much of her childhood inventing fantastic stories and sitting in trees reading books. A former teacher and editor, Christine lives in a creaky house near the sea with her husband Peter. They divide their time between Gloucester, Massachusetts, Buenos Aires and an old country house in Maine. Random House/Delacorte Press will publish her post-apocalyptic novel THE OWL KEEPER in April… Continue reading

Bisexual characters, especially bi protagonists are unusual in teen lit. A visit to Lee Wind’s website—I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read?—makes this clear. Only eight out of 200+ GLBT titles there have bisexual characters or themes. Until recently, the in-betweens hovered on the fringe of the literary rainbow world. For instance, the Lambda Literary Award only began recognizing bisexual lit in 2006, though the award started in 1988. Here are a few of the myths bis have had to overcome–

They go for everything that moves.

They’re not as committed to the… Continue reading

I have recently found myself having the same conversation with different authors. What do you do when you can’t write? We’re not talking writer’s block where you don’t know WHAT to write. In fact, it’s the opposite. You have multiple ideas. Scenes you know in detail. Characters calling to you from all directions. But when it comes time to put mind to paper, you freeze.

For many of us, this happens after our first book. Knowing what we know about revisions and what lies ahead, petrifies us and fills our brain with the need to make everything perfect the… Continue reading

Holly Cupala, C.J. Omololu and I noticed something about our new young-adult novels: They all have “secret” in the title. Because of this, we’ve even begun referring to ourselves as the “Circle of Secrets!”

Secrets are a powerful force in literature: everyone has them, and the draw of finding out other people’s secrets is often irresistible. They can range from the delicious to the dangerous, the delightful to the devastating.

In DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS by C.J. Omololu, Lucy’s out-of-control hoarder mother dies suddenly in their home. Hesitant to seek help and reveal the world of garbage and… Continue reading

Rhonda Hayter

This week, we’re celebrating Rhonda Hayter’s debut! Rhonda Hayter was born in St. Jean, Quebec. She was an actress for some time, appearing in plays on tour and in New York and Los Angeles. Now, she works as a story analyst for a famous movie producer. When she and her husband found themselves with two little boys, one of whom morphed into a werewolf one day, The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams was born. Rhonda now lives in Los Angeles with her family. This is… Continue reading

I love the feeling of finishing a really good book, the way it satisfies something deep inside me. What is it that makes a book sing, stand out, beg to be read again and again? Here’s my top ten list (in no particular order):

1. Language that is so beautifully rendered I find myself wanting to stop and savor the words.

2. A voice so authentic, I feel like the main character is a friend of mine.

3. A story that makes me laugh.

4. A story that makes me cry.

5. A story that… Continue reading

Alexandra Diaz

This week, we’re celebrating Alexandra Diaz’s debut! Alexandra Diaz is a Cuban-American spending her time between Bath, England, Santa Fe, NM, and the rest of the world. She has an MA in Writing for Young People and has led various workshops since she was fourteen. As a result of being homeschooled for most of high school, she’s fascinated by teenage school life and the drama that occurs in those quarters. One of the reasons she writes is to experience life in someone else’s shoes. She… Continue reading

Someone (I forget who it was!) suggested making writing journals with my cover on them. I loved the idea, and went for it. My Invented Life is a good name for a writing journal, don’t you think?

So Bee is giving the first one away on her awesome Dreamcatcher’s Lair blog! All you have to do is leave a comment there.… Continue reading

It’s Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 11:00 p.m. and my AuthorsNow entry is less than one hour away from being overdue, or viewed from another perspective, more than twenty-three hours overdue.  I am, per usual, procrastinating.

I procrastinate best after I have just experienced a highly productive period in my personal and professional life.  Now please don’t read this piece and imagine that I just entertained a group of ten of my husband’s business colleagues with a five-course meal (as he would like although not admit), and in my spare time wrote a “War and Peace”-like tome (as I… Continue reading

Several bloggers (including many AuthorsNow! authors) are raising money for libraries this week (March 23-27). Leave comments on their sites, and they’ll donate to libraries, bookmobiles, and literacy charities. Some of these blog challenges also include giveaways. For the full list of participating blogs, see http://writerjenn.livejournal.com/162263.html … Continue reading

Ryan Potter

This week, we’re celebrating Ryan Potter’s debut! After earning two degrees in American history, Ryan Potter realized he wanted to write about things he made up rather than analyze things that had already happened. He wrote his first short story in 2003 and was lucky enough to get it published in a well-respected online literary journal. He’s had several stories published both online and in print since.

Here’s a little bit about EXIT STRATEGY (Flux).

Looming above Zach Ramsey’s hometown are the smokestacks… Continue reading

And the winner is …… everybody loves to get the scoop when there’s a contest. For books there are many different types of awards bestowed but one of my favorites is the award chosen directly by the readers – in the case of children’s literature – the  YOUNG readers.

Many states have their own version of a Young Reader Choice Award program. In my home state of Louisiana, we have the Louisiana Young Reader Choice Award or LYRCA (not to be confused with the stretchy swimsuit fabric-lycra) sponsored by our state library. When I worked as a school librarian… Continue reading

EXIT STRATEGY by Ryan Potter

• Publication Season/Year: Spring/2010
• Publisher: Flux
• Release Date: March 1, 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): 978-0738715735

EXIT STRATEGY tells the story of seventeen-year-old Zach Ramsey. Looming above Zach’s hometown are the smokestacks of the truck assembly plant, the greasy lifeblood of his Detroit suburb. Surrounded by drunks, broken marriages, and factory rats living in fear of the pink slip, Zach is getting out of Blaine after graduation. But first, he’s going to enjoy… Continue reading

Muse Elusive

Cheryl Herbsman wrote a great post on the muse and how different writers approach the art of writing. She also included some links to other good ideas on the subject. Her post got me to thinking about this muse business again, so I did a bit of an Internet search to pull together some handy tips for calling those little minxes when you need one of them. That’s not what I found, but I did find lots of tips for putting those thoughts down with or without Calliope, Erato, Melpomene, or Thalia on your shoulder. I… Continue reading

While I was growing up, my dad often talked to me about the books that grabbed him when he was a boy. He did well enough in school, but he wasn’t the studious type my mother was. The books that drew him in were not those that took twenty pages to get moving. As a boy, he loved Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer or Jules Verne’s Sci-fi. As a teen, he continued to gravitate to novels full of adventure and humor, those that let him escape.

When a friend of mine recently asked for some boy book… Continue reading

On March 23-27, I’ll be hosting an online challenge to raise money for libraries, and so far about 30 other bloggers have agreed to join me.  But I would love to have more.  Last year we raised over $1600, which was marvelous, and it would be marvelous if we could meet or top that this year.

Here’s how it works:

If you’re willing, you put up a blog post that week (you choose the exact time). If you don’t have a blog, you can use another social medium such as Facebook. You agree to donate a certain amount… Continue reading

Carol Larese Millward

This week, we’re celebrating Carol Larese Millward’s debut! Carol Larese Millward is a writer who for several years was a family advocate and parent educator working with teen parents through Family Support and Education Centers, and made in-home visits to teach life skills and best parenting practices to young parents. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and lives in Maryland with her husband and two cats. STAR IN THE MIDDLE is her debut novel.

Here’s… Continue reading

Debra Sartell

This week, we’re celebrating Debra Sartell’s debut! Debra Sartell booked stand-up comedy before she began writing children’s picture books. After her son, Cole, was born she found inspiration for her work and many comical moments in parenting through the camera lens. Says Debra, “TIME FOR BED, BABY TED grew out of one of those snapshot moments of parenting exhaustion when Cole could’ve tucked my husband into bed!” She lives in California with her husband Darrell and their two lively children, Cole and Stella.

[caption… Continue reading

Amy Brecount White

This week, we’re celebrating Amy Brecount White’s debut! From ages 0 to 9, Amy moved every two or three years all over the country, which she likes to think made her adaptable and open to new places, people, and ideas.  She lived in San Francisco, Virginia Beach, Albuquerque, N.M., Lexington, K.Y., and Dayton, Ohio.  The library was one of the first places she found anywhere she arrived.  She’s always found a home in books.

It really never occurred to her that she… Continue reading

Lift Up Your Library

The majority of American take libraries for granted.  They are always there, chock-full of information and excellent reads, and will always be, we think.  However, with the current economic situation, libraries are truly at risk.  Lawmakers around the country are slashing library hours, freezing book purchases, and reducing staff. There are even some who argue that with e-readers and the Internet libraries are obsolete.  We, as readers and writers, can only shake our heads at such ignorance.

What’s a reader to do?  Here are a few suggestions:

1) Join the friends of the… Continue reading

Suzanne Morgan Williams

This week, we’re celebrating Suzanne Morgan Williams’ debut! Suzanne Morgan Williams is the author of Bull Rider, her first novel, and ten nonfiction books for children including Made in China, Ideas and Inventions from Ancient China (Pacific View Press, 1997), The Inuit, (Franklin Watts, 2003) and the award winning Pinatas and Smiling Skeletions (Harris and Williams, Pacific View Press, 1999.) Suzanne is a Nevada Writer in Residence, has won grants from Sierra Arts Foundation and Nevada Arts Council and is Co-Regional Advisor of… Continue reading

I’m often curious about the computer search histories of writers. More often than not, when I’m writing a novel, some amount of research is involved. Even if I’m not engaged in “deep research,” I will inevitably have to look up some fact or verify a piece of information. When this happens, I go straight to Yahoo and type in my search term. (Nothing against Google, it’s just that Yahoo is my homepage, and it’s easier to start there.)

Some things I’ve had to look up in the past? What kind of exam must be taken for a nursing student… Continue reading

Call me a romantic, but I tend to read more poetry near Valentine’s Day. Lately, I have read lovely, lyrical, romantic poetry. The kind that touches your soul and makes you want to curl up under a blanket by a fire, and count the snowflakes outside the window. Recently, it has occurred to me that poetry parallels life. What if we lived our lives in the same way we read poetry: slowly, thoughtfully, authentically, purposefully?

Poetry is not to communicate information. It is to give us a sense and a perception of life. It is not to tell us… Continue reading

I recently gave a writing workshop where we discussed character development. I came prepped with “get to know your character” activities. We became voyeurs as we snooped in MCs’ purses, dressers, cars, and shopping carts. I had students create playlists for their characters as well. In the end, those who were stuck with their stories said these activities helped them. I was glad, but I have to confess something. I don’t use these strategies.

Don’t get me wrong. I think these techniques are useful, and plenty of authors swear by them. In fact, most authors I… Continue reading

I recently compiled a list of books in the Class of 2k10 (debut middle-grade and young-adult novels) by season/holiday/topic references.  The intention was to be a resource for  teachers, librarians, and book clubs who may wish to read books for certain occasions–whether a holiday like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, or an issue focus such as Teen Violence Month or National Poetry Month.

In doing so, I was reminded of Little Willow’s compilation of books on “Tough Issues for Teens” over at Bildungsroman.   That blog also features lists on other topics.

And so, today, I provide a short… Continue reading

WHAT: Novels THE SECRET YEAR, LEAVING GEE’S BEND, and ISLAND STING, plus swag and a tote

WHO: US/Canada residents at least 13 years old

WHEN: Thru Feb. 14, 2010 (midnight)

WHERE: Just leave a comment here, giving a shout-out to someone you love:  http://community.livejournal.com/classof2k10/6516.html… Continue reading

This month’s post comes to us from blogging librarian extraordinaire, Edi Campbele, whose insights and resource lists are seriously bookmark/blogroll material. This month of February is known as Black History Month in the U.S., and below, Edi has a fantastic list of ways that educators everywhere can celebrate with substance and style.

Every teacher has a curriculum to follow and for a school librarian, it’s called information literacy. Simply put, we work not only to develop a lifelong love of reading, but how to locate, access, organize and present information.

As teachers begin to plan… Continue reading

What inspires you? Is it the scent of freshly mown grass, the sight of raindrops perched on a spider’s web, the sound of the ocean rolling to shore or your favorite song? We are moved by what touches our six senses. And I say six because I think we have to include the sense of emotion; we’re inspired when something touches our hearts.

Authors include the senses in their writing to bring the reader into the story, to make the story come alive. The senses also serve the deeper purpose, which is to inspire both the reader and the… Continue reading

Angela Morrison

This week, we’re celebrating Angela Morrison’s debut! Angela Morrison grew up on the wheat farm in Washington where TAKEN BY STORM is set. She graduated from Brigham Young University and holds a Master’s of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College. She and her husband recently returned to Arizona after eleven years abroad in Canada, Switzerland, and Singapore. They have four children and the most beautiful grandson in existence.

Here’s a little bit about TAKEN BY STORM (Razorbill)… Continue reading

I typically write New Year’s resolutions and the beginning of 2010 was no exception.  When it came to the topic of writing, one thought repeatedly came to mind: how could I “pay it forward” with my picture book.  Donations to literacy foundations,  offering as an auction item to raise money for charities and individuals, but what else?  How have you paid it forward?… Continue reading

Who: Anyone

What: Win one of two copies of The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate by Donna St. Cyr

When: TODAY

How: Leave a comment or question on St. Cyr’s interview with the Teens Read Too Book Club Blog

Jen Nadol

This week, we’re celebrating Jen Nadol’s debut! Jen Nadol grew up in Reading, PA, the hometown of John Updike, Taylor Swift and the now-defunct Monopoly railroad. She has a BA in literature from American University and has lived in Washington DC, Boston, NYC and, now resides in Westchester County, NY with her husband and three young sons.

Here’s a little bit about THE MARK (Bloomsbury).

Cassandra Renfield has always seen the mark – a glow around certain people reminiscent of candlelight. The one… Continue reading

I just finished reading The Road to Tater Hill by fellow debut author Edie Hemingway and the word that keeps pulsing through my brain is “redemption”.  I know it’s kind of a worn-out word, but it’s how I felt after reading her story. Tater Hill is a historical fiction midgrade set in the Carolina mountain country in the early 1960′s. It isn’t terribly fast paced, doesn’t have wildly mystical elements, and doesn’t take place in a fantasy world – in other words, it’s not a book I would pick up at first glance. But I felt so good when I… Continue reading

Deadline is a word that always pushes my heart to maximum velocity. “Dead” conveys severe penalties, perhaps ultimate ones. “Line,” an invisible mark of  digital clocks that if watched click, click, click away the day, the week, the . . .  I’ve made my point. The problem is most of our lives are controlled by this word. I’m thinking “taxes” at the moment.

Writers work on deadlines all the time: submissions, revisions, galleys, contests, conferences, blog posts. Then there’s the “other part of life:” family birthdays, home maintenance, groceries, hair. Last year with my debut novel, my calendar looked… Continue reading

I recently challenged myself and other authors to write outside one’s comfort zone. For example, if you normally write sci-fi, try historical. If contemp is your thing (as it is mine), go for something outside this realistic box. When I threw down the gauntlet, I didn’t think leaving my writing place of metaphorical soft pillows and one pound weights, would be a snap, but I also didn’t anticipate it would be equivalent to running on an incline. (For all of you in terrific shape, running on an incline would be quite a challenge for me now. Actually, running with OR… Continue reading

From time to time, I hear complaints that parents are too scarce in young-adult literature–especially loving, involved parents. What’s with all the dead and distant adults? people ask.

There are several reasons an author might choose to keep the parents in the background. A big one is that, in any novel, the main character should be the agent of change. In a YA novel, the main character is usually a young adult. That main character must make the important choices–whether they turn out to be wise or disastrous. An adult can’t come in and solve the problem for the… Continue reading

Lyn Miller-Lachman–activist, educator, editor of Multicultural Review, and the author of the highly acclaimed Gringolandia, “…a rare reading experience that both touches the heart and opens the mind” (School Library Journal)–is ringing in the new year by speaking truth to power. Gringolandia has been hailed as a “…poignant, often surprising and essential novel {that} illuminates too-often ignored political aspects of many South Americans’ migration to the United States.” The Horn Book raved that “the nuanced relationship between Daniel and his father is beautifully delineated, and the overarching exploration of injustice and its costs gives the novel memorable heft.” Gringolandia… Continue reading

This year, I’m trying something different. Instead of setting goals that will be forgotten by March, I’m making ones I’m certain I’ll keep.

 Here’s my list of can’t fail resolutions:

I will eat more chocolate.

And potato chips. And cinnamon candies. And tons of other foods I use for celebrations. I hope there are a lot of them. On days when nothing special happens, I will make up my own reasons for merriment. Meeting a writing goal. Getting a decent haircut.  Not hitting that terminally long red light on my way to work. I will celebrate ordinary… Continue reading

‘Tis the time to be pondering New Year’s Resolutions for the new decade.  So, of course, one of the wisest children’s books ever written popped into my mind.  I must confess it is also my very favorite picture book:  Miss Rumphius.  If you haven’t read it, add that to your list of things to do in 2010.  It won’t take but a few minutes.

In this splendid tale, the girl Alice (who will grow to be Miss Rumphius) wants to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps and do three very important things with her life.  First, she wants to go… Continue reading

Being from down the bayou in south Louisiana, I have a great many regional tales to remember and retell during the holidays. My favorite is the story of Papa Noel, or Pere Noel, as he is sometimes called. The Cajun families who live along the Mississippi River anxiously await the arrival of their version of Santa Claus every Christmas Eve.

Somewhere back in time, no one knows exactly when, the legend of Papa Noel and the bonfires crept into the holiday traditions here. Basically, from the day after Thanksgiving right until Christmas Eve groups of… Continue reading

Jean Reagan

This week, we’re celebrating Jean Reagan’s debut! Jean Reagan lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband, Peter, and daughter, Jane. Their beloved son and brother, John, died in 2005. Born in Alabama, Jean spent most of her childhood in Japan. Since graduating from Earlham College, she has worked as a community organizer, a union activist, and a writer. She cherishes her years as a full-time mother when she also worked at her children’s public school, the Open Classroom. In the summers, her family… Continue reading

This week, we’re celebrating Pam Bachorz’s debut! Pam Bachorz grew up in a small town in the Adirondack foothills, where she participated in every possible performance group and assiduously avoided any threat of athletic activity, unless it involved wearing sequined headpieces and treading water. With a little persuasion she will belt out tunes from “The Music Man” and “The Fantasticks”, but she knows better than to play cello in public anymore. Pam attended college in Boston and finally decided she was finished after earning four degrees: a BS in Journalism, a BA in Environmental Science, a Masters in Library Science… Continue reading

It’s not that I’m rushing the holiday season or anything. Once things settle down work-wise (in another week or so) I fully intend to sit back and celebrate. I am aware, however, that a new year is just around the corner. New starts. New beginnings. The chance to cross more things off “the list.”

2009 was awesome! I had a fabulous debut year. I finished two mss. One was a new genre for me, even. I taught more classes than last year. I even took on a few literature courses. I read more books this year than I ever… Continue reading

When I was a teacher I heard excuses daily. From the parents: “Dear Ms. G, I’m sorry Robbie does not have his homework today. It’s not his fault. His father kept him up late watching a baseball game.” From students: “Miss G, it’s not my fault the homework is all wrong. Kelly promised she’d do it for me, uh I mean help me with it, and she forgot.” I thought assigning projects a month in advance would help or, at least, necessitate better excuses (you know, give them extra points for creativity), but that didn’t happen. I still… Continue reading

After devouring Tanya Lee Stone’s A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl and Sonya Sones’s What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know, it occurs to me once again that verse novels may be a good pick for reluctant readers.

I’ve always read widely and voraciously myself, although there are some genres that just don’t appeal to me. I will confess that my first encounters with verse novels went this way: I’d see an appealing cover or title, open the book, see the verse layout, shudder, and close the book.

The first verse novel I gave a fair chance… Continue reading

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… Continue reading

Debbie Rigaud

This week, we’re celebrating Debbie Rigaud’s debut! Debbie Rigaud began her writing career covering news and entertainment for commercial magazines. She’s interviewed celebs, politicians, social figures and inspiring “real” girls. Her articles have appeared in Seventeen, CosmoGIRL!, Twist and J-14; her novella “Double Act,” is featured in the anthology HALLWAY DIARIES (Kimani Tru /September 2007). PERFECT SHOT (Simon Pulse) is her debut novel.

Here’s a little bit about PERFECT SHOT (Simon Pulse).

Fifteen-year-old London Abrams is all about spiking volleyballs, not wearing spike… Continue reading

This week, we’re celebrating Megan Crewe’s debut! Megan Crewe lives in Toronto, Canada, where she tutors children and teens with special needs. She has yet to make friends with a ghost, though she welcomes the opportunity. GIVE UP THE GHOST is her first novel.

Here’s a little bit about GIVE UP THE GHOST (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers).

Cass McKenna much prefers the company of ghosts over “breathers.” Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody… and Cass loves dirt. She’s on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in… Continue reading

Thank you!… Continue reading

Who: Anyone in the world.

What: Three books combining magic and the arts (FORTUNE’S FOLLY, LAMENT, and WONDROUS STRANGE) and a 3-chapter novel critique.

When: Enter by midnight on December 15, 2009.

How: Share the GIVE UP THE GHOST book trailer and a link to the giveaway.

Where: http://www.megancrewe.com/blog/?p=635… Continue reading

Here in New York City, it can seem as though it’s required to be extremely ‘busy’. (And to talk about the busyness a lot.). And I know we’re not alone. It’s also the ‘holiday season’ here, which can intensify the pressure to have a lot of hustle and bustle going on.

A few book lovers share their favourite ways to carve out a ‘circle of quiet’:

Now, my favorite place is wherever I happen to be. More often or not that’s my bed and the few minutes I have to read before I call it a night. When… Continue reading

Writing is a mysterious process, one that differs in many ways from one person to the next. Some writers outline, others don’t. Some focus initially on plot, others on character. However you do it, you need both sides of the brain to make it happen: the left brain, which is the rational, orderly, scientific part and the right brain, which is the more creative, idea-driven, artistic side. Without the right brain, no ideas. Without the left brain, no way to get them on the page.

A problem I sometimes run into is that once the left brain gets involved… Continue reading

Who: Anyone with a North American mailing address

What: 3 prizes: $50 bookstore gift card, Critique of 25 pages of manuscript or a query letter, Signed copies of Breathing by Cheryl Renee Herbsman and Sliding on the Edge by C Lee McKenzie

When: Dec 1 – 15

How: See all the details at the blog noted in the “where”

Where: Cheryl Renee Herbsman’s blog http://blog.cherylreneeherbsman.com/2009/12/01/big-holiday-contest.aspx

Lots of ways to enter, come check it out!… Continue reading

Who: Commenters on the blog link below, at least 13 years old

What: 7 YA/MG books from the Class of 2k9 up for grabs

When: Dec 1- Dec 5

How: Leave a comment at the post below

Where: http://community.livejournal.com/classof2k10/1843.html

Celebrating the “graduation” of the Class of 2k9!… Continue reading

Hannah Moskowitz

This week, we’re celebrating Hannah Moskowitz’s debut! Hannah Moskowitz is an eighteen-year-old writer slumming around Washington D.C. She likes crème brulee, tattoos, and playing dress-up. She has never broken a bone.

Here’s a little bit about BREAK (Simon Pulse).

Jonah is on a mission to break every bone in his body. Everyone knows that broken bones grow back stronger than they were before. And Jonah wants to be stronger—needs to be stronger, because his family is falling apart, what with his bickering parents… Continue reading

Cynthia Jaynes Omololu

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… Continue reading

Who: Anyone with a U.S. or Canadian mailing address
What: Win a summer prize pack featuring hardcover copies of THE SEASON by Sarah MacLean, SHADOWED SUMMER by Saundra Mitchell, TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler, and tons of cute summer goodies to keep you warm this winter! It’s the perfect holiday gift for the YA reader on your list!
When: 11/30 through 12/15/09, winner announced 12/16/09.
How: Leave a comment on the A Taste of Summer for a Winter’s Night page.
Where: For entry details and complete prize list, visit the A Taste of Summer for a Winter’s

Today, instead of messing around with a difficult part of my new work in progress, I went for a walk. I also let Cricket off the leash. She bounded through a tangle of branches into a tilled corn field and I followed, trying to step in places where I didn’t sink to my calves in mud. I pretty much failed, and she watched me slog from forty feet away while she devoured the rotting remains of somebody’s Halloween pumpkin.

I used to own a dog that came when called and I was angry that I had let nostalgia interfere… Continue reading

After our son was born, I began a tradition of purchasing one book for each birthday.  The books I’ve selected are not necessarily age-appropriate, yet they are books I want him to have for his personal collection.  Last birthday, he received “To Kill A Mockingbird.”  The year before that, I purchased “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” so that he would have it in hardback.  Now, he is a few days away from his fifth birthday and about to receive an illustrated version of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 100th Anniversary Edition.”  I inscribe each book with a note and the… Continue reading

S. Terrell French

This week, we’re celebrating S. Terrell’s debut! As a child, Susannah Terrell French loved to read and write and once won $100 in a Harvard fiction competition. After graduating from college, however, she switched gears, moving to California and working for an environmental organization. She went on to Berkeley Law, spent a summer as a Forest Service volunteer in Alaska, then took a job at a public interest law firm. She also spent hours reading to her three children. Eventually, she decided to… Continue reading

Lisa Mantchev

This week, we’re celebrating Lisa Mantchev’s debut! Lisa Mantchev wrote her first play in the fourth grade, and has been involved in the theater ever since. She has published numerous short stories, but Eyes Like Stars is her first novel. She lives with her husband, daughter, and four hairy miscreant dogs on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state.

Here’s a little bit about EYES LIKE STARS (Feiwel & Friends).

All her world’s a stage.

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet… Continue reading

I helped run a garage sale this weekend. I’m a big believer in garage sales and recycling your stuff.  When my kids were young I loved to shop garage sales to find good toys and baby items at a fraction of the cost I would have to pay in the store. Alas, they’ve since grown up and are too savvy to pass of something as new when it isn’t.  This weekend’s garage sale was a charity event to help adults with autism and we posted a sign letting our customers know where the proceeds would go. Not only did the… Continue reading

Since my debut novel came out this spring I’ve been taking a crash course in marketing, and I’ve learned more than I ever did in that one marketing class I took in college.  So today I’m sharing what I’ve gleaned in these past months. I hope you’ll step up and add whatever I’ve left out. I certainly don’t know everything and I couldn’t begin to include everything that authors could use to help promote their books. Here are the basics in no particular order.

First, if you’ve been a webby for a while you might want to check and… Continue reading

When I was a kid, I loved the cheesy free writing assignments teachers gave us. Whether it was the formulaic “I am….” poem or the silly “If you could be an animal, which one would you be and why?”, I was all over it. To sit and have a chance to—just me and my flimsy, school donated bluebook—was heaven. But, as I grew older, and learned about deadlines, revisions, revisions, and oh yeah, more revisions, it became too easy to forget that carefree, Emersonian lock-yourself-away-and-stare-at-flowers-feeling. So, recently, I sat down and thought of ways that would liven up… Continue reading

This month, in honor of Veterans Day (Nov. 11), I thought I would revisit a conversation I had with Rosanne Parry earlier this year.  Rosanne is the author of the middle-grade novel Heart of a Shepherd, the story of one boy’s year on the home front, running the family ranch while his dad is deployed to Iraq.

In an interview on my blog, Rosanne described the genesis of this story: “About eight years ago, I wrote a sonnet about my dad teaching my son to play chess. I was afraid the attempt would finish my dad off. The two… Continue reading

Sydney Salter

This week, we’re celebrating Sydney Salter’s debut! Sydney Salter’s fascination with Mayan culture started when she was six years old and climbed down a steep, dimly lit stone staircase to the elaborately carved tomb of King Pacal who had once ruled Palenque. Visiting Mayan ruins, walking through fragrant Mexican marketplaces, watching women wash clothes in a river, and chasing lizards in the jungle ignited the spark in Sydney’s imagination that led to writing JUNGLE CROSSING. Sydney now lives in Utah with her husband, two daughters… Continue reading

J.A. Yang

This week, we’re celebrating J.A. Yang’s debut! J.A. Yang has slummed it in the valley with the Wakefield twins; slumber partied with Huey, Dewey and Louie; joined Krakow in stalking Angela; and climbed every mountain with the Von Trapps. Originally from San Diego, he’s lived and traveled the world (okay, not all of it) in pursuit of that most elusive of targets — inspiration. He’s authored and published a book, written for online and offline publications, and maintained a variety of popular blogs on subjects… Continue reading

Literary Agent and Author Regina Brooks

Regina Brooks is a true Renaissance Woman. She is an author, the founder and President of Serendipity Literary Agency, and in addition to her careers in publishing, she’s worked as an aerospace engineer for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, and made history as the first African American woman to receive a Bachelors of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Ohio State University. Brooks is also the Executive Director of the Y… Continue reading

Lara Zielin

This week, we’re celebrating Lara Zielin’s debut! Lara Zielin lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan, with her husband Rob, her ever-loving dog, Amos, and her personality-challenged kitty, Pancake. DONUT DAYS is her first novel.

Here’s a little bit about DONUT DAYS (Putnam).

Emma has a lot going on. Her best friend’s not speaking to her, a boy she’s known all her life is suddenly smokin’ hot and in love with her, and oh yes, her evangelical minister parents may lose their church, especially if her… Continue reading

Laura Bjorkman

This week, we’re celebrating Lauren Bjorkman’s debut! Lauren Bjorkman grew up on a sailboat, sharing the tiny forecastle with her sister and the sail bags. She likes funny things, chocolate, and playing with words. She lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her husband and two sons.

Here’s a little bit about MY INVENTED LIFE (Henry Holt).

MY INVENTED LIFE is a comedy of errors with ambiguous sexuality, mistaken identities, skate gods and theater geeks, and true love, of course.

[caption id=”attachment_5037″ align=”alignleft”… Continue reading

Everyone knows November is National Novel Writing Month.  But November is also filled with other lesser known anniversaries, holidays and celebrations. Here are a few to inspire your creativity and help you meet your NaNoWriMo goals.

 First Week:  Feed Your Muse!

Writers can’t live on words alone. The first week of November has some important food feasts. There’s something for everyone here:  sugar, salt, caffeine and of course chocolate.  

November 4: National Candy Day

November 5: National Doughnut Day

November 6: National Nachos Day

November 7: Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day

November 8… Continue reading

READING TO BE A WRITER

       So you want to be a writer, and you’ve heard it’s a good idea to read more.  It’s a better idea to read differently.  You know what you like to read;  now you have to figure out why and how those particular words in that particular order are so alluring.  After all, they’re just words on a page, right?

       Usually, when you read an engrossing book, you want to know what happens next.  As you turn the pages, you’ll be spinning conjectures in your head about who will do what to… Continue reading

This week, we’re celebrating Susan Fine’s debut! After many years in New York City, Susan Fine said goodbye to Zabar’s and Gray’s Papaya in search of an affordable apartment. She, her husband, their two boys, and 10,000 pieces of Lego landed in Chicago, where they love everything except the weather. A former English teacher, Susan can still hear a me/I error from a mile away. For assistance with sorting out the me/I conundrum, check out pages 110-113 in her first book Zen in the Art of the SAT. Initiation is her first YA novel, and she is currently at work… Continue reading

Beth Ann Bauman

This week, we’re celebrating Beth Ann Bauman’s debut! Beth Ann Bauman is the author of a short story collection for adults, Beautiful Girls, and a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. Beth teaches fiction writing at NYU, The West Side YMCA’s Writer’s Voice, and online at UCLA. Growing up, she spent summers on the Jersey shore, and she now lives in New York City.

Here’s a little bit about ROSIE AND SKATE (Wendy Lamb Books, Random House)… Continue reading

My son Cass doesn’t need a wolf suit to make mischief of one kind or another. He recently declared kindergarten war on handwriting, played tug of war with the dog using his teeth and won, and dismantled the light in the living room for the third or fourth time.

I am constantly amazed by how bezerker he can seem during the course of one afternoon, and yet, at the same time, I am protective of his originality, that brain that can become so completely the dog, he has the real dog fooled.

As a parent I know boundaries… Continue reading

Today is the National Day on Writing, an officially-recognized initiative by the National Council of Teachers of English to “draw attention to the remarkable variety of writing we engage in and help make writers from all walks of life aware of their craft.” In less than two weeks, more than 100,000 writers will put pens to paper to kick off National Novel Writing Month, a frenzied quest in which participants strive to complete a 50,000-word novel in a month.

For those of… Continue reading

Donna St. Cyr

This week, we’re celebrating Donna St. Cyr’s debut! Born and raised in south Louisiana, Donna and her husband returned to Baton Rouge after briefly living in Maryland. Their household now includes three children and two devoted Labradors.

After receiving a BS in zoology from LSU, Donna taught high school physics, chemistry and biology before returning to graduate school for a master degree in library and information science. She then worked in school libraries in the Baton Rouge area for over fifteen years… Continue reading

Who: Librarians (public or school) everywhere
What: Win a 46 book set of 2009 debut YA & MG books for your library!
When: 10/18 through 12/31/09, winner announced 1/1/2010
How: Email a picture of yourself, your patrons, or your library cat with ONE Debut 2009 novel to enter. One lucky winner will be selected from all entries.
Where: For entry details and complete book list, visit the 2009 Debut Library contest page!

I am not Leona Lewis and beautiful as she is, I’m pretty glad I’m not. I heard that sometime in the last few days, at one of her book signings (she wrote a book?), a fan punched her in the face.

I have to admit, at the many book signings I’ve done over the last few months after the release of my debut picture book, ME WITH YOU, not a single fan has punched me in the face. I may have a slight advantage over Leona. I do activities with the children who come to my book signings. I… Continue reading

My husband came home with a scooter the other day, sans any consultation with me. Not that I don’t like scooters. They are fun and can be a very efficient way to get around town, but I would not have chosen one for our household at this particular moment. Why? Because our family includes an adolescent male. His interest radar immediately shot up when my husband brought the thing home. Teenage boys look forward to a great many new experiences, driving being close to the top of their lists (I’m guessing here but I think I’m pretty accurate). I have… Continue reading

The moment you become a writer (published or not) the floodgates open: it seems that everyone you meet either wants to write a book, or has a good idea for one. And this is a good thing: I fully support creativity. Just don’t expect me to write your book for you. Anyone who has a great idea (which they usually explain to me at length, and in detail), I’m going to tell the same thing: “That sounds awesome! You should write that!”

And it’s true: you totally should!

There’s no quick and easy way to write a novel… Continue reading

I recently sat through a Power Point presentation by an author and squirmed in my seat for about thirty minutes.

First the fonts on the screen were so small I couldn’t read most of the words.  Oh wait! Not to worry, the author READ each slide to me.

The words I could read were in the largest font size and, interestingly enough, in a different font style. Oh well, variety is the spice . . . Among those readable words was one that made me do my double teen blink–”ocassionally.” Okay, it’s one of those frequently misspelling words… Continue reading

Danielle Joseph

This week, we’re celebrating Danielle Joseph’s debut! Danielle Joseph was a college DJ for five years on the Gyroscope, a world music show. She also interned at several top Boston radio stations while earning her BFA in Creative Writing and MA in Marketing Communications and Advertising from Emerson College. She has taught Creative Writing to middle school students and English to adults.

Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, Danielle now lives in Miami, Florida with her husband and children. Her debut YA novel, SHRINKING VIOLET, will… Continue reading

Ann Gonzalez

This week, we’re celebrating Ann Gonzalez’s debut! After writing RUNNING FOR MY LIFE during the 30 days of National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) 2007, Ann Gonzalez realized she is a nano-novelist. Stories she writes in thirty days have more heart than ones she labors over. Ann holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, and she teaches and supports writers as an instructor at North Seattle Community College and via an on-going online course, Writing for Teens and Tweens… Continue reading

Teen book bloggers are an amazing species. They read voraciously, blog about books in great detail, hold contests, interview authors, and keep tabs on what’s new. Their enthusiasm for books is unmatched by any other group around. When I’ve exchanges emails with them, they’re always so gracious.

And energetic. My To Be Read pile measures in at a respectable two feet high, and wobbles a bit precariously on my night table. The typical teen book blogger could build a small fortress with her TBR books. Many can write a synopsis better than some publishing houses.

Of course, I’m… Continue reading

Alyssa and Keith are bored. They stare up at me from my blank screen waiting for direction. Alyssa bites her lower lip. Keith brushes his hair out of his eyes. They say nothing. After 10 minutes, Keith decides to finish his X-Box game, and Alyssa runs to her room, slams the door, and begins furiously texting, cursing me under her breath for ruining her flirting mojo. I don’t blame her, but she needs to cut me a little slack. Writing teen is not easy.

I have the setting down. The high school… Continue reading

Congratulations and thanks to those of you who joined in the summer reading challenge–those who commented online to let me know you were participating, and those of you who took it “silently.”  How was it?

If you participated, you’re entitled to a bookmark, courtesy of me!  You do not have to have met your challenge goal. You just need to be at least 13 years old.  To claim your bookmark, email your info to jennifer[at]jenniferhubbard[dot]com. (Until Nov. 10, or while supplies last.)

The challenge was thus: read ten books between June 10 and September 21.  Ideally, the ten… Continue reading

Susan VanHecke

This week, we’re celebrating Susan VanHecke’s debut! Susan VanHecke writes books for children and adults. Her titles for young readers include AN APPLE PIE FOR DINNER (Marshall Cavendish, 20009) and STRIKE UP THE BAND (Boyds Mills, 2010), and, for adults, RACE WITH THE DEVIL: GENE VINCENT’S LIFE IN THE FAST LANE (St. Martin’s Press, 2000), adapted into an award-winning screenplay, and ROADWORK: ROCK & ROLL FROM THE INSIDE OUT (Hal Leonard, 2007/Omnibus UK, 2009) with photographer Tom Wright, foreword by Pete Townshend. Of ROADWORK, Barnes… Continue reading

Today is the final day of Banned Books Week for this year. Much has been said about it both on and off line, but I thought I’d take this opportunity to toss my thoughts into the mix. In most cases, when parents ask for books to be banned from their children’s schools or public libraries, it’s because they believe the material is inappropriate for the age group to which it is being made available.

One of the most banned books in the last few years is a picture book called And Tango Makes Three about two male penguins at… Continue reading

Kristina Springer

This week, we’re celebrating Kristina Springer’s debut! Kristina Springer has a Bachelor of Arts in English Education from Illinois State University and a Master of Arts in Writing from DePaul University. Her first novel, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, will be published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux on October 27, 2009. Her second novel, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS, also from FSG, will be published in the fall of 2010. She lives in a suburb of Chicago, IL with her husband Athens and their four small children Teegan… Continue reading

It’s not easy to write about ‘issues’ in a way that’s not didactic or preachy, but there are those authors whose passion and prose create a story that does more than just introduce us to people and places — we develop new ideas, make new meaning in our lives, and are inspired in unexpected and lasting ways. Below, readers and writers share their experiences with children’s literature that ‘has issues’:

“Of course, in SHINE, I was focused on the issue of post-9/11 discrimination against anyone who was perceived to be Arab, Muslim, or Middle Eastern, but that was… Continue reading

It’s official! My Invented Life is out in the world. I’m launching a cool contest to celebrate. Besides the usual (a copy of my book) you can win a sweet pair of matching sister necklaces.

What is a sister necklace, you ask?
My sister Jolene and I go shopping together for our birthdays. We live in different states, so this happens once a year. This year, Jolene suggested sister necklaces. We found a beautiful pair of earrings we both loved, snipped off the ear-wire, and made them into matching necklaces.

Of course, if you don’t have a sister… Continue reading

On Saturday, I am getting a new dog. Her name is Cricket and she is a year old Golden Retriever puppy rescued by a group out of Cleveland. Once she fattens up, I plan to have my photo taken with her sitting on a stoop. Then I’m going to slap this photo to the back of my next book because manuscripts by authors who have dogs have a serious reputation for being “literary.”

Cricket strikes me as a little hyper, though. She apparently burns through stuffed animals and her extreme dismantling of blue smurfies is what wound her up… Continue reading

Who: Anyone anywhere in the world

What: A hardcover copy of My Invented Life signed by the author

When: September 23rd through October 15th

Where: Leave a comment at the awesome blog The Book Butterfly: http://butterflybookreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/guest-post-with-lauren-bjorkman-contest.html

WHO: Toddlers, kids, teens, parents, teachers, librarians, actors – welcome. WHAT: 12 Finalists win signed copy of  this stunning, star-reviewed picture book.  1 Grand Prize Winner wins $100 gift certificate to bookstore. WHERE:  

WHEN: Post on YouTube – now to 10/10/09. HOW: Do dramatic reading of  Once Upon a Twice (no purchase necessary, text provided free.) E-mail author at: denisedoyenbooks@earthlink.net for complete rules, hints and

I’m about to do some traveling for various book festivals and I am packing some leisure reading.  In this case, my leisure reading will be a selection of screenplays that I’ve pored over in the past.  The more I write, the more I find that I pay attention to writing, both spoken and written. Certain movies have drawn me in due to dialogue, monologue and phrasing.  Sometimes the spoken word is essentially so well written that I find myself no longer enveloped by plot, pacing and characters, but catapulted from the movie’s experience, removed to the “sidelines” of the story… Continue reading

Who: Anyone in the world

What: One of 20 copies of GIVE UP THE GHOST plus up to 5 awesome ARCs including FIRE, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, and GOTH GIRL RISING!

When: Until 10/15/09 at midnight (EST)

How: Post a review of GIVE UP THE GHOST.

Where: http://www.megancrewe.com/blog/?p=364

In my Composition classes we talk about the importance of prewriting. You know: brainstorming, listing, asking questions, free writing; anything that will help you get your thoughts organized before you begin writing.

I always encourage my students to try each different approach to find out what works best for them.

Though the methods are geared towards research/academic writing, the same idea applies to “pre-writing” and writing a novel.

In the past, I’ve organized my ideas in a journal. Now, I keep a running MS Word file for “brainstorming” and “organizing” sessions. It’s not that journals don’t work… Continue reading

As writers I’m sure you spend a lot of time balancing family, work, and writing. I know I often feel like a high-wire act edging my way across with a balancing bar in hand and praying there’s a safety net below.

I was taking a break the other day–no family, no work, no writing– and I stumbled upon a great article about philosophy. Remember that first-year course in college when you learned about existentialism and then had to figure out how to pronounce it?

I had the idea that if I re-visited some of those master thinkers I might figure… Continue reading

As writers I’m sure you spend a lot of time balancing family and creating that next book. I often picture myself as a high-wire act, making my way across with a balance bar and hoping there’s a net down where I don’t dare look.

The other day I was taking a break from both family and writing, and I read a great article on philosophy–remember that course from your freshman year in college, the one where you had to learn about existentialism and then how to spell it? Well, I thought that maybe if we applied some of those basic principals… Continue reading

How are you doing with your summer reading?  So far, I’ve read 8 of the original 10 that I planned.  But I’ve also read or reread more than a dozen  others that I didn’t plan on, but picked up as the mood struck me. Here’s a sampling:

I’ve never wanted to be a model.  But it’s fun to imagine lives completely different from my own, to experience some glamour vicariously, and so I picked up BRALESS IN WONDERLAND (Debbie Reed Fischer) and VIOLET ON THE RUNWAY (Melissa Walker), both of which follow teenage girls who are unexpectedly whisked into… 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

Who: Anyone in the world
What: A full bottle of one of the GIVE UP THE GHOST scents or a set of all five samples.
When: until 09/12/09 at 12:00 PM (EST)
How: Let me know which scent is your favorite!
Where: http://www.megancrewe.com/blog/?p=329… Continue reading

ROSIE AND SKATE by Beth Ann Bauman

• Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
• Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books, Random House
• Release Date: August 11,  2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-385-73735-7
• ISBN (paperback): TBD                         

ROSIE AND SKATE is about two sisters, ages 15 and 16, in a New Jersey shore town.  When their dad, a “nice drunk,” lands himself in jail, they cope in different ways.  Skate and her boyfriend Perry are inseparable, until he goes off to Rutgers leaving her… Continue reading

People often ask why I wrote a book with a male MC, and I usually have a garbled answer, something along the lines of “Um, that’s the story that came out”, and that’s true. But I do think that at its heart, 8th GRADE SUPERZERO is a sort of ‘school story’, and I’ve always adored those. The camaraderie, competition, self-discovery…that ‘midnight feast’/secret club element that always seemed to appear, the children’s world-unto-itself all just delighted and intrigued me to no end. In my reading life, the traditional British boarding school books, and classic stories from Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte… Continue reading

I am a knitter. I love the repeated motion and the sense of accomplishment as your work gets longer and longer. Lately I’ve been knitting a lot of simple hats, but I’ve got my eye on this lacy shawl that is simply gorgeous but really complex. I know that if I follow the pattern—even when it seems nonsensical—something beautiful will grow beneath my knitting needles. Sometimes things go awry. You drop a stitch that you have to retrieve or even backtrack to. Sometimes you have to pull out inches of a sweater because the size is wrong or you misread… Continue reading

Writing doesn’t always come easy to me.  I fight with words a lot.  I’m talking major combat. I wrestle, grapple, struggle, well, you get the idea. Sometimes the battle is so tough that I’m ready to ditch the writing gig and try my hand at herb gardening.  Instead of sitting in front of a computer, I imagine walking through a meandering path lined with rosemary and mint and filled with butterflies.  The truth is I can’t grow a single flower. If there was an association for abused petunias, I’d be featured in an exposé in their monthly newsletter.

Thanks to… Continue reading

       My own novel publishing journey lasted eight years and followed a long and twisted road with lots of potholes.  How did I keep up the faith and keep revising?  Sometimes I wonder, but one word that I kept hearing all those years and that kept me going was original.  I had a truly original idea for a novel.  (It just took me awhile to find the most engaging way to tell it.)  Originality, along with a lot of really hard work, led to my dream coming true.

       So how does an aspiring author of anything come… Continue reading

A few weeks ago, I read two interesting reviews of two different Young Adult novels. One reviewer praised the author for how he kept scenes in which characters abused drugs and alcohol to a minimum. The second reviewer applauded the writer for staying within the bounds of good taste despite edgy subject matter.  These critics were concerned with the emotional safety of the teenagers who would read these books. If an author indulges too much naughtiness, in the reviewers’ seeming opinion, he or she might interfere with the message that all parents want to provide their children—that they should behave… Continue reading

Jennifer Jabaley

This week, we’re celebrating Jennifer Jabaley’s debut! An optometrist and mother of two, Jennifer Jabaley began writing her first novel after a phone call from her sister sparked an idea for a story that lingered in her mind and stirred her creative juices. She lives in Blue Ridge, Georgia and is currently at work on her second book.

Here’s a little bit about LIPSTICK APOLOGY (Razorbill).

Four little words written in lipstick mean Emily must say goodbye to everything she knows. Emily Carson… Continue reading

Daniel Kraus

This week, we’re celebrating Daniel Kraus’s debut! Daniel Kraus is the director of six feature films and the author of two novels. He lives with his wife in Chicago.

Here’s a little bit about THE MONSTER VARIATIONS (Delacorte Press).

Someone is killing boys in a small town. The murder weapon is a truck, and the only protection is a curfew enacted to keep kids off the streets. But it’s summer—and that alone is worth the risk of staying out late for James, Willie, and… Continue reading

It was Ramona Quimby who first made me aware of the extreme wonderfulness of gummi bears — though it was hard to find the highly coveted red cinnamon ones she loved so much. Sydney Taylor’s All-Of-A-Kind Family series made me aware of the sweet, salty, and sour delicacies of the Lower East Side in New York City, (an eating expedition that I still take at least once a month), and I almost cried when I bought horehound candy at Disney World, because it tasting nothing like the sweet delight that Laura Ingalls had described. There are some books that make… Continue reading

It’s obvious that it’s time to head back to school, because Staples is overrun with kids and parents, and an entire section of their store is devoted to cardboard displays full of “back to school” deals.

I think many writers are self-proclaimed office supply nerds. We work from home; we want to be organized; we can’t walk into a supply store and leave empty-handed: we will inevitably stumble across something we can’t live without (even if we didn’t realize it before we discovered it).

 To celebrate my trip to Staples today, I’m wondering: what kinds of offices supplies… Continue reading

There were a lot more than 13, but, uh, well . . . I’m on this 13-thing, so I’ll stick with it and only choose those tips I think were hot.

1. Betsy Birney on school visits: Be sure students are prepped for your visit. Nothing worse than to arrive in front of a classroom filled with kids who don’t who you are or anything about your book(s).

2. Another Betsy Birney tip: If possible make sure the teacher and the librarian are looking forward to your visit. Avoid interesting complications.

3. Elizabeth Law likes funny MG… Continue reading

Paper books have been around for centuries, so it’s both exhilarating and frightening to witness the dawn of e-books.  It’s difficult to know what changes this will bring to the book-loving community: readers, writers, booksellers, librarians.  I don’t pretend to have a crystal ball, but here are some random thoughts and questions that have occurred to me, if anyone wants to discuss:

How affordable will e-readers be?  Will this affect book accessibility and literacy rates?  Will old paper books be digitized or just archived?  Will successive versions of e-readers make earlier e-books obsolete, and if so, will books seem… 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

TELL ME A SECRET by Holly Cupala

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Release Date: June 22, 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0061766664
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

It’s tough, living in the shadow of a dead girl…

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her… Continue reading

Who: Anyone in the world.
What: Two signed ARCs of Give Up the Ghost, ARCs of other great books including Catching Fire and Once Was Lost, and lots of swag.
When: Until 8/24/09 at 11:59 PM EST.
How: Share a story about junior high or high school misbehavior.
Where: http://www.megancrewe.com/blog/?p=191… Continue reading

This past week I was up in the Yosemite area, which is so beautiful, and for a change I actually had a fair bit of down time. When I was packing for the trip, I realized I’d managed to clear all but one of the YA books in my TBR pile (which is not the same as my TBR list!) So I packed the one YA I had left as well as several adult novels that had been waiting for quite some time to be read.

Usually when people ask me if I read both adult and YA, I… Continue reading

Michelle Zink

This week, we’re celebrating Michelle Zink’s debut! Michelle Zink lives in New York and has always been fascinated with ancient myths and legends. Never satisfied with simply reading them, she usually ends up asking, “What if?” Sometimes asking only leads to more questions, but every now and then, when everything falls into place just right, a story is born. Prophecy of the Sisters is one of those stories.

Here’s a little bit about PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS (Little Brown Books for Young… Continue reading

Sarah Ockler

This week, we’re celebrating Sarah Ockler’s debut! Sarah Ockler wrote and illustrated her first book at age six—an adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. Still recovering from her own adolescence, Sarah now writes for young adults. After several years of wandering between New York City and Denver, she and her husband Alex now live in Upstate New York with lots of books and an ever-expanding collection of sea glass. TWENTY BOY SUMMER is Sarah’s first novel. Visit her online at http://www.sarahockler.com.

Here’s a little… Continue reading

I read Caleb Carr’s The Alienist in 1995.  Carr’s mystery about a serial killer was compelling, but the novel’s historical fiction intrigued me even more.  Prior to reading The Alienist I had not known, for example, that President Theodore Roosevelt had been Police Commissioner of New York City in 1895.  I have really enjoyed reading children’s picture books that feature historical fiction and have begun a small collection of such books to read with my preschooler.  I know that both of us will learn and far better remember historical facts that are enveloped by wonderful storytelling.  Here are five books… Continue reading

WHO: Anyone with a U.S. mailing address.

WHAT: Win a copy of Secrets of Truth & Beauty as well as your choice of ONE of the following:

• Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter
• Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz
• Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters
• Deadly Little Secret by Lauri Faria Stolarz
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart

WHEN: July 20-August 16 2009

HOW: Go to your local mall and find the promotional poster featuring Secrets of Truth & Beauty and the books… Continue reading

When you’re holed up in the writing cave, pounding out the first draft of your “hopefully this will be published one day” novel, there are things about which you are ignorant. It’s okay. Get to “The End,” because in this case, it’s a good idea to stay ignorant for as long as possible. In fact, if you’re still in the cave, you should stop reading now. No, seriously, I mean it, because what I’m going to say is so, so very ugly. . . .

(takes deep breath and whispers) Writing a book and getting it published is only… Continue reading

Like all of you, I love a great story. Books teach us about our world and our place in it. In order for us to really enjoy these stories we need to connect to them and with the characters and their experiences. This is where multicultrual literature plays a critical role.

Multicultural literature highlights the literary contributions that minority cultural groups have made. We might consider Lind Sue Park, Christopher Paul Curtis, or Pam Muñoz Ryan to name a few.

Does this mean then

I’ve decided to read these books sometime this summer . . . well, maybe by December. They have the unique position of being among the most CHALLENGED books.

1. Huck Finn seems to top all the CHALLENGED books lists and not for the “racial” issues,  but for the “vulgar language.”
I thought this Mark Twains comment was great: “Censorship is telling a man  he can’t have steak just because a baby can’t chew it.”

2. The Catcher in the Rye didn’t miss the censors’ attacks either. It’s been labeled “anti-white,” having too much sex, and, uh oh, OCCULT… Continue reading

Congratulations, Blair — you’re our grand prize winner!

Last month, Matt de la Pena and Filmmaker Brin Hill allowed us a glimpse into the process of taking de la Pena’s BALL DON’T LIE from page to screen. In Part 2, we find out what the collaborators think makes an adaptation great, how this filmmaking process has changed they way they think and work, and what this talented pair want to give YOU — so read on, and enjoy!

What’s going on with BDL now? Now that the film has been made — what’s worked, what’s… Continue reading

Paranormal tales are hot in YA literature right now.  The bookshelves are filled with zombies, vampires, faeries, werewolves, ghosts, and other creatures you’re not likely to meet on the streets of your own hometown.

I read and enjoyed paranormal stories while I was growing up, and I still enjoy them.  But my favorite books were those about kids dealing not with supervillains, flying, or shape-shifting, but with the troubles my friends and I were more likely to face in our own lives.  I wanted characters who, like me, had no special powers or magic to rely on.

Fortunately… 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

Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me has been out since May.  While that doesn’t exactly make me a seasoned pro, I have gone through the experience of  a debut book launch.  Here are some random thoughts about my first two months as a published author and some unsolicited advice for anyone who has yet to launch:

• Before your book comes out, get comfortable on all those social networking sites.  Make friends on Facebook, decide what you’re going to say on your blog, and learn how to tweet.  You don’t want to

WHO: Anyone with a U.S. mailing address.

WHAT: Win the 20 Things grand prize, including 6 autographed debut books (Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler, Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog, Breathing by Cheryl Renee Herbsman, Prada & Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard, Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies by Erin Dionne, and The Great Call of China by Cynthea Liu) and 14 fun summer goodies in the 20 Things in 20 Days blog scavenger hunt!

WHEN: June 11-30, 2009

HOW: Complete clues/activities to earn points toward the grand prize. Complete all or some of the clues, in any order… Continue reading

Who: US/Canadian recipients, at least 13 years old

What: As part of the YA Book Carnival, a giveaway of four YA books/ARCs (Crash Into Me, Watersmeet, Initiation, The Secret Year)

When: Now thru 6/27/09 at 5 PM EDT

How: Just leave a comment and see complete rules at http://writerjenn.livejournal.com/110176.html… Continue reading

Who: Must be at least 13
What: A copy of the MG novel Heart of a Shepherd; winner may also choose to receive a Skype author visit for your class or book club
When: Now thru Fri., 6/19, at 5 PM EDT
How: Leave a comment on this blog post: http://writerjenn.livejournal.com/109125.html… Continue reading

I met so many great people when I was at BEA a few weeks ago. There is one young lady, however, who sticks out in my mind. I don’t remember her name, just that she appeared to be in her twenties. She stopped in my line to get a signed copy of ONE WISH. She was making the rounds, and mentioned that she’d asked all of the other authors she’d met if they had any advice for her, so she asked me the same.

Because I’m creating a thirteen-year-old  character for a WIP, I was trying to remember the year I turned thirteen. What did I look like? How did I feel? What was my world like then?  I pulled out some old photo albums and thumbed through until I got to the pictures with the sepia tone–just kidding–only they did look more vintage than I’d expected.

In the first picture of that thirteenth year I faced the camera, smiling and with my arms behind my back. My skirt stopped above two bony knees, one with a band aid.  My hair was pulled… Continue reading

I’m curious what distinguishes a YA novel from a novel for adults.

Is it the age of the main character? The protagonist in most YA novels is anywhere from 14-18 years old. But adult fiction protagonists, such as in Life of Pi, can be teens, also. In the case of The Book Thief, there are two main protagonists—one is ageless and the other is a child. So this rule is not hard and fast.

The point of view? Many YA books are told in the first person. First person narratives can create a more intimate connection between the… Continue reading

I didn’t pay much attention to summer reading challenges when I was younger, because I never needed any incentive to get me to read.  I read a lot of books, summer and winter (and fall and spring).

But I thought it might be fun to issue a challenge for this summer, to set some goals and see if anyone else cares to join in.  Here’s what I’m suggesting:

Read 10 books by Sept. 21.  (I hope to read many more, but 10 is a nice, reasonable, summery goal.)

Of the 10, I suggest:

1 classic you’ve… 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