Wow! We’re at day 9 of our #18DaystoMGDebut countdown, and the topic is a powerful pull quote from THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST. Funnily enough, the pull quote I’d chosen for this is one I’ve seen showing up in some of the tweets from early readers: Maybe you can’t tell the strength of…
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One of the most fun parts of this publishing process is seeing ARCs of THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST out in the wild, which is why I’m so glad that’s the topic for day 10 of #18DaystoMGDebut. There have been a lot of wonderful sightings, with authors, teachers and librarians sharing their photos…
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For Day 11 of #18DaystoMGDebut, I’m looking at my book’s SWAG, and I do love it. When I was working on the many revisions for THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, I had an idea for an item I would give readers if this story ever became an actual book. In 11 days, that…
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For day 12 of #18DaystoMGDebut, the prompt is rejected titles for THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, and that means I have to make a confession: I’m terrible at coming up with titles. The original title for this story had a spoiler, so I won’t share the whole thing, but it started with The…
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I don’t know what it is about snacking and writing, but they go together so well. It’s a good thing I also like to write on the treadmill, because for day 13 of #18DaystoMGDebut, my preferred snack that fueled the writing of THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST are extra dark chocolate chips from…
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When I saw the prompt for day 14 of #18DaystoMGDebut, strangest place I worked on THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, the answer came to me straight away: the Lodge of Death. Twice a year, a group of writer friends rent out a lodge on a lake and spend a weekend silently writing, with…
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I began writing THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST when we were living in Houston, but to answer the day 15 prompt for #18DaystoMGDebut, I finished the first draft and wrote most of the revisions here in Austin in the same house where I’m typing this now. I’m not much of a coffee shop…
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For day 16 of #18DaysToMGDebut, I’m talking about what inspired the book’s setting. THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST opens in one of my favorite places: a beach, golden sand stretching out against a never-ending blue ocean, with waves creeping up then retreating, creeping and retreating. I grew up in the Caribbean, and the…
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For day 17 of #18DaysToMGDebut, I’m talking about my favorite comp title for THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST. When I was first pitching this book, my comp titles were HATCHET by Gary Paulsen meets TV’s LOST. Pretty accurate, I think, and I love both of these. Gary Paulsen’s HATCHET is about a 13-year-old…
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THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST comes out in stores in 18 days! And that means I get to start my own #18DaysToMGDebut countdown. If you haven’t seen it, the #18DaysToMGDebut hashtag was developed by the lovely Laurie Morrison, a fellow 2018 middle-grade debut author whose book, EVERY SHINY THING, co-written with Cordelia Jensen,…
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