Happy Book Birthday to HELLO, FUTURE ME! In this middle-grade novel, 11-year-old June is a problem-solver. Some people might call her a busybody, but that’s okay. Just look at all the couples she’s helped find love! (Grateful newlyweds Marlene and Big Vic have even promised June free hot chocolate for life at their café.)…
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It’s hard to believe, but THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST turned 2 a month ago! I was busy working on my next books and missed the actual birthday. When I came out of my revision cave, blinking in the sunlight, I realized, It’s Time For A Giveaway! Because, not only did my debut…
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Something AMAZING has happened. THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for the Texas/Oklahoma region! It’s always excited to know that your work is appreciated by readers, but this award in particular means so much to me for many reasons. Firstly, SCBWI’s Crystal Kite Awards are the only peer-voted…
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Next week, I will be faculty at my first Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators writing conference, and it feels like a milestone. The first SCBWI conference I attended was in 2007. I was living in Los Angeles then, so attended the huge annual Summer Conference organized by SCBWI headquarters. As a wallflower who…
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I feel like I leveled up as an author recently. I got interviewed by a puppet! None other than Van of Austin Public Library’s The Van Show. I chatted with Van at the Texas Library Association convention in April about books, THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, and zombie ants. So fun! The video…
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One of the highlights of this year’s Texas Library Association conference for me was my panel on Tough Issues – Deep Impact: How Middle Grade Books Can Inspire Empathy and Empower Young Readers. The topic is important to me, but the reason why this panel was a highlight is that the issue came up time…
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The Texas Library Association convention was in my home town of Austin this year, and I was absolutely thrilled to attend as a speaker — and published author for the first time — speaking on topics that are dear to my heart: local authors and tough issues. Last year, I was on a panel for…
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Last week, I received the sad news that one of my mentors passed away, Brian Uzzell, former owner and publisher of the Caymanian Compass newspaper. I owe a lot to Brian, and can honestly say that I would not have my career if it wasn’t for him. When I was 19, recently returned to Cayman…
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This Thanksgiving week, I’m incredibly thankful, because THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST has gone into a second printing! When I was writing this book, I thought it would never get published. It received a LOT of rejections along its journey. But it’s a story from my heart and I was so thrilled to finally…
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I’ve always loved spooky stories. Give me a monster, a pair of old bones, or a cracked grave stone, and I’m hooked… as long as I can close the book if I get too scared. 😉 When I wrote THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, I didn’t set out to write a spooky book.…
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