July 28 was a humbling day. Austin’s wonderful indie bookstore BookPeople graciously hosted my launch celebration for THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST and it was AMAZING! I was so excited that my parents, aunt, childhood friend and goddaughter flew in to join my husband and I, making the party a week of fun. We…
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What a week this has been. I spent last weekend meeting booksellers and librarians from all over the U.S., who had joined together in New Orleans to attend the American Library Association’s Annual convention. I’ve been going to the Texas Library Association convention for years and am always amazed at how huge it is. But…
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IT’S RELEASE DAY for my debut novel, THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST!!! The story I started writing in 2010 was published by Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster today, and I can’t be more excited. This story about a boy stuffed full of fear has a journey very close to the Boy himself. I…
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I can’t believe that I’m 1 day away from my debut novel, THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, being on shelves in libraries and bookstores around the world! And that means that for #18DaystoMGDebut, I’m revealing the writing advice that helped me the most, which, funnily enough, is to BELIEVE. THE BOY, THE BOAT,…
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We’re only 2 days away from THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST being on shelves! And for #18DaystoMGDebut that means I’m talking about the theme the book explores. This book started with an idea of what would happen if a boy woke up on a beach with no memory of how he got there…
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Since the boy in THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST wakes up alone on a mysterious beach in the book, he doesn’t have much with him, just his clothes and a piece of fabric in his pocket. He does, however, find something early on that becomes a source of comfort, and that’s the object…
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While writing is solitary, publishing takes a huge group of people to make a book the best it can be. For day 4 of #18DaystoMGDebut, I’m looking at my acknowledgements for THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST. I actually wrote the first draft of these long before the book was bought by Paula Wiseman…
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Day 5 until THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST comes out! So close, and today’s prompt for #18DaystoMGDebut is the book’s dedication. This was an easy one, because while there are lots of people I would like to dedicate a book of mine to, at the top of that list are my parents and…
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For day 6 of #18DaystoMGDebut, I’m describing my favorite secondary character from THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST, and that’s definitely the baby owl. Without giving away too many spoilers, the Boy meets a baby owl along his journey, and this owl’s presence in the story had quite a journey itself. Originally, the owl…
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On day 7 of #18DaystoMGDebut, it’s time to look at the antagonist for THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST. Craft books describe five main types of conflict in stories: person vs person, person vs nature, person vs supernatural, person vs society, and person vs self. THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST has elements…
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