I’ll never forget reading about how J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis sat around in a pub in England having heated discussions about the way books should be written. Oh how I wanted to be a fly on that wall! I can just imagine them, sitting in a dark corner, pints on the table in front…
Read more
“Writing is such a diverse field with so many options and possibilities, it’s easy to choose the route with the immediate payoff, or the one that best strokes your ego, but if they don’t get you closer to what you want most, then it’s not worth your time.” — author Jennifer Nielsen I love this quote…
Read more
The changing publishing industry is offering new opportunities to writers, but is self-publishing for you? My friend and great writer Dotti Enderle (aka Dax Varley) has been published traditionally and self-published. Her most recent release, SEVERED (A TALE OF SLEEPY HOLLOW), is a young adult novel that’s gives its own version of the Icabod/Katrina story.…
Read more
Today I’m thrilled to have a guest post by Anna Staniszewski, author of My Very Unfairy Tale Life and its sequels, My Epic Fairy Tale Fail and the latest, My Sort of Fairy Tale Ending (check out the trailer below). Anna’s got another series starting in January, The Dirt Diary. With all those words in print,…
Read more
At the Austin SCBWI conference last weekend, author/illustrator E.B. Lewis pointed out that writers and and illustrators are the same people, all trying to create art the captures peoples’ imagination. Whether we’re using paint or words, we’re both making pictures that tell stories. And those stories have to have a few things to be successful:…
Read more
It’s a new year and that means a perfect opportunity to set goals. As well as the lose the Christmas pounds and floss more goals, consider setting goals for your writing. I’m not talking about big goals, like get an agent or publish a book. You’re always working toward those. But before you can achieve…
Read more
Writing is solitary. Just us with a computer and a head of ideas. But we’re not really alone. And going to a writing conference is a wonderful way to celebrate that. Of course, seminars at writing conferences are great learning opportunities. Query letters, characters, plot, dialog — I’ve learned about all these at conferences. But…
Read more
It’s launch day for the second novel from author Shana Burg, Laugh With the Moon (Delacorte Books for Young Readers), and Shana has graciously stopped by to answer our writerly questions. Partly based on her own experiences traveling to Malawi, Laugh With the Moon tells the story of 13-year-old Clare Silver, who feels that mourning…
Read more
Let’s face it, writing is hard. That blank page staring back at you expectantly, the blinking cursor daring you to put it to work. And your brain going I think I can, I can’t, I think I can, I can’t… With all that, it’s no wonder that we writers clean and do laundry, among other…
Read more
A huge congratulations to Lynne Kelly, whose debut novel Chained was just released — and I can’t wait to read it! Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Chained tells the story of 10-year-old Hastin, whose family borrows money to pay his sister’s hospital bill. To work off the debt, Hastin leaves his village in northern…
Read more
