I’m a guest on the Kids Ask Author’s Podcast!

I was so honored to be invited by the fabulous Grace Lin to appear on her awesome podcast, Kids Ask Authors! Check out the interview here or wherever you get your podcasts! The episode includes a book review of Of a Feather by a reader! Thank you for the review, Annalise!

A love letter to libraries

Last week, I woke one morning to find that a friend of mine, fellow author Kate Messner, had been disinvited at the last minute from speaking at a school in my town. I was stunned at first, and then relieved when I learned it was not “my” elementary school that had rescinded its invitation, though…

Read more »

I made a VIDEO TRAILER for my 6/24 event!

Am I proud of myself? Why, yes, I am! Here’s to what you can do with a phone camera and iMovie! I hope this convinces you to come an see what shenanigans ensue when I’m given a mike and a FULL HOUR! For more information, check out my previous blog post or this flyer from the…

Read more »

Long time, no bananas…

Hello, Readers of my Blog! It’s been…months. I apologize for the delay in–nay, total lack of communication. But there is some good news! I may not have been writing my Blog, but I have been writing a bunch of other things: In the past twelve months, I have completed two brand-spanking new manuscripts and done…

Read more »

Letting the monkey come to you…

My eight month old son loves those little wind-up toys you get for like a buck in the bins at the front of the toy store. (I know, not baby safe, TERRIBLE PARENT, but I only let him use them when I’m supervising, etc., etc., moving on…) So, we’re playing with one yesterday: this little…

Read more »

The Revision Process

I have entered upon that decent into darkness that is revising a first draft. The draft in question: Book Three of No Safety in Numbers. (New Idea has been put on hold until this process is complete.) I haven’t read this draft in two months, which means that it feels like someone else’s book. Which…

Read more »

Cover Image for The Pack

On Characters…

I’m going to state the obvious: writing a convincing character is hard. I mean, the entire project sounds ludicrous. How do you get a bunch of words on the page to coalesce in the mind of a reader as a complicated, coherent, full-bodied person with whom they want to go on a journey of several…

Read more »

Getting the Most Out of Getting Feedback

One of the best gifts a person can give you as a writer is constructive, thoughtful feedback on your work. None of my books would be what they are without the insightful comments of a few trusted readers and editors, and my writing would not be what it is today without having grappled with the…

Read more »

The Slow Accretion of Story

I thought I’d take a blog post to talk about ideas and where they come from. I’m reading On Writing by Stephen King and the passage about how he came up with the idea for Carrie really resonated. King talks about how in college, he had worked as a High School janitor and was fascinated…

Read more »

Odie

On Boys in YA…

This week, the Los Angeles Review of Books published an essay on the dearth of role models in modern YA literature showing a healthy path from boyhood to manhood. The author points to 19th century literature, such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin, as providing the kind of role models for this path that we currently lack….

Read more »