I hate writing first drafts. I see other writers out there talking about how much they hate revising and think, “How could you hate revising? It’s so much fun!” Not kidding. I love to revise. It doesn’t matter if it’s my work or someone else’s. An unpolished piece of writing is like a big puzzle….
MMGM: THREE TIMES LUCKY
I love getting recommendations from other writers. In this case, Krista Van Dolzer saw one of my MMGM tweets and said I should cover THREE TIMES LUCKY by Sheila Turnage. I immediately requested it from the library, and it was waiting for me when I returned from the cruise. (Krista also did a review. Go…
How Do You Feel About Spoilers?
Like much of the world, I’ve been glued to my TV this week watching the Olympics. I made it through Monday without seeing any spoilers about the men’s gymnastics team finals, but every day since I’ve seen some kind of spoiler. I still watched in the evening, but it marred the experience already knowing the…
MMGM: LIESL & PO
I had this book queued up on my Kindle when Shannon Messenger reviewed it a few weeks ago, so I was very excited to read it. I’m not sure what I expected. It reminded me of BREADCRUMBS by Anne Ursu–the language, darkness and magic. Despair is evident throughout, but the novel left me with a…
The Questions We Ask While We Wait
Yesterday Susan Adrian wrote a great post on what to do while you’re waiting, with tips like work, read and observe, as well as what NOT to do. After I retweeted it, a fellow writer emailed me to check in on my agent search. It’s nice to have other writers who are in the same…
Story Lessons from Pirates of the Caribbean
My husband and I decided to do a “Pirates of the Caribbean” marathon this week, which is appropriate since we just returned from the Caribbean. As you can see, our ship was a little bigger than the Black Pearl. This view is from an outlook on St. Thomas. As we were watching the movies, I…
MMGM: A FAREWELL TO CHARMS
If you’ve read my query letter in a contest or my post on where I get my ideas, you already know I’m a big fan of Lindsey Leavitt’s PRINCESS FOR HIRE series. So of course I had to pick up the final book as soon as it came out. If you haven’t read the first…
MMGM: THE HERO’S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM
As you’re reading this post, I’m somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on an epic family cruise (note to crazies: I have a house sitter and an alarm system). I’ve read so many great middle grade books lately I didn’t want to miss a week of MMGM and scheduled this one in advance….
What I’ve Learned in a Year of Querying
One year ago today I sent the first round of queries for THE MODERN CAVEBOY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING BATS, BULLIES AND BILLIONAIRES. In honor of this anniversary of sorts, I’d like to share a few tips from my querying journey. Titles are important. I did a number of things right when I started querying, but…
MMGM: THE SEVENTH LEVEL
I’ve been meaning to read THE SEVENTH LEVEL ever since I saw it on the local authors table at the Missouri SCBWI conference in 2010. I’m excited to feature a book from a fellow St. Louisan. I’ve read a couple lately, although the other one (KATANA by Cole Gibsen) was a YA book. In both…
The Querying Quandary: When to Wait
A couple of weeks ago I posted about why it’s so hard to get your first novel published, and I said I was having a different experience with the novel I’m currently querying. It’s because I have more experience this time. The key? Patience. I am not a patient person, but I learned in my…
MMGM: THE STRANGE CASE OF ORIGAMI YODA
I first learned about THE STRANGE CASE OF ORIGAMI YODA on the agent’s* Twitter feed, but I didn’t decide to read it until I saw it crop up repeatedly in an impromptu Twitter survey of the best recent middle grade books. I figured if that many people recommended it, I should pick it up, too….
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog, where I review* books I love, offer writing tips, and share thoughts about reading, my writing journey, and other random stuff. If you subscribe, you’ll also receive news about my books and upcoming events. Check out the categories in the sidebar to narrow down some of my older blog posts, or if you’re a writer pursuing traditional publication, visit my Resources page for more targeted links. If there’s something I haven’t tackled on the blog that you’d like me to address—including questions about my books!—please contact me and I’ll do my best.
*Please note I do not review books by request.
Currently Reading
