Happy summer! It’s in full swing here–at least schedule wise. The weather has been unusually cool the past few days thanks to a storm that came through over the weekend, but I expect the heat to return soon. Missouri is notorious for jumping from 60 degrees to 90 in a single week. On Friday, I…
characters
Austen, Twilight, and Other Book-to-Screen Ramblings
Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you’re celebrating with loved ones. I’m celebrating by sending out my monthly newsletter and talking about one of my favorite topics–book-to-screen adaptations. In addition to this topic, the newsletter also includes a “Who’s Your Character Valentine?” quiz featuring the main characters and love interests from Your Life Has Been Delayed…
Don’t Get in a Rut with Your Writing Process
Happy New Year! Remember how I said last month that I always have to know where the story is going to get to the end? I mean, that’s probably still true. But this past month has also reminded me that I should never say I’m always going to do something a certain way, because then…
All About Brainstorming
What’s the first thing you do when you start working on a new project? Do you dive right into writing, do you let the idea simmer, or do you start somewhere else? For me, the starting point is brainstorming, then outlining, with research sort of wrapped into both of those steps. For the writers following…
FLIRTING WITH FATE Plus a Few Other YA Books You Should Read
Happy Cyber Monday! Looking for some books to order? I have some suggestions! Of course, if you’d like to order mine, that would be awesome too, and signed copies make extra-awesome gifts! You can get signed copies of MY SECOND IMPRESSION OF YOU at The Novel Neighbor, Main Street Books, Left Bank Books or Parnassus…
Revision Tip: Why You Should Read Your Manuscript Aloud
Before I get into today’s topic, I want to mention that my November newsletter is out today, and in particular, I have several events coming up over the next month. I have two signings at St. Louis Barnes & Noble stores, a virtual panel you can tune in to from anywhere, and will be participating…
MY MECHANICAL ROMANCE Plus a Few Other YA Books You Should Read
Hey everyone! So, I was a bit shocked when I looked back at my blog and realized the last time I posted YA mini-reviews was the end of July. Three months might be my longest stretch ever! At least I did toss in some middle grade reviews in between. The fact is, while I was…
Publishing Behind the Scenes: Interview with Audiobook Narrator Kimberly Wetherell
The team behind My Second Impression of You has been a true dream, especially because I’ve gotten to know many of the creators and artists working on the book in a way I didn’t with my first book. A few months ago I shared an interview with cover artist Jacqueline Li about her process, and today…
On Revising and Killing Those Darlings
Last week when I posted my review roundup I noted that it had been a while since I’d shared a writing post. So here we go! What am I even writing these days? Well, I didn’t really talk about it here on the blog, but I wrote a whole book last year–or maybe it was…
THE LAST CONFESSION OF AUTUMN CASTERLY and A Few Other YA Books You Should Read
Happy May! Also, today happens to be the 10th anniversary of this blog. I published my first post on May 2, 2012. I used to celebrate the blogiversary every year by sharing the top posts and pages, but when I migrated to my new website in September 2020, my statistics got a little screwed up….
EVERY OTHER WEEKEND Plus A Few Other YA Books You Should Read
Review time! My schedule got a bit crazy toward the end of 2021 (not even going to get into why), so a couple of these reviews are actually holdovers, but I didn’t want to miss out on covering them here on the blog. It’s quite a variety, from contemporary young adult to contemporary with a…
NOT HERE TO BE LIKED Plus A Few Other YA Books You Should Read
Happy Thanksgiving week! What are you thankful for this year? My debut group, #the21ders, held our monthly Twitter #debutauthorchat yesterday, and the topic was Gratitude. You can check out the chat here if you’d like to learn about some of the fantastic middle grade and young adult books that debuted in 2021 and what we…
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog, where I 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, including book reviews, 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.
Currently Reading
