Since I have a stack of picture books by my desk waiting to find good homes, I thought this was a good time of year to offer them as giveaways. Each one would make a special gift to a young reader in your life, to a library, or to a school. SALAMANDER SONG by Ginny… Continue reading Book Giveaways on Music and Voice: Enrich Young Readers’ Lives
Congratulations to Connie Saunders who won Behind These Hands from last week's blog. ******** Nikki Grimes' sequel to Bronx Masquerade, BETWEEN THE LINES (Penguin Random House, 2018), combines narrative and free verse in a moving book about teens whose lives are changed through poetry. The audio book published by Recorded Books is narrated by different actors; each eloquently expresses… Continue reading Between The Lines: A Review and Audio Book Giveaway
Introducing Jo Hackl Over two years ago I had the pleasure of sharing Jo Hackl's path to publication. (Both Part I and Part II are great reading; Jo shared how she came up with the ideas for the book and the process of acquiring a publisher). Jo and I have been friends through SCBWI-Carolinas for over ten years, and… Continue reading Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe: A Review and ARC Giveway
Sometimes titles of books are difficult to come up with. But when I consider, Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling (PenguinRandom, 2014) I think, Lucy Frank, this title is perfect. Written out of Ms. Frank's own battle with Crohn's disease, this novel-in-verse is simultaneously beautiful and earthy. The premise is simple and as alluded to by the… Continue reading Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling: A Review and a Giveaway!
This is my sixth post from the 2015 Florida SCBWI young adult workshop with Erica Rand Silverman, an agent with Sterling Lord Literistic, and Jacquelyn Mitchard, author and editor-in-chief at Merit Press. Click here for Part I (Why Write Young Adult); Part II (Querying); Part III (Pitches); Part IV (Marketing Yourself and Your Work); and Part V (Building a Lasting Career). Jacqueline Mitchard facilitated this part of the workshop … Continue reading SCBWI Florida Workshop Part VI- Holden and Augustus: What We Mean When We Talk About Voice in YA
Congratulations to Lindsay Fouts, my new blog follower, who won James Scott Bell's book, Plot and Structure. ********* As I begin the fourth major draft of Half-Truths, I need to attack some of my writing weaknesses. According to my writing coach Rebecca Petruck, I have to work on my "internal-life writing muscles." To do this, she… Continue reading Learning Character Internalization
Last year at this time I attended the Free Expressions seminar, Your Best Book. If you missed my recap of that great writing workshop, today I am guest blogging about it at Write2Ignite. I hope you'll click on over to learn more about "Creating Voice and Deep Point of View." Lorin Oberweger, Brenda Windberg, Emma… Continue reading Guest Blogger for Write2Ignite
Congratulations to Jeannie Smith who won Deanna Klingel's book, "Cracks in the Ice." Writers have ongoing debates as to which is better, a character-driven story or one that is plot-driven. Obviously, both well developed characters and engaging plots are vital for a successful novel. As Rebecca Petruck said in a recent post, "Character and plot… Continue reading Character + Plot = Pinned
Last week, I joined fifteen other middle grade and young adult writers in an intense week of writing instruction orchestrated by Lorin Oberweger, founder of Free Expressions seminars. As we learned throughout the week, our books need to be closely seen and experienced through our character's point-of-view. Accordingly, in my next 5 or 6 blog posts I plan to… Continue reading Free Expressions Takeaway Part I: Voice & Deep Point of View