YA Wednesday: Hot Valentines
With the scent of roses in the air and the taste of chocolate lingering on my tongue, my thoughts turn to Valentine’s Days of yore. I remember in third grade when everyone was exchanging valentines, I gave one to every…
Category: Genre
YA Wednesday: Why Being A Debut Author Isn’t Exactly A Dream Come True, 10 Things I’ve Learned About Being A Debut Author, 10 YA Authors on Not Being a Debut Anymore
I recently got laid off from an IT job I’d held for 35 years (I really did stay at an insurance company that long) and became a debut author. This has been, without a doubt, an exciting time. But new…
An Interview with Alexander Chee, Author of The Queen of the Night
Alexander Chee’s second novel, The Queen of the Night, has topped nearly every “2016 must-read” list that flooded the Internet in January, and the response to each was ecstatic. Chee is not only a writer’s writer, but a great friend…
Making it Work: 4 Tips for Squeezing Writing between Job, Kids, Life
Some weeks before my artist friend Vicki Paret’s baby arrived, she stretched nine canvases of equal size. She gridded nine rectangles on each canvas. Eighty-one rectangles would form one epic painting. She worked methodically, left to right, top to bottom….
YA Wednesday: Parents in YA — Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em?
When I discover that one or both parents are dead in a YA novel, I don’t feel sad. I think, oh no, here we go again. As 10 Worn-out Cliches in YA states, “The death toll of parents in YA…
Friday Feast: Lessons from One-Star Reviews, Mid-Career Author Advice, Slut Shaming in Romance, Spreading the Book Love, and Bookish Street Art
I told myself I wouldn’t write about winter weather so much this year. But here we are on the verge of another snowstorm. Instead of bemoaning the bitter cold, I’m trying to focus on the benefits: lots of time to…