When to Let That Novel Go
I recently returned from my annual writing retreat with my fabulous writing group, the Salt + Radish Writers. We go every year and spend four days in a rambling, old Maine house on the beach. We have a schedule, stick…
Category: Writing Advice
YA Wednesday: YA Books that Promote LGBTQ, Genderqueer and Transgender YA, Taking Homophobia out of Fantasy, Islamophobia in YA, Making Choices in LGBTQ YA
The horrific massacre in Orlando left me feeling helpless but I have to believe that one way to tackle the bigotry and hatred that triggered it is to provide young readers with books that promote tolerance and respect for diversity…
Stop Being Precious, Start Being a Writer
Years ago I’d had my first novel published and was feeling pretty darn good. I’d been invited to the Midwest Literary Festival in the capacity of Author with a capital “A.” I was on panels, dispensing wisdom and truths of…
Notebook Versus Laptop
I work in a tech company where most of the employees hover around the age of thirty. They grew up with computers. They are experts in Apple devices. They live and die by technology. I come in as the oldster…
YA Wednesday: YA Version of The Da Vinci Code, Bookish Moments From The Gilmore Girls, YA Writing Tips, YA Character Generator
Lately I’ve been trying to decide whether to write another young adult novel or an adult one. I have a YA novel in progress, but I worry that it doesn’t sound YA enough (whatever that means). Recently though, I decided…
It’s The Company You Keep
I used to hang around a bunch of poets. Not because I liked them—they were snobbish in their elegiac greatness—but because as poets, they were guaranteed to get rejected more often than I. My novel was dead in the water while…