Silence disturbs me. I can’t read without music, and I certainly can’t write without it. Perhaps not oddly, there was a blip in my aversion to silence when I found myself surrounded by infant triplets twenty-four hours a day, but now that those babies are kindergarteners and don’t cry nearly so much, I’m back to noisy writing.
Today, as I wrote and revised a section about flashbacks and prologues for Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies, I had my computer on replay with Read More…
My good friend, Postal Worker Jane, just doorbell-ditched me. She does that, stopping her truck in front of my house to deliver my mail to my doorstep instead of making me hike all the way across the street to my mailbox. She started that practice when my boys were babies, and she’s still doing it now that those babies are off at kindergarten. Am I spoiled, or what?
Minutes ago, Postal Worker Jane’s doorbell-ditching yielded a wholly unexpected package. Curious, I ripped open the yellow package—and then punched the air in triumph. It was Read More…
Five years ago I rolled my suitcase past the sliding glass doors of L.A.’s Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel for the first SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) National Conference since my triplets had been born. This was to be my first weekend away from my three babies, who were just seven months old. A few steps into the hotel, I came upon a writer and the SCBWI staffer who’d set up my stay at the conference. The writer looked at me in surprise. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you just have triplets?” she asked. Before I could answer, the staffer, the amazing Kim Turrisi, said, “That’s why she’s here!” For emphasis, she picked up the pillow I’d tied to the top of my suitcase and waved it. Indeed, I was determined to get at least one night of solid sleep that year, if I had to leave town with my favorite pillow to do it.
My time at this weekend’s SCBWI-National Conference at that same hotel wasn’t about sleep and surviving the bumpy transition into the Triplet Experience, but it was Read More…
I’m proud to announce that I’ve just been signed to write Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies for Wiley Publishing’s For Dummies line. The book is scheduled for June 2011 publication.
I’m so excited! And with my triplets just having started full-day kindergarten, the timing certainly couldn’t be better. An amazing new chapter in our lives kicks off with a bang.
Remember that “Yes Challenge” I took a couple of weeks ago, where I was supposed to say “Yes” 70 times a day for 7 days? Well, I did it, and I learned four things …
I’m honored to be the guest blogger today on author Cynthia Leitich Smith’s fabulous blog “Cynsations.” Cynthia is a New York Times and Publishers Weekly best-selling author of YA Gothic fantasies, including Tantalize and Eternal, as well as several picture books for children. Here’s a teaser from my guest post about setting in YA novels, “Setting, Wherefore Art Thou?“: “We need setting in our stories. We need the richness that makes up setting, the sensual engagement that can only come from hearing the crunch of frosty grass under the protagonist’s bare feet, or feeling the sudden whispery kiss of a spider’s web dangling from the eaves. We’d just have a girl walking across a lawn and a creepy old house. Where’s the joy in that?” For my full take on setting, check out “Cynsations.” To learn more about the amazing Cynthia, go to CynthiaLeitichSmith.com.
I may not be able to remember what day it is, but I can spot a fellow author at a hundred paces.
Last week, sometime around Wednesday, I lost track of which day it was. On Thursday, I was convinced it was Wednesday and so did not take my sons to their Thursday afternoon jui-jitsu class. On Friday, I took the boys to the store for their post-jui-jitsu snacks and then prepared to drive them to class. . . only to be stopped at the last moment by my husband during a chance phone call: “I gotta go,” I said, “we don’t want to be late for jui-jitsu.” “But it’s Friday, Deb.” “Since when?” “Since all day.” “Oh.” Then on Saturday, Read More…
I’m getting this in just under the wire. Alas, that’s ‘under the wire’ for ME. When anyone else reads this blog post, it’ll probably be tomorrow instead of an hour shy of tomorrow, and thus TOO LATE for you to do what I just did. That is, enter the ‘Nathan’s Famous You Be the Judge Sweepstakes‘ for a chance to be a judge at this year’s Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Championship. Read More…
The Society of Children’s Books Writers & Illustrators has just posted an on-line interview with me. I’m very excited, because I just love SCBWI. It’s the go-to organization for all the wonderful folks who create the words and images in children’s books. The interview focuses on my literary journey from playroom to publishing house to author’s chair, and it explores the challenge of balancing the roles of Author/Editor/Mom. The full interview appears in SCBWI’s “Industry PROfiles.” Fun!
My spin class instructor is a tough nut. Today, as I and twenty-four other torture lovers huffed and puffed and groaned our way ‘uphill’ on our stationary bikes, she shouted at us, “You can DO this! WIPE those negative thoughts from your mind! The only word in your head right now should be YES! YES, I can. YES, I will. YES! YES!! YES!!!” Imagine this coming through a surround-sound speaker system, because the woman had a microphone on. And music blasting, too. It’s a really loud class. And it got louder: “You can DO this!” she shouted from her bike, which was two feet in front of mine and facing me. “No more talking about it, there’s only DOing. Don’t tell me you want to lose ten pounds, shut up and DO IT! Don’t tell me you want to get healthy, shut up and DO IT! Don’t tell me you want to stop smoking, shut up and DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!!!!”
Now SHUT UP AND DO IT! is stuck in my head. Read More…
To celebrate the one-month anniversary of Dear-Editor.com, I’m giving away a free Substantive Edit of one Young Adult or Middle Grade fiction manuscript. To enter more than once, spread the word! Deadline: April 14, 2010. Enter & rules at www.Dear-Editor.com.
Interviews are such fun to do! This time, SellingBooks.com let me ponder-out-loud my passion for writing, the welcome challenges of editing, the joy of Dear-Editor.com, and why half of females aged 18 – 25 want to be run over by a truck. Check it out here!
A chocolate falcon fell on my head this morning. Of the malted variety, to be precise. It wasn’t a real malted falcon, though, it was literary one, being the star of Bruce Hale’s Chet Gecko book #7, The Malted Falcon. I have ten episodes of the hilarious Chet Gecko series stored on the shelf in my walk-in closet, right above my shirts, waiting for my three five-year-old boys to start school so that they’ll have context for the stories of the green, fedora-wearing, dessert-loving detective of Emerson Hicky Elementary. I know they’ll love them. But with a few months still to go before school starts, the falcon that landed on my head this a.m. goes back up on the shelf. And a little farther from the edge. I have no desire to dress with a helmet on my head. Read More…
What do you do when Fate slips six more hours into your day? You launch a new website, that’s what.
I’m excited to announce the launch of www.Dear-Editor.com, a writers’ advice website where writers—published or not—can ask questions about the craft of writing and/or the publishing industry and get direct answers and actionable suggestions.
Whether they write fiction or nonfiction, for children or adults, this advice site is a place for writers to get guidance for the issues that challenge them. I invite you to visit Dear-Editor.com and look through the archives, respond with your own comments or tips, or email your own questions. Above all, I aim to make Dear-Editor.com a useful (and dare I hope fun?) interactive resource for writers.
And I’m even including a Twitter feature. Me? Tweeting? Like a bird, baby!
Happy writing!
80% of adolescents report being bullied during their school years. Eighty out of one hundred kids. It’s shocking. And it’s the reason I know about Joe Wocjik.
Some people seem put on this earth to make a difference. Joe Wocjik is one of them. Along with having been a foster parent to more than 100 teens, Joe is the founder and director for the Yubbie Foundation, an organization committed to stopping bullying in schools and communities. Through this foundation, Joe speaks in schools, on radio, and in community forums about the dangers of bullying and ways to prevent it or deal with it once it’s started. Joe is truly dedicated to the welfare of young people. On top of that, he’s a really nice guy.
Here are a few more things about bullying that I did not know before meeting Joe:
I am the mother of three little boys about to enter school, and these statistics frighten me. If I could put a bubble around my trio, I would. I can’t, of course, so I will do the next best thing: Read More…