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.
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!
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!
I had the pleasure of being interviewed for the new writing blog Writers’ Waiting Room. The focus of interview was the creation of Dear-Editor.com, my writers’ advice website. The interview, conducted by the contagiously optimistic Tami Casias, was posted on March 13, and it was fun to do. Writers’ Waiting Room was launched on the premise that all writers are waiting for something—the next idea, an agent, a publishing contract or the type of quiet that happens when the kids go to bed. I can certainly relate to that! Tami interviews authors to get their take on living a writer’s life—and of course, to find out what lurks on their waiting lists.
I’m happy to announce that I’ll be presenting a workshop at the Society of Children’s Books Writers & Illustrators’ 39th annual summer conference, which will be held at the Century Hyatt in Los Angeles July 30 through August 2, 2010. My session is “The Ultimate Checklist for Submitting to Editors: 10 Tests a Novel Must Pass to Prove It’s REALLY Ready for Submission to Editors.” Registration for the conference starts April 28th at www.scbwi.org.
If you’re even remotely interested in writing a picture book, chapter book, or novel for middle graders or teens, SCBWI is a must for you, and their conference is an ideal place to start. By way of testimonial, let me share the experience of one budding writer I sent there. This man, a lawyer by day, had begun a novel for ages 10 and up, but no one in his life could figure what to make of that. I ordered him to attend the SCBWI summer conference, and with the first day of the conference barely half over, he called me from the conference floor to announce, “I have found my people.” If you, too, are in search of “your people”, the Century Hyatt July 30-Aug 2 is a great place to start looking.
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!
You are? Well then, how about a cup of pink lemonade? San Diego is heading into another heat wave, after all, and there’s no sweeter way to cool off. Best of all, as you down that cold cup of pink sweetness, you will be sticking it to cancer, big time.
I and the four other triplet moms on my “Breast Cancer 3-Day” walking team are launching the Pink Lemonade Project this weekend. Check out this awesome website, www.PinkLemonadeProject.com, and see for yourself. The jist of it is, Read More…
I’m in. A bunch of my triplet mom friends have formed a team to walk in the “Breast Cancer 3-Day,” a 60-mile walk over the course of three days to raise money for breast cancer research, and I just signed on to hoof it with them. I’m still in a bit of shock about it. You see, when I was twelve, I quit Girl Scouts because I hated going door-to-door selling cookies. COOKIES. And now here I go, asking people for money without handing them a box of Thin Mints in return. It’s not easy for me, that’s for sure… but no one ever said curing cancer was easy. Read More…
I know, you can’t get enough of me on this blog, right? Well then, hear me live on the radio this weekend! I’ll be calling in from England to the “Live with Lisa on The Daily Flow” radio show on Mile High Sports Radio AM 1510 this Saturday, November 29, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. MST (8:00 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. EST). “Live with Lisa” is a national radio show “for women and about women that talks about anything women need to know—with a twist of sports from our point of view.” Each week, listeners hear celebrities and locals talking sports, health, family issues, and fitness. This week, I’ll be talking for twenty minutes with Lisa, a personal trainer, and Lisa’s listeners about BIG MOUTH, competitive eating, and eating disorders.
If you’re feeling in the mood, give me and Lisa a call on Saturday at 303-297-1510 or toll free 888-817-1510 with any comments, questions, or random musings about anything food or fitness. Since this show comes on the heels of Thanksgiving gorging, everyone should have food high on their minds!
Please forgive me for tootin’ my own “horn”, but I’m thrilled to report that the new issue of The Horn Book Guide gives BIG MOUTH a cool thumbs up! The Horn Book Guide reviews over 2,000 titles in each semiannual issue — virtually every children’s and young adult book published in the United States in a six-month period. Here’s what it had to say about Big Mouth… Read More…
I “lost” a copy of BIG MOUTH in the Los Angeles International Airport the day my family boarded our flight to London. Not only was that book found, it has been taken on holiday to Italy by a reader named Cristina. (Read Cristina’s email to me on my “Where in the World . . . ?” website.)
Cristina tells me that the book is on the shores of Italy’s Lake Garda at this very moment. I may be of Italian ancestry, but I must admit Read More…
16-year-old Kelsey got a little more than she bargained for at San Diego’s Comic-Con last week: She found one of the four copies of BIG MOUTH that were “lost” at the convention. If you want to see where Kelsey plans to “lose” the book when she’s done reading it, go to the “Where in the world…?” page on www.BigMouthTheBook.com.
Wait, what did you say? What is Comic-Con? You must not be from San Diego! Comic-Con (officially “Comic-Con International”) is Read More…
My mom was skimming her Sunday paper in Escondido today and spotted a feature about me and BIG MOUTH: “County Author Inspired by Coney Island Tradition.” What a surprise for her! I’d deliberately kept my interview with the North County Times reporter last week a secret from her and Dad, hoping that this would happen. Score!
Oddly, it’s the second such surprise my parents have had this week. On Friday, my dad was perusing The Drudge Report when the banner ad at the top of his screen flashed the BIG MOUTH book cover. He says he nearly fell out of his chair. He clicked on the banner and was sent to my 
BIG MOUTH website. Cheering, he jumped from his chair, raced into the backyard, and fetched my mom. But by the time they’d returned to the computer, the ad had cycled through. When he called me, I was just as surprised. So was my publicist. She wasn’t aware an ad had been placed there, would have to check with her marketing team. Not that I’m questioning it; I’m just celebrating the fun of it. To have two appearances of my new book in one week—how cool! And that they would jump out at my parents is just icing on the cake. I mean honestly, who doesn’t want to look good for Mom and Dad? I guess I’m not too far from being like my three-year-olds, who like to yell, “Hey Mommy! Watch me!” and do something they think is neat. It’s nice to know there’s still a jubilant three-year-old inside me.
“Hey, Mom and Dad! Watch me!”
“How many can YOU eat?” In the spirit of the Fourth of July, the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Championship, and the publishing of my teen novel BIG MOUTH, I’m launching a website dedicated to BIG MOUTH and the quirkiest All-American food ever: hot dogs.
www.BigMouthTheBook.com has excerpts from the book, fun facts about competitive eating, hot dogs, ketchup, etc., and a store that ties into the theme of the book. I had a great time researching the food facts and strange eating habits of this country for the website. I hope what I’ve found will put a smile on people’s faces. Some of the stuff really made me laugh. A museum dedicated solely to mustard? A 170-foot tall ketchup bottle? Read More…