On March 1, 2019, schools, libraries, and communities across America will celebrate literacy with the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day. Of course, reading isn’t a one-day thing. Read every day, everywhere–with books in cozy nooks, with phone apps while standing in lines, with audiobooks while driving, exercising, or doing chores. Parents, read to […]

So clever.  Strangers gather in a comfy place to read in silence among fellow lovers of reading. But is it weird? The people who started this practice worried that it might be. But they threw the party anyway … and people came. And loved it! “Now we hear from people that they can’t fit reading time […]

So many fabulous books are published each year, but only a few can make the lists. So use the list as your key to fab book discovery. Type the award-winning book you love into online retailer sites, then look at the Other Customers Also Bought recs that come with it to find more great reads! […]

Sometimes I edit at home, but often I pack up my stuff and to go a nearby B&N cafe to work at a table there, surrounded by books. Some days I’ll pick a table by a window to catch a glimpse of the garden outside, but just as often I sit at a table alongside […]

No “blog post” today. I think this is more a “share post” because I’m going to let it speak for itself: The title of the Dec 2015 article I am quoting is “J.K. Rowling found out her books helped save this baby’s life. Her response was magic.” Below is an excerpt, but read the whole […]

Now that’s how you spend a Saturday afternoon! Today I was honored to hang out with 120 writers and illustrators of books for young readers. We talked all about the publishing business, from Big Picture happenings to the specifics of what we’re writing as individuals. And the best part: The supportiveness of this group’s members […]

My very first speaking gig as a young editor, in front of 300 people in Texas, happened last minute as I filled in for a New York editor whose family understandably didn’t want her flying, being just weeks after the 9/11 horrors. I was nervous–this was the 1st speech I’d ever put together about editing […]

Did you know Publishers Lunch offers a free downloadable sampler with pre-publication excerpts from major authors and debut voices each publishing season? Anyone can download it and enjoy the samples.    There’s a Buzz Books for commercial fiction, and another for Young Adult each season.  The 2018 Fall/Winter edition just came out, but you can download […]

I’ve tried writing groups/meet-ups before, but for reasons that were never bad, those never worked out. This time: GOLD. I’ve been meeting the amazing Barrie Summy once a week for about a year now, writing across the table from her, and it’s THE BEST. We talk a bit, write a lot, and joke about each […]