I’m pleased to debut a new look for my blog posts when they show up in subscribers’ inboxes. If you received this post via email, it should be spiffy and easy on the eye. If it’s not, then I did something wrong. Today is the first email with the new program. But to avoid turning […]
OnText Gives DearEditor.com the Thumbs Up
Ghostwriter Maryan Pelland posted a fab feature about my writers advice website DearEditor.com on her blog OnText. The feature, “Writing Children’s or Young Reader Books? Great Source of Publishing Help,” praised me as “a wealth of information for writers, authors, and ghostwriters to ask questions about the craft of writing or about the very confusing […]
Letters to Santa: My first picture book!
My first picture book has published! LETTERS TO SANTA celebrates the 100th anniversary of the USPS “Letters to Santa” program. I spotted the book on display at my post office yesterday! Letters to Santa is a great program, with USPS working with charities, companies, and individual citizens across the country in various ways to field […]
My 3 New Books Have Launched!
My three books for Rubicon’s Remix struggling readers series have launched! Brave New World: Cyber World, Brave New World: Meltdown, and Brave New World: Robotic World. I loved having the chance to write for a new audience. REMIX is a series of high interest/low vocabulary non-fiction readers geared toward students in grades 7 to 8 who […]
Win a Free Copy of Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies
“Revision can be daunting. . . . Why not give your brain a break by breaking your task into focused chunks? With this approach, you’d pick a writing element, say plot, and ignore everything but that. Working Big Picture chunks to small detail chunks rather than page by page, you’d focus not on revising the […]
Coverage of My SCBWI conference Market Trends Keynote
This year I had the honor of compiling the “2012 SCBWI Market Survey: Publishers of Books For Young Readers” report for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. I followed up with a keynote speech at the recent SCBWI Summer Conference about what I learned from her survey – giving attendees the current market […]
Putting the Marketplace Under a Microscope
I just had the honor of presenting the keynote speech “An Up to the Minute Survey of Market Needs and Trends” to the 1,200 children’s books writers at the amazing Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators International Conference today. That’s me in the photo there, on one of the two big screens behind the […]
Summer Is Shaping Up
As the San Diego weather vacillates between hot-enough-for-the-beach and dark-and-stormy, I’m putting my summer together. Workwise, it’ll be a fun one, with the SCBWI 2012 Summer Conference in L.A. Aug 3-6. I’ll present a breakout session on writing dialogue, an intensive on revising your MG/YA novel, an intensive on creating youthful narrative sensibility, and the […]
So Much News!
January was a whirlwind of new projects and writing adventures. This is just some of it: New Project: a Picture Book about Santa I’ve been signed to write a picture book about the mighty man in red, to be published Christmas 2012. I’ll post more details when they’re available. Fun! New Project: 3 Books for […]
Spotlight Week: 7 Days as a Writing Nut
When I met Nutschell Anne Windsor at SCBWI-National Conference 2011, I instantly knew why this writer and blogger also teaches writing to others—she’s an incredibly upbeat person with a passion for writing. This week I get to bask in her enthusiasm as the feature of her blog’s Spotlight Week–or as she’s renamed it for the […]
Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies Book Trailer!
Check it out! My new Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies book trailer…
San Diego Cnty Library Book Festival
San Diego’s having a major book party, and I get to be a part of it. The San Diego County Library’s Book Festival is this Saturday, Oct 1, at the Encinitas Library. Speakers include YA great Ellen Hopkins, bestseller Lisa See, and Skinny Bitch series author Kim Barnouin. I’ll be presenting in the community room […]
Writing for Teens? Then Think Like One
Writing for teens? Free this Saturday? Then come to Newport Beach! I’ll be there presenting “Writing for Teens? Then Think Like One” at the Southern California Writers’ Conference – LA this Saturday, Sept 24, 2011. Here’s the session description: Whether your narrator is your young main character or an all-knowing omniscient being, there are ways […]
Writing on the Sidewalk
I get to talk writing, Legos, and banging on drums today on “Writing on the Sidewalk”, the blog of authors Suzanne Santillan and Sarah Wones Tomp. Thank you, ladies!
WYAFFD Blog Tour July 18 – 27
If you enjoyed the exclusive daily articles featured in the WYAFFD Virtual Book Launch, drop in on the 8-stop Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies Blog Tour July 18-27. It’ll be a fun tour, with me guest posting about craft and promotion, and with interviews, giveaways, and a grand finale FREE novel revision webinar. Full […]
