Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
Last week when that article from Slate came out bashing adults who read YA novels, I was as outraged as everyone else who enjoys reading and/or writing books classified as teen lit. Many people, myself included, declared Slate writer Ruth Graham to be a literary snob. The definition fits. After all, “snob” defines a person …
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This week was my birthday. To me, it was a small milestone – crossing the line into the latter half of my thirties. It wasn’t met with much cheer. By this age I had expected to be a successful writer, or at least be living above the poverty line. Life as a starving artist is …
Continue reading “Writers & Ageism: Does it Exist?”
May always makes me want a long slow read. A book I can sink my teeth into. Something that pairs nicely with the last lazy days of spring. When I can still enjoy an hour or two by a sunny window, and the kids are still deeply involved with school friends and functions enough to …
Continue reading “What We’re Reading: Sci-Fi”
As writers we often find ourselves at various stages with our work. Here are three popular stages and three posts from us to help you find a way through the challenges each stage creates. Stage 1: Just getting started? It is the hardest part. Lucky for all of us Heather has three great ways to …
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Though it’s technically true that writers can write anywhere as long as they have a laptop or a pen and paper, the right location matters. Some writers have a home office, or a writing nook, or a favorite coffee shop. Others, like me, are still trying to find that mythical place where writing magic happens… …
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Last week I confessed the reasons Why I Haven’t Finished My Novel, and #1 is that I over-revise. To recap, that means when a story isn’t quite working, I change it in huge, drastic ways that make it a totally different story. Sometimes the main character even sports a whole new personality! My solution to …
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When I decided to become a novelist, I thought I could whip out a novel in a year. After all, I knew how to write – I was a professional screenwriter. I could structure stories and develop characters and string together words in a compelling fashion. Why wouldn’t I complete a book in a year? …
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As a screenwriter, I had no choice but to learn a thing or fifty about writing dialogue. Scripts are 50% dialogue. The other half is physical action. That’s it. There are no other ways to express the story in a screenplay – no inner monologues, no poetic descriptions, and no narrated explanations. Only dialogue and …
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Earlier this month I wrote a post called “Dropping the F-Bomb in YA Lit” and cited a study done by Brigham Young University that counted the number of swear words in bestselling YA novels. The results? There is cursing in most YA books. This sparked outrage from some and a nod to reality from others. …
Continue reading “X-Rated: Should YA Books Have a Rating System?”
There’s a well-known line from George R.R. Martin’s book A Dance With Dragons: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… The man who never reads lives only one.” Truth! With that in mind, here’s 9 Vicarious Lives I’ve lived thanks to books… I traveled the galaxy with a towel. (Hitchhiker’s Guide …
Continue reading “Friday Inspirations: V is for Vicariously Living Through Books”