Okay, so I fell off the map last week. You’ll have to excuse me, but a whole bunch of stuff hit at once, the day job heated up, and I had to prioritize. The blog is fun, but it’s not payin’ the bills, if you know what I mean.
One of the hardest things I’ve learned in being a working, published writer is the importance of saying “Nope.” Continue reading
When it rains, it pours. And then you clean your gutters. Except my gutters are overflowing. I was supposed to do this letter of the alphabet last week, but just didn’t have the time to devote to it.
That’s me, standing in an elegant flowing gown in the middle of a deluge.
Which is a good thing (And yes, of course I wear elegant, flowing gowns all the time. Why do you ask?) and even a great thing. I have a lot of writing work to do. I have a lot of paid writing work to do. Continue reading
As in I LOVE LOVE LOVE all the cover designs for my novel! Swoon Reads (which is a division of MacMillan) puts together 4 great covers and then puts them up on the website for people to vote on.
Check ’em out! Continue reading
I know, it’s quite a mouthful. But bear with me, here.
Koi No Yokan is a Japanese phrase which has no direct English translation. It describes the sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall in love.
I write YA books, and my YA books have an element of romance. Koi No Yokan is figuring prominently into two different projects I’m working on. One, because one of the main characters is so absolutely sure about it, and another because the protagonist definitely felt Koi No Yokan, but argues herself out of it for a myriad of reasons. Continue reading
I think every one of us has had that one friend who just gets us.
They’re the ones we share the inside jokes with, they’re the ones who call us on our stupid behavior, and they’re the ones who play off us best.
In my upcoming novel, Traveler, Ben is exactly that kind of friend to Jessa, and his jokes made for some of my favorite moments in the book. Take this scene, for instance… Continue reading
Do you know how you write an interesting story?
You start out with an interesting idea and you write a somewhat interesting story.
Then you go back and reread it and realize it’s boring you to death in certain spots and confusing as hell in others, so you rewrite it.
And then you’ve got a mostly interesting story.
So you reread it again, pull it apart, move some stuff around, take some stuff out, and ask a few trusted people to read it.
They tell you it’s interesting. In places. Just not all the way through. Continue reading
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to heroes lately. What makes a good one? It’s not enough that they’re a genuinely decent person – after all, some of the best heroes are the ones who aren’t the shiniest, or nicest, or most morally upright.
Think about Severus Snape and his selfish motivation and scathing tones, or Katniss Everdeen with her unfriendly manner and total reluctance to be what everyone wanted to make her – these aren’t heroes on white horses swooping in to save anybody’s day.
I think the one thing you see in all heroes is one thing I touch on in my book: Resilience. Continue reading
