When I read Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt (Front Street, 2006)(a National Book Award finalist and a truly memorable story) I had an inkling of the ending and put the book down for a bit.
I wasn’t sure I would be satisfied if the book went in that particular direction,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Loretta Ellsworth on Finding Yourself In Your Novel »
Lark Pien is the debut author-illustrator of Mr. Elephanter (Candlewick, 2010)(blog). From the promotional copy:
Early every morning, Mr. Elephanter arrives at the Elephantery to care for his diminutive charges, who greet him with toots and trumpets.
There are hugs and hellos all around! They all eat pancakes,
By Janice Hardy
When I first started writing my middle grade fantasy, The Shifter: The Healing Wars (Balzer & Bray, 2009), I had no idea it was going to be a trilogy.
I’d never written a trilogy before, but halfway through the story I saw the bigger story arc that my protagonist,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Janice Hardy on The Trouble With Triples »
Enter to win an autographed copy of Night School by Mari Mancusi (Book Five in the Blood Coven vampire series)(Berkley)! From the promotional copy:
Vampires, Slayers and…fairies?
Sunny and Rayne McDonald are about to get schooled.
After their parents’ shocking revelation about their fae heritage and an attack on their lives,
By Julie Berry
Write. What. You. Know.
I used to bang my head against that tired maxim. What does a frumpy suburban mom who’s lived a coddled , well-fed life know about anything worth molding into a sparkly fantasy adventure?
Peanuts. Diddly-squat.
It took reams of bad beginnings and ample reassurance from advisors at Vermont College of the Fine Arts to begin to learn what I did know.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Julie Berry on Writing What You Know »
if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget(‘9fa996fb-dce5-4d51-ba3e-24981bbb26aa’);Get the Countdown Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)
Please join me in counting down to Blessed, which crosses over the casts of Tantalize and Eternal.
Continue Reading Widget: Counting Down to Blessed (Candlewick, Jan. 25, 2010) »
Sarah Lynn is the first-time author of Tip-Tap Pop, illustrated by Valeria Docampo (Marshall Cavendish, 2010). From the promotional copy:
Emma and her grandpa, Pop, are tap-dancing pals. They dig-shuffle-chug through town and put on a clickity-clacking, tip-tapping show every year on Emma’s birthday. But Pop is getting old.
By G. Neri
Sometimes, the battle to conquer a book is so long and arduous, you feel like throwing in the towel and saying, never again. So how (and more importantly why) do we even bother to do it over and over?
The why is easy. You do it because you can’t not do it.
Continue Reading Guest Post: G. Neri on Beginning the Journey to a Finished Novel »
The Writing Across Formats interview series features conversations with well established children’s-YA authors about creating a range of books–why they do so, what it’s taught them, and the pressures of author branding.
Click link from author name for more information about that contributor. Click link from “see WAF interview” to read more of their thoughts.
Continue Reading Writing Across Formats: Author Interview Round-up »
2011 Books by Austinites compiled by Greg Leitich Smith from GregLSBlog. See also 2010 Books by Austinites! Note: a little love for the home team!
