Book Trailer & Giveaway: Just Flirt by Laura Bowers

Book Trailer & Giveaway: Just Flirt by Laura Bowers

Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Check out the book trailer for Just Flirt by Laura Bowers (FSG, 2012). From the promotional copy:

It’s summer, sweet summer!

Self-proclaimed Superflirt Dee Barton can’t wait to spend the summer months practicing her Nine Rules of Flirting on all the cute guys who come to stay at her family’s campground. 

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Guest Post & Giveaway: Mette Ivie Harrison on How to Find Time to Write

Guest Post & Giveaway: Mette Ivie Harrison on How to Find Time to Write

By Mette Ivie Harrison

I have five children, ages 9 to 18, four of them teenagers.

One daughter takes lessons for three instruments, is in school plays and two competitive choirs, graduated in three years from high school and took five AP classes. Another daughter is in robotics competitions, takes AP classes at four different high schools,

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Guest Post & Giveaway: Angela Ackerman on Writing Body Language: Moving Beyond the Basics

Guest Post & Giveaway: Angela Ackerman on Writing Body Language: Moving Beyond the Basics

Angela at the Grand Canyon

By Angela Ackerman

If there is one universal struggle I hear about from writers, it is repeat gesturing. This is when those shrugs, frowns, feet shuffling and smiles sprinkle themselves across a manuscript because they are obvious choices to show a character’s emotions.

The most common are ones that involve the eyes,

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Guest Post & Giveaway: Erin E. Moulton on Framing The Truth About Owen

Guest Post & Giveaway: Erin E. Moulton on Framing The Truth About Owen

By Erin E. Moulton
for Cynthia Leitich Smith‘s Cynsations

In writing my second book, Tracing Stars (Philomel, 2012), I managed to write nerdy oddball Owen Stone. For some reason, everyone just loves Owen. People ask “what’s the truth about Owen? Are you Owen. Is your husband Owen?”

Well,

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Guest Post & Giveaway: Suzanne Williams on Heroes in Training: Finding Your High Concept Series Hook

Guest Post & Giveaway: Suzanne Williams on Heroes in Training: Finding Your High Concept Series Hook

Joan and Suzanne

By Suzanne Wiliams

A high concept book/series hook should be original, unique, and have wide appeal. It’s a fresh spin on a universal situation or premise. The best hooks will cause others to think, “Wow. What fantastic idea. Wish I’d thought of it.”

Joan Holub and I had already written and published the first half-dozen books in our Goddess Girls series (Aladdin,

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Guest Post & Giveaway: Jo Whittemore on When the Going Gets Tough & What to Do About It

Guest Post & Giveaway: Jo Whittemore on When the Going Gets Tough & What to Do About It

By Jo Whittemore

“What do you do when you’re stuck in your writing?”

This is a popular question asked of authors.

In reply, the author will usually stroke his/her beard thoughtfully and say, “I step away from the page for a few days to clear my head.”

But there’s more to it than that.

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