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.
Continue Reading Book Trailer & Giveaway: Just Flirt by Laura Bowers »
Pat Mora savors writing, presenting, and also promoting creativity, inclusivity and bookjoy.
Her new picture book, The Beautiful Lady: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Random House), will be published December 2012.
Among her award-winning books for young people are Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems About Love (Knopf);
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,
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Mette Ivie Harrison on How to Find Time to Write »
Margaret with young readers
Margaret Peterson Haddix grew up on a farm near Washington Court House, Ohio, and is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio.
She worked as a newspaper reporter and community college instructor before her first book was published in 1995.
Continue Reading Career Builder & Giveaway: Margaret Peterson Haddix »
Angela at the Grand Canyon
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,
Kelly Bennett has a long history of rambling (they used to call it running away/disappearing/lollygagging).
They say the first thing Kelly did, after being born, was to voice her opinion—loudly!
Her love of writing can be traced back to 1960, when she was two-ish,
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,
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Erin E. Moulton on Framing The Truth About Owen »
“You can have one year off to write.” That’s what Kimberly Willis Holt‘s
husband told her back in June 1994. She didn’t own a computer so she
began to write on yellow legal pads.
Since then she’s written seventeen
books, and won many awards and honors,
Continue Reading Career Builder & Giveaway: Kimberly Willis Holt »
Joan and Suzanne
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,
“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.
