I just came back from the Houston Writer’s Guild Annual Conference. It was wonderful. I shocked everyone in the morning with my hilariously inappropriate keynote (and can I say, thank goodness the audio recording was turned off? Now the rest of the world will have to imagine how inappropriate I got.), and then did a query workshop in the afternoon.

A selfie from the evening party, me with HWG President Pamela Hutchins. She’s a bundle of energy!

In between sessions, people came up to me asking for writing advice. I never know what to say – where you are on your writing journey really decides which bit of advice will be most helpful. But I read this article today, at The Storyteller’s Inkpot, by Jane Resh Thomas, and I think it might be the best, most helpful, succinct writing advice I’ve seen in a long while. 

Do what she says, and you’ll rock it.

Oh, also! In Nightingale’s Nest news, the first line of that very book was one of those featured in the Publisher’s Weekly Shelftalker blog here! Very cool.

And, as promised, here’s some of the text to the starred review for NEST from the Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books!  And a link to it, if you’re curious. 🙂

Magical realism meets coming of age in this sensitive and haunting novel, with the relentless, eroding effects of family tragedy in full relief. Sympathetic but not saccharine, Loftin’s portrayal of Little John, with his tremendous sense of responsibility and his unflagging feeling of guilt, as well as his need for love and acceptance, will resonate with readers who carry life’s burdens. The otherworldly Gayle will captivate their imaginations as she flutters in and out of reach … but it’s Little John who will capture their hearts. Read this aloud and have both boys and girls alike utterly enraptured.

UTTERLY ENRAPTURED, do you hear? Oh my gosh, I’m gonna go faint now.

Write well, friends!