Writing about Wish Girl
I’m very pleased to send you away from my blog today to read what I wrote at the Nerdy Book Club blog instead. It’s got all sorts of stuff about my wild childhood, the books that changed me, and what I was trying to do with my next book, Wish Girl. I am so grateful to Colby Sharp and the Nerdies for giving me this space to talk about all that!
Speaking of Wish Girl, there was a very nice article in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper last week about my book, and the upcoming launch party at Bookpeople! (My favorite quote: “Wish Girl will transform the reader.” I hope some of you can make it on Saturday. February 28, 3 p.m., and you KNOW there will be food, drink, fun, and prizes of all sorts from me and my co-launch author, Jo Whittemore! (I’m even giving away a free school visit to some lucky teacher or librarian.)
See you there? I hope so!
02/24/2015 at 8:02 pm
Hello-
I teach 7th and 8th grade in Atlantic County, NJ, and read your post on the Nerdy Book Club. I loved your ideas, and your writing. Inspired, I copied it to share with my students as an example of strong essay writing, and see if they could identify a lot of the techniques you’ve used. On a whim, since I’d taught a lesson yesterday on title techniques, I removed “Magical Places” and asked the seventh graders what they might suggest after we’d been through the essay (they loved the writing, too, by the way!) They had some wild ideas for a title, and learned just how hard it is to fit the title to the whole piece. One boy came up with “Magical Places” and was thrilled to discover that he thought like an author. Another one that I thought cam close was “Story Traveller,” and idea I think I’d like to use in my own writing. Anyway, thank you for such a great essay, and good luck with your book–we are looking forward to reading it!
02/24/2015 at 8:35 pm
This may be the Best Comment in the history of my blog. 🙂 I am delighted that you liked my essay, and even more delighted that your creative class used it for a lesson that sounds FUN! Let me know if you do read Wish Girl as a class – I’ll Skype in with you and answer questions afterward if you like! THAT would also be fun.