Tweens Read, Texas Book Festival, and more!

Hi, y’all! I am incredibly excited to share a few cool events I’m going to be at this fall. The first one is a conference I’ve been dying to attend for years – the amazing Tweens Read in Pasadena, Texas. It’s at South Houston High School, THIS Saturday, and keynote speakers are Katherine Applegate, Gene Luen Yang, and  Rebecca Stead.

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My panel, called Edge of Your Seat, will be running all day. And the other authors on it? Incredible!

Christina Diaz Gonzalez – Her book, Moving Target, is one of my favorite fast-paced MGs this year!
Jennifer Nielsen – Author of The False Prince and others, will talk about her new historical,  A Night Divided. I’m reading this now, and it’s SO HARD not to ignore all my work and read instead. SO GOOD.
Jackson Pearce – Author of amazing YA fairy tale retellings (um, yes, I may have a thing for these myself! She does them exquisitely) will present her new  Doublecross

Kevin Sands – Author of the brand new The Blackthorn Key, that gets a HUGE thumbs up from my own 12 y.o. reader: “As good as The False Prince and The Lightning Thief.” Wow.

I’m thrilled to have the chance to speak with these authors, and see other friends like Ingrid Law, Crystal Allen, and Polly Holyoke. It will be a great day. So, I hope to see you at this event if you live anywhere near Houston! Make sure to preregister here.

Later in October, I’ll be at the Texas Book Festival, presenting on a panel on Sunday, October 18 at noon, with authors Nick Courage and Rebecca Stead. Signing to follow!

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More later… I have a book I’m trying to write. I say “trying” because I’m eating healthy these days, and you know what that means. BTW, friends? Writing is hard. Writing without chocolate?

Almost impossible.

Posted in Children's Fiction,Miscellaneous,People I Love on 09/28/2015  |  Leave a comment

Interview With a Puppet: The Van Show!

Oh boy. I just got a link to an interview I did at the TLA conference last spring. An interview with a gorgeous, blue-haired puppet. (Of course I said yes! The Muppets were my LIFE when I was a kid.)

It’s not one of my most shining moments.I was starstruck. That’s the only excuse I have for talking like I’d just sucked three balloons’ worth of helium, and oversharing about chicken poop and other things.

In any case, I promised to share the link on my blog, and so… here for your entertainment, is my interview with Austin Public Library’s amazing roving puppet reporter. To my author friends? If a puppet ever asks to interview you… say yes. But try to act cool. Cool, calm, collected…

…sigh. I’ll work on it for the next puppet interview.

Posted in Children's Fiction,Miscellaneous,Uncategorized on 09/19/2015  |  Leave a comment

Thank you forever, Aunt Trudy.

My first grade teacher, Aunt Trudy, passed away this week. Aunt Trudy was an amazing person. She was generous and quick-witted, warm, kind, clever, and all the things you dream of having for a teacher when you are any age, but especially very young and learning how to love (or not love) school.

She taught me to love school. She taught me that reading was about the words on the page and the feeling of a soft hand guiding mine as we turned it together. She taught me that I could write something that would make her laugh, and I tried to do that over and over. She taught me about fairness and gentleness, in a time of my life when not everything that should have been gentle was.

Have you ever had a teacher like that? Or different, but who gave you that lifelong spark for learning? Or one who showed you, told you, in some way, that you mattered, and changed your life – or at least your view of yourself – for years to come?

If you do, have you told your teacher what she or he meant to you?

I will be forever grateful that I had the chance to tell Aunt Trudy what she meant to me. I did it in a letter, in person, and then in a slightly more permanent way, by naming a character in Nightingale’s Nest after her. And now, even though I am sad she is gone, I don’t have regret.
All I have is a heart filled with love, and a life that was made infinitely better by a woman who cared.

By a teacher who loved me, too.

Thank you forever, Aunt Trudy.

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Posted in Family News,Miscellaneous,People I Love on 09/17/2015  |  Leave a comment

Why I Didn’t Answer Your Fan Mail (Um, I DID)

This isn’t a blog post, exactly, but an attempt to get in touch with the lovely young reader who has sent multiple emails to me, sharing thoughts on Wish Girl and asking all sorts of questions.

I got those emails, Kaylen, and I emailed you back, but it seems you are not getting my responses! I’m so sorry. Sometimes kids have wonderfully protective email addresses that don’t allow responses from good-strange author people. This makes me happy for those kids (this means they are not also getting emails from bad-strange Internet people), but sad to think that my responses are lost. Even sadder is the thought that possibly, those readers think I am ignoring them.

So, listen up, everyone: If you email me, and don’t get a reply, either try again, or send a real letter/snail mail to P.O Box 26, Dripping Springs, Texas 78620. And I promise, you WILL get a response.*

 

  • TBH, every once in a while, my computer eats one of these lovely emails, too. So just send it again! Or mail. Or send a pony express. Or just a pony. I’d love a pony.

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In other news, my mail carrier brought me a special package yesterday! It’s a little hard to read here, but it’s a gorgeous glass award from the Writer’s League of Texas for my book, Nightingale’s Nest. Thanks, WLT! You made my day.

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Posted in Miscellaneous,People I Love on 09/09/2015  |  Leave a comment

Guys Read Contest Winner, Italian Edition & More

Wow! My kids are tough judges. Thanks to everyone who entered the contest last week!

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So, last week’s blog contest winner was picked just this morning, and Nina Weaver is the winner of a hardback copy of Guys Read: Terrifying Tales, for her middle school students. I hope they scream and cry, Nina! haha not kidding

We had a runner-up as well. Carie Juettner, whose comment was the “funniest, and like a real story,” will receive an ARC of one of the creepiest and most wonderful books I’ve read in a LONG time: Janet Fox’s The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle.

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It doesn’t come out until next spring, but you’re ALL going to want to get this one. It is the literary equivalent of Swiss chocolate. I could not put it down, and I was sneaking in chapters when I should have been doing Real Work Things. It’s a creepy gothic tale, that reminded me of Joseph Delaney’s The Last Apprentice series, and even a bit of The Chronicles of Narnia. Seriously, it’s that good.

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In other news of OMGOSHAWESOME… my mom happened to walk into a bookstore in Rome on her summer holidays. She asked if they had a copy of my book, Wish Girl, in Italian. And they did!  Check this out? Isn’t it lovely? Bellissimo! Also, I’m going to go feel famous now while I do the laundry.

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(Yes, I know it’s not right side up. But look! They’re lying down in the grass… it’s so ARTY!!!)

And after that laundry fun, I’m planning to go read a few new books I splurged on. Hey, it’s a long weekend, right? I gotta do something with all that time. I’ve heard incredible things about these three books, and I’m dying to see if it’s all true.

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Posted in Children's Fiction,Miscellaneous on 09/05/2015  |  1 Comment

Author Copies! A Guys Read: Terrifying Tales Giveaway

Guess what? My author copies for the anthology, Guys Read: Terrifying Tales, arrived today!

Aren’t they creeptastic?

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I had SO MUCH fun writing my story for this collection, and I’m eternally grateful to Jon Scieszka for inviting me to join in the fun. If you like stories by Claire Legrand, R. L. Stine, Dav Pilkey, Rita Williams-Garcia, Kelly Barnhill, Michael Buckley, Adele Griffin, Daniel José Older, or Adam Gidwitz, you are going to want this dark, creepy, deliciously disturbing book. (I won’t even mention the spine-chilling illustrations inside. SO GOOD.)

And if you want to win your own copy, full of stories that will haunt your dreams for FREE, all you need to do is leave a comment here telling me EXACTLY WHY you need a book full of horrible, awful, sinister stories (for you, your classroom, the kids you babysit, whomever) and I will allow my kids to pick their favorite answer in one week!* Oh, and don’t forget to leave your email address so I can contact the (un?)lucky winner.

I’ll announce the winner on September 6! Be creative. Be menacing. Be terrifying, if you can. Good luck!

*Sorry, y’all, North American addresses only. I have mouths to feed. Mouths full of needle-sharp teeth, hungry for red, raw meat.

Posted in Children's Fiction,Miscellaneous on 08/29/2015  |  15 Comments

AROHO: Writing in the Desert

I’m back from the desert, with a laptop full of new words, a head full of wonderful memories, and a whole lot of photos to share.

AROHO stands for “A room of her own,” a concept first introduced in an essay by Virigina Woolf.  The desire to have a “room of one’s own” for women writers was brought to New Mexico by Darlene Chandler Bassett, whose goal to “end the isolation of creative women” has changed many lives, including mine.

Not only is the New Mexican desert a rich, inspirational Internet-challenged (haha) place to create (Georgia O’Keeffe did much of her painting there), it’s utterly gorgeous. Here are a few pics of the landscape and the women I spent my time with.

Double rainbow loveliness!

Double rainbow loveliness!

Keynote speaker Maxine Hong Kingston.

Keynote speaker Maxine Hong Kingston.

The view from the top at Chimney Rock. Totally worth the hike.

The view from the top at Chimney Rock. Totally worth the hike.

Poet and friend Michelle Wing.

Poet and friend Michelle Wing.

 

There aren’t any pics of my small conversation/writing group, led by the illustrious Cynthia Leitich Smith, but that’s because we were learning so fast, there wasn’t time to pull out a camera or phone. 🙂

I’ll have news about upcoming events in a week or so – and maybe a giveaway on this blog of the anthology Guys Read: Terrifying Tales as well! See you soon, and write well.

 

 

Posted in Miscellaneous,People I Love on 08/21/2015  |  1 Comment

Lone Star Literary Life: An Interview

Happy August, friends! I am slowly melting down here in Texas as temperatures rise. The need for snow cones and ice cream increases exponentially with each degree, and Blue Bell is currently out of business… so it’s a more miserable month than usual.

But just in time to save the day, this splash of sweetness came my way! Lone Star Literary life did an interview to congratulate me for the Writers’ League of Texas contest win… and posted it today. Thanks, Kay and Michelle, and all the sweet, cool folks at Lone Star Literary Life.

Now, it’s time to pack for my regularly scheduled wandering into the wilderness of New Mexico… where I plan to write a large chunk of my next literary middle grade, My Sister Moon.

Adios, and see you in a few weeks!

 

Posted in Children's Fiction,Miscellaneous on 08/03/2015  |  Leave a comment

Summer So Far: Pretty Darn Amazing

Wow. This summer has been one for the books, pun intended. Not only did I take my family on a trip to British Columbia and Washington State…

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… but while I was away, the Writer’s League of Texas notified me that my book, Nightingale’s Nest, had won the 2014 WLT book award for MG/YA!!

SO COOL.

I joined the Writer’s League of Texas way back when it was the Austin Writer’s League, WAY back in the day. Now it’s a huge, statewide, wonderful group of writers and writing professionals who help one another out… and who occasionally give out prizes that make some of their members get all teary and thankful.

Thank you, WLT. I owe so much of my success as a writer to you, and I am elated to be able to tell the world that you love my books, too!

Now, I’m getting back to work instantly on my next book… I’m in that scared/nervous/giddy phase of drafting. Is it any good? Am I making the right authorial choices? Should I just take a nap instead?

NO. Coffee time. Then writing. THEN nap.

Happy summer to you, friends!

 

Posted in Children's Fiction,Family News,People I Love on 07/22/2015  |  Leave a comment

Oh, The Places I’ll Go This Summer

Happy June!

It’s the season of sun, kids asking to be driven to the pool, sleeping in… and drafting brand new novels, for me. I’ll be checking back in from time to time with writing news and personal summer updates, but mostly, I’m going to relax and enjoy the heat.

That said, if you’re looking for me at any of the following places, I’d love to share a lemonade!

The Writer’s League of Texas Annual Editors and Agents Conference.

This was the conference that started it all for me, professionally – so I’m delighted to be speaking there on Saturday, June 27, I’ll be talking about “Writing for Tweens and Teens” at 2 pm.

I’ll also be moderating a panel at 10:15 a.m. that day, called “Literary Guides: How to Find Help on Your Journey to Publishing.” It should be SUPER useful!

AROHO Conference

Every two years  I cross my fingers that I get into the A Room of her Own Foundation’s conference. This year should be the best ever. Check out the line-up. I’m especially excited to be studying with Cynthia Leitich Smith in a small group. Fun!

Other than that, I’m looking forward to a quick family vacation to Seattle and Vancouver Island, and local fun with visiting relatives…. and maybe, just maybe, a finished manuscript or two at the end of August.

Happy Summer, y’all!

 

Posted in Children's Fiction,Miscellaneous on 06/07/2015  |  Leave a comment