thesaurus surfing

I wrote today. Well, I write just about every day. Doesn’t everybody? Show of hands. I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire right now: blogs, articles, flash fiction, and of course, my YA novel WIP. This time around, I’ve been trying to mostly disgorge my YA novel in a fell swoop. You know. [...]

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ellen hopkins, the writer teens trust

I have seen a load of fantastic authors recently, so I best get a-bloggin’. First up: ELLEN HOPKINS Apologies for the iPhone instead of the Flip. But hey, it’s better than a court room rendering. The room was full of KIDS SHE WRITES FOR, rather than adults. There were some of those too, but I’d [...]

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in the path of falling objects: the sandwich book

There’s no prison worse than “I promise.” A promise can carry you through tough times. Or cause them. Jonah and Simon, two abandoned brothers, set out to rendezvous with a third brother coming back from Vietnam. The only guarantee they have of meeting up with him is in his letters. The boys hitch a ride [...]

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phoning it in

There has been talk (OH I KEEP MY EAR TO THE GROUND, MY PRETTIES) that cell phones and iPods and laptops are suspiciously absent from kidlit. Why? Well, because there are a lot of stories that would have ended with one phone call to the ol’  ‘rents. Duh. Which goes back to kids aren’t nearly [...]

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master writer #6–barbara stuber, crossing the tracks

It’s been some time since I’ve posted a Master Writer blog entry. (See previous entries.) I’m pretty picky about my list of kidlit book authors who’ve mastered some aspect of their writing in a particularly stupendous way. I think you’ll be impressed with Barbara Stuber’s Crossing the Tracks: A literary Young Adult novel in the [...]

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james frey: still a piece of work

Oh, James Frey. Who the bleep do you think you are. Some wonderful insight on Frey’s shenanigans from Nova Ren Suma and Maureen Johnson. IN A NUTSHELL: (Emphasis on NUT) James Frey is raiding MFA programs. He entices destitute grad students to write YA books for him. For slave wages. To his specifications, to maximize [...]

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5 points you better get about ya literature

I really don’t have anything against adult writers dipping their pens into the YA market. Really, I don’t. If they know what they’re doing. Because YA Lit is not dumbed-down Adult Lit. In fact, I put to you that YA Lit is smarter than Adult Lit. Because teens have very sensitive bullshit-meters, and they won’t [...]

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when adult lit writers go ya

I went to a book signing for a writer who is fairly well-known, but new to me. She’s primarily an adult author, but was in town to promote her second YA book. Well, she gave an interesting talk. A little reserved, but perhaps that’s how adult authors are. Then it came time for questions. There [...]

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i was so excited to post this i forgot to title it

LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON Gave an amazing talk about writing, and her new book, Forge. You people know I am a Flippin’ Fiend. But you don’t put a writer’s standard talk on your blog so she can’t give it again. What I CAN post, are a few answers to some questions… First, hold on to your [...]

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speak? banned? again? are you kidding me?

A quote from Wesley Scroggins, in the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader: “In high school English classes, children are required to read and view material that should be classified as soft pornography.” One of the books he wishes to ban? Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. Here’s some “pornography” he quotes: ‘NO!—I’m not really here, I’m definitely back [...]

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