Blog
NYPL Battle of the Bands
Well, hello! My. Don't you all look simply smashing. YOU got taller. And YOU are growing out your bangs (looks great). YOU went away to college--study hard, enjoy eating Top Ramen. And YOU got a new tattoo of a llama superhero. Uh-huh. No judgments. Okay. Good to...
Can you believe this is the last weekend of summer? Wha...? When...? How...? Where does the time go? Does it have a condo in Boca? Maybe it's in line at the grocery store? (There's a lot of time there.) Is it getting its hair done for a Dolly Parton look-a-like...
Guest Blog–Nancy Werlin
We've got a first today: a guest blog from my good pal, the uber-talented and smart Nancy Werlin. Nancy is a National Book Award Finalist and Edgar Award Winner and the New York Times bestselling author of IMPOSSIBLE, which none other than Gregory Maguire (Mr. WICKED...
In praise of the free write
This morning I had a rare treat. I got up early (as is my wont) and went about my errands, fetching carby breakfast goods for the household, and I stopped into a little café near Prospect Park and decided, what the hey, I’ll sit and have a scone and a cup of coffee...
Ask the Author!
Oh. Hello there. I was going to write up a whole post about gender issues today. But after four hours of chasing my tail on The Book that Is Super Late and Also Impossible, I was burned out. So instead, I am putting the remote control in your hands, people. Any...
Processing the Printz Experience
Yes. I know it's been a while. So tempting to say I've been coming up with new ice cream flavors or painting my toes with obscure messages (um, not of the Lindsay Lohan variety...) or stuck in a yoga pose I couldn't get out of. But the truth is, it's just been an...
Libraries are the torch of the world
This is going to be a long post. It is also going to have a call to action. So please keep reading. And if you can’t keep reading then start at Second Piece of Business. I know I have been remiss in my blogging lately. It has been like some writing zombie video...
To Kill a Mockingbird
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is 50 years old. Frankly, I think it's had work done. It doesn't look a day over 35 to me. All kidding aside, this is a book I have always loved passionately. I read it at just the right age--twelve, I believe--and growing up in a small, southern...
NYC Teen Author Festival Wrap-Up
Hi. I am typing this from my couch. I cannot move from my couch. Hungry for bagel? Too bad. Can’t move from the couch. Need to drink some water? Get used to dehydration. Butt on couch. There is laundry staging a coup in my basement—I’m pretty sure I hear my dirty...
NYC Teen Author Festival Time!
Hey Peeps, Just a quick update before I put my head down into my book again. This week is NYC Teen Author Festival. It's chock full of awesome YA events. Below is a list of stuff I'm doing this week and below that is the link to the whole shebang. Hope you can make...
The Birthday Blog
March 11th has rolled around again, signaling that it's time for the annual birthday blog. One of my favorite cheesy things to do on my birthday is read a gazillion of those “You Born Today” thingies. My mom always sends me the one from my hometown newspaper (Thanks,...
The Middle Mile
I’m racing down the final stretch of the first draft of BEAUTY QUEENS. Well, that’s optimistic. I WISH I were racing. More like limping while dragging a large slab of beef wrapped in chains. (Don’t ask me where that image came from. I have not, to my knowledge, ever...