Writing Guys: tips from YA author Jennifer R. Hubbard

Today I welcome a special guest, author Jennifer R. Hubbard, whose second novel, Try Not to Breathe, released in January. I've read it in both draft and published form, and friends,...

Read More

Half birthday with Harry Potter, part 2

I'm back after a fun but exhausting weekend throwing our Harry Potter party for eleven kids ages 7-10. Guests selected wands from an assortment we'd made from wood "candle...

Read More

Half-birthday with Harry Potter, part 1

The countdown begins to my daughter's 9.5 birthday party on Saturday. We are having a total blast preparing for it. I thought I'd share a little about what I've been up to. Invitations We...

Read More

Making money writing

Yes, writing can be creative and fun, but at some point when your work goes into print, it will become something more--a business. With income. Expenses. All that jazz.I don't...

Read More

Not your typical rags to riches story

It has taken me a little while to digest Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, a turn-of-the-century novel I'd picked up largely because it had been mentioned in an article I'd read....

Read More

The best training to write for publication...

...was not my bachelor's program in English or my master's in journalism, though they certainly helped. According to Steven Pressfield in The War of Art, my best preparation for...

Read More

Fridge face: get to a character's heart through his stomach

Jane opens Brenna’s fridge and sees neat rows of French mineral water, bins stuffed with fresh veggies, and hiding behind a row of organic condiments, a half-eaten shoo-fly pie.Who...

Read More