Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero goes on sale today! Check out Riordan’s webcast party at 7pm EST today! Also: You can download a free e-book preview. Since Riordan’s book tour isn’t bringing him anywhere near Chicago (darn!) I downloaded the e-book, which thankfully was available and sensibly priced less than the hardback. And it’s e-lendable! I surveyed my two Riordan-fans… Read More
* I was grouchy today. There was no real reason, just one of those days: I grouched at the cat, probably yelled at the kids (more than they deserved), and generally huffed around in a bad mood. It happens. What I didn’t expect was for it to disable my writing. I literally couldn’t write. Not a single thing. Even this blog… Read More
When the Nobel Prize for literature is announced, my usual response is, “Um, who?” After all, I don’t read (much) literary fiction, and to my knowledge no writer of children’s fiction or science fiction has been recognized for being “the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” (Nobel’s criteria)… Read More
I was going to write a blog post about how to keep going in this (sometimes) punishing game of pursuing publication, but my friend Adam Heine beat me to it, and did a better job with his post 5 Secrets to Keep in the Game. So check his blog first, then read on. Sometimes I get frustrated. Which is truly ridiculous… Read More
The ever gracious Bryan Russell has posted a flash fiction piece I wrote, called “The Dancer,” on his blog, The Alchemy of Writing. I don’t write a lot of flash, focusing mostly on my novels, but every so often, inspiration strikes and a story must be told. This was one of those, and I’m rather partial to it. 🙂 Bryan… Read More
Is it for a chance to entertain? To educate? Is it the pure enjoyment of the creative act? One of my critique partners commented on a recent chapter of my young adult novel, You’re really going to make kids think, aren’t you? Yes, I certainly hope so. If there is a common thread in all my books, and even my blog,… Read More