Admission to the Pneuma Creative 2018 Fall Writing Retreat closes on Tuesday, July 31st! Sign up now to snag one of the last few remaining spots! What is the Pneuma Writing Retreat? The Pneuma Creative Retreat is an annual fall retreat for lady writers at the gorgeous Highlights center in Honesdale, PA. Think autumn leaves,…
Are you freaked out about revision? Do you feel paralyzed about where to begin? What if you mess it up? Or even worse … what if you make it better and now you really DO have to revise the whole thing? Have no fear: YA authors Heather Demetrios and I, are the kind of sickos…
Yes friends, this is happening! Heather Demetrios and I are hosting our second annual Pneuma Creative Autumn Writing Retreat, and you are not going to want to miss it. You’re freaked out about revision in general, or you don’t know how to do it – possibly, you’re both freaked out and not sure how to do…
I am super excited to announce that I will be a faculty member for the Pneuma Creative Writing Retreat this October! If you’ve ever dreamed of working with me in person and picking my brain for three days as we sip wine and gawk at the gorgeous New England trees – this is your chance!…
Free YA book event this weekend! I’m so excited to invite you all to the Pasadena Loves YA Book Festival this Saturday (September 17th)! I’ll be joining seventeen YA authors for a day of panels, signings, giveaways and more. I’ll be speaking on the panel “Out of the Comfort Zone” at 3:30 pm with authors Julie…
“Writing makes our brains pretend to have a sensory experience, but it’s not really having one.” This was the kick-off statement at one of the AWP writer’s conference panels I attended in March. It stopped me in my tracks, making me realize other art forms – music, paintings, film – are all true sensory experiences. Whereas…
Have you ever wanted to write a young adult novel about a family in crisis? I was struck by the passion and knowledge of four authors who spoke at the AWP writer’s conference in March. They discussed the challenges of writing novels about families caught up in abuse, war, poverty, PTSD, and the loss of a…
I had an absolute blast at AWP16 this past weekend! I’m so grateful to everyone who came to my panel Staging the Story: Screenwriting Techniques for YA Fiction and saw me, Cori, Amy Rose, and Jennifer chat up a storm. It was a lively and wonderful discussion with a packed room! We talked story structure, visual storytelling, creative…
Editors Debra Dorfman, Beverly Horowitz, Jennifer Hunt, Allyn Johnston, and Julie Strauss-Gabel all spoke on a panel at the 2011 SCBWI LA Conference about the current state of the children’s book industry. Big issues like self-publishing, e-books, and digital trends were discussed, but deep down it seems that content is king. The following is my…
I’m back from the island of misfit toys (aka: the 40th SCBWI LA Conference!) where kidlit authors and illustrators gathered to learn, dance, and dream. I’ve got a notebook filled cover to cover with scribbles as I attempted to jot down the wisdom of kidlit giants like Judy Blume, Gary Paulson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jon…