The Phones

When I posted pictures of the room we redecorated this summer for the girls, many people commented on the Red Phone on the wall. Heather Kel...

PAYA 2011 and Irene

This Saturday was the second annual Bring More YA to PA Book festival (also known as PAYA), held in West Chester, PA and squeaking in just ...

Ta-Da! The Girls' Lounge

One of my goals for the summer was redecorating "the playroom" upstairs into a teen/tween lounge where my daughters might hang out...

Summer Goals Assessment 2011

At the beginning of the summer, I posted goals for all the things I wanted to accomplish during my vacation. Today (probably while you are r...

Mystery Fish (from Outer Space)

Can anyone identify this species of fish? About three years ago, approximately 2 dozen of these fish appeared suddenly in our pond. They wer...

Thank You!

I want to thank everybody who stopped by here in the last few days to offer congratulations. Thanks so much for all your encouragement an...

The News I've Been Dying to Share ...

I love my agent, Sara Crowe! Well, that’s old news. I’ve been loving her since a) she raved about one of my characters and offered to repres...

Don't Forget Who's in Charge

I see a lot of talk on the blogs about writing characters – especially establishing goals for your characters, putting obstacles in their pa...

What Do You Think of Google+?

When I first saw Google+ hitting the news and started getting invitations to join, I groaned. Facebook, yes. Twitter, I’m there. But ANO...

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

One of my teacher friends (I think it was Tracy Litchfield) recently bemoaned August 1st as the death knell of the summer. I agreed. August...

Bring YA to PA: PAYA 2011

I am excited to announce that the Second Annual Bring YA to PA festival is ON for Saturday, August 27th. Mark your calendars! PAYA 2011 wil...

First Impression #19

Our fourth and final First Impressions post for August comes from Matthew Reeves, author of the wildly successful cell phone novel Once Upon...

First Impressions #18

Our third First Impressions post for August comes from Sarah Nicolas. This is the first page of her current WIP, Dragons Are People Too – ...

First Impressions #17

The second First Impressions critique for the month of August comes to us from someone I know well … my 14-year-old daughter, Gabbey. This i...

First Impressions #16

For the month of August, Marcy and I have taken on FOUR First Impressions critiques. Why? Because we love ‘em so much. Our first critique i...