What's the Most Embarrassing Thing ...

… you’ve ever been caught “rehearsing” for your writing? You know what I mean. Sometimes, you just have to act it out, right? Tell me ...

How Does a Shiny New Idea Lose its Luster?

Oh, those glittery SNI’s! We’ve all been attracted by them at one point. Sometimes they try to tempt us away from a WIP just as the work i...

Gina Review: Vordak: Rule the School

My daughter Gina is guest blogging today with a review of Vordak: Rule the School . She previously reviewed Vordak’s first book; you can f...

Who's YOUR Doctor?

Among my accomplishments this summer, I count the conversion of both daughters into Doctor Who fans. This was a big deal to me, because I s...

Outlining vs. Pantstering

Are you an outliner or a pantster – or do you use elements of each? Have you blogged about your process? I’ll be leading two writing worksho...

Back to the Caged Graves

Last week, I signed the contract to publish The Caged Graves with Clarion. With the book on its way to publication, it seemed an appropriat...

Dating Your Manuscript

Every fall, I hit a slump in creativity. There’s no mystery to it: the beginning of a school year takes a lot out of me. There’s a new sche...

Superlative Seven

I want to thank Donna Weaver for passing along this blog award, which requires bloggers to look back over their blog history. It was a chal...

In Memory, September 11

I’d stepped out of the classroom for just a moment, to get a ream of paper from the supply closet, and one of my fellow co-workers stopped m...

First Impression #22

Our final First Impressions for the month of September is the first page of Sheri Larsen’s YA Paranormal, GYPSY DOLLS: Carnival of Souls . T...

First Impression #21

Our second First Impressions for the month of September is a sample from the beginning of Nicole Zoltack’s middle grade fantasy, Elena’s Pen...

Why We Have Labor Day

The end of summer, cook-outs, and retail sales – that’s what Labor Day means in 2011. Although most Americans make a point of enjoying this...

First Impressions #20

I’m starting September with a First Impression of Katie Loud’s novel, Unbreakable ! Here is the first page: (Susy; Emerson, NH; September, 2...