The other day I bought DD (8) a little Playmobil grab bag. It’s a girl themed packet with one of the pictured figures. You don’t know which one until you open it. A few minutes after opening it, DD brought the figure into my office, saying “Of all the girls on the packet I got … More Terrific Teen Tuesday – Making Toys for Girls AND Boys.

I read two very short, very quiet middle grade books this last week. The verse novel PEARL VERSES THE WORLD is one of them, which I review over at versenovels.com. The other was THIRD GRADE ANGELS  by Jerry Spinelli. (BTW, I have no idea why there are three Ls in Spinelli on this cover) I … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – THIRD GRADE ANGELS by Jerry Spinelli

(Originally blogged 2011/11/23 and worth revisiting) It all started, I think, with a snarky article in the Wall Street Journal, bemoaning the bleak and violent content of Young Adult literature.  The response was, among other things, a Twitter campaign called “#YA Saves”. Thousands of Tweets, hundreds of blogs, and commenters galore rallied to the support of … More From the archive: #YA Saves

This is my first Terrific Teen Tuesday with a soundtrack: When I was a high school student, among other writing that I did, I wrote song lyrics. I remember showing some of my lyrics to my classmates in creative writing class. Oddly enough, I did not show them to Mrs Crooks. Maybe I should have. … More Terrific Teen Tuesday – Teens Who Rap

The Winner of the Spooktacular Giveaway is SARAH (The Mortician’s Daughter). Congrats Sarah! She wins ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD by Kendare Blake. Here’s what GoodReads says about ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD: Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.  So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost … More Spooktacular Giveaway Hop – ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD – WINNER!!!

Yesterday I was thinking about becoming a teacher, a scary prospect for a number of reasons. The truth is, I’m not that academically inclined. I could never be an elementary teacher because I think my math skills are just about at the level of my daughter (she’s 8). For high school I could be an … More Terrific Teen Tuesday – Teaching the Teachers

In honor of Halloween I’m giving away the ultra-spooky ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD  by Kendare Blake. To enter all you need to is add one of my books to your Goodreads shelves OR follow this blog OR follow me on Twitter (comment to tell me what you’ve done). Don’t forget to click on the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop Image … More Spooktacular Giveaway Hop – ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD

When I started writing novels (aged about 10) I had no choice but to use a pencil and paper. I still have some of those early efforts. They are awful. Later I used an old typewriter. I didn’t know it at the time but I now realize this typewriter was much older than it needed … More Random Websites I Use While Writing