For this week’s Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway asks what words do you absolutely hate? A couple of years ago I started a thread on Agentquery.com called ‘Words that Should never Be In Queries’. A great deal of hilarity ensued about such phrases as ‘fiction novel’ and ‘the next Twilight’ (although I said this to my … More Road Trip Wednesday – Words That Don’t Belong in Queries
For YA Highway I agreed to do a Valentine post – a Valentine to someone – in addition to the swoony scene from my WIP that I posted earlier this week. I also wanted to do a Terrific Tuesday post, but since my Terrific Tuesday posts are usually about teens (or sometimes tots), and I … More Terrific Teacher Tuesday – An Un-Valentine, and a Valentine
For this week’s marvelous Middle Grade Monday here’s something a lot more recent, SCHOOLED by Gordan Korman. I love to see a middle grade book that will appeal to boys who haven’t bought into the whole school of magic thing. SCHOOLED is funny and exciting but firmly grounded in the real world. But the unusual … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday –SCHOOLED by Gordan Korman
Oasis for YA is having a romantic blogfest in honor of Valentine’s week, and are asking people to post swoon-worthy scenes. Since I just signed a contract on my upcoming verse novel AUDACIOUS (Orca Books, Fall 2013), I probably shouldn’t post from it here. Instead I’ll give you a scene from my WIP, a YA/chicklit/scifi/romance. … More That’s YAmore
I’ve been kidding with people for a while that “Troll-Love” is going to be the next big thing. I mean we’ve had vampire-love, werewolf-love, angel-love, devil-love, faerie-love (the spelling is critical here), immortal-love (which is always weird because usually the guy is about a thousand years old and the girl is 16 – ick) and … More Road Trip Wednesday – Shiny New Ideas
So, a little something different this Tuesday, but first my big announcement. Let’s start by telling you about a great Canadian publishing house, ORCA BOOKS. Orca is one of the most successful independent publishers in Canada. They specialize in books for young readers but are branching into adult literature too. They publish more than 60 … More BIG ANNOUNCEMENT and TERRIFIC TOT TUESDAY
Before I start this week’s MMGM I just want to say: STAY TUNED FOR A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING THIS WEEK OR NEXT! Once again, I must go back into the vast historic vault of my childhood reading. I couldn’t tell you how many times I have read THE BELGIAN TWINS. I’m not at all embarrassed … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – THE BELGIAN TWINS by Lucy Fitch Perkins
I’ve posted before about the importance of encouraging teenagers to write. This NYT article seems to agree, at least when it comes to blogging. I’ll admit, I came late to the blogging party. When blogging started I was already writing screenplays and novels and felt no strong need for an outlet or forum for my … More Blogging as Therapy for Teenagers
For this week’s Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway asks what was our favorite book to read in January. Well, I’ve had quite the month. Including finishing A DANCE WITH DRAGONS I have read 20 books. The book-tweets are below, but I have the say the winner is BOY TOY by Barry Lyga. This book completely slayed … More Road Trip Wednesday – January Books
I know, it sounds kind of like a really cool YA for boys book, and I completely wish it was. But, even better, it’s real! Yes, Canada officially sent a Lego Man into space. Well, it wasn’t official exactly, in that the Canadian government wasn’t exactly involved, apart from paying for the these terrific teens’ … More Terrific Teen Tuesday – Canadian Lego Teens In Space
gsprendergast.com 