SCBWI LA Summer Conference Faculty Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova Registration for the big annual summer SCBWI conference in Los Angeles is live… and I’m on faculty this year! I’m giving two talks and I’m also teaching two Monday writing intensives! More→ Posted in teaching TOIL & TROUBLE: A Witchy Anthology Coming in 2018 Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova I’ve always wanted to write a story about witches… and now I get to do so for an upcoming YA anthology edited by Tess Sharpe and Jessica Spotswood: Toil & Trouble, a feminist collection of witchy stories is coming in 2018 from Harlequin Teen. More→ Posted in anthologies The 2017 Djerassi YA Novel Workshop-Retreat Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova This post is for the writers out there… Considering applying for my 2017 YA novel workshop-retreat at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California? It will be held June 18–24, and the deadline is fast approaching on April 5! More→ Posted in teaching HERE WE ARE Anthology Out in the World! Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova I’m so thrilled to be a contributor to Kelly Jensen’s YA anthology Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World. There are 44 diverse voices in this anthology, which features a scrapbook-style treasure full of essays, interviews, and art that all speak in some way to feminism and what that means for teens today. More→ Posted in anthologies New England SCBWI Conference Faculty Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova This spring, I’ll be at the annual regional New England SCBWI conference—held this year in Springfield, Massachusetts—where I’ll be giving a talk on taking risks and teaching first pages workshops. The theme of this year’s conference is “Expand & Diversify Your Portfolio.” More→ Posted in events, teaching Cybils Award in YA Speculative Fiction! Posted on February 14, 2016 by nova The Cybils Awards—the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards—were announced on Valentine’s Day… and The Walls Around Us won for YA Speculative Fiction! More→ Posted in updates 2016 Edgar Award Nomination! Posted on February 14, 2016 by nova The Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2016 Edgar Award, and The Walls Around Us was nominated for an award for Best Young Adult! More→ Posted in updates 2016 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Posted on February 14, 2016 by nova YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association of the ALA, announced its list of 2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults, and The Walls Around Us was one of the titles! More→ Posted in updates A Book Riot Best of 2015 Pick Posted on December 12, 2015 by nova One of my favorite book-related sites on the whole of the internet is Book Riot, so I was extra delighted to find The Walls Around Us on their Best of 2015 list! More→ Posted in updates NPR Best Books of 2015 Posted on December 8, 2015 by nova I truly can’t believe this! The Walls Around Us was just named a Great Read of 2015 by NPR! NPR’s Book Concierge features books that NPR staff and critics loved this year, and my book is among them! More→ Posted in updates Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books 2015 Posted on December 8, 2015 by nova Whenever a library praises one of my books, I flail, because libraries made me a life-long reader and turned me into the writer I am today. Thank you to the Chicago Public Library for choosing The Walls Around Us as a Best Book of 2015! More→ Posted in updates A Boston Globe Best Book of 2015 Posted on December 6, 2015 by nova How thrilling! The Walls Around Us was named one of the Best Books of 2015 by The Boston Globe! More→ Posted in updates ← Older posts
SCBWI LA Summer Conference Faculty Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova Registration for the big annual summer SCBWI conference in Los Angeles is live… and I’m on faculty this year! I’m giving two talks and I’m also teaching two Monday writing intensives! More→ Posted in teaching
TOIL & TROUBLE: A Witchy Anthology Coming in 2018 Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova I’ve always wanted to write a story about witches… and now I get to do so for an upcoming YA anthology edited by Tess Sharpe and Jessica Spotswood: Toil & Trouble, a feminist collection of witchy stories is coming in 2018 from Harlequin Teen. More→ Posted in anthologies
The 2017 Djerassi YA Novel Workshop-Retreat Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova This post is for the writers out there… Considering applying for my 2017 YA novel workshop-retreat at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California? It will be held June 18–24, and the deadline is fast approaching on April 5! More→ Posted in teaching
HERE WE ARE Anthology Out in the World! Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova I’m so thrilled to be a contributor to Kelly Jensen’s YA anthology Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World. There are 44 diverse voices in this anthology, which features a scrapbook-style treasure full of essays, interviews, and art that all speak in some way to feminism and what that means for teens today. More→ Posted in anthologies
New England SCBWI Conference Faculty Posted on March 21, 2017 by nova This spring, I’ll be at the annual regional New England SCBWI conference—held this year in Springfield, Massachusetts—where I’ll be giving a talk on taking risks and teaching first pages workshops. The theme of this year’s conference is “Expand & Diversify Your Portfolio.” More→ Posted in events, teaching
Cybils Award in YA Speculative Fiction! Posted on February 14, 2016 by nova The Cybils Awards—the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards—were announced on Valentine’s Day… and The Walls Around Us won for YA Speculative Fiction! More→ Posted in updates
2016 Edgar Award Nomination! Posted on February 14, 2016 by nova The Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for the 2016 Edgar Award, and The Walls Around Us was nominated for an award for Best Young Adult! More→ Posted in updates
2016 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Posted on February 14, 2016 by nova YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association of the ALA, announced its list of 2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults, and The Walls Around Us was one of the titles! More→ Posted in updates
A Book Riot Best of 2015 Pick Posted on December 12, 2015 by nova One of my favorite book-related sites on the whole of the internet is Book Riot, so I was extra delighted to find The Walls Around Us on their Best of 2015 list! More→ Posted in updates
NPR Best Books of 2015 Posted on December 8, 2015 by nova I truly can’t believe this! The Walls Around Us was just named a Great Read of 2015 by NPR! NPR’s Book Concierge features books that NPR staff and critics loved this year, and my book is among them! More→ Posted in updates
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books 2015 Posted on December 8, 2015 by nova Whenever a library praises one of my books, I flail, because libraries made me a life-long reader and turned me into the writer I am today. Thank you to the Chicago Public Library for choosing The Walls Around Us as a Best Book of 2015! More→ Posted in updates
A Boston Globe Best Book of 2015 Posted on December 6, 2015 by nova How thrilling! The Walls Around Us was named one of the Best Books of 2015 by The Boston Globe! More→ Posted in updates
Recent distraction no. 99 Blog Entries distraction no.99Chasing Dreams, Literary Magazines, and Why Not Now?Today I’m thinking about chasing long-held dreams and finally stopping all the excuses and the, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” Or “Next year.” Or the vague but still hopeful “One day.” You see, this is a thing I do to myself,… Continue reading →Facing The Handmaid’s Tale TodayI first read The Handmaid’s Tale when I was 12 years old in the late 1980s. I discovered it on my mother’s bookshelves, and I was fascinated by the story, not scared as much as I should have been but… Continue reading →Writing a Novel IsWriting a novel is a mess right now. I’m close, but I’m not done yet. I’m not done yet, I’m not done. I don’t know what I’m trying to say, is the truth of it. I don’t know what I… Continue reading →LookLook, it has been difficult to write much of anything that feels worthy lately, living in this world. This morning the news is a child suicide bomber who killed 50 people at a wedding. The suicide bomber was no older… Continue reading →The Books of THE WALLS AROUND USThere is one thing—well, a few things… but here’s just one—that I’m often asked about The Walls Around Us, and it’s about the books mentioned within the story. The books that appear in the library of the Aurora Hills Secure Juvenile… Continue reading →The Unstuck Story of THE WALLS AROUND USPaperback Release Day! The Walls Around Us available in paperback March 22! Once upon a time, there was a writer who was filled with doubt and questioning her every move. She was stuck. She had published three books, but now that… Continue reading →THE WALLS AROUND US ebook $1.99 Today Only!If you happen to be visiting my blog on this random Wednesday, March 2… And if you haven’t read my latest book The Walls Around Us yet, here’s your chance for a fraction of the price. Today only, the ebook… Continue reading →Finding My PlaceMy career has felt like a long series of searches, and nothing is ever illuminated until I am practically standing right on top of it. Trying to get published, to get an agent, in the beginning, was crushing. I slipped… Continue reading →To Write, to Do, to BeThis year was an external year. I was more public than ever before. I did so many things in front of people. I talked about my book in front of strangers more times than I can count. I spoke on… Continue reading →The End of an Extraordinary, Wordless Year; Some New Hopes for 2016At the end of every year, I have hope for the new year. Every year, I think of all the things I could make happen… all the things I want to try for, all the ways I might do better, do more…… Continue reading →Djerassi Deadline One Week Away!Fellow writers… This is your reminder that the deadline to apply for my 2016 YA Novel Workshop-Retreat at the gorgeous Djerassi Resident Artists Program in the mountains of Northern California is December 17, exactly one week away! [APPLY RIGHT HERE]… Continue reading →When to Resurrect the Dead Manuscript Under Your Bed?I’m struggling with something, an ongoing thing I’ve been struggling with for years. It’s about the novels that live under my bed. The two unpublished novels I wrote before I almost gave up writing, and then discovered ghostwriting, and, soon… Continue reading →The Teaching, the Inspiration, the Chupacabra, the Not-WritingThis has been my most public year, ever, in my life. It’s been wonderful… and it’s also been somewhat of an adjustment for a shy person like me. So much of 2015 has been about teaching. I really made this… Continue reading →
