For my list of 12 Questions to Help You Create Fictional Characters, scroll down. So Why Are We Talking About Beck? I’m going to see Beck in April, and I’m pretty darn excited about it. Beck has been one of my favorite musical artists ever since his “Loser” days in the early 90’s. Talk about characters, Beck is… View Post
Let me tell you about a Middle Grade book I wrote long, long ago. The first draft was in first person. But the book was a fairy tale, and first person didn’t seem quite right. So I rewrote it in limited third person, from the protagonist’s point of view. And that worked better. I got an agent, and we… View Post
**Thank you to Ariane Peveto for writing this post about Warriors Don’t Cry — my very first guest post! Ariane is a poet and writer. Read more about her at the end of this article.** What better way to celebrate Black History Month than to take a close look at Melba Pattillo Beals’ memoir Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing… View Post
I don’t know about you, but I’m excited about the new movie version of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle. Excited and nervous, the way I am every time one of my favorite books is turned into a movie. Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time comes out March 9, and I’m really hoping it’ll be good. I’m not sure how… View Post
The other day my lovely friend B. A. Veiman of The Writing Chickadee sent me a video of poet and performer Cecilia Knapp sharing her spoken word poem “Why I Write.” After listening to her gorgeous (and gorgeously-British-accented!) prose, I asked myself: why do I write? This is a good time to ask that question. My daughter was born last… View Post