The writing life is a roller coaster. Ups, downs, freefalls, derailments, and the occasional technical difficulty that leaves you stranded at the top of a virtual mountain. 2020 was truly some next-level stuff, but so far 2021 is also keeping me on my toes. My current roller coaster life UP: New books published! After 4.5 years …
Let’s face it: 2020 is a dumpster fire, in a train wreck, at a goat rodeo. If it were a novel synopsis, editors wouldn’t get past the first paragraph before saying it was too unbelievable. The writers room for 2020 is terrible! You don’t put a small earthquake in the middle of a race revolution …
It’s been 31 days since George Floyd was murdered. Thirty-one days of reaffirming that Black Lives Matter. Thirty-one days that our country has taken the fight for racial justice to the streets. Thirty-one days of hard conversations and personal reckonings. For me personally, a lot of that time has been spent reading and listening to …
This is my Action Plan to Fight Racial Injustice Read More »
I’ve never publicly shared my “how I got started as a kidlit writer” story. Why? Well… If I’m honest, it’s because my story starts with a lot of dumb luck and divine intervention. In fact, I never even considered myself to be a writer, let alone a good one. Let’s start at the beginning. How …
Yesterday was my 30th day of self-isolation during this coronavirus pandemic. And it feels like it should be marked somehow. It feels momentous. And surreal. And depressing. And hopeful. Like something that should be celebrated – but it’s a celebration of doing nothing. Like this is too easy to be worth celebrating – but was …
30 Things I’ve Done in My First 30 Days of Self-Isolation Read More »
Coronavirus has upended everything. Many people are suddenly working from home. (If they’re lucky enough to be working at all.) Kids are either off school entirely or doing some sort of online/homeschool hybrid. Headlines read like the plot synopsis for the latest YA dystopian novel. Literally everyone is stressed and questioning if there’s enough chocolate …
5 Tips for Working From Home With Kids In A Crisis Read More »
I was slow to jump on the word-of-the-year bandwagon. A lot of my friends love the idea but setting concrete goals and plans has always worked well for me – I didn’t see the point. Last year I gave it a whirl just to see what the fuss is about. That’s when I realized …
The old blog has been a bit quieter than usual. That’s because I was gone almost the whole month of September on a road trip. 6000 miles. With a dog, two kids, two adults, and one not-so-large camper. We passed through numerous national parks, stopped in mega metroplises to visit friends and eat pastries, and …
Road trip! Or: How I Wrote Nothing for a Month and It Improved My Writing Read More »
Last night I got back from a jam-packed weekend in Las Vegas. I was there for the Nevada SCBWI Pitch Perfect Conference and to kick off my mentorship program with Jim Averbeck. View this post on Instagram I got in to the Nevada SCBWI mentorship program! I'm honestly shocked. I entered this really not …
It’s nearly the end of 2018, folks. It’s been a great year for me writing-wise. Looking Back at 2018 2018 in Writing I published my second board book, I Pray Today, and I had my first-ever blog tour. I revised my novel and got two new work for hire picture book contracts – …
