My blog

I’m excited to announce that I’ve been  invited to participate in a panel at the American Society for Journalists and Author’s Annual Conference in New York City. Details: FROM [...]

For most of the stories we trade, we know a beginning, a middle and an end.  Jackie Kennedy… remember her as a young widow?  And then marrying that Onassis guy?  And how she went at the [...]

Although I still don’t know the connection between football and tobogganing, I can verify that there is indeed a football toboggan smack dab in my way as I try to make it to work. The only [...]

I did not watch the State of the Union address.  There would have been a time that I would have had a viewing party, popcorn and a full analysis of the opposition rebuttal.  Tonight I was in [...]

Saturday was a day full of publish-y stuff.  Here are a couple more pictures.  And if you missed the last round of pictures, click here to check them out. First, there was my book signing.  They [...]

You know you’ve been in New York too long when things that other people would find fascinating and cool – like movie shoots and news trucks – just make you mutter under your [...]

You know when you really, really want something and then you get it… and then it’s even better than you’d hoped?  That sums up my experience at my very first book signing. [...]

I’m starting to get more emails now from people I don’t know who have heard about my book but don’t know me personally. One yesterday sort of blew my mind. Subject line, [...]

There is a wonderful scene in the 1939 film version of Wuthering Heights (I was a weird kid – I absolutely adored this movie) in which Heathcliff and Catherine sneak on to the grounds of [...]

Going to the American Library Association Midwinter conference? The fun is already getting underway! Check out this handy guide from School Library Journal. (And see information about my Saturday [...]

Kirkus  calls THE SECRET SIDE OF  EMPTY, “empathetic yet  gritty.” Read the full review here.

Waiting for reviews of your book to come in is like sending your baby off to kindergarten and then waiting all day to find out if she cried and was miserable or made friends and had fun. [...]

Are you following me on Twitter yet?  No?  Don’t worry, neither is anyone else.  I have an anemic 136 followers (way better than the  50-something I had a few weeks  ago) but I definitely [...]

T-minus four days and counting until my very first book signing at American Library Association’s Midwinter meeting.  Excited!  And wondering… what if no one shows up?  Argh.  Not [...]

I’ve been watching Mad Men (finally, I know) as part of an assignment for a TV writing workshop I’m taking.  I like its complicated and moody characters and the struggle of women on [...]

My dears: I am being totally remiss in my commitment to post on here once a day, but it is not for lack of desire, I promise!  Being 53 days away from publication of Secret Side means I am doing [...]

As I learn how to get the word out about The Secret Side of Empty I grow more and more grateful for Goodreads, the social networking site for readers. Imagine a website full of people who love [...]

Things are moving really fast as we get closer to the publication date of The Secret Side of Empty.  Here’s a recap: 1.  The book was chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection, a big honor [...]

What cures the scandal that arises when your people capriciously cause massive traffic snarls in one of the world’s most traffic-beleaguered towns as political payback? Well, if [...]

I live in the next town just west of Fort Lee.  Whenever there is a traffic jam “under the buildings”  that are built on air on the New York side of the George Washington Bridge or [...]

Color me happy!  I just got word that The Secret Side of Empty was chosen as a Junior Library Guild book, which is a big honor.  Junior Library Guild gets books into libraries and has an amazing [...]

So TSSOE is off to the printers and today I just got the FINAL final cover.  I’ve grabbed a screenshot for you. Why is it special?  Oh, besides everything, the picture of me was taken by my [...]

My fabulous publisher has given me a few advance review copies of the novel to give away.  Interested in getting a copy well before it hits bookstores in March?  Well, you’re in luck. All [...]

I refer to Dictionary.com often, because just as I’m about to use a word I’ve used a thousand times I sometimes ask myself: does this really mean exactly what I want it to mean here? [...]

“I am like the blot test of heritage. People see what they want to see.” M.T. “You can’t judge people by who they’re related to. I am the poster child for that.” M.T. “He hugs me, and I feel the [...]

I am a Real Writer.  All caps like that.  Not too long ago, I realized I’d been one since I wrote in my diary, at twelve years old, “Most of all, I want to be a writer.”  My [...]

A while back, my daughter wanted to eat something in one of those rare cans that didn’t have a pop-top. She came into the living room, can in left hand, can opener sideways on the top of [...]

Where I am, today it is 18 degrees.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Cold enough without any further explanation.  Or, god forbid, wind chill. Anyone who knows me knows I have a low tolerance for [...]

…watching blankets of gorgeous, powdery snow from a warm and toasty house. …having kids old enough to help shovel. …having said kids not grumble once about helping. [...]

Chelsea is golden-haired, rich, drives a BMW and attracts guys without trying.  Also, she’s a great best friend to M.T., the main character. Chelsea first caught M.T.’s attention in [...]