Writing

Want to know my idea of a perfect birthday?!  Spending the afternoon talking books with a few hundred of my closest friends. That’s why I was so thrilled to be invited to participate in [...]

I woke up to a pleasant surprise today… sometime overnight my Facebook author page reached 2,000 Likes!  It’s not quite world domination, but it’s a good start. If you have not [...]

This is the view from my front door.  Gorgeous, isn’t it?  I am soaking up appreciation for it.  Although, I’ll confess, I won’t be sad when it melts into daffodils.   [...]

One of my favorite bookstores ever in the history of ever is expanding… and the story of how they got there is great. Hooray for Books in Alexandria, Virginia, hosted me when I was touring [...]

Friday night I went into the city to hang out.  I went to a book reading in Soho, then had dosas for dinner with a new friend after that in a tiny hole-in-the-wall Indian place I absolutely love [...]

Dear, sweet March: Welcome back, my beloved friend. I have been waiting for you.  I am so giddy at your arrival. Month of hope and promises. Month of mud and buds. Month of beginnings, including [...]

It is no secret that I absolutely love working from home.  The freedom, the lack of commute, the ability to pop a load of laundry into the washing machine between conference calls… magic. [...]

Tonight I came back from a business trip kind of beat.  It was a short but intense trip so I was looking forward to having a hot cup of tea in my wonderfully warm, welcoming bed and calling it a [...]

Yesterday someone told me a lie. It was a small and foolish one, badly executed, the kind of lie I could have easily poked holes in if I had been so inclined. It was also unnecessary, a lie meant [...]

Hello, loves.  I have gotten several emails about when I’ll next be signing books so I wanted to write a quick post to acknowledge that I am being a total slug about updating my Events [...]

Last week, the Internet was aflutter that Sports Illustrated had put a “plus size” model in its swimsuit issue.  This week, I keep hearing buzz about Cindy Crawford’s bravery [...]

I was a paper girl when I was a teenager.  Because I was undocumented, I couldn’t get an after school job that required a social security number like some of my friends did.  At the time, [...]

I’ve known for a while that my local library has two copies of my books.  (Not like I’m stalking my book online or anything).  But I’ve never seen it on the shelf because [...]

This morning I watched a kerfuffle erupt on Facebook over the issue of whether to co-sleep or Ferberize. It made me wonder: why are we as women so intent on judging one another? I was an avowed [...]

Oh my goodness, peeps, in a news flash about as instantaneous as a 7th generation turtle bringing you tidings of a little thing called the Black Death, I am here to tell you that my darling Ethan [...]

For years I’ve been the youngest person on my block by about two decades.  As a new mom with small babies I used to envy my girlfriends who, either through luck or better planning, lived on [...]

He’s real.  He’s adorable.  He’s gone viral: click here! 

It is no secret that I am a card-carrying book nerd.  I love to write books, of course.  But, like most writers, I was first an avid reader.  I’m not sure I could list out all the ways in [...]

Last week, the American Library Association gave out its awards for children’s and young adult literature.  Among the winners was Kwame Alexander, whose book The Crossover tells the story [...]

News!  THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY will be released in paperback format in Fall of 2015.  More details as they become available!

As new threats emerge, we keep looking in our rear-view mirror.  Never mind traditional terrorism.  What’s next? I’ll admit to being lulled into a sense of security in the 1990s. The [...]

Let me preface this by saying I did not read any of the Fifty Shades books. I’m not going to watch the movie. Not because I’m offended by the idea of Fifty Shades either as a hater of [...]

There’s a lot of buzz right now about the fact that the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is running its first “plus size” ad. The breathless tone of the story seems to suggest [...]

This morning I fixed a thing.  It won’t get me my own reality show, like “Ice Road Garage Door Fixers” or “Naked, Afraid, but Kicking Butt,” (and, for the record, I [...]

I don’t read as much as I used to.  It’s embarrassing to admit, for someone in the word business.  But life is busy.  I no longer commute by bus, which used to make me a captive for [...]

I love February. Living in the Northeast as I do, this may seem counterintuitive. February is when it’s coldest and snowiest. (It’s snowing as I write this). It’s when people [...]

Yesterday, my daughter pulled a dog-eared copy of Romeo and Juliet from her backpack and sighed, “I have to know what Act One Scene One means by Monday.”  She rolled her eyes without [...]

Lately I’ve gotten into the habit of joking that I have a charmed life.  It can certainly seem that way, with my healthy family, good, steady income, comfortable house and the achievement [...]

Today is my eldest child’s fifteenth birthday. The birthdays of my offspring make me think about a lot of things, ranging from what the appropriate present might be to planning the [...]

Have you ever wished that there was a resource to help readers find children’s and teen stories that are about more than blond princesses and white action heroes?  So have the folks over at [...]