Writing

A friend wrote me to point out that I am right at the top of the “Awards” page in the Bulletin for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.  (Gotta love that [...]

Starting Wednesday, October 1st I’ll be hosting a new critique group for writers working on young adult novels.  We’ll be gathering in southern Bergen County (NJ) and are aiming to [...]

The days are zooming by and I’m loving this positivity challenge.  I’ve been pretty grateful for the life I’m able to live for some time now.  Spending time focusing on it truly [...]

Yesterday, still feeling the glow of Day 1 of my positivity challenge, I went into my Google Drive to look up old resources from classes and books I’ve read on the subject of positive [...]

I am not much of a joiner.  Just the other day I got tagged (twice) in the ubiquitous ice bucket challenge and wrote a bit of a rant about why I won’t participate (mostly dislike of cold [...]

I came home from my hike yesterday all wired up and ready to tackle trimming back this monster runaway rosebushes I’ve been meaning to cut back to make room for iris. I’ve been [...]

Yesterday I was at the gym. I was working on a set of upright rows when I noticed the first guy checking out my butt. I smiled inwardly. The next glance came just a few minutes later. I was doing [...]

My main reaction to the Ferguson situation (besides, of course, great sorrow at the death of an unarmed teenager) has been shock at the actions of the police there and the intimidating array of [...]

One day, it didn’t exist.  The next day it was blowing up all over every Facebook feed and news broadcast.  In case you’ve been in solitary confinement, the ice bucket challenge is [...]

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be doing a workshop, Q&A and signing at the Baltimore County Library with uber-cool fellow authors Jen Malone and Lisa Maxwell on Wednesday, [...]

I’m excited to announce that the phenomenal Books in Common is handling scheduling all my appearances going forward.  Whew!  They represent amazing authors like the New York Times [...]

Someone sent me a somewhat suggestive text yesterday. Fun. Except… I totally missed it. Like a dumbass, I wrote back asking for clarification, missing the point. The poor person had to send [...]

Last night I had a dream that I ran a group home for family-less teen stars and authors and so was tasked with taking care of Shailene Woodley. She had a medical test scheduled and was going to [...]

The official poster is available!  Cleveland area folks, mark your calendars for October 16th and be sure to come out to meet all the awesome writers on this panel.  Be sure to pre-register as [...]

Before you know it the summer flies by and it’s back to school and book promotion again.  I’m lining up lots of dates to come out and meet people and I hope one of those people will [...]

I’m not ashamed to admit I have a Google alert on my name. (Okay, I’m a little ashamed, but confession is good for the soul). It lets me know when anyone mentions my name online. [...]

Here are two awesome things I learned this weekend: 1. Feral chickens are a THING. Don’t ask me why I Googled it but I did. Apparently you can see chickens wandering around wild in places [...]

The hydrangeas are blooming. Backed by a little salvia and some fern fronds it is making my living room coffee table look lovely!

What do Whangarei, New Zealand, Pretoria, South Africa and Den Haag, Netherlands have in common? They all have libraries with a copy of THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY in it. Click here to find THE [...]

There are a lot of reasons to love Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, that fabulous indie bookstore with four locations, and now I have one more. Check out this pic someone tweeted me from [...]

I can’t say I was so much surprised to come across this Fox News story as I was dismayed.  With a title like “Ebola outbreak fuels concerns over health risks along US-Mexico [...]

Many of you may be aware of my beef with my old nemesis, the Port Authority.  A few of you may know that I withdrew from its grimy field of battle a few weeks ago when I found a job that did not [...]

Life is awesome this balmy, gorgeous summer. In no particular order, here are my favorite things this week: My new job. This week has been never-ending in the best possible way. The work is [...]

The first time it happened, I honestly thought it was a Democratic National Committee or Obama email trying to be funny.  You know how Obama’s emails sometimes come from other people, like [...]

I have officially found my new favorite study. It says this:  more intelligent people stay up later than less intelligent people.  Finally, some researchers that make me feel good about a habit [...]

I’m so excited to be appearing on a panel this coming Saturday at the Writers Digest conference in New York City!  But besides being jazzed about participating, I’m also really [...]

There it was: faux leather so good it looked just like the real thing: varying shades of rich brown, buttery (if vaguely plastic-y) feel and nice bounce-back.  The best part was that the couch [...]

Hello loves.  To you who read with regularity, big smooch and thank you.  I have been totally neglecting you and for that I am sorry.  Here’s my feeble half-excuse/half-story: First, I went [...]

The other day, a report of a sexual assault in our town’s recreation center came through on our discussion list.  Despite its proximity to New York City, mine is a sleepy town of 8,000 [...]

I went to my mom’s house yesterday and found her cleaning out her garage.  Although I’ve had my house almost 15 years now, somehow she still had a few of my old boxes of stuff from [...]