Writing

The other day I went to register at one of those sites that requires that you choose security questions in case you forget your password.  I have always found these vexing, but as they wander [...]

What’s nerdy and bookish and Tweets all over?  Me!  Follow me on Twitter since I’m on there more than I am on here.  (Usually, kinda).  Click here.

Only eight days left until THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY is released in audio format.  If you prefer to listen to your books instead of lug around paper, then now’s your chance to hear this [...]

I am so humbled and grateful for the great support School Library Journal has shown THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY.  From including it in its “What’s Hot in YA” list to writing a [...]

… I will meet you there. I am loving me some Rumi right now.  Here’s the whole thing: Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.When the [...]

I start my new job on July 28th.  I’m so excited on many levels (it’s Director-level, I am really loving the vibe of the place, they recruited me, the work sounds awesome), but most [...]

Color me happy!  I’ve finished writing book # 2.  Of course, when I say “finished writing it” I mean it is now a cohesive story and what an editor would probably consider a [...]

If you haven’t yet had a chance to buy your copy, you can check out whether THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY is a book for you by reading the first chapter.  This fun sneak peak from Google Books [...]

If I could curl up in this position, I would probably never leave the house. #ferretpictures  

For years I have been in love with garden follies.  What are garden follies, you ask?  They are magical structures often meant to look like old ruins but which are just decorative little bits of [...]

With child migrants in the news, I was happy to see this great list of books for kids and teens about migrants and immigration impact on author Meg Medina’s website.  I was even happier to [...]

Here is what is tickling my fancy this summer: The Leftovers – a new HBO series based on the Tom Perrotta novel.  I have a quirky connection to Tom Perrotta (see below for the story), so I [...]

Every place I’ve visited on my book tour has been special.  Atlas DIY was special in a unique way and I will always remember the evening I spent there. Atlas DIY is a wonderful non-profit [...]

I have kind of fallen asleep on the job of posting about all the great times I’ve had on my book tour.  Here is a great picture of me at Moravian Bookstore in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  They [...]

I’m stoked to be working with FWD.US, the Mark Zuckerberg (of Facebook fame) initiative for immigration reform. One June 30th I’ll be taking part in a panel entitled [...]

I’ll be at the Perry Author Festival in lovely Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday, October 16th.  I hope to meet you there if you’re in the area.  Mark you calendar! I’ll post a flyer [...]

One day, my left windshield wiper inexplicably stopped working. It spazzed out a little, made some jerky motions and sort of hovered in the middle of its trajectory. The other wiper, dumb and not [...]

It is no secret that I hate commuting into New York City.  There are many things about it that are soul-sucking: the crowds, the wait.  But probably worst of all is the awful, disjointed public [...]

Two very important events will be happening this coming June 14th. The first is that it’s the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner.  To celebrate, on Flag Day the Smithsonian will [...]

The other day I was out to lunch at Whole Foods with my brother, when I cracked open some supplements I had bought and began to dilute them with water.  I’ve been having unspecified stomach [...]

I have had a crush on the Prince of Spain since I was a little girl and lived there for six months at the age of seven.  I mean… who wouldn’t want to marry a prince?  The old ladies, [...]

The other day I went to one of my favorite spots on Earth: the Cloisters gardens.  The Cloisters is part of the Metropolitan Museum system and is the only museum in the United States dedicated [...]

It’s live!  It’s a real thing.  (Or, at least, it’s live in the sense that it’s telling us it will be live July 22nd). How long does it take to read a 336 page book aloud? [...]

… mad. Still just so darn mad about this shooting in California. I want to jump on the bandwagon and start mouthing off about “not one more,” but who am I kidding? There will be [...]

The twittersphere has reacted to the mysoginistic details of the Santa Barbara mass killing with the #YesAllWomen campaign. The name of the hashtag is as a response to the #NotAllMen [...]

I don’t know if this is the first of dozens of posts (it certainly could be), but I see a lot of weird and silly things on my way into New York. Or maybe it’s just this one. This bus [...]

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to visit Friends Select, a a wonderful school in Philly. One of the best parts was the interview with a select number of students. I here I am with my [...]

I was really excited to be approached by an organization named Atlas DIY.  I’ll be visiting them in Brooklyn on June 24th to have a chat with their book club.  Click here for details. [...]

I am tired of seeing parents on TV crying about their gunned-down children. I am tired of hearing people say that we really should do something about guns in this country after every horrific [...]

Besides all the usual Memorial Day weekend activities (a parade, visiting my mom, hanging out with friends), I had an amazing weekend. The reason? I wrote 15,000 words on my work in progress. To [...]