Category: Writing

  • Editing and Consulting

    I love working with other writers on their stories. I’ve participated in my own critique group for about ten years. I’ve done mentorships and manuscript critiques through online programs. I’ve taught numerous intensive workshops. I love creative collaboration, and talking story, and problem-solving. I enjoy it so much that I’d like to try something, namely…

  • On Sexual Harassment in the World of Children’s Literature

    Though mostly silent on social media these days, I am aware of the earthquake taking place in the kidlit world. That’s the most accurate metaphor I can think of to describe this long overdue upending of the status quo. It’s the kind of event that leaves everyone shaken, and makes you question things you had…

  • Ursula K. Le Guin

    “Only for a moment did the spirit glimmer there. Then the sallow oval between Ged’s arms grew bright. It widened and spread, a rent in the darkness of the earth and night, a ripping open of the fabric of the world. Through it blazed a terrible brightness. And through that bright misshapen breach clambered something…

  • WARNING: This Post Contains My High School Art

    My, my, my. It has been a long time since I posted anything here, which is how I think 99.89 percent of blog entries begin nowadays. But on a whim I think I’ll post something today. I’ve been feeling the urge to draw lately. Well, I’ve been feeling it for the past couple of years,…

  • Assassin’s Creed!

    So, the word is out now, and I can finally talk about something I’ve been up to since last year. I’ll be writing an original YA Assassin’s Creed series, which is incredible, and to help me out with everyone’s questions, I’ve asked the made-of-straw, ever-inquisitive FAQman to join us. Hey, FAQman! Hey. Listen, I’ve got…

  • A Taste for Monsters cover reveal!

    Back in 2010, I was at the annual ALA conference in Washington D.C., and my editor, Lisa, and I had left the conference to do some exploring at the Smithsonian. As we walked along the National Mall, I told her about an idea for a book that featured the Elephant Man and Jack the Ripper,…

  • Cover reveal! The Arctic Code

    I’m really excited to reveal the cover to my next middle grade novel The Arctic Code, which is the first book in The Dark Gravity Sequence, coming from Balzer + Bray at HarperCollins. This adventure series takes place in the near future, and sees the earth frozen in a modern Ice Age, the key to which lies in…

  • A Halloween Post

    It was Halloween over the weekend, which was appropriate to the book I’m currently writing. It’s a Victorian horror novel, and will be for a much older, YA audience than my usual, middle grade books. It’s been a new and interesting challenge to write, and I have to say I’ve creeped myself out a couple…

  • Books written, books yet to be written.

    The books I have written may explain why I haven’t written an entry here in quite some time. Since I last posted, I’ve written the next Quantum League book, the sequel to Spell Robbers, and did a rewrite on the first installment in an SF/adventure series I’m doing for Harper Collins. I’m really excited about both, and I’m…

  • Infinity Ring!

    Hey, everyone! I’m relieved and excited to say that I have finished my installment in the Infinity Ring series, which is book #5, and will be out this fall. This series has been so fun to work on. Books 1 and 2, by James Dashner and Carrie Ryan, have both been bestsellers, and I’m so…