The blog of author Matthew J. Kirby

Category: Writing

  • A bunch of stuff!

    I’ve been very, very busy lately, and I’m just poking my head up for a moment to say that yes, I am alive, before dropping back under. (Although. I am on twitter, now, and I am able to update there a lot more frequently than here, FYI.) In the past few weeks I’ve written the…

  • Zombie Cats, Some Pretty Scenery, and a Red Dawn

    I’ve been researching quantum theory recently, and by “research” I mean that I’m trying to wrap my math-challenged head around something that is even more amazing, disturbing, and shocking than I thought it was. Things (very small things) really can be in two places at once. The observation of something writes the history of that…

  • The Quantum League! And some other stuff.

    First things first. The news is out, so I’m excited to announce my next writing project. From Publishers Weekly: Lisa Sandell at Scholastic Press has acquired a three-book middle-grade fantasy series called The Quantum League by Matthew J. Kirby, author of The Clockwork Three and Icefall. In the series, two best friends fight modern-day magicians…

  • One More Spot

    Really quick, I just wanted to let everyone know that one of the spots in my Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers workshop has opened back up. So if you wanted to take my class, but didn’t get in, now is your chance. And let me also take a moment to once again recommend the…

  • Infinity Ring

    I’ve recently mentioned a secret project I’ve been involved with, and I am excited to finally announce it. But before I talk about it, The New York Times just ran a piece on it, which I would recommend reading first. You can find it here. If you want to track down the print version, it’s…

  • Images of Icefall

    Writers often use a variety of tricks to get into the stories they’re writing, things that help us to enter the world of the story and make it real. For example, some writers clip pictures from magazines and other places to help them visualize characters or settings. Others use music, a song that perfectly and…

  • Music of Icefall

    In anticipation of the release of my next novel, Icefall, I thought I would share some of the music from which I drew inspiration while writing it. Like a lot of authors, I have a few tricks I use to help me enter into the world of the story I’m telling, and music plays a…

  • One month away!

    I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this, since I mention it to everyone these days, but I am under deadline. And being under deadline, I have learned that deadlines are an effective way to time-travel. As they approach, time speeds up, bringing them rapidly closer, and before you know it you’re in the future and they’re…

  • 2011 SCBWI Annual Summer Conference

    Earlier this month I went to the annual summer conference of the SCBWI, and I had a wonderful time. It’s always great to catch up with old friends, some of whom I only see once a year at the conference. Lin Oliver and Steve Mooser pulled out all the stops this year in celebration of…

  • Where did July go?

    I knew it had been a while since I posted anything new to the blog, but I was honestly surprised to see that it’s been almost a month since my last entry.  That was followed quickly by the surprise that the month of July is nearly over.  I don’t know where it went.  But the…