covid-19 Notes From My Isolation (At the end of this post, I have some suggestions for creativity and self development during isolation. If you are not interested in my own experiences/reflections, please feel free to skip straight there.) Like many of you, I am self-isolating. As a freelancer and stay-at-home mom, my work life
author interview Author Interview: Sofiya Pasternack I’ve been using my writing time lately to meet some grant and contest deadlines, so I got behind on posting this interview I did for New Moon Girls with Sofiya Pasternack, author of Anya and the Dragon. One thing I love about doing these interviews is that they always
Fairy Tales Young Writers Conference: Retold Fairy Tales This week I gave three presentations on retold fairy tales to elementary and middle-school students at the Conference for Young Writers at SMSU in Marshall, Minnesota. I have very fond memories of this conference, so it’s fun to be able to “give back.” It was the CYW I attended
grants My Writing Resolutions: 2020 Edition It’s been a bit of a tradition for me since I was a teenager to make “writing resolutions” every year. This year, I have two. 1. To submit my middle-grade novel taking place during the 2008 recession to at least 10 places — presses and/or agents. 2. To apply
291 Interview With Author Melissa Hart If you love books (and if you don’t, I’m not really sure what you’re doing here), you might want to check out the Luna’s Reading Corner interview I did for New Moon Girls with author Melissa Hart. Melissa wrote Better with Books: 500 Diverse Books to
291 Next Up: My Year of Expanded Reading About a year and a half ago, I listened to an episode of Writing Excuses called “Reading Outside the Box” in which Mary Robinette Kowal gave the following “homework” to listeners (paraphrased): Look at your bookshelf. Determine the type of author you tend to read. Then spend a whole year
appearances My Appearance at Books on Third The Marshall Area Fine Arts Council (MAFAC) recently opened/rebranded Books on Third, a gift shop that sells awesome artwork, jewelry, and BOOKS by local and regional authors. I was honored to be one of the authors invited to attend the grand opening. I went through the store’s stock
Book Reviews The Line Between: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia My rating: 5 of 5 stars What I loved about this book was the way that it portrayed the creative process. Zappia GETS IT when it comes to the desire to escape into an imaginary world, when it comes to that world feeling
books Wanted: A Speaker for the Dead As my husband drove me to work the Monday after his father died, I said, “I wish we had a Speaker for the Dead for your dad.” He said, “I was thinking the exact same thing.” In Orson Scott Card’s novel of the same name, the second in the
identity Finding My Writer's Identity Post-Baby Last week, I had my writers group meeting in Arizona. This may not seem unusual, unless you know that two members of my writers group live in Minnesota and that I live in South Dakota. The fourth member retired to Arizona, and we’ve always talked about having one of
fairy tales Rumpled Book Talk A few weeks ago, I traveled back to my hometown to give a talk about my Rumpelstiltskin retelling, Rumpled, as part of the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council (MAFAC’s) read local series, which hosts book discussions with local authors. A recording of the talk is below. In the talk,
Book Reviews Fairy Tale Book Review: Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book was similar in quality to “A Whole New World,” but because I don’t have the same abiding affection for Sleeping Beauty, it did not get the same (perhaps unwarranted) rating inflation. It reminds me
Book Reviews Fairy Tale Book Review: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is one of the best Maguire books I’ve read, right up there with the first couple Oz retellings (I only read the first two but heard the later ones weren’t as good.) Similar
Book Reviews Fairy Tale Book Review: Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue My rating: 4 of 5 stars So I guess I knew who Emma Donoghue was before she was “cool” (i.e., pre-ROOM), since this book has been on my shelf FOREVER … but I didn’t actually read it till
Book Reviews Abandoned Writing Book: The Author Training Manual by Nina Amir The Author Training Manual: Develop Marketable Ideas, Craft Books That Sell, Become the Author Publishers Want, and Self-Publish Effectively by Nina Amir My rating: 2 of 5 stars Officially creating a DNF shelf and adding this one to it. After a two-year hiatus from this book, I have finally accepted
books How Early Motherhood Has Changed My Reading Life Ten days ago, I became a mother when my son was lifted out of my abdomen behind a curtain, his cries filling the room and my heart welling up with relief. It was a long labor — 30 hours by the time he arrived — fraught with run-of-the-mill complications — meconium in the
reading Response to Goodreads Author Question - My Summer Reading List Goodreads asked Lacey Louwagie: What books are on your summer reading list this year? Lacey Louwagie Well … I’m expecting my first child in July, so my summer reading list is basically a crash course in parenting and domesticity. The stack consists of “Hypnobirthing” by Marie Mongan; “How to Raise
100 Tomorrow is Nov. 1. Enough Said. Tonight is my last night of freedom, and I’m nursing a moderate migraine (yes, I get enough migraines to classify the severest of all headaches into severity classifications …) that interferes with my ability to either a) enjoy it, or b) frantically try to get all the things done that
abuse The Underside of Imagination in Panther Yesterday I finished reading Panther by Brecht Evens. It’s an artsy graphic novel that can be read in about an hour — a deceptively short amount of time, considering how impossible it is to shake once you’ve read it. In my exploration of the book, I’m going to
mental illness Responsible Handling of Mental Health in YA Literature Last weekend my husband and I attended NerdCon: Stories in Minneapolis. The first session I went to was titled “Mental Health in Young Adult Literature,” and it was presented by Amanda MacGregor with Teen Librarian Toolbox — a GREAT resource for those working in teen services or anyone who cares about
imagination Writing and "Tulpamancy" At the end of August, Reply All ran a podcast episode called “Making Friends” that has been haunting me since I listened to it on a long drive a couple weeks ago. The episode follows Shea, a 30-year-old woman who says she was about to commit suicide at age 16,
Arabian Nights Retelling Book Review: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is a first novel, and it feels like one. The prose is overwritten and tends toward the purple, and it resorts to using the same descriptions far too often. Like, we don’t need to
artist dates Interactive Fiction: Is it Real Literature? Last weekend was South Dakota’s annual Festival of Books, a free event that draws together authors and readers from across the state and beyond. There are always plenty of sessions that are of use to writers, and a bunch that are like crack to readers, and I always walk
Book Reviews Writing Book Review: Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life by Natalie Goldberg My rating: 4 of 5 stars Around the Year Reading Challenge Item #21: A book from the Goodreads recommendations page The philosophy behind this book is pretty much the same as that powering Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer
Book Reviews Retelling Book Review: Longbourn by Jo Baker Longbourn by Jo Baker My rating: 4 of 5 stars I think the people who dislike this book because they don’t like the way Elizabeth or other Bennets act in it really need to venture out of their protective bubble. There’s a reason the characters in Longbourn are
