Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: B Magical

14 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf, , , , , , , , ,

This story is proof that good things can come in small packages!  B Magical: The Missing Magic is a slim little book, and the story’s not terribly complex, but it packs a lot of fun into those pages.  My favorite bit was undoubtably the hamster, which you can see there on the cover, looking like he’s

READ MORE

Funny Friday Faceoff: the funny thing about humor writing

1 CommentFriday Funny Faceoff, Just for Laughs, , , , , , , , , ,

This week in my online humor class, several of us felt a bit like Grumpy Cat does every day– And a few students were even thinking of throwing in the towel.  Not a pretty towel, either.  This towel. Because the truth is that humor writing is hard.  And sometimes humiliating.  Which…is actually kind of funny, when you

READ MORE

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Letters From Rapunzel

15 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf, , , , , , , , , , , ,

My latest middle grade project, Pandora’s Popcorn Potion, is a kind of fractured fairy tale, so I picked this up after I finished the first draft to see what my comps are doing.  I thought it would be light and sassy–which it was–but had no idea it would also bring tears to my eyes!  After finishing it, I

READ MORE

Friday Funny Faceoff–Shutting it All Down

Friday Funny Faceoff, Just for Laughs

The most amusing part of the shutdown for me personally is that I can’t dredge up a single memory of the last time.  It was in winter of 95/96, and lasted for several months over Christmas.  But, I was getting married in February of ’96 and had other things on my mind.  Of course I’m

READ MORE

Why the Carolinas have the Best SCBWI Conference

3 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, Writing, , , , ,

First there’s the obvious reason–’cause we rock!  Then there’s our tireless (I swear, she really doesn’t appear to have a ‘tired’ setting!) RA Teresa Fannin, and all our great PAL members that are super generous with their time.  But let me share a few of the highlights from the conference speakers–just a few–and you decide for

READ MORE

Luke’s hand, Darth Vader, and Story Core

9 CommentsTween the Weekend, , , , , , , ,

I’ve been having deep writerly thoughts–or I think I have.  Maybe they’re just morbid.  But, they’re all centered on Star Wars, so bad can they be?  I mean, a series of movies with a man-eating hole, a nasty ‘thing’ living in a garbage chute that’s going to squish you alive, and a bad guy who wants

READ MORE

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: The Cheshire Cheese Cat

1 CommentMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf, , , , , ,

This book was soo much fun!  It really was the kind of book you can’t recommend highly enough–and it’s rather telling that when I brought it home I was already a few pages in ’cause I’d read a bit in the car…and didn’t read another word for several days. How is that high praise, you’d

READ MORE