Updates and blog – Page 25

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: The Tales of Hans Christian Andersen

28OctoberSuzanne4 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf

For years I’ve neglected these tales.Â I read some of them, of course, but the classes I took and my independent research has always steered me toward the ‘authentic’ folk tales gathered by the Grimms and their likes.Â Well, I’m glad I broke that trend.Â This book was lovely!Â The version I read was translated

Funny Friday will be Faceplanting…and morphing into Flash Friday

25OctoberSuzanne9 CommentsFlash Friday, Writing

If you’re a regular of the blog (I know there’s at least one or twoÂ of you!) I’m sure you noticed that last Friday we didn’t get a Funny Faceoff…and we won’t be having anymore.Â As it happened, last week I read a postÂ by the fabulousÂ Roni Loren, who dealt with a copyright suit after sharing a

Howling at the Meanies

23OctoberSuzanne8 CommentsThe Human Condition, Tween the Weekend

What is the deal with Halloween–what does it mean to you?Â Is it the chance to eat so much candy you’ll be up in the middle of the night wishing you could puke?Â Only to sneak into your younger brother’s room and start on his? Or do you spendÂ weeks figuring out (and better yet, sewing!)

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: B Magical

21OctoberSuzanne14 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The BookshelfB Magical, books, fun, lexi connor, magic, middle grade, review, spotlight, stories, story

This story is proof that good things can come in small packages!Â 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.Â My favoriteÂ bit was undoubtably the hamster, which you can see there on the cover, looking like he’s

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Bliss, by Kathryn Littlewood

14OctoberSuzanne7 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf

The Bliss family owns a bakery in a charming little town where they know everyone and everyone loves their baked goods.Â They also happen to be magical bakers–whenÂ a little boy is electrocuted, they save him by bottling lighting and mixing it up in a special cake–which means they’re pretty handy to have around.Â And, everybody

Funny Friday Faceoff: the funny thing about humor writing

11OctoberSuzanne1 CommentFriday Funny Faceoff, Just for Laughsbook, funny friday, government shutdown, grumpy cat, humor, humor award, jokes, laugh, novel, writers, writing

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

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Letters From Rapunzel

7OctoberSuzanne15 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, The Bookshelf#mmgm, cat, character, fractured fairy tale, funny, humor, joke, kitty, laugh, letters from rapunzel, marvelous middle grade monday, review, spotlight

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

Friday Funny Faceoff–Shutting it All Down

4OctoberSuzanneFriday Funny Faceoff, Just for Laughscongress shutdown funny friday jokes humor laugh funny west wing episode Mr. monk garbage strike

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

Why the Carolinas have the Best SCBWI Conference

30SeptemberSuzanne3 CommentsMarvelous Middle Grades, Writingchildren's publishing, dan yaccarino, illustrating, scbwi carolinas, scbwi regional conference, writing

First there’s the obvious reason–’cause we rock!Â 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.Â But let me share a few of the highlights from the conference speakers–just a few–andÂ you decide for

Funny Friday Faceplant…conference nerves edition

27SeptemberSuzanne3 CommentsFriday Funny Faceoff, Just for Laughsaward, conference, fall, funny friday, humor, scbwi carolinas writing award

In a day or two I’ll be recieving my first-ever award as an adult–third place in the SCBWI Carolinas Writing Contest.Â This is possibly my first award in my life that I cared about at all, and I think also the first award that wasn’t passed out in a very homey setting, amongst people I

Suzanne Warr

Narrative designer, game designer, author

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