I intended to exercise this morning but my pets conspired against me. I haven't exercised for twelve days due to a bout of bronichiitis that shows no sign of improvement. I fear that all my weight-lifting gains are fading fast. Compare me twelve days ago (left) to me now (right): Notice how the glow is gone? Being under the… Continue reading Exercise and Anglerfish
Category: books
Feast and Famine
In 2008, after several years of writing for children, I had the good fortune to sell two manuscripts in the same year: a picture book to Kids Can Press in the spring; and a middle-grade novel to Orca Book Publishers in the fall. I did not understand the bleak book market at that time and I had no idea how… Continue reading Feast and Famine
Hard Work Rewarded
The YA novel I've been working on for the past year, All Good Children, has found its home with Orca Book Publishers. My editor loves it and sold it to her board and they're already asking if there will be a sequel. (And just so you know, my editor rejected other manuscripts in between Walking Backward and this new one.… Continue reading Hard Work Rewarded
Stone by Stone
I am slowly but surely building a novel from my messy draft. Some days I only have time to edit a few pages - slim progress on what seems like an impossibly large job. But even pyramids were built stone by stone, so surely I can finish a book the same way. There are writers for whom editing is not such a huge… Continue reading Stone by Stone
Good News
First, my plane did not crash. (Make that planes, five of them, and not a single one crashed. What luck!) So I am back at home, alive, perfectly able to edit my draft novel/monstrosity before anyone reads it. But after two weeks vacation, I really don't feel like it. We're having a mild spell in central Canada, the days are getting longer… Continue reading Good News
