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: writing
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
Coming Up for Air
Sunday night, I tied up my sneakers and called my younger son to hurry up for drum lessons: "Come on, Dallas, we gotta go!" Strange? Yeah. Because Dallas isn't my kid's name. Nor is it the name of my older son, my husband, dog, cat, nephew, neighbour, or anybody else I talk to regularly and… Continue reading Coming Up for Air
In Defence of Outlines
I’ve met so many writers who don’t outline. They say, “If I knew what was going to happen, I wouldn’t care enough to write the story.” Those words always make me feel odd and out of place, for I am not that way. I outline. My outlines are twenty pages long. Even before I outline,… Continue reading In Defence of Outlines
