The Lucy Variations is about Lucy Beck-Moreau. As the book opens, Lucy is a sixteen-year-old former world-class pianist, and current…well, that’s the question. When your identity has been entirely constructed around one thing for as long as you can remember, … Keep reading
Category Archives: Blog
Default category for blog posts
Short and scattershot
At my coffeeshop of choice, I’m always compelled to rearrange the figurines. Last five books I’ve read: House of Rumour Life Begins At Incorporation A + E 4ever Silhouette of a Sparrow Why Don’t You…? Diana Vreeland: the Bazaar … Keep reading
Driftwood
Do you see the eye? A bird head in this one. Reaching hands. Smiling dog-head. Other people, I am given to understand, go to the beach and look at the ocean. I do that too. But I cannot resist the … Keep reading
In which Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan and Laini Taylor are smart.
Yesterday Laini Taylor and I went to Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan‘s Portland tour stop. It was in the midst of a mall. The large, enthusiastic crowd blended seamlessly with the people bringing small children to have photos taken … Keep reading
Poison is coming.
If you’re anywhere near Portland, please join me and many other friends of Bridget Zinn for a launch event for POISON at A Children’s Place Bookstore, 6 PM Saturday March 16th.
Sometimes yoga is about writing
It is kind of springlike around these parts. I returned from elsewhere, also known as Salt Lake City, where I was fortunate enough to enjoy the hospitality of Ms. Sara Zarr. We recorded an episode of her This Creative Life … Keep reading
Away, away
I am elsewhere for the next little while. Elsewhere has dramatic vistas. But mostly instead of appreciating the vistas I am looking at this very screen, with the Internet off. And, you know, typing words in my Scrivener window.
Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked: storytelling lessons from Avatar the Last Airbender
I’d been hearing praise for Avatar: the last Airbender (link is to the show’s Wikipedia entry, so if you’re new to the show, ‘ware spoilers) for a long time before I finally started watching. Once I did, I couldn’t stop. As with … Keep reading
You run your railroad.
You run your railroad. My mom has told me this, regularly, since I began the (never-finished) process of growing up. Apparently it was a phrase her dad said to her a lot, too. What does it mean? Nobody else should … Keep reading
Two things I learned in 2012
1. Sometimes you only discover you’re overextending yourself by snapping. 2. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stretch; quite the opposite.
Five things make a post
1. If something in your car is intermittently making a shrieking sound it is a good idea to get it looked at because it may indicate for instance that you only have five percent functionality in your front brakes. 2. … Keep reading
Holidays are hard.
Years ago at Thanksgiving I invented the Rockwell Deviance Quotient, intended to measure how far off your celebrations fall from the heartwarming variety depicted in his work. I wrote about it then in a slightly jokey tone, and have referenced … Keep reading
Production and consumption
So I’m trying this thing, “Don’t Break The Chain,” which is impossible not to instantly connect to the ominous warnings accompanying the eponymous letters. But this time I really don’t want to break it, because the concept is that every day … Keep reading
Juvenilia: Pegasus the Wonder Horse
So, I recently discovered — or rediscovered, technically — that I got an early start with comics. Adventure comics, to be precise. Peagusus the Wonder Horse. (Part of his wonder, as you will see, consists in changing color from panel … Keep reading
Spinach soup with some other stuff in it.
There is not a picture because we ate it all. It is a somewhat tweaked version of this soup. Ingredients: All that spinach I shoved in the freezer because it was about to go bad; approximately 2 6-ounce packages of … Keep reading
Beyond Judy Blume: followup
There were a lot of other things going on last night — I would’ve been at the Sister Spit event if I could’ve been in two places at once — so thanks to everyone who came to Beyond Judy Blume: … Keep reading
Beyond Judy Blume Community Forum
Hey Portland area friends, you around 11/8? Are identity and sexuality in YA literature relevant to your interests? Then come to Beyond Judy Blume: an interactive community forum about identity and sexuality in YA literature with an interdisciplinary panel of educators … Keep reading
Answering the downside
Scanning my comment spam, I ran across the following: “This really answered my downside.” It’s one of those bot sentences that hovers on the border of nonsensical and profound, and it made me want to figure out what “answering the … Keep reading
When the truth is told
If you were to judge strictly by this blog, you might assume that I have been on a nonstop writing marathon since my last entry, now that I have a designated room and everything. This is, alas, not the case. … Keep reading
A room of one’s own
Today is my first day with a room in which to write. It’s not my first dedicated writing space. But I’ve never had one with a door that shuts, until now. I am not yet in the room as I … Keep reading
In which Susan Fletcher is generous.
A little over a month ago I went to hear Susan Fletcher speak. I’ve been carrying around the handout from her talk, “25 Tips/25 Years: What I’ve Learned About Writing In the Quarter Century Since I Sold My First Novel” … Keep reading
Unforeseen consequences
Four days in a row, we overslept. It was mysterious; the alarm was set, the radio functioning. This morning, I finally figured out why. The alarm was properly set for 6 AM. The time was set twelve hours off. See, … Keep reading
Moody detours
Lately I’m feeling prone to moody detours. By definition, detours take us out of our way. They prolong our journeys, routing us through places we hadn’t anticipated visiting. When we encounter a detour, work is often in progress to address … Keep reading
Interview with Kio Stark, author of Follow Me Down
I started following Kio Stark’s writing on her blog, Municipal Archive, and loved her novel, Follow Me Down. My capsule description: noir where the antihero and the femme fatale are the same person. She was kind enough to answer some questions below. … Keep reading
Getaway. Or not, as the case may be.
Last weekend was supposed to be a getaway, and it was, for a while. But there are some things you can’t get away from. Being in a lovely place when those things once more demand your attention feels like a … Keep reading