Bunk, Hoaxes and Cultural Appropriation: Lessons for the Writer

When I realized the length of Kevin Young’s Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts and Fake News, I decided I’d listen to it on audiobook. I’d read a positive review of it in the LA Times and … Continued

Ignite Your Creative Process with Author Advice Books

I broke my toe recently and didn’t feel much like walking for a few days. To avoid wasting the down time, I decided to read several books I’d seen recommended for writers (some specifically for fiction writers) in a variety … Continued

Publishing Advice, Publishing Experiences, and Elevator Pitches

Last week I wrote about the three keynote addresses at the Ontario Teen Book Fest on March 9, 2019. (See that post here). The day continued with more advice from and fun with multiple YA authors in breakout sessions as … Continued

The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Literary Quality YA

The film The Miseducation of Cameron Post based on the  YA novel of the same name won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival. I’m naive enough about the judgment of critics to think that this meant they would all … Continued

Tim Winton’s “Breath” as exemplary lyricism and storytelling

Because I am something of a media moron, I just found out that Tim Winton’s short novel Breath has been made into a movie directed by Simon Baker and was released on June 1. In an interview for FilmInk Magazine, … Continued

Interview Gabrielle Prendergast: Sci-Fi, Setting, Music

Gabrielle Prendergast I interviewed Gabrielle Prendergast, children’s and YA author, recently. Her newest novel is Zero Repeat Forever, which is Book I of The Nahx Invasion. She teaches screenwriting and creative writing and has written for television, print, and online. She … Continued

Moby-Dick: The birth of the great white whale engenders thoughts about staging fiction

Today is the anniversary of the publication of Moby-Dick in 1851. So I was thinking about that novel when I happened to read Jane Friedman’s blog post “What Writers can Learn about Voice from Opera.” * While these two things … Continued