Book Club Update

Don't forget, tomorrow is the next meeting of the Up and Writing Book Club for Tamora Pierce's MELTING STONES. We'll discuss the first and second sections of the book, up to the end of chapter 11. If you haven't read that far, don't worry; the discussion will mostly center on the fist five or six chapters. RHDavis

Fall Reading in YA Lit

Everyone thinks of summer as the time to lie back with a good book. We see advertisements for "great summer reads" each May. But what about fall? No one advertises "great autumn reads." Granted, students start back to school in the fall and thus have less time for free reading. But that shouldn't stop them! Free reading is still important, and there are plenty of shorter YA books out there that...

Make Money Blogging–Review

I subscribe to Daniel Scocco's Daily Blog Tips site, which provides a wealth of information on everything bloggish. He recently published an e-book called MAKE MONEY BLOGGING which I downloaded free as a subscriber. As blogging for a living isn't my exact goal, I didn't expect the book to be of much interest; I assumed it would focus on advertising and financial strategies. But I was pleasantly...

A Painless Rejection Letter–Does Such A Thing Exist?

Yes, you heard it here first, folks. I got a rejection letter (er, e-mail) that actually wasn't painful. Here's why. One year ago this summer, I sent a proposal of my then-unfinished novel FLYNN to a publishing house. I had connections through a writer's conference, and expected to hear back promptly. Nothing happened for months. Over time, I came to assume that they didn't want the thing, so I...