the unrecognizable expression

You know what I hate in books? When an author says: “a look she didn’t recognize crossed his face.” There are a dozen different variations on this but the essence is: someone is feeling something but the first person protagonist can’t make sense of it. It’s understandable – the book is written in first person […]

April 27, 2012 | Posted in Books
I’m the one that’s cool

When I first read Joel Stein’s dismissive of YA literature I admittedly bristled, much like Alyssa’s reaction at Think Progress. But then I looked a little closer as research for this post. First of all, this is part of a discussion by The New York Times on YA fiction, so while Stein is entitled to […]

April 5, 2012 | Posted in Books
persistent, irrational doubts

I so needed to hear this this morning. I was driving in to work this morning wondering why I’m having such a hard time writing this second book of mine. Why am I resisting something I enjoy doing so much? Am I really even a writer, as I supposed? Was writing the first one just […]

February 6, 2012 | Posted in Craft, Story Courses
DNF Scale

When I was younger I always finished books. Required reading doesn’t count in that statement because who really *wants* to read all of The Portrait of Dorian Gray when you can get the gist of it from class discussion? And ok I am a little bit curious to actually read it now. Anyway, when I […]

January 1, 2012 | Posted in Books
sensory deprivation

Despite my previous blog about e-books and my entire point of view on them, this weekend I read my first e-book. And I *loved* the story. didn’t love the format so much. Theoretically, I adore e-books (and absolutely stand by my assertion that publishers should make them wildly available). I like having my entire library […]

December 5, 2011 | Posted in Books
Cover Dilemmas

It took me an entire year to getting around to read The Night Circus. I first heard about it in Jan/2010 and it sounded interesting but between the cover and the description I didn’t find anything terribly compelling about it. It probably would have sat around waiting to be read for another year if I […]

December 4, 2011 | Posted in Books
Jane Austen for a new generation

HarperTeen has recently released four Jane Austen classics with Twilight-esque covers. They’ve also released Wuthering Heights and Romeo & Juliet with similar covers.

November 20, 2011 | Posted in Books
the place where fairy tales and super heroes meet

I just finished reading book two in the Sword of Truth series, Stone of Tears. and it’s got me thinking. [If you haven’t read Stone of Tears you should stop right now because what follows is full of spoilers. If you have, or if you never plan on reading it than proceed…] Because awful, awful, […]

October 13, 2011 | Posted in Story Courses
the e-book blog

I don’t understand why the publishing industry hasn’t embraced e-books. I don’t know if anyone does, actually. From all appearances they have a product with virtually no cost to produce (since authors are profit participants and not actually paid for their time, even with hard copy). Why would anyone resist that? There are, in fact, […]

August 24, 2011 | Posted in Books
before and after

It’s weird how some things happen in life. I first moved to LA in Jan. 2000. My dad and I drove out and we got to Burbank too early one morning so we were driving around and we stopped at a red light at Riverside and Hollywood Way. There in the rearview mirror was the […]

May 21, 2011 | Posted in Life