Writer Unboxed

Sorry for the short post today, but I’m still working feverishly to polish up part one of a Q&A for you tomorrow–my loooooong phone conversation with the author of The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry. My fingers aren’t bleeding…yet. So Kath and I put our heads together recently to discuss a new craft topic for May. [...]

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Valued WU contributor Sophie Masson just sent us this update: The Madman of Venice has just sold to Germany (making it its fourth territory)! And an anthology of stories I compiled and edited, called The Road to Camelot (first published in 2002), which are stories for teens about the youth of Arthurian characters such as [...]

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This note arrived in my personal inbox this week, from a writerly acquaintance. “I hate queries,” she said. “They frustrate the hell out of me. Would you be willing to share your query and explain why you did what you did?” Of course I didn’t mind–as long as she didn’t mind that I post my [...]

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My deadline to deliver the next draft in the misadventures of the President of the United State’s daughter looms in about four weeks, and truthfully, I’m freaking out a little bit. This is the point where the rubber meets the road. No more frittering time away. No more research wormholes to go down. Crunch time. [...]

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I finished reading Lynne Griffin‘s debut, Life Without Summer weeks ago, and I’m still thinking about it. Here’s what Publisher’s Weekly had to say about the novel, in their starred review. Griffin’s fiction debut is a spellbinding tale of loss and hard-won redemption. When Tessa Gray’s four-year-old daughter, Abby, is killed by a hit and [...]

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When I started writing historical fiction seriously (approximately 1995) I was still on the faculty at the University of Michigan. This meant that I had a fantastic library at my disposal. Faculty could (and probably still can) send an email or call and say, here’s a list of books and articles I need. Later that [...]

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I am enormously, painfully pregnant with my current book. It’s the eighth month, and wherever I go, it comes with me. It’s due in less than a month, and this is the stage when I’m swimming deep in the midnight waters of the book, trying to identify the last beautiful fish, the waving fronds of [...]

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Some awesome guest bloggers have filled in for me the last two weeks–thank you, Kay and Ann–so today I’m going to catch you up on what’s been happening with my book. About two weeks ago, my galleys came in! I posted about this milestone on one of my writers’ sites (GIAM, you rock), and a [...]

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Award-winning YA author and WU friend K.L. Going dropped us a line about a contest she is holding for her latest release: I’m thrilled to announce that I have a new book out this month! It’s a teen novel called King of the Screwups, and it’s already gotten starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and School Library Journal, [...]

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Just a quick weekend note to let you know that you can now cast a vote for the David Gemmell Legend Award, for which WU’s own Juliet Marillier–and the only woman on the list–has been nominated. This award honors those who have written novels in the spirit of David Gemmell, which means the books showcase [...]

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Lynne Griffin is the author of Life Without Summer–a novel about the hit-and-run death of a child and how her mother copes with the aftermath, juxtaposed with the story of the mother’s therapist and her own loss-filled past and present. Though the storyline asks you to bear witness to the sometimes difficult journey of a [...]

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As I watched President Obama talk to a French town hall about public service, it hit me once again (as it does every time I hear him talk about it) that I should be doing more. But then it struck me—and I believe this isn’t just rationalization—that I, and writers like you, are doing a [...]

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