Writer Unboxed

Writer’s Digest has their 2008 listing of the 101 Best Sites for Writers online now. Check it out HERE.
Don’t forget to check out this week’s books and business updates on the WU Google Notebook HERE.
And did you know Brenda Novak is having a fantastic auction of items that can benefit writers? All proceeds go to […]

I’ve just come back from a few weeks overseas, mainly in France, where my family originally comes from. It was great being back there, seeing everyone, spending time in both Paris and the South (where the family hails from). It was lucky too that my stay coincided with some particularly beautiful spring weather, with the […]

So I’m getting the galleys of Time of My Life tomorrow. Yay! For those of you who don’t know, a galley – or an ARC (advanced review copy) – is essentially an uncorrected paperback version of your book. Which means that there will still be some typos and whatnot, but that mostly, […]

I’ve just been in Melbourne for the Children’s Book Council of Australia conference – three days jam-packed with discussion about writing and illustration for young readers.
The program for CBCA conferences is aimed principally at teachers and librarians, and panel topics ranged from ‘The challenge of “reading” graphic novels’ to ‘How teenage writers get published.’ […]

Therese and I are starting to get it together again after returning from our annual writer’s retreat. For the fifth year in a row, we–along with fellow writer-buddy Elena Greene–rented a cottage in a beautiful setting, left instructions for spousal units to feed and care for offspring, and gave ourselves permission to immerse in […]

Kath and I are groggy from our re-entry into the everyday world, but we wanted you to know about a few links:
Writer’s Digest published a fascinating interview with Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants, HERE.
Interested in checking out the BackSpace Writers Conference, where you can learn from and mingle with editors, agents and published […]

I head off to Melbourne later today for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Conference, which I’ll post about on return. It’s a three and a half hour flight, and I will get there at almost midnight. Must get up early enough to imbibe a strong coffee before tomorrow’s first session – at least I […]

There’s a terrific post up by Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware Blogs! about the precautions an author should take if working with a small press publisher. A number of authors have recently lost rights to their work when small presses have folded, and Victoria offers a number of preventative steps you can take to help […]

Bookmarks. Don’t hate me, but I kind of…hate them. Well, not all of them; maybe I’m being too harsh. I have a beautiful wire ladybug bookmark a dear friend gave me, a hand-written and stamped label another dear friend made into an ingenious little bookmark, several beaded lengths of twine my daughter made for me, […]

Just a quick note. C. Hope Clark’s blog just announced a great contest for children’s book writers who have yet to break into the business. Check out the Cheerios contest site for all of the details, but here are some of the pertinent contest rules from their site:
WHAT IS THE CONTEST?
The Cheerios Book Contest encourages […]

of Sophie Masson’s Demigods and Monsters contest. Sophie recently co-authored an anthology called Demigods and Monsters, which is being sold exclusively through Borders (link unavailable). She asked WU readers to name the Gorgon killed by Perseus. (Psst…Medusa!) The first three readers who did so were able to score themselves a book. The winners are:
Mallika
Riley
and
Gavin.
Congrats to […]

Last week we blogged about Emmy Cherry, an eleven-year-old girl tragically killed when a tornado ripped through her home in Arkansas. Emmy was a big fan of former WU contributor Victoria Holmes‘ massive YA bestselling series WARRIORS, which she conceptualized.
I’d been thinking about Emmy all week, as I have a daughter her age who […]