I'm a children's writer who has learned that bone-headed stubbornness pays. I have two middle grade novels out, DEFENDING IRENE and SAVING THE GRIFFIN, as well as a young adult mystery called SUSPECT. As an electrical engineer by degree, I have a slightly slanted view of writing and the literary world. But I was a voracious reader long before I ever took Calculus and circuit design.
While I’m not participating in the NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, I am tapping into some of its energy. Instead of polishing words and phrases, I’m only taking them to a certain level before moving on. I have dreams of wrapping up a draft for my high school and college-age beta testers by Christmas. It’s … More 34343 Words
Sometimes writers stop in the middle of conversations once they realize what they must sound like to the outside world. Often this happens when discussing the motivations of various winged or furry creatures. Yesterday, the woman behind the counter of the coffee shop must have wondered for a second or two whether the Missouri Mob was … More Just Kill Him
I am pleased and proud to announce that my main character managed to escape from Venice! My character and I spent a lot of time there–far more time that I’d planned–due to my midcourse correction in plotting. Now I have to say that I really enjoyed researching and writing about Venice. I planned the first … More Escape from Venice!
Lots of writers work faster than I do. Plenty of my Facebook friends will regularly post one or two thousand words a day, and they’ll do this day after day. In fact, Stephen King thinks people are serious slackers if they don’t get three to five thousand words down. I’m just excited that I’ve finally … More 23,333 Words
In the middle of May, I was about 28,000 words into the Italian Chase Novel and wondering about whether or not I needed to Cut to the Chase. Were things moving too slowly? Was I adding in too much description? Two weeks later, my agent gave me an answer after she looked at an excerpt and a … More 22,222 Words
I often tell my writing students that editors are looking for stories where the main character struggles to overcome an obstacle, solve a problem or obtain wisdom. Certainly the main character can have help from the supporting cast, but there has to be that moment where the main character stands up to the forces of … More Why Characters Can’t Rely on Authority Figures
The gold medal women’s soccer game will be played on Thursday at 12:30 Eastern Time on NBCSN, the NBC Sports Network. I’m expecting another dynamic game! The Canadians and Americans hustled and scrapped their way through the game. Both sides committed fouls, both accidental and tactical, but none of the them were malicious. And there … More USA Vs. Japan for Gold in Women’s Soccer
I”m happy to report that Calyn’s story is now out on submission! It’s been a long journey with any number of interruptions, but I wouldn’t trade any of them away because I really like where the book wound up. June was a busy month with visits from my daughter and my sister. It ended with … More Out on Submission
I suspect that one of the reasons that I’ve written two cross-cultural books is that I like reading them. That’s why I’m excited about the launch of Natalie Dias Lorenzi’s Flying the Dragon. For a behind the scenes look at how this book came to be, you can visit Emu’s Debuts for the first installment. … More Flying the Dragon
Betsy Bird decided to revisit her Top 100 Children’s books poll on her Fuse#8 blog. She made a few rule changes to tweak the results. If I remember correctly, she wound up putting together a separate poll for kids. She also asked that people vote for the first book in a series as the representative … More Revisiting the Top 100 Chapter Books
Kristin Wolden Nitz 