This is the second time I’ve had the privilege of hosting Ana Maria Spagna here to celebrate a new book. When she is not wearing her writing hat, Ana Maria serves as the Assistant Director of the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts MFA program (more info here). It’s a program I was honored to be… Read more »
Sometimes I’m bummed by my Friend Fridays — I host folks I really, really want to meet in real space and time but haven’t yet. That’s how I feel about Bobbie Pyron who I am sure would get me in a heck of a lot of trouble were we to be in the same time… Read more »
Today’s Friend Friday guest met me long before any of my published books were more than a gleam in my eye. She is one of the first professional writers I ever had the pleasure of knowing well; for many years, she and I and several other writers (calling ourselves the Write Sisters) convened right before the annual… Read more »
What a pleasure it is to host Cynthia Kennedy Henzel today! We met some time back, at an SCBWI conference in Arizona, when this book was but a gleam in her brain’s eye. (I might be exaggerating a tiny bit here.) In the short years since, she has not only polished this manuscript, it is… Read more »
Anyone with a passion for getting history right is my friend, and Gail Jarrow falls in that category. I am honored to host her today, in celebration of her newest book, Fatal Fever: Tracking Down Typhoid Mary (Calkins Creek). I love history, and I love science. That’s why I write nonfiction books combining the two…. Read more »
I’ve just finished reading Wendy Wan-Long Shang’s newest book, The Way Home Looks Now. Two thumbs up! It’s a story with lots of heart, sadness, hope and baseball. One of the plot points has got me reflecting on my growing up. As a terrible athlete, I never personally felt the pinch of those days before… Read more »
From this day forward, I am never going to write about strong female characters again. Even though I consider myself a feminist, a dear friend recently pointed out an insidiously subtle social value I’ve been perpetuating. In my defense, I think I might be forgiven for it: I am a baby boomer, after all. Raised… Read more »
What a pleasure and an honor to host Martha Brockenbrough on the blog today! An incredibly accomplished writer, along with being the founder of National Grammar Day, she’s probably one of the funniest and most generous women I know. Her latest novel, The Game of Love and Death, has garnered three starred reviews. It launches next week… Read more »
I’ve been immersed in WWII for research for the new book, mostly home front stories, but I came across an amazing slice of history that happened 72 years ago today. 2nd Lt. Elsie S. Ott was put in charge of the first-ever air evacuation of wounded soldiers, in this case from Karachi, India, to Walter Reed… Read more »