Dear Harper Teen,

Do you remember the controversy that surrounded Justine Larbalestier's Liar? It had a white girl on the cover of a book that was about a mixed-race teen. Bloomsbury withdrew that cover with apologies and changed it to one that more accurately represented the novel's heroine after fans spoke out against the whitewashing of the ( Read more... )

I've been thinking a bit about confidence lately, and how often it surprises me when people whose skills, particularly in writing, I admire admit when they don't have it. I read a lot of blogs where people who I know are amazingly skilled (and are often successful) reveal how nervous they are about the reception their work will receive, and I think ( Read more... )