Here's another really fun chapter I did at a writing workshop. Those kids were great! I had an awesome Watson:

CHAPTER ONE

PRO: Field trips are better than sitting in school suffering all day.

CON: The chaperone is Mr. Transvaal. He’s the worst. He smells like rotten orange peels, apples, and pig food. I suspect he might ( Read more... )

Yesterday I visited the lovely Parsippany-Troy Hills Public Library and did a really fun writing workshop with a group of young kids. (Some as young as third grade!) They were hilarious and creative and fun! Here's what we came up with. We could have definitely kept going -- they had great ideas!

CHAPTER ONE

subject: I KNOW YOUR SECRET

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Here are the stories I wrote with the Cavalcade of Authors kids today. They came out great!

(1)
"WEEK OF THIEVES"

CHAPTER ONE

I am walking on my way to school. The sun is just starting to come up. The sky is a watercolor of blended pinks and reds and oranges. I left a little late so I was power-walking like a boss to make up for lost time. ( Read more... )

Well this is pretty amazing! STRIKE THREE, YOU'RE DEAD was nominated for an Edgar Award! That's like the Oscars of mystery writing. Amazing! Look at this list:

theedgars.com/nominees

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I visited the Mountain Lakes Public Library in New Jersey last week. They had both mountains and lakes nearby, so that checks out. They also had an awesome teen group! Man were they cool. The evening started with me overhearing one of them express distaste for the letter "u" (I may have misheard...) and so I ran with that and we worked it into our ( Read more... )

I had a really great visit last week to Abington Friends School. It's in "Greater Philadelphia," which is like Philadelphia but greater? Anyway, it really was great! Man those kids are smart! And fun. The teachers and librarians are awesome too and really it was one of the coolest visits ever. So many kids had read STRIKE THREE and so many had fun ( Read more... )

I recently read and loved the new YA novel by Sean Beaudoin called WISE YOUNG FOOL. It's got tons of my favorite things: punk rock, angst, comedy, and oodles of fantastic writing. Did I just use the words "punk rock" and "oodles" in the same sentence? Yessss, I did. It truly is a wonderful and hilarious and bad-ass book. Here's a great bit o' the ( Read more... )

I'm excited to give a little update on the two anthologies I've recently been a part of! Let's go in reverse order, starting with the one that isn't out yet. It comes out Oct 8:


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I got my advanced copies of the new Lenny & The Mikes book yesterday! Seeing the first printed copies is always a thrill! I took pictures:
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I had a great time signing books in New Hope on Saturday. It's such a cool town. I've loved going there since I was a teenager looking for Manic Panic and obscure records. Zipperhead is gone and there are no record stores that I could find but Farley's is still there and is still a very, very cool bookstore. I took a ton of pictures. Enjoy! (The ( Read more... )