Every time I do an event for kids, I'm reminded of why I want to keep writing kids' books forever. Last Wednesday, I got on the train to Oswestry, a lovely town just across the border into England, where I got to hang out in my hotel with fab authors Sibéal Pounder and Andy Griffiths, along with our wonderful publicists (Lizz from Bloomsbury for me ( Read more... )

It's January 12th - which means it's exactly one year to the day from the day that Patrick's Secrets of the Dragon Tomb was published!


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Our Christmas tree is still sparkling in the corner of our living room, five days later. It was a lovely, busy Christmas with the kids - and I got all three of my knitted gifts finished in time. Whew! :) Now I'm knitting a scarf for myself with the lush, gorgeous cornflower-blue wool that Patrick got me for Christmas, which fills me with utter ( Read more... )

I posted last week about my favorite MG books read in 2016, and I promised to do a followup post about my favorite adult reads. Of course, I always have less time than I expect over the kids' school holidays...so this followup is a little late for holiday shopping. Sorry! However, if you (like me!) are a last-minute holiday shopper, or if you just ( Read more... )

It's our last week of work before the kids' school holidays begin...and of course, we're also frantically gift-shopping at this time of year! In case you are, too, it seemed like a good moment to start posting my totally subjective, personal lists of favorite books I read this year. (Also, I just like looking back on them!) So here is my first list ( Read more... )

I spent a lot of yesterday crying, in the aftermath of the US election. I am still sad and shocked and scared - scared for the rights and safety of Muslim-Americans, of Mexican-Americans, of African-Americans, of LGBT Americans, and more; scared for the health and safety of the Americans with chronic illnesses who won't be eligible for health ( Read more... )

Hurrah! I sent off my MG spies-and-fairies book to my lovely UK editor yesterday morning, meaning that I have officially hit my final (so far!) deadline of the year. Whew!

This has been a seriously intense last year for very good reasons - in just over ten months, between April 2, 2016 and February 9, 2017, I have three books coming out (Masks ( Read more... )

Whew! I finished Draft 1.1 of my MG spies-and-fairies book on Wednesday, and I heard from my lovely agent today that she likes it! Double-WHEW. :) I am feeling so happy and relieved right now ( Read more... )

Whew! I've been doing intense line-edits for one book or another ever since I got to America (first the Americanization edits for The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart and then the copyedits for Congress of Secrets), and now it's time to dive into my first big rewrites for my MG spies-and-fairies novel (tentatively titled The Storyteller's Secret). ( Read more... )

This morning when my agent phoned, she asked, "How are you? I mean, apart from the world being miserable, of course." And of course that is how it's felt lately. Orlando, Jo Cox, Brexit, Istanbul ( Read more... )