Pokemon Going
I have captured 8 Pokémon, you’ll be pleased to know.
Surely by now you’ve seen troops of people wandering around with their phones, flicking their fingers on the screens and chortling. I have yet to master any subtleties of Pokémon Go, but no matter.
It’s a charming experience to see yourself as a character walking in a landscape that matches your own, especially when goofy cartoon creatures magically appear for you to lobby with Pokémon balls. 
My whole family’s playing, naturally. It’s kind of like we’ve all agreed to… Continue reading
Summer Revising
Since it’s summer and I spent decades in school, the schedule in my bones tells me I ought to be on vacation. I’m not, of course. I have work like the other grownups, so my bones have to be quiet and let me concentrate.
Today, I’m working on draft 5 of Vault 3, and the current challenge has to do with taking my existing scenes deeper and finding a way to thread in one of my characters who has so far preferred to stay on the sidelines. It’s tricky… Continue reading
Kindred Spirits
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
I spent yesterday on my back porch rereading Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. My Uncle Harry gave me my copy ages ago, and tucked between the pages was a note regarding my sister Laura visiting the school nurse in 1980, so I can assume I loaned her my copy then. I appreciate this evidence that I was a generous sister, and it’s nice to have a book with some history to it.
To be quite honest, I never thought the… Continue reading
Dressing Up
Oscar de la Renta: The Retrospective, Exhibit at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, May 2016
Dressing up in real life is not something I find especially gratifying, but in my mind, I love it. I adore the idea of breezy blue dresses and guys in tuxedos. I can easily picture smooth, polished people swirling around a dance floor, confident and graceful, with a live band in the background and colored lights flitting over bare arms and white collars.
I can’t be alone. When I think of all the YA… Continue reading
Meeting Up in the City
Caragh O’Brien and Kate Jacobs, Senior Editor, Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan.
I met up with my editor Kate Jacobs for lunch last week, and it was lovely to have a chance to visit with her. We have many emails and phone calls, but our face-to-face meetings are rare treats. We chatted about families, books, readers, and bibliotherapy. We considered why Anne of Green Gables works on a deep level as a survival story. We admired the design work of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, which I had with me. It’s… Continue reading
Where to Turn Next
If you seek understanding, comfort, or inspiration, slip into someone else’s shoes as Scout did in To Kill a Mockingbird. Here’s a list of 10 recent books that take me deep into the human heart where we bank our love and hope like embers.
When I Was The Greatest by Jason Reynolds
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu
A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman
Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy
Ari & Milo, my serial novel, is now up on Wattpad! I drew illustrations to go with each chapter, and best of all, it’s free! Because of problematic themes, this novel is for mature readers age 17+.
Book Trailer for Promised