What is your transition book?

childtasticbooks

I’ve just read an interesting piece on the Guardian book blog page, asking: ‘Which Book Marked Your Transition from Child to Adult?’

It includes books that its readers have nominated as the key novels that helped them in their transition from children’s to adult literature. The five most-cited appear to be:

– Animal Farm, by George Orwell

– The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway

–  The works of JRR Tolkien

– The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger

– Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

All of these are classic texts, and come as no surprise. I wonder, though, what the list will look like in ten or twenty years’ time, when today’s pre-teens and teens discuss their choice? I feel that people my sort of age did not have such a choice of young adult books – we had to move straight from the cosier world of…

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The Art of Editing (according to me) Vol. 1

Puckishwird's Blog

Alright. Are we all situated? Should i take attendance? Ah screw it. Sit wherever you want. This here Blog is The Art of Editing 101. I say 101 because i’m probably not qualified to teach an upper level class on the subject. But i’m going to put a few thoughts out there in a few volumes. Whether you like it or not.

So sit down. Shush. Take notes. Yell at me. Whatever you need to do. But this is important. Seriously. No really. You in the back. I see you playing Pet Rescue. Put it away.

The first thing you need to know if you are a writer, or want to be a writer, is that editing is every bit as much an art as the actual writing process is. Start thinking of it like that. Everybody thinks that it’s a grand thing living in a wonderful floaty cloud on…

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A note to readers…three rules for reading

M. M. Cox

I had such a great opportunity to hear a fellow young adult author speak at a recent conference. She had written a riveting book, one that had won several awards, and I ate up everything she said about character development. However, toward the end of her speech (and I can’t even remember exactly what she was talking about at that point), she said something about Amazon reviews sometimes being toxic.

Of course I was puzzled. Had people slammed her book, one that I had thought had a fantastic mix of intriguing plot and deep characters?

It seems that they had.

And I thought, what makes some people so small and petty that they must skewer a book that has been through all the best gates–an author with an agent with an established traditional press that hires first-rate editors? I understand when people rally against a book that has grammatical errors, poor…

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The Challenge of Shifting From Writer to Reader

The Writers' Loop

By Peggy Morehouse

I’ll never forget the first time I took my son, Max, to see the ocean. He was seven months old and we were vacationing on the outer banks of North Carolina. The morning after our arrival, I dressed Max in his cute little sweat suit and told him that he was about to meet one of nature’s most spectacular scenes. I carried him up a weathered wooden staircase a few yards from our house rental and voila, the glistening green sea and pristine white sand greeted us. Instead of bursting with squeals of excitement like I imagined however, Max screeched, gripped my shoulders, and buried his face into my neck.

It never occurred to me that this massive body of water with its crashing waves would frighten him. I assumed Max would view it with a sense of wonder not like a monster that might swallow him…

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Not Wanting To Make Things Up

About “Always Will”

Kennedy Shaver is a thirty-year-old nanny to five privileged sisters whom she fondly refers to as “The Five.” She cooks for them, cleans for them, and takes them shopping. But—more than anything—she’s their friend. When the sisters overhear the nanny talking in her sleep, Kennedy must tell them the story of Theo, her ninth-grade crush.

Always Will is the second book by 14 year-old author, Lale Mozie

Enthralled in the world of Kennedy’s teenage drama, the sisters absorb every detail as the story unfolds. But when they don’t get their way, the sisters team up and lash out against Kennedy, dragging to the surface all the truths she has buried beneath her love for the girls. Despite her care and comfort as their nanny, Kennedy realizes she must leave the girls and venture into the world to find herself. Will The Five ever hear the end of Kennedy’s story? Will Kennedy successfully brave the world and find the answers she needs so badly? And what about love?

Always Will is a warm and exciting story about a woman’s journey toward fulfillment and self-discovery. Filled with romance, humor, and the meaning of growing up, Kennedy’s adventure will capture your heart and leave you ready to find some answers of your own.