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Death By Christmas Tree; the U.S. has always been a hot mess
Back in 2008, a man in Florida basically tried to kill his father with a Christmas Tree.
At first, in some horrible, weird way, I was kind of impressed, because seriously, how ironic and anti-Christmas is death by Christmas tree? Like, if I wrote that in a book some reviewer would say, "Jones' quirky writing style sometime stretches the boundaries ( Read more... ) -
Writing To Make a Difference? #GivingTuesday #amwriting #amworrying
1. One of my blogging friends was feeling sad yesterday even though he is published because, basically, he's worried about being a mediocre writer.
2. It is easy to worry about this.
3. There's that essential sense of horror when you're a writer (in such a subjective field) about never being good enough, never making a difference, never being on a ( Read more... ) -
Signs of Author Sell-out - Also Known as Author Desperation
1. You've started having all your characters drink Coke Zero in every scene in hopes of a sponsorship.
ie: "Mmm, this Coke Zero is yummy," Chloe said, quenching her thirst and then staring at Brad as the realization sunk in. "What do you mean, my dad is a gorilla?"
"He's a primate, I swear. I saw him drinking a Coke Zero with Principal Johnson," ( Read more... ) -
I think I missed To Write Love on Her Arms Day
Once when I was in college I wanted to die so badly that I stood on Lisbon Street in Lewiston, Maine and tried to decide which car to jump in front of. There were lots of reasons I felt that way at the time and one of those reasons was my seizure medication had thrown my entire body and brain totally out of whack. At one point, I was insisting ( Read more... ) -
Having Epilepsy
I am pretty open about having occasional seizures, but lately I've been thinking a lot about how that aspect of my identity fits in the writing community and I've been really inspired by author Mike Jung's adult autism journey and it's made me wonder why despite the fact that I'm so open about having seizures, I'm so hesitant to claim that as part ( Read more... ) -
First Drafts and NaNoWriMo
So, I was talking to some awesome students (Titans, Hawks, & Bengals writers) at Tinley High School in Illinois earlier this week about how first drafts can feel scary because you set up this expectation to be perfect, like a writing superstar in your first draft. And I was trying to explain that even published writers aren't perfect in their first ( Read more... ) -
How To Start Writing A Book
People ask me all the time about how to start writing a book, and now that it's National Novel Writing Month, I think I'm getting more emails about this than I normally do, which means - a lot of emails.
So, I'm going to blog about it.
There are basically three components to writing a book or a novel, or anything honestly.
The first part is you ( Read more... ) -
My own scary story (one of the many) and writing news.
I have..... (Drum roll) Writing News:
1. Time Stoppers is currently on ebook sale for November. AND IT IS NOVEMBER! So you should go buy it. It's super cheap. And I really love this story. It's the story that made me decide to be a writer. The link takes you to Bloomsbury's page about it and the good press and all of that stuff. You can also check ( Read more... ) -
Halloween and Charlotte's Web
First, off! I will be in Chicago at the Young Adult Literature Conference and the YA Fandom Frenzy this weekend for ENHANCED. Please come see me or better yet buy the book (or one of my books) so I can not run out of money. Many thanks to Anderson's Book Store and Tor (my publisher) for sending me ( Read more... ) -
Being an Army Mom
In one week in July, 2016, three soldiers died in training. All of them seemingly physically fit men. The first one was 2nd Lt. Michael Parros. He was 21. It was three days into Ranger School. He had abnormally low sodium levels. It happens to runners who overhydrate. But it happened to him. Another soldier collapsed at Fort Jackson, which is where ( Read more... )