Today is the last day of the Heartbreaker\’s Blog Tour. It\’s your last chance to win a Kindle and read posts about me, diversity in YA books, Minority Of One that follows a gay black teen and a straight white girl as they each seek answers to the question, What if you were the only […]
What If You Were The Only One Of Your Kind? Read More »
For the last five weeks I have hit the so-called expressway every afternoon and driven into Chicago to spend Wednesday evening viewing films from across the globe as a member of the Chicago International Children\’s Film Festival adult jury. I have never read so many subtitled movies in such a short time. I served on
Chicago International Children’s Film Festival Read More »
I spoke at the 8th National Conference of African American Librarians on August 8, 2013. The topic was Empowering the Voice of the Black Male in Children’s and Teen Lit. [Click here to read the YALSA Hub post about the conference] At one point we had a discussion on the role of non-fiction. One librarian
Empowering the Voice of the Black Male in Children’s and Teen Lit – NCAAL 2013 Read More »
I am now the author of two YA novels, one of which was a YALSA 2012 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list, and was on the School Library Journal list of best books for youth in detention in 2011. Being noted by on those two lists made my proud, because one of my
ALA 2013 – Attracting Reluctant Readers Read More »
I\’M PRESENTING!! This Saturday at 1:00 pm, I will be making a presentation to the American Library Association in Chicago on Attracting Reluctant Male Readers. Normally I don\’t start gathering butterflies in my stomach until the day before a presentation. But then I made the mistake of looking and saw that almost five hundred people
Attracting Reluctant Male Readers @ ALA 2013 Read More »
I feel lucky and honored to be a member of the Chicago North RWA chapter. Doubly lucky because Sonali Dev is also a member. She is one of the 2013 Golden Heart ® finalists with her Contemporary Single Title Romance – The Bollywood Bad Boy. Sonali agreed to visit my blog and discuss the manuscript
Interview with 2013 RWA Golden heart finalist – Sonali Dev Read More »
This was my second year of participation at the fair, held at the Fountaindale library in Bolingbrook, Il. Many patrons were not aware of the fair until they heard library staff on the microphones telling them to come over and to meet and greet local authors. The library handed out small autograph books for patrons to
Bolingbrook Author Fair – April 13, 2013 Read More »
I have seen a lot of discussion lately about contest judging. There is a big blame-it-on-the judge outbreak for making snarky comments or having a God complex and not liking the manuscript. Maybe it\’s because I just finished donating my time to judge two contests, I\’m in the middle of a third, and coordinating a
I had the honor of being the final judge for a local library\’s teen writing contest. (Special thanks to my author friend Laurie Brown, who is also a member of the library staff and invited me in to judge) The entries were written over the end-of-year holiday. Library staff did the preliminary judging, then they
Judging a Library Teen Writing Contest Read More »
February can\’t end soon enough. The snowstorm hit at the worst time, just as I am preparing to finish teaching my on-line class for authors who want to learn more about writing using the male POV. I have also just begun my duties as the contest coordinator for a writing contest for adult romance writers,
Good Writing Talks to Your Soul Read More »