Archives
#IGAuthorLifeJan Day 1 – Happy New Year
Posted on January 1, 2017 Leave a Comment
Happy New Year! So, 2016 was, well, interesting. Okay, more like one long session of torture at the base of Mordor, especially if you had to survive the US election with your brain cells intact. I didn’t get much writing done in 2016, but after a health issue (and the enormous selflessness of so many […]
Brain Melt
Posted on December 10, 2016 Leave a Comment
“Puke and rally, puppy dog. We’re needed on the rooftop.” – Kian, Last Light When I first started writing the Undertow series, I had no clue what the characters would do for people. What their lives and their story would mean to people. And honestly, I had no clue the impact that the fictional world and […]
Walking the Line – Sex in YA
Posted on December 4, 2016 1 Comment
If you have ever kicked around on YA blogs, inevitably you come across posts about sex in Young Adult novels. Nine times out of ten, the post will say something about how books portray these moments, whether accurate or inaccurate, fade to black or way too much details. I’m going to address the top three […]
Inside the Concepts of a Killer Nightclub
Posted on December 3, 2016 Leave a Comment
They say news comes in two forms: Good and Bad. The Good: I’m working on Last Light. The Bad: It’s gonna be huge and my fingers are bleeding. Sometimes I’m stalled in my writing by simply needing to come out of the story to do research so I can feel my way through a setting […]
In Defense of Insta-Love
Posted on December 23, 2015 3 Comments
I do three things when I’m trolling the aisles of heaven (re: bookstore), searching for a few new books to burn my paycheck on: Seek out a kick-ass cover. Read the back jacket. Read the first page . . . and maybe the Goodreads reviews. Let me tell ya – I’ve learned one thing about Goodreads […]
Writer Woe Number 428 (or something like that): Too Many Blasted Characters
Posted on October 20, 2015 Leave a Comment
First of all, I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say that the sheer volume of characters in my novels is my own stupid fault. That I was a doofus and basically unleashed the population of a small movie theater (on a Harry Potter premier night) into my imagination and said, “Sure […]
Saying Farewell
Posted on April 6, 2015 Leave a Comment
Someone once said that, to say goodbye to a character that has been part of you for years, is like bidding farewell to a piece of you. As I write the last book in Eila’s story, I know it’s true. I have no doubt that when I’m done with the final book in the UNDERTOW […]
Writing Real Characters
Posted on January 18, 2015 5 Comments
So, lately I’ve not been here, on my blog, because I am trying to get the final edits to CRUEL SUMMER done, so you can get your hot little hands on Kian, Ana, and MJ on March 16th, 2015 at the Girl Power Author Panel (deets to come). But I needed to squeeze in some […]
Why the agony of writing for teens is worth it
Posted on December 6, 2014 2 Comments
Writers can become burned out. I don’t mean the hyperventilating, “OMG I have no story ideas!” type of burn out. I mean the grind of the words, the constant push to out-write your last book, the stiff necks, the time crunches, and the piecemealing of a life outside of your characters’ worlds. You try to balance […]
Wattpad, Giveaways, and Cruel Summer
Posted on October 27, 2014 Leave a Comment
I am so very excited to let you all in on a few fabulous things: A. CRUEL SUMMER I am loading to Wattpad (a chapter every Friday until it is set to go live as a print book). The link is here: http://www.wattpad.com/77897632-cruel-summer If you don’t already know it, UNDERTOW is also loading to WattPad […]






