Vonna | September 10, 2010
The manuscripts are trickling in for Darcy Pattison’s Novel Revision Workshop I am attending in November. So far, they look good!
This week I also am looking forward to reading a friend’s manuscript—a YA fantasy. He was one of my beta readers and now I happy to have a chance to return the favor.
I’ve done all [...]
Vonna | August 29, 2010
Thanks to Elaine Scott for speaking at the August SCBWI meeting. Elaine’s topic was billed as Get an Agent or Not, but her talk was far more fascinating than this title indicated. Elaine shared her experiences with her two very different agents, why she felt compelled to leave her first, well-known, high-profile agent for [...]
Vonna | July 29, 2010
Wednesday night, Houston fans of YA paranormal romance packed Blue Willow Bookshop to see and hear Maggie Stiefvater present the sequel to her bestseller Shiver. The new book, Linger, continues the saga of The Wolves of Mercy Falls.
Maggie didn’t have to wait for the crowd to warm up. She brought the party mood with her—she [...]
Vonna | July 4, 2010
In this blog, I mostly talk about MG and YA writing, but today I want to mention two picture books that I am really looking forward to. Both are by my critique partners and both are due in Spring 2011. One is I Think I See A UFO by Kathy Duval (Disney Hyperion) and the [...]
Vonna | April 25, 2010
In spite of the beautiful weather in Houston Saturday, a nice crowd showed up at Blue Willow Bookshop for Jenny Moss’s signing of her new fantasy, SHADOW. About half the audience had already read the book and had opinions on what they would like to see in a sequel. Most of them agreed they [...]
Vonna | April 13, 2010
It never rains; it pours.
In the next two weeks we have three fantastic kid-lit author events in our neighborhood. For me, these events are like going to a free conference. Think about it—if these authors were appearing at a conference, they would speak for forty-five minutes. There might be a question and answer panel at [...]
Vonna | April 6, 2010
April is turning out to be a pretty good month for the Houston children’s writing community. Yesterday I picked up a long-awaited copy of Jenny Moss’s new YA fantasy SHADOW from Scholastic. I hated to put it down but I’ll have good reading tonight! Jenny will be having a book signing for SHADOW April 24th [...]
Vonna | March 16, 2010
The writing on my WIP has been more efficient than my previous novels, thanks to the many established authors who generously share their time and expertise with the rest of us via their blogs. For instance, based on this advice, I made headings at the beginning of each chapter in my outline that stated the [...]
Vonna | March 9, 2010
Last night, when Mary Pope Osborne, author of the famous Magic Tree House books, and her sister, Natalie Pope Boyce, author of the companion Research Guides for the Magic Tree House series asked the masses of children in their audience to help decide which book Mary should write next, a burst of enthusiasm met each [...]
Vonna | February 16, 2010
Last night I got to see a real treat—Heather Brewer, author of the popular teen series, The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd, had a book signing at Blue Willow Bookshop, my favorite local book store. The book she was promoting, ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS, is the fourth in the series, and her fans, or minions as she [...]
