NOPE! More like bullies, giraffes and cats. Oh my! Post first appeared on Uncommon YA, Friday, 4/11/14. A neighborhood stray dies in the street near our house. A giraffe graces the blacktop of our local mall. John R * * * * * * * repeatedly punches my arm in Mr. Whealon’s 11th grade history […]
Well, I’m hopping! Yes, indeed!
March 31, 2014 by
How lucky am I? Lucky enough to have known author Kim Stokely since college. I was studying graphic design; Kim was a theater major, and we bonded as members of a guerilla production of the musical, Godspell. Who’d have predicted we’d still be pals—and published authors—all these years later? Well, the friend part was a […]
Oh, to have known…
February 22, 2014 by
First appeared 2/20/14 on Uncommon YA Sensitive is not a dirty word. Artistic is not an insult. Creative should be considered a compliment. And just because someone doesn’t spend his every waking hour “working,” that doesn’t mean he’s lazy. So yeah, clearly, I’m still chipping away at the old adolescent angst all these years later, […]
Some Thoughts on My Year in Print
January 16, 2014 by
Post first appeared on Uncommon YA, 1/15/14. Hollywood has not come calling. I have not been mobbed on the street by eager readers. I have yet to churn out—in the words of Publishers Weekly—my next “solidly woven … well-executed plot.” Hopefully, this doesn’t mean I’m no longer a “name to watch” (Thanks, PW!); just that […]
Tough Love
August 26, 2013 by
At a recent bookstore event, I experienced a cringe-worthy moment. Oddly, my distress involved a pair of shoppers interested in buying my novel, THE NAMESAKE. It’s not that these patrons were creepy or threatening. In fact, they were friendly, talkative. Heck, they looked like they’d walked straight out of a breakfast cereal commercial. The thing […]
