What’s New

COMING SPRING 2015!   Sunbathing, surfing, eating funnel cake on the boardwalk-Lucy loves living on the Jersey Shore. For her, it's not just the perfect summer escape, it is home. And as a local girl, she knows not to get attached to the tourists. They breeze in over...

    After reading Stephen King’s IT in high school, I had to sleep with the light on for a month. I also refused to use the bathroom sink after dark—fearing what might call out to me from the pipes—and developed a serious aversion to clowns. Growing up,...

FINDING PARIS, by Joy Preble—coming April 21, 2015 from Balzer and Bray/Harper Collins   A page-turning, evocative novel for fans of THIRTEEN REASONS WHY and SPEAK, about a girl who must follow a trail of mysterious clues to discover what happened to her sister....

Last Thursday, the first day of school for many towns in New Jersey and the Northeast, my Facebook newsfeed was flooded with adorable back-to-school photos. Kids standing on the front porch or at the bus stop, smiles on their tanned faces and backpacks laden with...

It's after Labor Day but technically, summer isn't over! That's why the fabulous Bethany Crandell, author of one of my favoritest books, SUMMER ON THE SHORT BUS, is hosting the IT'S STILL SUMMER Giveaway. Enter to win a signed copy of HOW MY SUMMER WENT UP IN FLAMES...

Today on the blog I'm happy to welcome author Jen Malone!! Her debut middle grade novel, AT YOUR SERVICE, was released on Tuesday and it sounds absolutely adorable. (Big congrats, Jen!) My copy just arrived and I can't wait to read it. Jen writes both middle grade and...

Dear Aspiring Author Me, If all has gone as planned, you will find this letter just as I’m stealing away from Bigler Hall unseen and dashing across the street to a silver DeLorean, which awaits my arrival to take me back to the future. You’ll find these words of...

Want to know a secret? (This is me speaking softly.) Plot doesn’t have to be hard. Not when Martha Alderson, a/k/a The Plot Whisperer, makes it so simple. I first heard about Martha and her book, Blockbuster Plots Pure & Simple (Illusion Press 2004) shortly after...

Two weeks ago, I was part of panel discussion at Children’s Book World in Haverford, PA with three other authors of young adult fiction—Jeri Smith-Ready, Kelly Fiore and Justina Ireland. We were there because Jeri was gracious enough to let us “ride her coattails” (as...

Sharon Biggs Waller, my good friend and an amazing author who writes breathtaking historical fiction, tagged me on this four-question blog tour in which we talk about process—a subject I love to interview other authors about and have many times on my blog. Sharon is...