So you guys know I really have no formal training in fiction writing. (My MFA focus was poetry.) But, I read a lot and I’ve been paying attention why I like or dislike novels or parts of novels. Sometimes, I think the setting keeps me from enjoying the story. Right now I am reading …
Tag: YA fiction
Musings on YALL Fest, or I’m Completely in Love with All YA Authors
I just got back from a really fun conference called YALL Fest in Charleston, SC. It is a book festival specifically with authors of Young Adult fiction. Most of you know by now that YA is my favorite genre, so I was SO excited to attend this conference! I went with my friend Karla, librarian …
My Summer Reads
I’ve read quite a bit this summer, although not as much as I wanted to! Last summer I read 18 books total, mostly YA novels. This year my choices were more eclectic, with a combination of YA, literary novels, chick lit, and non-fiction. If you count a few books I read right at the end …

Some Days You Have to Be Brave
The past couple of days have been like that. No details are needed, except that there are times when all feelings are heightened – sorrow, joy, fear. It’s when you dance across the yard barefoot with your kids and know there will never be another moment exactly like this. It’s when all the gifts are …

Caught Between Places
One of the panels I went to at the Southern Festival of Books was titled Our Feet May Leave, But Not Our Hearts – Stories of Home and Place (I know, kinda cheesy title, but it was YA novelists so I was hooked), and the panelists were Silas House and Meg Medina. I’d heard of Silas …