Sure is dusty around here

Wow, I've been quite neglectful of Ye Olde Blog. You know how it is: an extended hangover from the holidays, life gets in the way, you procrastinate, wonder what to blog about.

Yeah, all that.

The good news is that I've made quite a bit of progress on my YA novel and I hope to query soon.

I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions. Don't think I ever have, actually. If anything, I just make a vow to continue writing and not falling into a sense of malaise.

Then again, maybe it should be to blog more. Some writers I admire blog a lot and I wonder how they do it.

I have to say, I'm really excited by this book and hope it's the one to snag an agent. But, you never know. It could be a pile of crap. I'm at that stage where some days I think it is The Most Awesome Thing I've Ever Written. Other days, it's an insult to the craft of literature.

I'm so close to it it's hard to look at it fresh. I know: set it down and pick it up again later. Well, I've done that and now I just need to let it go. One more read-through, I believe, and I think it's ready.

I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

The dark side of YA

Interesting post in the New York Times on dystopian YA fiction:

Let the awesomeness begin

Hunger Games

Interesting interview with Hunger Games author, Suzanne Collins

Huge news for a fellow writer

Only a month or so ago I pointed out that my hard-writing friend K.M. Walton signed with a great agent. Well, less than a few months later she has done the unbelievable.

Go check it out for yourself.

Go Kate!

Baltimore Book Festival

This was a lot of fun. Lots of people, books and some great YA authors. I stood in a gaggle of teen-aged girls (feeling extremely out of place) and listened to a debate:

Team Zombie: Justine Larbalestier, Scott Westerfeld and Carrie Ryan vs Team Unicorn: Holly Black, Kathleen Duey, Diana Peterfreund.

It was, um, interesting. All of the authors had some funny things to say. I don't really know who won the debate. I got tired.

MT Anderson was very cool and funny. I wish there had been more people there to hear him speak. Then again, it wasn't an SCBWI conference, so most of the people were just book lovers and locals wandering around. I wanted to go grab people and shake them. "Don't you know one of the most talented writers on earth is right over there!?"



(A not very good pic of MT Anderson)

He has a middle-grade book based in Delaware and as he signed my copy of Octavian Nothing, I told him I was from there and we had a laugh.







All in all, a fun event.

Mockingjay

Any Hunger Games fans out there waiting with bated breath for the final book in the trilogy? I came to the party late, and am only just now finishing Catching Fire. Don't like it as much as the first one, but I'm curious to see what the fate of these characters will be.

I'll support my local indy kid's bookstore and pick it up tomorrow. So who's looking forward to this release?