Pretty sure Google thinks we're having another baby. Really I'm starting a new book ... #worldbuilding #babynames

"Oh, it is wonderful to have a giant’s strength. But it is tyrannous to use it like a giant." Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

What do you think, peeps? Picture book about a canoe over it's lifetime? Nonfiction reader about inanimate heroes? Maybe it can be themed to counter disposable culture? Just spit balling here. Proud of our big yellow banana canoe! www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

Interview alert! The wonderful @spencerbmiller.bsky.social took some time to ask me a few questions about my most recent project and the @kidsbookcentre.bsky.social Book Week Tour. Check it out: bookcentre.ca/blogs/articl... #kidlit #mg #verse #digitalmedialiteracy

Presented to a group of grade fivers at the Chelsea Library today and, I gotta say, we're gonna be fine. These kids are great. #FundLibraries #FundEducation #KidsAreOurFuture

We LOVE when our clients get collaborative. Check out this interview between children's book authors Dionna L. Mann and Michael F. Stewart, with included illustrations from Caroline McPherson all of whom are part of the @kellydhouse.bsky.social crew! www.dionnalmann.com/interviews-b...

"Most dominant civilization" Here is what was transcribed on one broken pillar: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.” Shelley

I’ve been sidetrumped today, my mind trumbled and perplumped as to why. Ideas to cope?

I am stunned that US National Park Service removed transgender and queer representation from its Stonewall monument site. A monument that stands for hard fought acceptance has now become one of intolerance, from pride to shame. Don't stand for it. Resist.

Luckily I have 25% more love for y'all America. And I am here to consume all of our surplus maple syrup.

Editing verse feels a little like taking stones and dipping them in water so that I can discover how they truly look. I'm also working on back cover copy for a YA urban fantasy and I think that less is more. As if, the longer the copy, the more reasons the reader has not to open the cover?

I subsist on the praise of editors. Thank you editors. 💚

What do you do when you're waiting on not one but TWO sets of edits? Well, I don't know what you do, but I CLEAN!

I'll be editing a book about conspiracies, twisted minds, and revolution today. No reason.

Hello 2025~I’m back in the office and open to queries this week! #amquerying #kidlit #writers #illustrators, I’d love to see your #YA, #MG, narrative NF proposals, and #PBs. I’ve updated my #MSWL, but some particular things I’d love to see in my inbox:

Leaving this open a few more days #querytip #writingcommunity

Join #RosebudAuthors & @thetobiasagency.bsky.social w/ our annual #SpreadTheJoy campaign. To win a query letter critique by @kellydhouse.bsky.social Follow go.bsky.app/Kvshpxt, comment below, and repost. Winners chosen at random. (Day 12)

Hey freedom fighters, here's a campaign that looks worthy of our support. www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-ded...

I'm going on tour! Woot! Thanks for the opportunity, CCBC!

I'm on rewrites and am at the 'oh crap, I broke it' stage. And there's still a lot more to break ...

Writing with generative AI and putting your name on it feels like going to the store, choosing a greeting card you like, and telling everyone you wrote the poem inside.

Hey ChatGPT, can you write me a text that shows I really love this girl without saying so?

I'm doing that read. You know the one? Where you've done everything you can and you get the chance to see if it all hangs together. That breathless, hopeful read where you hope you bark laughter and break into tears at your very own words and that somehow the book isn't really yours anymore.

Mike's Plan: Edit YA Romcom for scene blocking. Write terrible poetry with two classes of grade sixers as my alter ego: The Terrible Poet--Let's do it! Day's Plan: Car won't start. Won't jump. Suck it, loser!

If you're part of the VCFA WCYA community and you're on this platform, I made us a starter pack! Spread the word so we can find our people. 💚 go.bsky.app/xKUhiC

My current WIP is a YA romcom. Although my YAs often include a little romance, this is the first where it's central, and I gotta say: IT'S SO MUCH FUN. This is what I need right this moment. I think maybe it's because romance can be deep while also feeling light? Does that make sense?

I have notes! I received notes back on a really fun book, so I'm flipping over to work on it. Editorial feedback is SUCH a gift and always improves my stories, can't wait to share this one with everyone. Think, Everything Everywhere All at Once, written as a YA Romcom.

Fill your lungs--breathe out Your sadness, anguish, despair. Breathe in, conviction. #solidarity

Taking a break on my MG Antarctic epic to work on a YA conspiracy theory book. Sometimes it's nice to let things fester in one book to bring back new energy and fresh eyes later. I haven't touched this book for two months. It's like meeting an old friend and catching up (on terrifying events!).

Time for something a little different. Today I want to radically reject the rational, which is to say, try to come up with some amazing chapter book series ideas. :)

So, they survived a hundred foot wave. Which is great, right? Unfortunately the rogue wave exacerbated a hole in the zodiac. Not good. Not good at all. Starving, freezing, and now sinking? These poor kids! Whaaaat?? How much more can they take? (more than they realize)

What's your worst nightmare while drifting in a boat in the middle of the Drake Passage? ROGUE WAVE!!! Sorry kids ... buckle up

Very difficult day. The kids almost make it to Elephant Island and relative safety, even a rip tide looks like it's not enough to stop them, but then the catabatic winds off the glacier whisk them back out to sea ... heartbreaking ... will they all die? On the Drake Passage? Probably.

This has been a multi-cookie-morning. #SendMilk

Today starts the kids' journey across the Drake Passage in a zodiac. Storm brewing. Inauspicious start. It's almost like somebody shot an albatross or something. Writing Challenge: Big tonal shift from 1st half of the book. How do you keep a survival story funny?

One of the best parts of writing is when I back my characters into a corner, which I have no idea how they will escape. That's today. How do six 15 year olds take down a military unit aboard a ship with only some paintball guns and swords? Let's find out!

Today I write through it. By which I mean, I write stuff, words I have no intention of keeping but seem to need to exist so that I can move on with the book. Maybe they are the rebound relationships of writing, but without the sex, so no fun, but still needed so I can discover the words I do need.

Here's a weird thing: Writing an entire novel about someone and then forgetting their name. The challenge of writing in first person. (Please tell me it's the challenge of writing in first person!)

This morning, I have a tricky bit of writing. See, it starts with everything going super well and ends in murder. And then a really mean prank, which will seem worse than murder. And then robot pirates. Buddy is going to have a decision to make. #ITakeNoResponsibilityForDeadRobots

I've got an Orca on one side of an icefloe, teeter tottering the whole thing, so that kids are dangling over the killer whale's mouth. The hero now has to stop the killer whale, which is tricky, right? Because he's just a kid with nothing. What's he going to do? Really! I have no idea yet.

What other mayhem can 15 year olds on a nuclear powered super yacht get into in Antarctica? How about iceberg flipping? Sounds like a really bad idea. Perfect! #NoIcebergsWereHarmedWritingThisStory

Today the kids are jousting Elephant Seals. Having faced these mammoth schnozzed beauties myself, this is not recommended. What's the most dangerous animal encounter you've faced? Mine would be hippos. The Elephant Seal of the Zambezi. :) #NoElephantSealsWereHarmedWritingThisStory

I've been trying to decide how many penguins it is okay to kill in a middle grade book, and I've decided the answer is none. I can however shoot them with paintballs. Sorry imaginary penguins. #noactualpenguinswerehurtinthewritingofthisstory

So behind in my reading & reviewing, & more #kidCanLit & #YA to come.(Did you see this post? canlitforlittlecanadians.blogspot.com/2024/07/upco...) But I'll start w this lovely #novelinverse #MG novel from @openmike.bsky.social SEEKING DRAVEN. canlitforlittlecanadians.blogspot.com/2024/07/seek... 👍📚

Some days it's hard, seeing the wife off to work, the kids to school, being left behind with the cat and the dog and my imaginary friends ... #writerlife