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Simon & Schuster authors speak out on the topics that inspire them

A gossip queen dissecting politics? A political pundit musing about sports? A romance novelist waxing poetic on music? You read it here first... see what your favorite literary personalities have to say about life beyond books.

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More About Researching for Fiction

By Marion Dane Bauer - April 19, 2012

Not every story has to be lived to be written. That's what imagination is for. If writers are going to produce more than one or two novels, they are probably going to have to extend their experience through the most readily available source . . . reading. I need to do research in order to be able to write many of my novels. Some of that research, as I wrote last week, has been...

A Research Trip

By Marion Dane Bauer - April 19, 2012

I’ve just returned from a research trip for the young-adult novel I’m working on, Blue-Eyed Wolf. Well, actually, it was a mixture of a research trip and a retreat with a friend who needed some time away from home to concentrate on her writing. We went to Gunflint Lodge, a marvelous old Minnesota resort on the Gunflint Trail north of Lake Superior. The time we spent...

Getting Real with Virtual Visits

By Trudi Trueit - April 3, 2012

I can still remember how nervous I was doing my first Skype author visit with a school in Virginia a year ago. As a children’s author, I’d done my share of standing in front of classrooms. I’d gotten pretty good at gauging if my presentation was going too fast or too slow, if it was a bit above or below my audience’s grasp. In person, I could encourage a timid student to...

Stranger than fiction

By Bernie McGill - March 26, 2012

A few days ago, I gave a talk for members of the Probus Club, Portstewart, a group of retired businessmen, on the local historical links of The Butterfly Cabinet. Since it’s a little while since I looked at the source material, I went back to refresh my memory on dates and facts, and while I was there I did a little internet investigation as well. At the time that I was...

From the Mixed Up Brain of Mr. James Ponti

By Jamie Ponti - March 26, 2012

For me it was From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.Like a lot of boys, reading did not come naturally for me. When I was a student at Atlantic Beach Elementary and we'd read aloud in class, I was always slower than everyone else. When my friends would lose track of time and simply disappear into a novel while reading, I was always too impatient or restless. Then...

By Marion Dane Bauer - March 22, 2012

How many times have I said it to my students and to other developing writers? When you're publishing a book, celebrate every step of the way, because if you don't celebrate the small moments, you rarely arrive at one that feels big enough to justify loud rejoicing. (Okay. If you win a Newbery or a National Book Award you get a party. Short of that, one moment in the life of...

An adult presence in a child’s story

By Marion Dane Bauer - March 15, 2012

When I began writing fiction for young people in the mid-seventies, I had absorbed one of the most basic rules for such books through reading contemporary novels for young people: keep the adults at bay. No comforting–or scolding–adult voices narrating the story as was standard in the 19th century. In fact, few adults allowed on the scene, certainly none solving the kids’...

Where Do Ideas Come From?

By Marion Dane Bauer - March 15, 2012

I got the idea for this blog when I was meditating this morning. Yes, I know, I'm not supposed to get ideas meditating. In fact, that's supposed to be a time for leaving ideas behind. But when my mind loses its quiet focus on my breath and skitters off to someplace else, ideas about what to write or how to fix something I'm currently writing are one of the more productive...

WHY I READ MY AUDIOBOOKS

By Mary Alice Monroe - March 13, 2012

Many people ask me why I choose to read my audiobooks, and what is it like to do it? It’s definitely hard work. Very, very hard. To give you some idea, if you think you’d like to become a narrator, do what director Laura suggests: Try going into a small room and read for eight hours. If you can do that, then continue every day for five days. I had read my books at...

Speaking to TED audiences

By Lani Leary - March 12, 2012

It was a great honor to share my perspective that "No One Has To Die Alone" at the recent TEDx Honolulu event. To view, go to http://drlanileary.com/2011/11/28/lanis-talk-at-tedxhonolulu/Feedback from viewers relayed that they had a new "tool belt" of ways they could now respond to the needs of their dying loved ones. We can increase our competency and confidence by learning...

By Marion Dane Bauer - March 8, 2012

I have received letters from adults indignant about my novel, A Very Little Princess (the first of two stories about a tiny china doll), because, again, it is so sad . . . and for, presumably, a younger audience than On My Honor. But I wonder, though we all cherish happy endings, especially it seems adults cherish happy endings in stories intended for children, are happy...

What Do You Need Editors For?

By Marion Dane Bauer - March 1, 2012

I've been asked the question many times, almost always by non-writers. Or if the question comes from a writer it is, for certain, from one who hasn't yet been published. "What do you need editors for? What right does anyone have to tell you how you should write your story?" The best analogy I can think of as to why writers need editors is that it's the same as singers relying...

"The Man who Turned Both Cheeks" is in production!

By Gillian Royes - February 28, 2012

To my joy, the news came that the second in the Shad Series, "The Man who Turned Both Cheeks," will be distributed on December 4 this year. I'm in the process of doing final edits, etc., and I keep having a really good feeling about this book. Even as I work on my fourth draft of the next. And I'm still promoting "The Goat Woman of Largo Bay." The first week in March...

The End of the Children’s Book

By Marion Dane Bauer - February 24, 2012

That was the headline on a news story on NPRs “All Things Considered” last week. Oh, no, I thought. Everything, especially it seems about children’s books, is always coming to a cataclysmic end. I am, frankly, weary of the hysteria. I suppose, too, at the age of 73 and in the latter part of a long career, I feel somewhat insulated against these changes. My books—some...

DARKROOM wins 1st Place prize in Forward National Literature Award

By Joshua Graham - February 21, 2012

The media usually gets a hold of Advanced Reader Copies before the general public, and sometimes this leads to early awards (thankfully). Such was the case with Darkroom, which won a 1st Place prize in the Forward National Literature Award. Read about it on my blog: http://goo.gl/1mvnw And please remember to pre-order your copy of Darkroom!: http://goo.gl/1gvmI

Greatest strength / greatest weakness

By Marion Dane Bauer - February 17, 2012

I am about a third of the way into writing a young-adult novel called Blue-Eyed Wolf, far enough in to feel a sense of accomplishment, far enough from the end to still have some apprehension about making it the whole way. But a problem has begun to develop. As I sit down to work each day I find myself feeling increasingly claustrophobic, as though I’m being caught into a...

Joshua Graham interviews Steve Berry on Blogtalk Radio

By Joshua Graham - February 15, 2012

A fascinating interview with NY Times bestselling author Steve Berry. Listen to the podcast here: http://goo.gl/DGkWT

Just launched: I'M BORED Scrapbook (How a picture book was created)

By Debbie Ridpath Ohi - February 14, 2012

I've just launched the I'M BORED Journal Scrapbook in which I'll be posting about how Michael Ian Black's newest picture book was created. I'll be including early sketches, quotes from everyone involved (including the author), photos from my meetings at Simon & Schuster, comics, and much more.The most recent entry: how and why I was chosen as the illustrator of I'M BORED....

By D. James Smith - February 13, 2012

I'm busy finishing up a book of poetry for publication. I have lots of ideas for some books for teens though they are in the note-making stage. I spend most of my time right now working as a teacher with students in an alternative high school. I really am absorbed by this work and the huge problems these kids must face every day. I would like to get some writing done about them...

Food for Thought

By Natasha Wing - February 13, 2012

In my book, Jalapeño Bagels, a boy who is both Mexican and Jewish uses food to express who he is. His teacher asks the students to bring something to school for International Day that represents their culture. Pablo brings jalapeño bagels.Teachers, why not use food to invoke conversations about culture? Have your students come up with ideas for foods that represent them. Maybe...

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