Writer for Young Adults
Thank you for all your kind thoughts and wishes about my previous post. I'm thrilled to be moving on to the next stage in my writing adventure. After I finalized things with Laura, I took one last swing through revision-land with my project. This time it was solely to focus on historical accuracy: checking the… Continue reading The Kindness of Strangers
Fantastic news, friends: I have an agent! I am so utterly pleased to share that I'm now represented by Laura Crockett and Uwe Stender of TriadaUS Literary Agency. Let me back up to share the full story. In college, while passionately Googling (if Google even existed then...I don't remember) my favorite YA authors, I gradually discovered the publishing… Continue reading I Have an Agent!
Last year, my parents bought 40 acres of forested land in Hiram, Ohio, so my dad can expand his maple sugaring operation. When I visited them last week, they were deep in the process of having the land surveyed so they can (fingers crossed) build a driveway and maybe, just maybe, a little house with… Continue reading Plain Encounter
Like many people, I have a tendency to rush around trying to pack things in, one after the other. A typical weekday might include a full day of teaching, an hour of work on a freelance assignment, a trip to the gym where I fit in 40 minutes of reading (God bless the elliptical), some… Continue reading Slowing Down
In keeping with my study of historical fantasy, I just finished Brandon Sanderson's The Rithmatist, on Josh's suggestion. He's a huge Brandon Sanderson fan, and this YA novel sounded right up my alley. It was a lot of fun, with an intriguing world and compelling plot. But the book's attempt to integrate colonial American history within… Continue reading Responsibility in Writing Historical Fantasy
Proust had his madeleines. Me? I have Fiddler on the Roof. Specifically, the original film soundtrack on vinyl, which I put on last week just for fun, only to be emotionally transported back to high school at Tevye's first words. See, I was an odd duck in high school. Convinced that I had been born in the wrong… Continue reading Remembrance of Records Past
About a month ago I posted about some of the mentor texts I've been reading in preparation for a YA historical fantasy I want to write. I've tried to read a wide range of books, as I figure out exactly how much fantasy I like in my history. Today I'm going to share some books that travel down… Continue reading Mentor Texts: Steampunk and Alternate History
What would it be like to live in two eras at once? Last week I read a beautiful and thought-provoking piece about working at a living history museum, by the blogger and historic gastronomist Sarah Lohman. "Living My Best 1848 Life," posted at Lapham's Quarterly blog, recounts Lohman's experience working as a first-person interpreter at an Ohio… Continue reading Both Past and Present
This fall I've been mulling over an idea for a YA historical fantasy and doing some research (my favorite) in between working on my current WIP. I've also been reading a bucketload of mentor texts to help me hone my vision for the book. This means luxuriating in historical fantasy, paranormal, and steampunk novels to my… Continue reading Mentor Texts: Historical Fantasy
Veterans' Day is one of those holidays that are easy to forget. Josh and I have the day off from school today, and as we were driving to a local coffee shop for a leisurely breakfast, we reflected on our midweek break. Rhode Island gives us the day off to celebrate our veterans, but how much… Continue reading Remembrance
Abby Murphy 