1. The acknowledgement section for Corroded is full of people, but the one that stands out the most is Laurie Halse Anderson. Yes, THE Laurie Halse Anderson. I was blessed to win a full manuscript critique during a fundraiser for the Joplin, Missouri tornado victims in 2011, one of the last full critiques she was able to do. I’ve been in contact with Laurie both before and after the critique and she’s been nothing but supportive. An ultimate mentor—my thanks, again!

2. Mary Weber is the character that changed the most from how she was portrayed in the original drafts. She’s stronger and more relatable than she was to begin with, thanks in part to honest critique partners and beta readers who shared their displeasure of her with me.

3. In both of my books, my secondary characters vie to over-run the main one, and Corroded is the ultimate example. Ben…

Middle grade writer and recommender-extraordinaire of books, Laura tagged me in this fun blogging event. Here are the rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2. Write a post to show your award.
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
5. Select other bloggers you want to give this award to.
6. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them & provide the link to the post you created.

Now onto the fun stuff!

The story of how I started my blog.

I’m pretty new to the blogging world. My first post was written on May 26th, 2016, so I’m just a smidge over a year old.

I started the blog because I wanted another way to connect–not only writing and mothering and magically things–but to connect those things with other folks. I had…

Author Carrie Dalby is back here with us again. Today she’s talking about relationships…

When I came up with this topic, I immediately thought of relationships between characters. But as a writer, relationships are much larger than what is in the book. Yes, you’re an artist creating stories, but you are also a professional and working with others is an important part of that. Let’s break it down.

As a writer, you’re in control (for the most part—sometimes the characters don’t do what you expect them to) for the relationships on the pages of the story. You need to make sure your characters interact with their family, friends, environment, etc. in a consistent manner—even if that means people at school/work/social settings see a different side of the character than the people at home. Whatever the character’s attitude is (even if it changes over the course of the book) needs…

Today’s post is courtesy of Carrie Dalby, author of Corroded and Fortitude.

If you had asked me twenty-five, twenty, or even ten years ago what I thought I’d be doing, I never would have dreamed of saying “writing historical fiction.” Writing? Yes. Historical? No. While I enjoyed writing research papers in school, I never enjoyed history class. There were too many dates to memorizes, the textbooks were dry. And I failed my A.P. U.S. History test.

The two main things you need to write historical fiction are the ability to research and a passion for the subject matter. I knew how to research and acquired a love of history as an adult by reading historical novels—mostly middle grade, but some young adult and adult titles as well. Well researched books by Laurie Halse Anderson, Avi, Richard Peck, and countless Newbery winners captivated me. The time periods that once were…