Category Archives: On Writing

New Interviews

March 10, 2016Interviews, On Writing, Sword and Versekathymacmillan

I’ve got a couple of new interviews to share!

I was honored to be interviewed by fellow author and Sweet Sixteen admin Dee Romito for her excellent Query.Sign.Submit.Debut! series. Dee has amassed a treasure trove of information from published authors about their varied journeys to launch day!
I was also interviewed by Blackplume for the Celebrating Debutantes 2016 series. I was especially delighted to have a chance to discuss some of the social justice issues in Sword and Verse. Check out the link for lots of wonderful interviews and giveaways with 2016 debuts!

Everything You Want to Know, and Even Stuff You Don’t

February 17, 2016On Life, On Reading, On Writing, Sword and Verse, Young Adult FantasyFAQkathymacmillan

I’ve posted a round-up of the most common questions I get about Sword and Verse, my writing process, and my favorite stuff. Which Hogwarts House would I be Sorted into? Do I write longhand on a computer? What’s my favorite movie? Check out the FAQ to find out!

ASL Interview

January 29, 2016American Sign Language, Interviews, On Writing, Sword and Verse, Young Adult Fantasyruith lehrerkathymacmillan

I’ve been fortunate to participate in lots of great interviews about Sword and Verse in the pas few weeks, but this is my favorite! That’s because it was conducted by Ruth Lehrer, a fellow American Sign Language interpreter and the author of the forthcoming middle grade novel Being Fishkill (Candlewick, 2017). We decided to do the interview in American Sign Language to make it completely accessible to our friends in the Deaf community. (Don’t worry, nonsigners – we also provided an English transcript – mostly. There’s a bonus, untranslated question for signers only!)

I loved the thoughtful questions Ruth asked about the role of language in the book, and I loved the opportunity to share how my experiences in the Deaf community impacted the story. I hope you will enjoy this interview as much as I did! Watch the interview in ASL or read it in English at the Swanky Seventeens Blog.

7 Years

January 13, 2016On Writing, Sword and Verse, Young Adult Fantasykathymacmillan

Exactly 7 years ago today, I got an email from agent Lindsay Davis saying that she wanted to work with me to revise the manuscript that eventually became Sword and Verse. I was leaving an interpreting job, and was walking out to the parking lot with my team interpreter. It was the first time the other interpreter and I had worked together, and I was sure she thought I was having some kind of fit when I looked at my phone and then started babbling incoherently. (We have worked together since, and she assures me that this isn’t the case.)

The whole twisty narrative, if you’re interested, can be found here. But the point is: that was 7 years ago today. In 6 days, Sword and Verse will finally be out in the world. You know how they say, “Never give up”?

Never give up, kids.

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending KidLitCon, right here in my hometown of Baltimore, and presenting a session on “Connecting with Debut Authors” with Alyssa Susanna of The Eater of Books! blog. I wanted to give attendees a sense of the particular neurosis that is being a debut author, and that means making one thing crystal clear: the waiting.

Oh, the waiting.

To that end, I polled my fellow Sweet Sixteens, and eleven authors graciously agreed to anonymously share the timelines of major developments in the publication of their debut novels. You can find the entire PowerPoint linked at this post at Alyssa’s blog, but here are some of the averages from our completely unscientific sampling that might surprise you:

The moral is: if you wanted to be a published author, be prepared to do a lot of waiting.