An Interview with Megan Morrison, Author of GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL

Authors You Should Know, Interviews, On Writing, Recommended Reading,

I recently had the enormous pleasure of interviewing my good friend, Megan Morrison, about her debut middle grade novel, GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL, for the Sweet Sixteens’ debut author interview series, The Debut Club. This is an extended version of that interview, in which we learn more about Megan’s influences as a writer and friends from her past return to ask her tough questions.

Megan and I have been friends for almost fifteen years. We first met bonding over Hermione-centric Harry Potter fanfiction, and the intervening years have held lots of obsessing over fictional characters, matching tattoos (quills, if you must know), and writing – so, so much writing. I am so proud of Megan and what she has done with the Tyme series, and I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

More about Megan:

HiRes_Morrison_6814_cropMegan Morrison spends her time having adventures with her husband and little boy, teaching drama and language arts to 7th and 8th graders, and writing fairy tales set in the world of Tyme, which she co-created with Ruth Virkus. When she’s not busy working on something or other, she enjoys obsessing over other people’s stories. She’s a huge, dress-up-in-costumes-and-scream-a-lot level fan of Harry Potter, Jane Austen, Star Wars, Firefly, and BioWare’s role-playing games. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she enjoys nature and coffee.

Find Megan on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

About GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL

grounded_cover (3)Published by Scholastic/Arthur Levine Books, April 2015

You know about the tower, the hair, and the witch. But in the world of Tyme, they’re only the beginning . . .

Rapunzel knows only her magical tower and her wonderful Witch, who guards her against evil princes far below. But when a peasant named Jack climbs into her life, Rapunzel learns that Witch is in terrible danger — and to keep her safe, she must leave her tower and journey with Jack on a quest far across Tyme. There she finds a world filled with even more peril than Witch promised . . . and more beauty, wonder, and adventure than she ever dreamed.

GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL is the first book set in the land of Tyme — with many tales to come. It is available for purchase at Amazon, IndieBound, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, and Powell’s.

 

And now, the interview!

Continue reading An Interview with Megan Morrison, Author of GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL →

Betty May: Exploring the Struggles of Women Behind Bars

Authors You Should Know, Recommended Reading, , ,

When I was a child, I had the incredible good fortune to meet a woman who would shape the person I became, whose energy and belief in others helped me bettyevolve from a shy little girl who cried in the bathroom to a singing and dancing young woman who went after her dreams. That was Betty May, director of Onstage Productions, the theater group I was involved with for over ten years.

To anyone who knew her, it was no surprise that Betty continued to use her theatrical gifts to reach out to others after our theater closed. She’s been a high school teacher, a circus coach, and a clown. She went to Central America and founded a children’s theater company in a Guatemalan squatters’ settlement. And then, in 2008, she responded to an invitation to work with female prisoners serving life sentences to create a play about their experiences.

untitledNow, she has written a book about these women’s experiences: Faces: Imprisoned Women and Their Struggle with the Criminal Justice System (CreateSpace, 2014). The book also follows Betty’s own journey through the criminal justice system as she directed their original play warning young people about the consequences of bad choices. That work led to the Kennedy Center tapping Betty to write and direct a production featuring plays by prison inmates performed by professional actors.

Faces is an inspiring, eye-opening, and at times difficult and upsetting, read. Betty May invites us to examine our criminal justice system and the ways it often penalizes those it was designed to protect. She takes the reader along with her as she enters the prison gates and meets the real people behind the headlines.

Read the first chapter of Faces: Imprisoned Women and Their Struggle with the Criminal Justice System here.

Betty is a dynamic, passionate speaker and is available for speaking engagements at schools, libraries, and other community groups. Find out more at http://bettymayauthor.com/

 

 

Spreadsheets, Microediting, and a Gratuitous Cat Picture

Sword and Verse, ,

20150409_112136Last week I turned in what I hope is the last major revision of Sword and Verse. The file name said “Draft 3”, but this is misleading; the book has actually been through at least ten major rounds of revision, first me working individually, then with betareaders, then with my agent, and finally with my editor (though my peerless betareaders, most notably the amazingly dedicated Manuela Bernardi, have been involved in every round too).

I can say with all confidence that this book has gotten better with every iteration. I know it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea – no doubt some people will hate it, and even more will be indifferent to it – but I know that in its current state it is the most true version of the story I want to put out into the world.

My editorial assistant, Pancake.
My editorial assistant, Pancake.

Continue reading Spreadsheets, Microediting, and a Gratuitous Cat Picture →

A Chance to Uncover the Past

Cold Iron, Works in progress, Young Adult Fantasy, ,

20131115_151532Periodically on this blog I have mentioned a long-term work-in-progress, COLD IRON, the first book in a trilogy set in the Catoctin region of Maryland.  In the process of researching for the book, I was lucky enough to meet archeologist Elizabeth Anderson Comer, who has answered my questions with grace no matter how ridiculous they seemed.  (“Is there enough iron left in the ruins of the Catoctin iron Furnace to melt a fairy?” led to a particularly interesting discussion…)

Elizabeth edited Catoctin Furnace: Portrait of an Iron-Making Village, which was written by her mother, Elizabeth Yourtree Anderson, and she has kept her mother’s legacy of historical preservation alive through her own involvement with the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society.

240_Catocin_Furnace_front_cover

So when I heard about the society’s newest initiative, I had to donate and help spread the word!   I’ll let Elizabeth take it from here:

The iron furnace at Catoctin Furnace, which made cannonballs used during the Revolution and so on, was first worked by enslaved Africans and African Americans, but this first wave of workers all left the area by the 1840s. As it goes with power imbalances, no one wrote down much about their lives, and, with one possible exception, the whereabouts of their descendants are unknown. Yet their story is integral to the story of early industry, labor in America, and African American history – using bioarchaeology, we can find out what their lives were like, where they were from, and (possibly) where their descendants are. Consider throwing your charity dollars at this IndieGoGo campaign, and, if you can’t do that, share this link as far and wide as you can. I think we can find enough people to crowdfund $14,000 to tell this unknown story – what do you think? Thank you so much in advance for your help!
Here is the link to our campaign:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/catoctin-furnace-bioarchaeological-research

Fantasy vs. Reality

On Writing

Things that I irrationally believe will help me get writing done:

  1. Finding the perfect time of day to write
  2. Lighting a candle (in the perfect scent to match my story, of course)
  3. Complete silence
  4. The perfect music at the perfect volume
  5. Writing at my desk at home
  6. Writing at the perfect table in a coffee shop – away from drafts, speakers, and overly loud conversations
  7. Just the right flavor of tea
  8. My cat purring in my lap
  9. My cat anywhere but my lap
  10. The perfect pair of headphones
  11. Complete solitude
  12. The exciting bustle of people around me
  13. Setting a time limit for myself
  14. Setting a word quota for myself
  15. Searching the internet for images to inspire me
  16. Shutting off the internet altogether
  17. Posting about my progress on Twitter
  18. Avoiding social media entirely
  19. Warm, cozy slippers
  20. A cold drink
  21. Envisioning my book as a bestseller
  22. Writing just for myself and not worrying about what anyone else thinks

 

Things that actually help me get writing done:

  1. Sitting down at my computer and not getting up until words are written

 

(Ironically, I procrastinated actually writing by writing this post. Back to work now.)