News and Notes from the Field

For all the dogs I’ve known in my life, I wrote What the Dog Knows. Such a slow and pleasureful project; it took nearly ten years of revising the story and evolving the characters. No one rushed me, I ... Read More  

I was devoted to my dolls from an early age, and my love of dolls has never left me. I think I have about 26 or 27 now … I’ve lost count. Most of them are tucked away in ... Read More  

If the last two years have taught us anything, it's that science matters. It helps us solve problems, find solutions (or mix them!), and make life better. Read More  

A conversation with my grandson was the catalyst that sent me off into the wonderful, surprising world of how animals see. One summer day we were strolling home from the park. I was pointing things out to him: flowers, ... Read More  

Years ago, when my first child was an infant, I swore to myself that I could and would keep writing. I was still working part-time in a restaurant and doing bits of freelance work, but I was determined to ... Read More  

If you've got young kids, probably pretty recently. If you don't? Was it pre-COVID? Longer? For me, definitely longer. I am a responsible, disciplined, goal-oriented adult. It has been so long since I played that when people ask me what I ... Read More  

I have shared my life with cats for the last 30 years, and I could not imagine not having a feline companion at home. I adopted my first rescue cat in Harlem, when I was a student at Columbia ... Read More  

If your January is anything like mine, it's all about getting organized (again). So today, we're talking about organizational structures in writing. Figuring out the best structure for your material is one of the primary benefits of outlining. This ... Read More  

Two weeks into 2020-too - how is everyone doing? It's been a mixed bag for me so far. In the YAAAAAAY column, I got my COVID booster (woo vaccines! woo science!) and The Boreal Forest won the 2021 Information Book ... Read More  

Like many authors, I have many author friends. I also have all too many friends who gave writing-to-publish a shot and gave up after a short while. Some of them went on to self-publish their books. I think self-publishing ... Read More  

Last week was tough, you guys. Last week I told a friend I haven't seen in over two years not to fly out for the holidays, because omicron is blowing up in Ontario and it wasn't safe for her ... Read More  

“Write what you know.” Who said that? I’m not sure, but it’s a phrase – an instruction, really – thrown around as a guideline for writers. It suggests you should draw on what you know, mine your own life experience, ... Read More  

It seems to be Friday again (already), which means I'll spend tomorrow morning doing what a lot of us do - tidying up the house. Part of my tidying process involves restocking: bringing pantry items from basement storage into ... Read More  

All stories are connected, new ones woven from the threads of the old. —ROBIN WALL KIMMERER, Braiding Sweetgrass I used the epigraph above in Making Seaker, my latest book—a contemporary Middle Grade STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) novel. Making Seaker was ... Read More  

You know those articles about how we should all be getting more sleep? The ones where the first half is dedicated to telling you all the terrifying things that happen to the sleep deprived, and the second half contains ... Read More  

Here we are, well into another school year, and I'm betting quite a few of you are already grappling with writing assignments. So, it seemed like a good time to dust off the old Teach Write column. I've been a ... Read More  

As an author of novels for teens and kids, I’m used to being the sole creator of a book in partnership with a publishing team. When I wrote my first picture book, part of my journey was to understand ... Read More  

Two years ago today, I submitted the first draft of my forthcoming children's book.* I was burned out and already coughing from what would turn out to be a raging case of stress-induced bacterial bronchitis. And I was getting ... Read More