Melissa Roske - author of Kat Greene Comes Clean
Remember when I said I couldn’t wrap my head around Instagram? Well, I’m a fast learner! Join me — @MelRoske — May 1-10, for the first annual #Swanky17PhotoChallenge! Follow the hashtag #Swanky17PhotoChallenge to learn more about my upcoming middle-grade novel, KAT GREENE COMES CLEAN — and discover more Swanky MG and YA titles along the way. Game ON!
I recently had the chance to chat with author Melanie Conklin about her contemporary MG debut, COUNTING THYME. To read the interview on the Swanky Seventeens blog
, please click here. Enjoy!
As a member of the debut kidlit authors’ group, the Swanky Seventeens, I’ve been lucky to interview some fabulous YA and middle-grade writers. I’ve been even luckier to read their books. In the coming months, I will share some of my favorites.
First up on the roster: Author Lara Williamson‘s MG contemporary, THE BOY WHO SAILED THE OCEAN IN AN ARMCHAIR. Read my Goodreads review here:
I recently had the chance to sit down with author Jenny Manzer to chat about her YA debut, SAVE ME, KURT COBAIN. Enjoy!
Click here to read the article at Swanky Seventeens.
I woke up yesterday at 4:30 A.M., wide awake. I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I did what any sane writer does when she can’t get back to sleep. I joined Instagram.
This, I should mention, was done against the advice of my 16-year-old daughter, who had warned me that Instagram, although highly entertaining in a time-sucky, falling-down-the-rabbit-hole kind of way, was not an effective way to connect with my middle-grade audience. Young readers don’t follow authors on Instagram, she said, unless the authors are wildly famous, like Rick Riordan or J.K. Rowling. And even they don’t rack up as many “likes” as Kylie Jenner! [Read more…] about My Day on Instagram: A Cautionary Tale
On a balmy spring day toward the end of the school year, my sixth-grade teacher announced a surprise field trip to Eeyore’s, the iconic children’s bookstore on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We were going to meet Judy Blume, she told us, and we could have our books signed if we liked. [Read more…] about Books in Blume
When the Swanky Seventeens posed the question: What’s your favorite holiday reading tradition?, I knew I had to add my two cents. (How could I not?)
We celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas in my interfaith family, and finding a good holiday read-aloud for my daughter was tricky. [Read more…] about Books for the Holidays: What are YOU reading?
In 2011, frustrated that my chick-lit novel had failed to capture the interest of an agent (or my own mother, which says a lot), I decided to shelve it and try another genre. I’ve always had an obsessive love affair with Louise Fitzhugh’s 1964 classic, Harriet the Spy, so middle grade was the natural choice. I got started right away, and by the end of the year I had a messy first draft. [Read more…] about KAT 2.0: First drafts and second chances
In 2009, while browsing through my local Borders (which is now a Home Depot, much to my dismay), I came across a book called Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume. A collection of essays by esteemed women writers, the book offered wise and witty observations on everything from first periods to unrequited crushes. Naturally, I couldn’t plunk down my MasterCard fast enough. [Read more…] about 10 Life Lessons from Harriet the Spy
When writing a novel, one of the most basic pieces of advice is this: Know what your protagonist wants. Give him/her something specific to strive for – a deep desire, an all-encompassing goal – and then make him do everything in his power to go and get it. Otherwise, the reader won’t care enough to keep turning the pages. And if that happens? Your beloved book will end up in the bargain bin at your local Wal-Mart. Or worse, sitting next to a copy of Writing for Dummies at your next-door neighbor’s garage sale. Ouch. [Read more…] about You Can’t Always Get What (Your Protagonist) Wants
