So, there you are. You’re writing like the wind. Things are going well. Words are flowing. The story is epic. The dialogue is snappy. And then SCREECH! You suddenly slam on the brakes because, wait a second, something is wrong. Everything you thought was going to work suddenly just…doesn’t.  Why??? YOU HAVE NO IDEA! Uh-oh. This is  … Read more

Not all scenes or chapters come to us fully formed, with witty dialogue, striking metaphors, beautiful prose, and perfect structure. Wouldn’t that be nice? For me, more often than not, scenes come to me in chunky, choppy bits and pieces. A dialogue exchange here, a nice description there, a sentence or two about how the  … Read more

Woo hoo! The cover for SKY WITHOUT STARS has finally been revealed! And it is GORGEOUS! Check out the cover and read full book summary!

You can’t become a concert pianist practicing only once a week. Just like you can’t become a proficient writer writing only once a week.   Those of you who have taken my online Productivity Hacks course know that I’m a big fan of setting up a writing routine. If there’s one piece of writing advice that  … Read more

I was on a panel the other day with a group of very talented authors and the inevitable question popped up that seems to always pop up on writing panels: “How do you deal with Writer’s Block?” I was ready and armed with my standard answer (almost all of which can be found in this writing tip  … Read more

Welcome to the Spring 2018 YA Scavenger Hunt! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my  … Read more

  Let’s face it, our characters are our babies. We birth them. We raise them. We sometimes even instill them with a few of our ticks and personality traits. That’s why it’s perfectly natural for us to want them to go out in the world and do nothing but succeed, just as we would with  … Read more

    There’s nothing more agonizing for an author than sitting on BIG news and being sworn to secrecy! But then, there’s nothing more EXCITING for that same author than finally being told you can share the big news with the world! So here’s the big exciting update about the 52 REASONS TO HATE MY  … Read more

To my Readers, The Chaos of Standing Still is a very different type of book for me. I’d often heard authors, in the past, talk about their “heart books,” but I never quite understood what that meant. Wasn’t every book a “heart book”? Didn’t all books come from the heart? Wasn’t that the very essence  … Read more

Inspiration is a wonderful, magical, coveted thing. Don’t we all wish that we could wake up every morning feeling inspired to write? Don’t we wish that every time we sat down in front of our computers, we had to fight to keep up with the words flowing out of us? But we all know that’s  … Read more

If you’re a writer you know it. It’s in your blood. In your DNA. You see stories everywhere. You live in a world of words. I meet writers all the time who say, “Well, I’m trying to be a writer.” Or “I’m an aspiring writer.” That’s like saying, “I’m an aspiring human being.” Don’t let  … Read more

  YOU GUYSSSSS!!! Guess what!!!! I’m going to be writing another sci-fi series!!!! I teamed up with one of my best friends and an amazing writer named Joanne Rendell and we recently sold a new sci-fi series to Simon Pulse (who is also publishing my upcoming contemporary novel, THE CHAOS OF STANDING STILL). The series  … Read more

Hey all! I’m super excited to announce that I’ll be releasing another middle grade novel for readers 10 and up! Coming in Fall 2018, look for…. BETTER YOU THAN ME The cover will be revealed very soon (and spoiler alert: it’s pretty much the cutest thing I’ve ever seen like EVER!) In the meantime, here  … Read more

Hey Disney Descendants fans! So I’ve just emerged from the writing cave after finishing off book 4 of the School of Secrets series (WOOT!) And I discovered that (OMG!) Book 3’s release is right around the corner (on 2/28/17!) I was also ecstatic to discover that Disney had just revealed the AMAZING cover!!! As you might  … Read more

Happy New Year everyone! To help you achieve those writing-related new year’s resolutions, today I’m sharing with you my 5 tips for improving your fiction writing…instantly! These are tips and tricks you can implement today, on the very next scene you write and it will instantly improve your writing. So let’s get into it.    … Read more

  Happy Holidays everyone! It’s that time of year again! Lots of food, lots of family, and lots of gifts! So what better gift than a set of SCHOOL OF SECRETS books, signed by the author, yours truly?! I’m giving away 5 autographed sets of CJ’S TREASURE CHASE and FREDDIE’S SHADOW CARDS. That’s right TWO books  … Read more

Anyone who knows me knows I am an eternal optimist. On the night of the election, I tweeted, “I side with hope.” And I meant it. I’d always rather deal with disappointment later, then live without hope now. Which is why, like so many people, I never, in a million years, believed that America would  … Read more

HOORAH! I’m so excited to announce I’ve sold TWO more young adult books to Simon & Schuster (the publisher of BOYS OF SUMMER)! Both books will be contemporary standalone titles and the first has already been announced and is releasing in Fall 2017! Just around the corner! It’s called THE CHAOS OF STANDING STILL and  … Read more

Woo hoo! It’s almost NaNoWriMo time! For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it’s a great event that happens every November where novelists around the world take on the challenge of writing a novel (equivalent to 50,000 words or more) in one month. As someone who writes four  … Read more

Edited 10/10/16 – This hunt has ended. Thanks for participating! Welcome to the Fall 2016 YA Scavenger Hunt! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive  … Read more