After two long years, the secret is finally out! I WROTE A MURDER MYSTERY! This was a brand-new genre for me (and my first novel for adults since 2009!). It started out as just an experiment. To see if I could write a mystery novel. What resulted was probably the most enjoyable two years of my  … Read more

I’m beyond thrilled to share some huge news: my next writing craft book is coming in 2026 from Hay House Publishing! PAGE ONE TO DONE: Finish Your Novel in 30 Days with the Fast Drafting Method If you’ve ever struggled to finish a first draft (and let’s be honest, who hasn’t?), this book is for  … Read more

It’s here! Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel is now out in the world and in this post, I’m thrilled to share all the juicy details. Are you ready? Let’s dive in! First off… There’s a new Save the Cat book? Yup, in case you haven’t heard, there’s a new Save the Cat!  … Read more

My first official copy of SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A YA NOVEL has arrived! Of course, I couldn’t do just a regular unboxing video. See how many of Save the Cat! references you can catch!   Also, don’t miss out on your chance to nab 5 Bonus Beat Sheets (100 pages of extra content) when you preorder  … Read more

Want to know what really goes on in my head when I’m writing a book? This video comes pretty close! I hope you enjoy this “behind the scenes” peek at the making of my latest novel, Amelia Gray is Almost Okay! And if you want to continue even further down the rabbit hole, scroll down  … Read more

 Attention Save the Cat! Fans! I’ve got BIG NEWS!  In this post, I’m revealing all the juicy details about the next book in the Save the Cat! Series, Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel, written by yours truly, including a first look at the cover! So, yes, it’s true. I wrote another  … Read more

Coming up with the perfect title for your novel is no picnic. Especially if you’ve been working on the story for months and you’re so close to it, it’s nearly impossible to see it objectively. That’s what happened to me with my latest middle grade novel, so I thought I’d write a post that breaks  … Read more

Pre-order SUNS WILL RISE before August 3, 2021 and upload your proof of purchase to get stellar pre-order goodies!

It’s a new year and a new you! Which means it might be time for a new writing routine, too? Is your old writing routine failing you or just non-existent? Are you struggling to sit down to write every day? Or are you just looking for a way to jump start your writing this year?  … Read more

Writing a book outline is hard. Writing a book in general is hard. Plotting a compelling character arc and figuring out what happens next is a challenge for any writer, professional and newbie alike! Fortunately, I’m here to make it WAY easier for you. This blog post features my tried and true 15 steps to  … Read more

Prologues! Prologues! Prologues! It seems like everywhere I turn these days, I’m being asked about prologues. Namely, how do prologues fit into the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet? And whenever I get asked the same STC-related question an uncanny amount of times it makes me A) Wish I could go back in time and write  … Read more

Taylor Swift’s new album, folklore, is here and critics are already calling it her “storytelling album”. That seems to fit given that her first released video from the album, “Cardigan,” follows ALL of the key story beats!  I realize there’s about a zillion analyses and lyric interpretations floating around out there, as Swifties everywhere attempt  … Read more

THE TITLE OF BOOK 3 IS HERE! If you’ve reached the end of Between Burning Worlds, you might be itching to find out what happens next (we did leave the planet in a bit of a lurch, didn’t we?) Well, you’ll have to wait a little longer to find out.  BUT…in the meantime, we thought  … Read more

If there’s one question I get more than any other when it comes to plotting (particularly using the Save the Cat! method), it’s this: But what about series? So, I do talk a little bit about the “series beat sheet” in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, but clearly not enough because the questions keep  … Read more

Today we’re talking about heroes…plural. What do you do when you have multiple points of view in your novel and need to juggle multiple Save the Cat! beat sheets (and character arcs!) Here’s another question I get a lot from writers who have read Save the Cat Writes a Novel or enrolled in my Save the  … Read more

One of the hardest things a writer has to do is cut scenes from their novel that they really love. In this video, I share with you my tried and true quick test for deciding which darlings to keep and which ones to kill.  A lot of times in the drafting phase, we might get  … 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

  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