So, here are some of my recent favorite r...

Here is the page for a

Before this year I'd gone on two: I visited Prince Edward Island, in the hopes of capturing a fragment of the magic of L. M. Montgomery's Anne books. And I visited Mankato, MN, to see the real life inspiration for the Deep Valley of Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy books.

During my recent vacation in Italy, I undertook a third: to visit the various places referenced in one of my favorite Betsy books...

It also helps if you have one of these waiting for you:

and maybe a sky like this:

And it's not like you don't have a souvenir to remember it all by…

Q: Tell us about a scene or character from your novel that was especially easy (or especially difficult) to write.

A: I love the scenes that flow out of my fingertips. They are always my readers' favorites too. But there was one scene that tied me in knots–it happens about a third of the way in, and it's a really important one. The secrets that my MC have been keeping from his...

Q: Tell us about a scene or character from your novel that was especially easy (or especially difficult) to write.

A: For me, the first scene was the hardest because I gotl tangled up trying to achieve just the right balance of atmosphere, action, conflict, and backstory. Also, I wanted to start with a slightly unlikable/oblivious protag, who becomes more sensitive as the s...