Alisa M. Libby's Blog, page 24

Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick – now released!

I've mentioned my friend Lauren to you before – it's time you met her, officially, as a published author. Her debut is a young adult novel, Nothing Like You, published by Simon Pulse. I urge you to check this book out, and not simply because Lauren is one of my oldest and dearest friends, but because it is a beautifully written and crafted novel.

Lauren and I first met in writing class at Emerson College taught by Prof. Stuart Kelban, one of my favorite writing profs. (This was also where I...

Abou Ben Adhem

Today I thought I would post something in Dad's honor. Here's one of his favorite poems:

Abou Ben Adhem

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names...

Today I thought I would post something in Dad's honor. He...

Today I thought I would post something in Dad's honor. Here's one of his favorite poems:

Abou Ben Adhem

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names...

nanowrimo beckons…

After struggling with revising a work in progress, I fantasize about starting fresh with an idea, a new character, a blank page, and seeing where these new elements take me. Mind you, I'm a fickle creature – after a few weeks with said "fresh elements" I'll be yearning to have a completed draft to cut to pieces and try to fix.

That said, I have signed up for my very first National Novel Writing Month this November. I've never officially signed up before so it's exciting, and I hear that all...

singin' and swingin' and gettin' spooky like halloween

My sister Valerie and I were in Salem the other day. Rest assured, Halloween has already descended, black-caped and red-eyed, upon Witch City. It's sharpening it's teeth upon the souls there before spreading to the masses later this month.

We wandered around the Bizarre Bazaar, where I've had a booth up selling books in the past. I was a little sad not to be among the sellers this year – maybe in the future I'll set up shop there again. Still, it was nice to be able to wander this time...

Revisionitis

I've been at home tinkering with my work-in-progress this week, and it hasn't been without incident.

On Wednesday my computer froze. In horror, I realized I had never plugged in my flashdrive to back up my work. I yelled at the computer, which really didn't help (Roxanne quietly left the room at this point, leaving me to my hysteria). Luckily, I called my dear technologically-adept friends at Simmons, who offered calm and sage advice. In the end I didn't lose too much, thanks to the autosave...

beacon street is mighty pretty

I've just returned from a little family vacation: a couple days in Boston and then a couple days in New Hampshire. It was nice to get the chance to show our little city to Roy and Hazel, whom we visited in England a couple years ago. We took a walk through the public gardens, and later we walked down Beacon Street and saw my old dorm (which is now an apartment building):

And the former Governor's mansion, which is now also the former Emerson Library, where Tom worked when we were in school...

New York City, Revisited

I've just returned from a fantastical weekend in New York City. I collected some details during my wanderings: the gorgeous woman in times square with fair skin and black hair and the port-wine stain like a fingerprint on the tip of her chin; the nine year old girl swivel-swiveling on her figure-8-shaped skateboard through the crowds; the waiter who mixed our guacamole in a little clay pot with a swirl click click swirl; the woman walking down the street in Brooklyn carrying an enormous...

Today's guest post: YA author Julie Berry

Do you have any writing rituals?
Not really. I'll grab any snippet of writing time I can find, and any place that's quiet and has an outlet for my laptop. Food and writing generally don't mix for me — given the choice between snacking and writing, snacking's bound to win. And I don't play music while writing, though if I'm in a café and they play some nice instrumental music, that doesn't bother me any. Given my present situation as mom to four young boys, I generally end up writing at...

if I had to live in a piece of fruit…

…Then I would most certainly choose to live in a peach. Yes, I realize I'm a day late, but allow me a little tribute to children's author Roald Dahl. I've loved many of his weird and wonderful books, but none more so than this one.

While I certainly would not advise living inside of a peach, this book surely made me want to eat one. It also gave me a new perspective on insects, some of whom may be very interesting and friendly creatures if one only takes the time to get to know them.

In other...