Patricia Bailey's Blog, page 6
July 1, 2019
Middle Grade New Releases for July
I’m over at the From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Novels blog this week talking about all the wonderful books hitting the shelves this month. In between fireworks, backyard barbecues, and summer hikes through wild flower fields, grab one of these new books and settle in for a some fun reading.
And have a safe, happy, and fire-free Fourth of July!
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June 23, 2019
An Update and a Link to A Revision Resource
I’ve been a little MIA here at the blog the last two months. Between work, revising my novel, and dealing with an illness it’s been a little chaotic in my world. But things are finally moving out of stuck mode, which means, I should be back to blogging – and writing – regularly again.
Fingers crossed 
March 31, 2019
Camp NanoWriMo
It’s April – long past time for me to put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard and get serious about revising my work in progress. I’ve let it sit. I’ve had a friend read a good chunk of it and offer feedback. I’ve studied story and plot, opening scenes and endings. I’ve taken a ton of notes. And I’ve had a few hopeful moments where it has seemed that there is a story in there worth resurrecting.
And I’m not one to discount hopeful moments.
All of this is to say that I should be ready. Ready...
March 18, 2019
Renewal
“That is one good thing about this world…there are always sure to be more springs.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea
Some years, L.M. Montgomery’s truth is hard to believe. Some years, it feels like winter will never end, the sun will never shine, and the books will never be finished.
I started every day this month standing on my front porch, searching my flower bed for the promise of Spring – the purple crocus I planted that never fails to bring me my first glimmer of hope that the wi...
March 4, 2019
March New Releases
It’s been an interesting 2019 so far – and a fast-moving one. I cannot believe it’s already time to usher in March! Did I mention March is one of my favorite months of the year? It carries with it the promise of Spring, bushels of tulips, and the birthdays of some of my very favorite people (plus my own).
And it’s bringing in a whirlwind of new Middle Grade books.
February 17, 2019
Presidents Day
It’s Presidents Day, and I’m over at the From The Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors blog talking with my writing friends about middle grade characters who would make great presidents. One of them even suggested Kit for president!
I was too shy to put it on the list over there, but I’ll share it with you all here.
Kit Donovan (From The Tragically True Adventures of Kit Donovan by Patricia Bailey). Kit is fearless! She stands up to bullies, she fights for justice, and she doesn’t quit. K...
February 3, 2019
Middle Grade Book Love: Stef Soto, Taco Queen
I read Jennifer Torres’s Stef Soto, Taco Queen as an ARC at the end of 2016 and loved it. I was making a list of some of my favorite middle grade characters the other day, and Stef Soto (and her family’s taco truck Tia Perla) came to mind almost immediately. There’s so much to love in this heart-warming debut novel. It’s a must read for middle grade kids and for their taco-loving parents and teachers.
Seventh grader Estefania “Stef” Soto is itching to shake off the onion-and-cilantro embrace...
January 21, 2019
Mary Oliver
I didn’t realize how much I have been leaning on Mary Oliver and her work the last two years until I read that she had died. The news struck me – the way hearing an old friend has died always does – swift and hard. A front kick to the chest.
I did what we all do when we hear of of a death – I felt sad. For her, sure. For the people who knew and loved her, of course. But also, selfishly, for me. Because I wanted more. More of her thoughts. More of her poems. More of, well, all of it. All that...
January 8, 2019
Bringing in 2019
It’s here. 2019. Another ride around the sun and another trip through our crisp, clean new planners. A bright and shiny new year full of new chances, new hope.
I spent the last moments of 2018 finishing the novel that refused to be. It was rough. Ugly. A Hail Mary effort to have something to show for a year that was full of stress and fear and a pressing sense of deep unease. And, it worked. Kind of. Just as the neighborhood erupted in celebratory fireworks, I wrote the last words of a draft...
December 23, 2018
Merry Christmas!
Wishing you all the happiest of holidays and all the best in 2019!
