A.J. Vanderhorst's Blog, page 3

In Which I Wrestle with Social Distancing in the Writing Industry

While Making Plans for the Glorious Future First of all, before I dive in, you should know that my upcoming debut, The Mostly Invisible Boy, will be a big success. My ten-year-old, Ezra, has confirmed this. He had a dream about it. So consider that settled. Now, on to darker and more twisty paths! Last week, my upcoming book received an endorsement from Andrew Chilton, author of The Goblin's Puzzle. Exciting, because I really enjoy his writing, and my kids are tearing through his book too....

Casey Grimes Update, March Edition

Happy almost-Spring, everyone. I've got news! I haven't written an update since Thanksgiving, which is a little hard to fathom. But that's how the book industry works. For weeks or months you're waiting on someone, usually an editor or designer, to sign off on their thing so you can do your thing. It's like a verrry slow-motion game of tennis. Or maybe tag. Then all of a sudden, things speed up and you're playing in real time. For several months, not much happened on my publisher's side of...

Three Things I Learned from Writing a Sequel (Casey 2)

When I started writing The Mostly Invisible Boy (coming April 2020), all I had to guide me was a concept and a feeling. The concept came from my kids: Every house in our neighborhood should have its own treehouse, they said. And those hideouts should be connected, way up high, for parties and sleepovers and stuff. That would be so cool, they said. And I agreed. The feeling was a common one, that most of us have known. It was the awareness youre being overlooked. Like theres a quiet...

All Good Writers Read

Several years ago, when I was active in entrepreneurial circles and church networks, a popular slogan was, Leaders read. I thought it made sense. I was a competitive guy with a penchant for extreme sportsand a tendency to rush in where angels fear to tread (embarrassing). I realized best practices werent something you blundered into, whether you were branding a product or building a community. So I disciplined myself to read books that would help my big-picture thinking and give me good...

3 Things My First Classroom Visit Taught Me About KidLit

Earlier this week, I got the opportunity to do an author talk at New Chelsea Elementary here in Kansas City, Kansas. My brother and enduring book backer Peter coordinated the visit for his 5th grade class, and another class joined us. Since this was my first official author talk, thought Id take the opportunity to reflect. Kids Are Smart Lets start with an obvious observation. (Maybe less obvious if youre like me and have middle-school boys who sometimes disguise their intelligence. Hey guys,...

Invisibility Ho! And How to Escape It

I haven't had much luck believing six impossible things before breakfast. Not even aided by espresso. However, in pursuit of more achievable goals, I've been thinking about the nature of invisibility. Many big accomplishments have been made possible by the i-power. Midnight explorations at Hogwarts. Escapes from nasty relatives. Thievery in goblin tunnels with far-reaching implications for Middle Earth. In certain moments, who hasn't wanted to be totally unseen? But invisibility is a double...

First Ever Official CASEY GRIMES Update!

This is it. The very first progress report. Much has happened to reach this point, six years of stuff in fact, but now is not the time for backstory! It's time for me to seize the surreal moment, and tell you what's going on with this book that's really, truly getting published. CASEY GRIMES & THE SENTRY OAK As you may know, my middle grade fantasy debut is coming out in 2020but there's already a lot going on behind the scenes. My plan is to write occasional posts to give you an idea how this...

In Defense of Non Absentee Parents in Children's Literature

Here's a topic I've thought about a lot, as a writer, but haven't spent much time discussing. Of course, others have had plenty to say about it. Looks like it was a somewhat hot topic in 2010, and it's still on the table in 2019. Maybe the conversations are swirling in writers' groups and social media, and I'm just not catching them. Although to be honest (have you seen the state of Twitter lately?), I doubt it. I'd love to see statscompiled by someone else, of coursebreaking down this...

A Little Backstory On My Heroic Writing Journey

You'd think someone who writes books could come up with better blog titles, but apparently not. Pretty sure this one is 100% cliche, totally unlike my upcoming novel. But let's backtrack. I wrote my first middle grade book in 2013. A naive burst of creativity, inspired by the stories I told my kids at bedtime. Like many aspiring authors, I'd written truly awful tales as a preteen and later burned them, but this was my first time seriously trying to write fiction. It was awkward. I tried not...