Jennifer Castle's Blog, page 2
January 31, 2013
Maisy Dee’s “The Recipe” and sex in YA lit
In my life as an author, I’ve not yet had to tackle the question of whether or not to include a sex scene in something I’m writing. This wasn’t a conscious choice but rather, a result of sex simply not being necessary or organic to my story, and I was not compelled to go there. [...]
January 16, 2013
Author photos and other psychological workouts
I freaking hate getting my picture taken. It sends a current of panic through my entire body. I avoid it at all costs, and when I can’t, I make some horrible joke about indigenous cultures who believe photos steal the soul. Or I secretly crop myself out of the shot and delete the original. I [...]
November 29, 2012
How I Write
The lovely Jen of “A Book and a Latte” blog gave me a taste of my own medicine. She asked if I’d participate in her “How I Write” interview series in honor of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and I felt it was only fair for me to examine my own work process after forcing [...]
November 19, 2012
Butt Meets Chair: Louise Rozett
This past September, I had the pleasure of moderating a YA lit panel at the Brooklyn Book Festival called “It’s A Hard Knock Life,” which included Barry Lyga, Susane Colasanti, and debut author Louise Rozett. We spent a lovely hour on a heartbreakingly perfect fall day talking about how we like making life suck for [...]
November 5, 2012
Voila! The “You Look Different in Real Life” cover and synopsis!
I am quietly thrilled to be able to share the cover and official synopsis for my upcoming novel “You Look Different in Real Life,” which will be published by HarperTeen on June 4, 2013. I won’t babble on or try to say something deep here, because you really just want the goods, right? Here are [...]
October 12, 2012
Butt Meets Chair: Robin Palmer
I’m excited to finally be continuing my “Butt Meets Chair” series. In these interviews, I get to bug fellow YA authors with annoying questions about how they make writing actually happen. Today, I bring you the lovely Robin Palmer, best known for weaving together fairy tales and timeless themes into books that feel compellingly current, [...]
October 1, 2012
Done, for now
SNAP. September went like that. I last posted in August, right before I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and my brain hurt to even think about writing, let alone do it. But I did it anyway, and summer turned into early fall and I kept revising and accomplished little else, except taking a lot of [...]
August 20, 2012
Laurel lives!
So here’s something fun: Recently, I was invited by the awesome bloggers at Fiktshun and Two Chicks On Books to participate in their “Authors Are Rockstars” tour. (Note to self: If you want a whole bunch of YA authors to eagerly say yes to your blog event, work the word “rockstar” into the title.) They [...]
August 13, 2012
Butt Meets Chair: Kim Purcell
Today begins my first-ever blog series, “Butt Meets Chair: YA Authors Talk About Making Writing Actually Happen. “Butt Meets Chair” was a little brainstorm I had recently, when I was thinking of what I most enjoy hearing about from other writers: the writing process itself. Not the general, emotional, angsty stuff. I mean, the minute-by-minute [...]
July 30, 2012
Crazy amazing news
So this is how life works, sometimes. You’re sitting on a school bus surrounded by your 7-year-old daughter and her first grade classmates, bumping your way down the mountain from a field trip at a nature preserve. Oh, look. You’ve finally got cell phone reception again and can check your email. You don’t expect to [...]
