Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 178

Social Media: Making Better Use of My Time

I’m sure this is no news to you if you spend any time on social media. It can be a real-time suck.  I’ve decided that in 2019 social media will have to take up less of my time.  This will mean becoming more efficient or getting rid of some things. Numerous people have recommended Hootsuite […]

Twitter: What To Do When Your Account Is Hacked

Earlier this week, I got a message through Twitter from a writing friend. I’d never heard from her through Twitter before.  Usually she just picks up the phone.  We live pretty close and see each other every few weeks.  But it was late.  Not calling made sense in light of the time. I messaged her […]

Gladys West: One of the Great Women I Haven’t Written about . . . Yet

One of the toughest parts about outlining a nonfiction project is picking and choosing which information to include. When Duchess Harris and I worked on Hidden Human Computers, we included the stories of as many women as possible.  The problem is that the records from when these women worked are often incomplete.  Let’s just say […]

Audience: Why They Need to Be Defined

Recently we got an e-mail about the family Christmas celebration. Instead of drawing names and exchanging gifts, our regular practice, we are playing “rob your neighbor.”  “Each participant should bring a $20 gift that will appeal to anyone in the family.”  Following those instructions, we would each have to wrap a twenty dollar bill. Sound […]

Who Are You? The Unnamed Character

Recently, I read two short stories in a row where the narrators were not named.  This made me wonder about this whole unnamed narrator. It is something new?  The short answer – no.  The longer answer – no but it isn’t easy to make it work. Poking around I found the following works with unnamed […]

Carla Killough McClafferty: Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington’s Mount Vernon

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that authors have favorite authors. One of mine? Carla Killough McClafferty. I fell in love with her writing when I read The Many Faces of George Washington: Remaking a Presidential Icon (Carolrhoda Books). This book tells about a project undertaken by officials at Mount Vernon.  It all started when they conducted […]

YALSA Names Five Finalists for the 2019 Excellence in Nonfiction Award

Earlier this week, the Young Adult Library Services Association, or YALSA, named five finalists for their 2019 Excellent in Nonfiction Award.  The award honors the best nonfiction books written for young adults between Nov. 1, 2017 and Oct. 31, 2018. The five finalists are: The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor by Sonia Sotomayor, Delacorte Press.  “”The memoir […]

Battling Injustice with the Persecution Flip Story: Why You Shouldn’t Try It

When I saw the post on Mythcreants, my first thought was “Perse-what-a flip story?”  What can I say?  I hadn’t had any coffee yet. Simply put, a persecution flip story flips who is persecuted and who is doing the persecuting.  What this means is that a persecuted group is now in power and those who […]

Middle Grade Magic

Well, the jokes on me.  I didn’t mean to publish this one yet. I was just going to save the URL and write the post later.  But in my mad rush to get to dinner, I published it and one of you liked it.  So, my schedule is getting a bit of an update. School […]

Reading Your Work After an Absence and Growing as a Writer

We’ve heard the advice before.  Finish something and then put it aside for a month or so.  When you come back to it, you’ll do so with fresh eyes.  You’ll be able to see what works and what needs to be adjusted.  After you’ve not looked at something for a while, you’re no longer seeing […]