Sarah Raughley's Blog, page 10

2015 (1st Half) Dreams and Aspirations

So we’ve finally crossed over into the New Year. I, for one, am stoked. A NEW YEAR! A NEW HOPE! EMPIRE STRIKES BACK wait –

Whatever, party!

So what am I planning for 2015? Well, I’ve realized that I’d rather break the year into two parts and then assess my goals and plans once we reach the half-year mark. I’ve got a lot of stuff on my plate. Here are my goals for the first half of 2015 (or, if you’d rather, 2015 Part 1: Breaking the Deathly Mockingjay)

Creative Writing Goals (/Hopes/Dreams/PLEAS...

Reply: December 31st, 2009

So it’s been five years.

Honestly? I’m kind of proud. No, I’m really proud.

This time four years ago I’d finally, for the first time, completed an ms that I was pleased enough with to actually try to query. I decided to hold off until the New Year of course, but I was incredibly proud, incredibly excited, and yes just a little nervous. At that time, though I’d read tons of agent blogs and started researching at the Absolute Write Forums, I still didn’t really have a concept of how difficult the...

Remember when they said kids weren’t reading?

From Publishing Perspectives:

In 2014, children and teenagers are reading in record numbers and are often driving the buying of books by influencing their parents and peers. The children���s book market has grown 44% in the last 10 years, while adult publishing had its peak in 2008 and is in decline. International children���s publishing is still the largest sector of content creation at $151 billion (surpassing gaming, which is at $133 billion). And reading is still the #1 leisure activity fo...

Me trying to finish this chapter of my dissertation and then mark a bunch of essays:

��

Doesn’t help that I think it probably sucks. Heeelp D:

Titles Titles Titles TITLES

So I’m busy trying to think up a title for my new Middle Grade wip, which is, actually, HARDER THAN WRITING THE NOVEL ITSELF.

How does that even work? I mean surely it should be the other way around?

But titles just aren’t my strong suit. Honestly, I think some people just have a gift with them. It took me like a year to come up with the first one and even that one wasn’t that great :D It’s fun trying to beat down my brain for an answer though. I mean with respect to that (now trunked) book, I...

Writing Inspirations: Marrisa Meyer’s Gatlon Trilogy

Everyone and their mother should know how much I love The Lunar Chronicles. I’ve been following Marissa Meyer back when she wrote Sailor Moon fanfiction :) As a fellow moonie I was thrilled to see her get published. Now I see that for nanowrimo she’s writing a new YA outside of that universe – and get this, it’s about superheroes!

From Marissa Meyer’s Blog:

There are two rival schools in Gatlon City: the respected and exclusive Morris Academy that has turned many an evolved youth into celebrity...

How to Keep Going: a Somewhat Rambly, but Hopefully Encouraging Nanowrimo Post

So Nanowrimo’s just around the corner! Unfortunately, I’ll be using most of my nano writing time working on my academic stuff that I desperately need to get finished, but good luck to all those who are properly doing Nano from Day 1 to Day 30! I know that eventually I’ll join in the fray, but not to do what you’d expect.

My last Nano project was a really fun book that’s with my agent right now. It’s one of those weird and wonderful stories I wrote after months of feeling somewhat lost because...

Monday Wishlist Roundup: The Rebirth of Dead Dreams Edition

I’m out of my cave! I had around 50-60 English essays to mark (I lost count), an article to write, and a thesis chapter to finish. A couple of weeks and lots of coffee later I’m back and ready to share a few things I’m excited for!

~*~Monday Wishlist~*~*

First up we’ve got a new Young Adult Fantasy series fresh off a sale. And guess what? The writer of said series is an old agent mate of mine! I’m speaking of course of Julie Eshbaugh’s IVORY AND BONE.

Pitched as a YA Clan of the Cave Bear, this...

Monday Wishlist: We All Looked Up

I just spent the last night having the worst heartburn of my life. Thankfully, I survived long enough to make this post and tell the world about YA Literature’s answer to the age-old question: what happens when you take a Simpson’s episode and turn it into a gritty, emotional contemporary teen book?

That’s right. Today’s *~Monday Wishlist*~

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach.

Wait, is there’s no title on the book cover?

The Goodreads summary doesn’t have much:

The lives of four teens intersect and...

Yesterday in #WeNeedDiverseBooks: Lee and Low Talks Diversity Behind the Scenes

If you’ve been following the #WeNeedDiverseBooks and the #DiversityinYA campaign, then you’d know (and let’s be honest, it’s pretty obvious anyway) that there’s a definite lack of books being published that aren’t starring predominantly white (cis, straight) characters. Different people have different takes on the causes of the situation, of course, as they should because it’s a complex, systemic issue. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to catch a rich twitter conversation started by Lee and Low...