The month of August has been frantic! Although it started out with a lovely vacation, since I’ve returned, I’ve felt a little bit like Lucille Ball in this gif, but without all the great chocolate.
First, the Pitch Wars submission window opened. And the inbox for #teamunicornmojo flooded with so much middle-grade goodness that we didn’t know how we were going to choose something. I won’t give any spoilers/teasers, but I’m pretty excited about the mentor announcements next week. I’m so honored that people chose to submit to us and to be a part of this amazing opportunity to give back to the writing community that has helped me so much over the past three years.
Speaking of Pitch Wars, I was over at Mixed-Up Files talking with the lovely Eric Bell (winner of Pitch Wars 2015) about his debut, Alan Cole is not a Coward, which comes out on September 5. If you act fast, you can enter to win a copy. If not, you can read the first chapter of Alan Cole is Not a Coward, and of course add it to your TBR list.
And I also made an appearance at The Winged Pen to talk with my pal Halli Gomez about my favorite writerly topic: Writing Emotion. This is an expansion of my writing emotion post on the Author Accelerator blog. Check it out!
My favorite moment of the week, however, was MG@Heart‘s #mgbookclub Twitter chat with Linda Jackson about her debut, Midnight Without a Moon. The horrifying events of Charlottesville were on everyone’s mind as we discussed this lovely historical fiction about a little girl growing up in the south during the time of the Emmett Till lynching. You can browse through the #mgbookclub feed for discussion questions you can use to start conversations with your children/students on this important topic. Talking about racism is the only way our nation can begin the long process of healing and end the hatred that is dividing us.
