Book Lists

A Crazy Giveaway

By on September 17, 2013   /   Book Lists  

Introducing a debut novel that has already garnered a galaxy of starred reviews!

sure signs of crazy

From Indiebound:

Love can be a trouble word for some people. Crazy is also a trouble word.
I should know.
You’ve never met anyone exactly like twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she’s never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two.
Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home.
Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family’s Big Secret. She makes unexpected new friends and has her first real crush, and instead of a “typical boring Sarah Nelson summer,” this one might just turn out to be extraordinary.

Karen Harrington lives in Texas with her husband and children. You can visit her at www.karenharringtonbooks.com.

For a chance to win a book by this exciting new voice in MG lit, please enter a comment below.

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Five Ways MUF’s Updated “For Writers” Page Is NOT Like a Large Umbrella

By on September 15, 2013   /   Book Lists  

I have a confession to make: I’m a habitual list maker. I suppose that explains my frequent use of numbered lists in my MUF posts—posts like “Top 10 Deep (& Stolen) Thoughts about Writing” and “Three Ways Middle-grade Writing Is Like a Bowl of Lucky Charms.” Such perpetual numbering might make you think, Hey, T. P., escape your list-making rut. EXPAND YOUR BLOGGING HORIZONS!

My response? . . . “You didn’t need to use an exclamation point at the end of that thought, and the ALL-CAPS thing was definite overkill. Now get off my case. If lists work, I’m going to roll with them.”

Good. I’m glad we understand each other. Let’s dispense with the bickering and get this blog post underway. Here’s the latest list:

  umbrella

FIVE WAYS MUF’S UPDATED “FOR WRITERS” PAGE IS NOT   LIKE A LARGE UMBRELLA
  1. I had to take an umbrella along while walking my son to school this morning. That kept our book dry for our walk-and-read-aloud routine. The “For Writers” page is just bunch of Internet links to useful middle-grade writing resources, which would make it completely useless for that keeping-books-dry thing.
  2. The “For Writers-The Craft” page provides access to plenty of insights and information that can help you create stronger characters, strengthen your story’s plot, and become an all-around better writer. This will help your writing take flight. Unless you’re Mary Poppins, don’t expect an umbrella to have any such flight-granting effect.
  3. The “For Writers-The Process” page can help you move from idea to draft to revision and onward. No way can an umbrella do that. Unless maybe you get one with an ink pen mounted in the tip. But even then I think the subsequent writer’s cramp would kill your progress.
  4. The “For Writers-The Writing Life” page can inspire you and help you learn how to carve writing time from your overwhelmingly busy schedule. If you think an umbrella can do that, you probably need professional help that has nothing to do with writing or umbrellas.
  5. I think you should visit MUF’s updated “For Writers” page. Conversely, I really don’t care about your umbrella use. Sorry.

Of course, before you click over to “For Writers,” feel free to share your own umbrella-inspired insights below. Happy writing! 🙂

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