Children's Book Recommendation

Dress Coded by Carrie Finestone

When Molly Frost’s friend is unfairly called out and embarrassed by the middle school principal, she embarks on a mission to change the discriminatory dress code. What starts as a podcast escalates into a full-scale protest. The issues felt real and I was full of frustration for the characters and cheering for the girl power. Tween girls will relate to many of the themes of this book.

Adult Book Recommendation

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

After brilliant and unconventional chemist Elizabeth Zott is horribly treated by all her male coworkers and superiors, she winds up as a television cooking show host where she teaches cooking, chemistry and a subversive view of the role of women in the world. Some pretty awful things happen at the start of the book, but the fast pace of the writing, funny dialogue and well-rounded support cast, including sections told from the dog’s point of view, make this book a delight.

Behind the Scenes

The First Draft

For me, the hardest part of writing is staring at a blank page. I need to trick myself into writing the first draft. Some of my tricks include allowing the writing to be terrible (because I know I’ll be doing a ton of revision), setting a weekly word count goal and doing writing sprints. A writing spring is a short, timed writing session during which I try not to stop typing. Usually I set my timer for fifteen minutes. Before I start I think in general terms about the scene I’m about to write—the motivations of my characters and the major plot points—then I remove distractions, set the timer and go. Thanks to 9th grade typing camp (yep, really) I’m a very fast typer and can achieve 500 words in that time if I don’t stop to think. It doesn't feel like much but it adds up. I've written nine published books plus the five unpublished manuscripts still on my computer that way.