It’s here! The cover of the third BRAVE NEW GIRLS anthology. The newest edition, titled BRAVE NEW GIRLS: TALES OF HEROINES WHO HACK!, is a collection of twenty-three short stories featuring teen girls who hack not only computers, but any puzzle they encounter. And I’m fortunate to have one of my stories included: The Experiment Called Life. These anthologies, created and edited by sci-fi authors … Continue reading Cover Reveal! BRAVE NEW GIRLS
Welcome to a special Love Letters edition of Windows & Mirrors where we feature books that provide us windows to lives outside our own and mirrors to our shared common human experiences. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to hear Angie Thomas, author of the National Book Award-nominated, NYT best-selling The Hate U Give, speak in New York City. I loved putting a face … Continue reading A Windows & Mirrors Love Letter – The Hate U Give
Happy Valentine’s Day! The true origins of Valentine’s Day are unknown – in 496, it signified the start of spring. It was also believed Valentine was a person who gave love to the world. Similar to what we now know as Cupid? Whichever story is true, both represent joy and happiness. At The Winged Pen, we help spread happiness by talking about our love of … Continue reading The Literary Couples We Love
I’m working on revising one novel and pre-writing another, and one thing keeps coming up with both projects: friendship. I have two teen daughters, and I can tell you that EVERYTHING revolves around friends. And I remember that from my own teenage years – friendships were all-consuming, intense, up and down, and central to my daily life. So as I’ve worked on these two projects, … Continue reading The Magic of Friendship
A Taxonomy of Love is a coming of age novel that spans the teenage years of Spencer and Hope. Rarely, if ever, do we get to see this many years of a character’s life. So many books I’ve read have centered around a single incident or a specific time period. With this novel, I felt as if I’d watched these kids grow up. The moment … Continue reading Book Recommendation: A Taxonomy of Love
One hundred and thirty books were nominated for the 2017 YA Speculative Fiction Award. 130! That’s a lot of books for seven judges to read in three months! As one of those judges, I’m overwhelmed by the volume but even more overwhelmed by the talent! I still have many books to read and can only mention some I love, not give away clues about which … Continue reading 5 Must Reads from the 2017 CYBILS YA Speculative Fiction Nominees
Halloween is over. Thanksgiving is in ten days. That means the gift-giving season is right around the corner! For most of us, it’s panic time. But the Pennies at The Winged Pen are going to make this holiday season easier for you. Below are some of our favorite books. They are great choices for the readers in your life (including yourself!) Gita City of Saints … Continue reading Holiday Gift Ideas: The Winged Pen’s Favorite Books
Q: What is Four on 400? A monthly contest that provides ONE LUCKY MG or YA WRITER with feedback on their opening 400 WORDS! As part of our ongoing mission to support writers, we’ll give a MG or YA writer feedback on their work from four of The Winged Pen’s contributors. Q: Sounds exciting! How do I enter? To enter, simply comment at the bottom of this post! At 4pm (EST) … Continue reading November Four on 400 Contest Window is Now Open!
The soon-to-be-released futuristic dystopian young adult novel Daughter 4254 started out as an ebook on Wattpad that received over ******1 million****** views. Impressed by the attention it had received, the publishers at Owl Hollow Press invited Leigh Statham to publish Daughter 4254 as a series of novels. The original story has been revised and enhanced, and the first novel in the trilogy … Continue reading Daughter 4254: A New Dystopian Series about fighting for the arts #D4254
Black Yale-bound graduating senior Justyce McAllister’s good life at his prestigious, mostly-white prep school takes on a new harsh reality after he’s falsely accused of crimes and roughed up by a policeman while innocently helping a friend. Meanwhile, daily news accounts of young black men being shot or arrested flood the airwaves, stirring up strong opinions among his classmates. As Justyce searches for answers to … Continue reading Nic Stone Interview: Dear Martin
Welcome to this week’s Master Your Craft post! Each Wednesday we’ll discuss prewriting and drafting a new book from the BIG IDEA to QUERYING. Last week, we talked about Creating Interesting Dialogue and Description. This week, we’ll discuss making sure the content and sentence, paragraph, chapter, and word count work for your reader. As you are revising, one important step in the process is to make sure … Continue reading MYC: Make Your Story Fit Your Reader
Happy Indigenous People’s Day! As the wind turns from humid to crisp and the leaves begin to change colors, we can’t help but think about Thanksgiving and our mixed feelings about this celebration. My education about Native Americans as a child was woefully inadequate and wrong for the most part. Understanding that our childhood views of colonialism were misrepresented is important to our history, our … Continue reading Native American Literature for Young Readers
