Summer is just about over for 2026…yeah, I haven’t posted in a while. And as my fifth (FIFTH!) book comes out this fall, I’m having lots of feelings about writing and publishng and how they are two completely different things but once you are published, become forever combined in a complicated and intricate web.
Most authors will tell you that they do their best writing when they can push the thoughts of publishing (is this sellable? will readers like this? will my agent like it? will it get good reviews?) out of their head. This used to be a lot easier for me, but with each book, it gets harder and harder. With MTTIW coming out this month, I am scared to death of miserable sales and lackluster reviews, but I have to try and focus on writing the next thing (which right now is two things because I can’t decide whether to focus on a MG contemporary with spec fiction touches, or a YA thriller).
I’m also thinking about AI (not Allen Iverson, but Artificial Intelligence) and how there are some folks out there using it to write books. Shame on them. Since I work in a writing program in higher education, I hear about students using AI to write their papers. Shame on them too. Writing isn’t about the product produced, it is about the process and when you use AI, you have skipped the most critical piece. And it makes me sad that people who profess to want to be “writers” have decided a machine doing the writing—even if they revise what was produced—because that isn’t being a writer at all.
My publisher hasn’t sent me out to any conferences in a long time and I miss it. I miss meeting the teachers and librarians that put my books in readers hands. I miss feeling like I’m PART of the publishing world. I miss the after conference happy hours with author friends. I am going to a fun event next month, Tween Reads, and I’m SO excited! It’ll be so cool meeting the attendees because they will be mostly readers of middle-grade books!
The world feels very unhappy and unsettled right now. Or maybe I feel unhappy and unsettled because of what’s going on in the world. I’m hopeful that things will improve. If I stick to my schedule of making a journal entry every two years or so, I guess next time you hear from me, I’ll know whether we’ve let the ship sink, or if we’ve filled the holes and kicked the rats overboard.
Until next time!
