Though it feels like this draft is trying to kill me.  I’m about two-thirds of the way through a first pass clean-up.  It’s taking shape.  Sloooowly.  For anyone else who’s in the throes of trying to make something out of what feels like a heap of junk, I highly recommend this post on Failure by Sara [...]

This came up on one of my online writer groups last week – whether customer reviews on Amazon are important.  And how important?  Is it bad if a book only has a few?  Do they play a part in whether a book shows up as “recommended for you” or “viewed by other customers” or whatever? I don’t [...]

I got an email from my editor this week with this subject line: Kirkus Review.  My first thoughts: Already? and YIKES! I opened it before I had time to think anything else because reading reviews of your book is nerve-wracking to start with, but the first one?  Total crapshoot.   You’ve read the book so many times by that [...]

One: The Mark made the Bank Street list of Best Children’s Books of the Year.  Lots of great books are on the list, I’m thrilled to be included! Two:  My aunt’s sister’s daughter* is reading The Mark for her seventh grade English class.  Aside from the obvious (holy crap – my old school is reading my book!), I think it’s awesome that the teacher is using something with real relevance [...]

Three new YA books are out today… The Horn Book says A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner “has something for everyone: road trips, fortuitous stranger encounters, friendship drama, optimistic romanticism, and a fresh treatment of a lesbian heroine.”   They featured it and Emily in this month’s newsletter as one of four new YA “Writers worth [...]

Just before Thanksgiving, my editor emailed to let me know Booklist (one of the industry review publications) had given The Mark a “lovely” review, saying in part: “First-time author Nadol has interwoven an absorbing and thoughtful philosophical dilemma with a YA romance.  There are moments of predictability and [spoiler omitted], but characters grapple convincingly with the moral [...]

…and a beautifully written one at that, by Shakespeare’s Muse at Reading Rocks.  Here’s some of what she says: I expected this book to be good–and it was. Enjoyable, intriguing, tortured, and dramatic, this book is deep, thoughtful, and philosophical while simultaneously being a seriously good piece of writing. The Mark is an intense two-hundred-something [...]