Monday, September 20, 2010

between two ends

I'm absolutely delighted with the new cover for Between Two Ends. We had a good long discussion (editor, and the team at Amulet) regarding the name for the book. A lot of thoughtful dialogue. More than anything, it gave me a deep respect for how seriously editors and book teams are willing to delve into a story so that it can be well named. Originally I named it, simply, Ends. But the title didn't sit well with me. Further dialogue with Amulet led to Between Two Ends, suggested by someone from the team. I tasted it for a while and eventually liked it! I tried it on my brother who is often my sounding board and he jumped at it. And so it stands: Between Two Ends. More on the book itself, later.

david

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

One hockey night, grassland 3, and more

Life has been busy!

First, a note about One Hockey Night. I've seen the paintings now and they are brilliant. Brian Deines has done a fabulous job once again.

Grassland 3, Beyond the Mask comes out in September. I can hardly wait. I plan to do a book launch in Portland to celebrate.

I'm continuing to write an historical novel (WWI flying ace) and work on a new novel that takes place on Lindisfarne, Holy Island, North Umberland, England.

thanks for all your good wishes!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

One Hockey Night

Hi all

One Hockey Night will be coming out this year. It is the sequel to The Hockey Tree. I'm looking forward to thinking and talking about again in schools! And...it's playoff time!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

olympics

We took our kids to see Women's hockey, Canada versus Slovakia at the 2010 Olympics. While it was exciting to watch our Canadian women play it was equally delightful to be a part of the crowd, to hear thousands of voices singing the anthem or giving a standing O for the Slovakian team's effort. It is the stuff of stories!

Monday, February 1, 2010

history

I'm writing a piece of historical fiction right now as well as fantasy.

Monday, January 25, 2010

settings

I'm re-reading Meghan Whalen Turner's Thief books again. Currently I'm reading The Queen of Atolia. What has struck me this time round is how well Turner describes court life and how countries operate and why they do some of the crazy things they do. For students, for teachers, these books provide an excellent base for thinking about settings for stories, particularly in regards to invented countries. I hope you get a chance to read through them.

Friday, January 15, 2010

writing at home, writing on the road

Things have been exceedingly busy at our house over Christmas and I'm afraid that like many bloggers I have been unable to write anything on the blog for too long.

I'm working steadily on three stories right now - three completely different books - and the range is most enjoyable. Readers and young writers have asked: is it hard to write more than one book at a time? An excellent question. The more I think about it the more I realize that my writing life somewhat resembles my reading life: I am frequently reading three books or more at a time and usually for different purposes. Depending on my mood or the time of night or day I will shift from Sherlock Holmes to Kenneth Opel's Airborne series to Meghan Whalen Turner's new books to another wonderful piece of literature! I find the shift fairly easy and enjoyable. It also seems to help my writing. Reading excellent writing supports the structures of my own writing. So, read on and write on!