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.

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!