Hi, I’m Laurie (she/her)! This is my fifth year as a YA Pitch Wars mentor, and I could not be more excited to be back in 2021. Pitch Wars is a mentoring program where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each to spend three months with revising their manuscript. It ends in...

Welcome to my 2020 Pitch Wars Young Adult Wishlist! Pitch Wars is a mentoring program where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns choose one writer each to mentor. Mentors read the entire manuscript and offer suggestions on how to make the manuscript shine. The mentor also helps edit their mentee’s pitch and query for an...

Today I’m reviewing How We Fall by Kate Brauning. This book has been on my TBR list since its release, and I was lucky enough to win a copy at the SCBWI mid-year workshops in Orlando this month. Buy it here The summary, adapted from Goodreads: Ever since Jackie moved to her uncle’s sleepy farming...

Brenda Drake has done more to support other authors than just about anyone I know on the Internet. Thank you so much, Brenda, for all the time, love, and support for the YA community and beyond. I am so thrilled today to be able to share in the cover reveal for her book Library Jumpers!...

I have followed the publication journey of the YA urban fantasy Crow’s Rest for a while now. I am so excited to share the book trailer today!The summary: Avery Flynn arrives for a visit at her Uncle Tam’s, eager to rekindle her summertime romance with her crush-next-door, Daniel.But Daniel’s not the sweet, neurotic guy she...

Recently a writer I know and respect sent out a message asking readers and friends to please review her new book on the various sites. (Goodreads, Amazon, etc.) It was all completely on the up-and-up. She didn’t ask for positive reviews, just honesty from those who’d read it, in the hopes that they might balance...

Last week Alison Miller tagged me in the Writer’s on Writing blog hop, and today’s my day! You can check out her blog here. Thanks, Alison! 1. What are you working on?My work-in-progress is a YA contemporary about a girl with a disabled father and a mother in prison. She’s done a fine job taking...

It’s been forever since I checked in with YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday. This week the topic is simple and perfect for what’s been on my mind: What are you reading right now?I’m still reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. At about halfway through, that’s slow reading for me. I’ve been itching to talk about...

This week the lovely Leatrice McKinney at Info Dump a la El is hosting Pitch Slam: Battle of the Bands!  In addition to pitching novels, each day this week we’re rocking Pitch Slam Twitter Parties. Today we’re sharing our writing playlists. My YA novel PERCEPTION is about a boy with a rare liver disorder who spends one wild...

For a while now, I’ve thought that the greatest secondary benefit of being a writer was fulfilling my fan-girl fantasies of meeting the authors of books that I love. At my first writing conference, I had lunch with Charlaine Harris. (Well, we sat at the same table, and I was so tongue-tied that I barely said two words to...