I recently did an interview about my favorite books on a particular theme. I got to choose the theme, and the one I chose was neurodivergence because At The Speed Of Gus features an overtly neurodivergent hero. It has been brought home to me, by repeated student questions, that all my heroes are, to an extent, neurodivergent. Possibly because I am. (-- Possibly, Richard? -- Shut up!) Anyway, they are all cool books, and the team putting together the interview wants me to post a link. So here it is. Enjoy. https://shepherd.com/best-books/neurodivergent-voices-quirky-heartbreaking ..read more

Here’s an update on the Camp Fundament book. Nothing to report. A large part of the writing process is waiting for people to get back to you. Send off a manuscript and wait to hear if they like it. Send off a rewrite and wait to have a meeting about what they like and don’t like about it.  Have that  meeting and wait to get specifics about what to change. That’s what’s happening now. Erin is doing her good works on other mss. Ours is coming soon, she says. Am I bored? No way. I have lots to worry about. Income tax. Elder care. Dangerous wiring issues in the house.   Also ano ..read more

News on the new book front. The waiting is over! Ahem. We have met with our editor. Erin the Good has read thru our first draft and zoomed into a discussion of it. I call her ‘Good’ because of her editorial chops - she liked out work - and also because she comes across as a real good person. Not that Anne isn’t a good person, but along with Autumn Bird she was juggling a bunch of other projects, and the first word that came to my mind when thinking of her was ‘hardworking.’ (Btw, she has left Scholastic for harder-working pastures, and in fact is brooding over another project of mine r ..read more

The first draft of Camp Fundament is finished and sent off to the editor. It’s rough but ready. (Wasn’t there a TV show with a dog and a cat? Mists of memory so this must be a long way back. Let me check.... Yup. That's them. ) And what do we do now? Many of you know from your own experience. Many others can guess. For those who are still in the dark, the answer is: we wait. That’s what we’ve been doing for a week or two now. And we’re still doing it. Of course waiting is not a comprehensive activity. While you’re waiting, you’re working on other projects. I am dealing with last minute to and ..read more

It’s done. By which I mean, ‘It’s off our desks.’ By which I mean, ‘It’s off our desks for now.’ Mel and I have finished the first draft of our takedown of fundamentalist religion. Our editor, the charming and hopeful Erin, will deal with it over the coming weeks. Unless she freaks out at the first chapters and we have to have an emergency meeting. (I don’t know why I mention that possibility. You’d think I was superstitious – touch wood.) By ‘takedown’ I mean snarky commentary. Fundamentalism is nowhere near being taken down. The right-wing church establishment will not be worried by our boo ..read more

I’ve sent off my second last chapter. I think. The standard plot graph looks like a jagged mountain with the peak way off to the right. There’s a short falling away from the peak, and that’s the end. Think of Mallory summiting Everest (you know, I don’t think I’ve ever used that verb before. Wow. I feel all blushy and virginal) and dying shortly afterwards on the way down. The crisis has happened. Melanie and I have summited successfully (there it is again! I’m feeling a little more experienced and confident now) and are on that short downward section. There are two big problems to avoid in t ..read more

We’re down to the short strokes now. A few chapters to go in the Camp FUNdament book. I just handed off to Melanie in the middle of the big scene, giving her hero a chance to blow our version of organized cultish fundamentalism out of the water, or maybe to run away and leave my guy looking sheepish. Just as an aside, does anyone know what the term ‘short strokes’ refers to? Sport? Art? Sex? Medical health? (That’s one cold ER doc commenting on grandma’s condition.) At this stage in the story, I find myself plotting generously – recklessly even. In the first few chapters, I’m stingy, measurin ..read more

I feel more OKAY! than WHEW! about my last chapter. It helps that we’re getting close to the end. And it’s fun introducing an interesting character.  This is the Originator of our cult, a creepy charismatic Kenneth Copeland type.  Whom these folks see as, well, God. And when God shows up in person (I can say that, right? Old Testament is a voice and a burning bush but New Testament is a person) there are places to go. Extreme reactions from folks are fun to depict. The Originator provokes fainting, ranting, adoration, dead silence ... and he has a cigar-smoking, eye-on-the-profits ..read more

Whew is the word. I had a lot of info to get across in the last chapter. The decision tree had a number of options. I tried branch after branch that didn’t take me far enough, so I had to get back to the trunk and try again. And as a writer (also as a tree climber) I resemble the slow loris, perhaps my favorite nocturnal strepsirrhine primate. I finally chose a branch that was sturdy and long and not rotten. Whew.  I even found a nice moment at the end of the chapter, working in the trope of the minister asking if anyone in the crowd has any reason to object …. and guess what ..read more

I never know all that’s going to happen in my story before I started writing. I have a general idea of plot, and a main character with a voice (very important, that voice) and I start in. Slowly. If the novel is a roller-coaster ride, this part of the writing is uphill. I clank along, considering various possibilities. What about this or that or the other? What about him or her or them? What about here or there or elsewhere?   I get ideas, make choices, surprise myself, and eventually … clank, clank, clank … come to a point where I know all I need to know in order to finish the book. Thi ..read more