This weekend I will be in Staunton, VA signing my book, The Travelers, at the wonderful Sacred Circle Bookstore and Gift shop. (If you live or happen to be nearby come and see me!) Sadly, finding a bookstore like this one is rare. While I love my local Barnes and Noble (I will take any place where I can get physical books), I miss the small book retailers, the unicorns of the book world. There are so few now. But, they can still be found, check out a few here.
I went to a pre-election day "end of the world party" (Northern Virginia mama-style) last night with many of my friends from my amazing book club (The Nightlighers). The point was to have a little fun before the dreaded vote the next day. Then the dreaded vote came and went. But, you know what? It wasn't as awful as I thought. It actually made me smile. Then, I wondered. Why is that? I had to find out, of course.
It’s Election Day tomorrow. Tonight, I’m going to an “End of the World” party. Tongue and cheek party name? I really hope so. Personally, as a writer and a lover of books, Facebook and Twitter are not places that I go for my political information. Not that I don’t love the jokes and pithy commentary. (I really do!) But, it can’t be the only source if you want to have a real understanding of issues. (There really should be no one source at all, right?) On that note, I’d like to highlight the power of reading books and thoughtful articles to make you think about the world beyond twitter (I know, it exists right? Crazy)
Today I walked outside, a bright sun shone like a spotlight on all the vibrant reds, mellow yellows, and perfect peaches still clustered in the trees. The rest of fall crunched on the ground beneath my feet. It reminded me of... Continue Reading →
I’m headed to a local high school football game tonight, the second one I will attend in a two week period. I went to my high school reunion in mid-October and channeled some Friday Night Lights action during the event. Although, for me, the highlight was the tour of the school, especially the library. You can tell because I took more pictures of it than anything else. Yes, my love of books manifests itself in strange ways. Today, I’m going to embrace football and “tackle” creating a list of top YA books featuring, you guessed it, football and things associated with it.
Oh passive voice, the bane of my writing existence, along with idioms and the use of semicolons. (I actually despise semicolons. Just start a new sentence!) But that is a rant for another time. As a newly published author, I probably struggled with passive voice the most. And through those struggles, along with the help of some very seasoned book editors, I think I’ve learned enough about the topic to provide some helpful (and abbreviated, for those of you with busy schedules) advice.
K.L. Kranes 