- Sunday was the Brooklyn Book Festival, one of my favorite days of the year. I saw Jacqueline Woodson, a spooky panel on books about witches, a YA panel on first love, and a YA panel on books set in NYC. It’s just amazing to see so many authors and be around all the book lovers. Looking around the crowd, I thought to myself these are so my people.
- After reading Shadowshaper last week, I moved on to Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo. It’s a big, fat book, but I’m about halfway in and really loving the story. I’ve also been rediscovering my love of adult romance novels. I’m rereading a few old favorites and checking out some new ones from the library. Swoon.
- The writing has been going better. It’s inconsistent. One day, I’ll get a ridiculous amount done. The next few days, I’ll stare at my computer screen and write nothing. But I’m nearing the end of this draft. And I’m really itching to get started developing a whole new story, which I think is a good sign. Hopefully.
- Especially because of this week’s terrible tragedies in Tulsa and Charlotte, this excerpt from The Hate U Give, a Black Lives Matter inspired YA novel, was really hard to read. So many tears. But this story and this voice is needed. It’s not a happy thing. But it’s a good thing. And I will definitely be reading it when it comes out next summer. You can preorder here.
- Kelly Jensen, on Book Riot, wrote about 36 ways to have a more bookish fall. I’m hoping to cross at least a few of these off my list.
- A friend also sent me this article on how to learn about writing suspense from Jane Austen. I liked it so much, I read it twice.
Hope you all had weeks full of good things and have great weekend plans!
Alison Doherty 