The Children’s Book Review just assembled a reading list for Women’s History Month. Most of it is non-fiction — so I’m honored to be the historical fiction choice! Check it out here.

Recently I was invited to visit the Young Critics Club at the Perrot Library in Greenwich CT. The club has been meeting continuously for over 30 years!  Kids in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade have to apply to get in (no parent applications allowed) and there’s always a waiting list. There’s a younger group too for 4th and 5th graders. The club is run by uber-amazing librarians, Mary Clark and Kathy Jarombek. These ladies have some clout because they can get advanced copies of EVERYTHING. Seriously, these kids had read my newest book before I got the advanced reading copies. The group was a blast to talk with — bright, engaged and confident. I came to talk about my newest book, Promise the Night, but left with four beta readers for my next novel.

Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT

After I’ve written and sold a book — the work begins. I will exchange the manuscript 5 or 6 times with my editor — tightening my plot all the while. I’ve gone from a 100K ms to 82K — losing each word was a little bit like pulling off a bandaid… but the manuscript was far far better. And then my baby gets handed to a stranger. Someone with initials and a Red comment color in Word. And suddenly my manuscript is full of more deletions, “suggestions” and outright mistakes that I didn’t catch before. (In my first book, I changed the hero’s eye color 4 times without noticing). And when you write historical fiction, a good copyeditor is also paying attention to anachronisms… language that I’m using before it should be used. Or inventions that weren’t invented yet.  My latest book, (tentatively titled) Miss Dickinson and Mr. Nobody, was  blessed to have a copy editor who really understood Emily. Her myriad deletions were useful and made the book better. She caught some language that was just a little too modern and asked some great questions. She was a gift to the book and someday soon to the reader.

However, that doesn’t stop me from really enjoying this cartoon, courtesy of the Society of  Editors and Proofreaders.

You never know what you are going to get when you review books for the Historical Novel Review! Check out this variety — a 3rd c. Japanese story about a princess destined to be the spiritual leader of her clan, a non-fiction, kid-friendly biography of Raoul Wallenberg — one of the unsung heroes of WWII, and a coming-of-age story set in San Francisco in 1971. I may get chronological whiplash — but I won’t be bored!