Tag Archives: reading

The Influence of Books on YAs

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Have you heard of The Unslut Project? It began with Emily Linden sharing her middle school diaries online in a Tumblr page. It’s now a memoir and a documentary. Unslut is the all-too-common story of a preteen girl who was slut shamed and bullied. Lindin shared her story to reassure other girls suffering from sexual bullying that they’re not alone […]


Reading For Writers 101: Character Change, pt 1

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I read a lot. And since I’m a writer, reading isn’t just entertainment, it’s instructional. I learn from every book, whether good, bad or middling. That’s what inspired “Reading For Writers 101.” Today’s lesson: Why character change makes a story worth reading. Months ago I read a book where, frankly, the main character was a precocious, […]


Readers & Judgment: Snobs or Guardians of Good Taste?

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Last week when that article from Slate came out bashing adults who read YA novels, I was as outraged as everyone else who enjoys reading and/or writing books classified as teen lit. Many people, myself included, declared Slate writer Ruth Graham to be a literary snob. The definition fits. After all, “snob” defines a person […]


Vicariously Living Through Books

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There’s a well-known line from George R.R. Martin’s book A Dance With Dragons: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… The man who never reads lives only one.” Truth! With that in mind, here’s 9 Vicarious Lives I’ve lived thanks to books… Click here to read the full post on Writeonsisters.com


Reading Overload in the Information Age

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I read constantly. I bet you do too because, since you’re reading this blog, you have access to the Internet where there’s an infinite amount of stuff to read – emails, articles, blogs, tweets, books, essays – all at your nimbly typing fingertips. People read more now than ever, not just for work, school or […]


Reading for Writers 101: Books I Did Not Finish… 3+ Reasons Why

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I always have a pile of books on my bedside table. This month in particular I checked out more books from the library than I had time to read. At one point the pile was twelve high! Craziness! How could I possibly read them all? Well, since I have a job and stuff I’m trying […]


7 YA Books that Inspire Me to Write Better

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Great books inspire great writing. Without further ado, the books that push me to be my creative best… SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson… This is the first YA book I ever bought. I read it yeeeeeears ago, when I was about 22. Though I can’t remember the details, I do remember the issue and feeling like […]