Why I Get an F in Reading

I get an F in reading. You probably do too. I read lots of books. And blogs. And magazines. And online articles. (Newspapers, not so much.) And I get an F. We’ve turned into a culture of scanners. We might read the first two or three lines of a piece of writing....

Who Decides a Book’s Title?

I like to tell people the titles of my new books. I just don’t always know the titles. Here’s how it goes. A writer pulls her hair out trying to come up with a zinger of a title that will grab an agent or editor’s attention. Then you sell the project—which may or may...

How Many Editors Does One Book Need?

Over the winter I had a short-term job. I signed on for seven months with an organization producing textbooks. The project was mid-stream, and the commitment was just until the books went to press. I’ve been away for a couple of months now. Last week the printed books...

Around the ’Hood

Last week my brother posted on Facebook that he thought he had been in the Banning ’hood. That made me smile. The setting for my story The Pursuit of Lucy Banning is a real place! Three years ago about this time, I was in Chicago and saw Prairie Avenue for the first...