The Return Plot Board

Finishing the Hat, or What Revision Means to Me

I’m knee deep in the revision process, so I thought I would blog about some of the tools I use in revision. Sure, there’s the usual marking up of written text, but not at the beginning. At the beginning, I really try to re-vision the project, and to do that, I break the story and…

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Cover Image for The Pack

The Dogs of THE PACK!

Welcome to my new webpage! With shiny new blog! I’m so excited with how it came out—I hope you like it! This week, Dogs of the Drowned City Book 2, The Pack, was released and to celebrate, this week’s blog is about the new packmates Shep meets in this story! Just to refresh your memory,…

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And the winner is…

And the winner of the DOGS OF THE DROWNED CITY contest is… KAITLYN MARTIN! Congratulations, Kaitlyn! And since I just visited the Scholastic offices and received copies of all three of the DOGS books, I will send you signed copies of the entire series! And a bookmark! Hooray! Kaitlyn’s winning entry is below: She is a Golden Retriever named…

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CONTEST!

    It’s the final day of my WEEK OF DOGS blog series! And that means it’s time for the big CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT! One lucky winner will receive a signed copy of The Storm, a signed advance copy ofThe Pack, and a series bookmark featuring the covers of all three books! Two runners up will receive…

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Creating a Dog’s Eye View of the World

THE STORM is approaching! And after yesterday’s blog, you know that’s serious! Today’s blog is all about how I created a “dog’s eye view” of the world for the series. Because I was writing from the point of view of a dog, I knew that some aspects of my writing were going to have to…

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The Storm in The Storm

The Storm Only FOUR MORE DAYS until Shep is unleashed! Today’s blog is about the storm itself. And what a storm it is! Once I knew that I needed a storm to destroy my city and that my story was set in Miami, I knew I had to design a massive hurricane. But what constituted…

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The Drowned City

Only FIVE days until THE STORM arrives! Today’s blog is about the Drowned City, the setting for Shep’s adventures. Dogs of the Drowned City began as a picture in my mind. I saw a dog alone on the streets of a ruined city. This idea fascinated me because it was so very different from the…

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