May 2013
5 posts
Anonymous asked: when you were writing this book did you ever think you would get this far?
Anonymous asked: Are you going to make more books after the 2nd one???
Anonymous asked: Where do we publish our fan fictions for The Ability? -Morgan
Anonymous asked: when is the second book for the ability coming out
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Review of The Ability (Bulletin of the Center for...
VAUGHAN, M. M. The Ability; illus. by Iacopo Bruno. Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4424-5200-8 $15.99
R Gr. 5-7
Reminiscent of early Harry Potter novels with its neglected hero, oddball teachers, eccentric assortment of classmates, and secret school where students learn to harness their powers, the novel still manages ultimately to feel fresh and original, and the narrative strikes a...
April 2013
6 posts
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Debut Author Book Tour - Week 1
So the first week of my first book tour is over and what a week it has been! I flew to Dallas and San Antonio, drove to Austin and Houston and enjoyed every moment of it all - thank you Texas!
THIS WEEK I LEARNED…
* What cascarones are (eggs filled with confetti), how pretty that confetti looks all over the floor, what a good read “The House on Mango Street” is and how exceptionally...
Anonymous asked: WIll there be a sequel to THE ABILITY? WIll it come out soon? When will it be released?
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Debut Author Book Tour - Day 1. San Antonio &...
Amazing day. Just amazing. And informative too.
TODAY I LEARNED…
* Texas is brilliant. And the people really are that friendly.
* When you’re nervous, you can sometimes, inexplicably, forget to wear any socks.
* If you’re going to pick a pen name, make sure you practice your signature before the day of your first signing.[[MORE]]
* The experience of having your first book...
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This Crazy Journey: A Moment to Reflect
2 years and 16 days ago, I printed out my first ever fully finished manuscript and placed the whole thing in a neat block on my coffee table. I then sat on the sofa and just stared at it.
2 months and 2 days later, a very nervous me went to meet the first of three agents I had appointments with that week. I was sitting in an armchair in my now-agent’s office when we began to discuss a...
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The Ability: a Bookworks book report! →
When you’re 12, anything is possible. In The Ability, M. M. Vaughan’s freshman effort for middle grade readers, we are ushered into a world where that statement isn’t comfortable hyperbole and youn…
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Do you have THE ABILITY?
Ooooh - look at what Simon & Schuster have just put up - I LOVE it! Take the (incredibly scientific) quiz to find out if you have the ABILITY on the SIMON KIDS facebook page. Click here to take the quiz now.
March 2013
4 posts
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My top 10 childhood books
If you’d met me when I was ten, I would probably have had my head stuck in a book. I used to sneak books into dinner and would hide them on my lap just so that I could keep reading. And I read everything I could get my hands on, not just fiction; Readers Digest, National Geographic, even an entire encyclopaedia once! But there were some books that I reread over and over (and over) again and...
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want...”
– Albert Einstein
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The Power of Books
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(Photography by Mladen Penev)
February 2013
4 posts
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The 10 Best Places To Write In London
I spend a lot of time with a friend of mine looking for the perfect place to write. We have our own set of requirements (she needs wi-fi for her research and I need Diet Coke - both are deal-breakers) and, as we live on opposite ends of London, it needs to be a fairly central or East End location (with one Dulwich one thrown in for the days when I’m feeling lazy). It’s actually been...
Amazing Bookshelves
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The Beauty of Plot Lines
What makes a prize-winning novel? As Julian Barnes wins the Booker Prize, Johanna Kamradt charts the themes of this year’s longlisters.
January 2013
3 posts
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When Famous Authors Pick Up A Brush...Or a Shotgun
In between creating great literary works, these authors also found the time to create some pretty decent art too. Urgh, as if I didn’t feel guilty enough about my Mad Men boxset marathon.
e.e.cummings
Dave Eggers
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Charlotte Bronte
Kurt Vonnegut
William Blake
Charles Bukowski
Lewis Carroll
Jack Kerouac
And finally, the shotgun artwork of...
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Top 10 Laptop Sleeves For Writers
I’m in the market for a new laptop cover. These ones I found while browsing online are making me think again about replacing my dull, grey broken-zipped one with a dull, grey working-zipped one.
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August 2012
1 post
My Book Cover!
So, I’m finally allowed to show this….the cover of my book!!!!!!!!! I had absolutely nothing to do with it - all credit goes to Simon & Schuster’s cover designer Krista Vossen and illustrator Iacopo Bruno. Hope you all like it - particularly if you are between nine and twelve years old and into fantasy/adventure books :)
June 2012
2 posts
The Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator
Love Malcolm Gladwell? Wondering what his next book will be about? The Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator could have the answer. Brilliant. (Click on the picture to go to the generator).
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WatchOnce Upon A School - a truly inspiring talk about writing with kids in your community. If we all really listen, it’s a talk that could actually change the world.
Dave Eggers, author of one of my favourite books ever, A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS, talks about his incredible work offering one-to-one tutoring to kids in his neighbourhood. Pirate & superhero shops to lure...
May 2012
6 posts
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Events for London Writers - June 2012
June 1st to June 3rd
Stoke Newington Literary Festival
“Year three of this eclectic, amusing, inspiring, sometimes audacious and always brilliant festival, set up to celebrate the area’s radical thinking and literary heritage.”
Location, tickets and times: Various - see programme
June 2nd
Literary Death Match
“4 Writers, 3 Judges, 2 Rounds, 1 Epic Finale (and a bunch...
WatchI have to admit that I’m not generally a fan of poetry. There are exceptions, many actually, and here’s one - If I Should Have A Daughter by poet Sarah Kay. It should be a bit too Hallmark for my liking but, maybe it’s because I have a young daughter, it really moved me. Also worth listening to for her talk after the poem about her life as a poet.
April 2012
1 post
“There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground”
– Edward Gibbon 