I didn’t plan on it, but during the weeks leading up to this Memorial Day, I read three books about the days and events leading up to wars. Two were historical nonfiction, both by Erik Larson: In the Garden with Beasts, set in Germany during the rise of Nazism, and The Demon of Unrest, primarily set in South Carolina during the buildup to the American...

We are delighted to bring you a first look at the new book of award-winning middle-grade author and WU contributor Rachel Toalson. SOMETHING MAYBE MAGNIFICENT is a sequel to last summer’s release, and as it was then, this book is receiving great pre-release buzz, such as: “This sequel thoughtfully and sincerely explores themes of womanhood, family,...

“What do we say about coincidences? The universe is rarely so lazy.” – Sherlock, S3 Episode 2 Writing is a leap of faith, a nail-bitingly risky foray into the unknown. We’re adventurers following strange paths, never certain whether we’ll find our way or what type of reception we can expect if we finally arrive. Is it any wonder, then, that we...

One of my favorite reads as a child was a delightfully clever and funny book called The Phantom Tollbooth. In it, a bored and world-weary young man named Milo passes through a magical tollbooth and is drawn into adventures with a companion called the Humbug (literally a bug) and Tok, an enormous dog. Near the end of the book, the following conversation...

If you attended the opening night of last fall’s UnCon, you heard me tell of the career struggles and dismay I experienced in the wake of my 2022 novel’s release, and how I dug my way out of that hole by embracing the theme Therese Walsh had announced for conference: All In. Today’s post revisits that struggle, along with what came next. * Two...

Courtesy of Jeffery, Creative Commons. Let me tell you about a manuscript I worked on early in my career as an editor– actually when I was still apprenticing under my co-author, Renni Browne.  This was back when manuscripts were still on paper and editing was done with a pencil, so both the title and the author’s name are lost to the mists of time. ...