Category: General

She flew the night skies seeking YA books that contained characters that looked like her, sounded like her and lived the life she lived wrapped in suburbia’s blanket – a warm, comforting sameness that belies the silent struggle that is the everyday existence of a person of color. Flowing effortlessly as the only or one [ Read the full article… ]

The pastor of my church has invited the young adults of the church to sup with him, a special dinner for those ages…wait for it, 18-40. Really? 40? “Young” adults? So I’m literally thisclose to being considered a young adult in the eyes of God. Pah! While I may be considered young compared to someone [ Read the full article… ]

As promised, in honor of National Day On Writing, the BBS family shares why we write for the kiddies and teens. WHY I WRITE by Tameka Fryer Brown Author of Around Our Way (PB) I write to express my thoughts, my feelings, my beliefs— Poignant or not, Sleeve-worn or not, Endorsed by the general masses [ Read the full article… ]

There’s a day for everything. Literally. Some days it’s exhausting. I mean I can barely keep up with whether it’s Monday versus Wednesday…well actually that’s not true. Mondays vibe is way different. Still, from National Ice Cream day to Kiss a Pig in Purple, there seems to be a day to honor every possible human [ Read the full article… ]

Okay, by show of hands, how many bought my YA Bootcamp challenge post yesterday? Up until now, I couldn’t reveal that in fact I’ll be judging the YA category for the Cybil’s this year. I’m really excited about this. Not only is YA a competitive category, but I’ve always felt strongly that you have to [ Read the full article… ]

As the resident YA chick here (shout out to the resident YA Dude, Varian Johnson) I’m left to uphold the banner for all things YA. See, our compatriots here at BBS are legit children’s writers. They write for children. While V and I write for those elusive creatures who are not quite adults but lest [ Read the full article… ]

Isn’t it funny how commercials will stick with you forever and ever? When I was a kid, the Maryland Lottery’s tagline was “ya gotta play to win,” and although they’ve had a million others since (and I even worked for the Ad company who managed their account some years ago) it’s that one that sticks [ Read the full article… ]

Don’t tell anyone, but…you  may have noticed that we here at BBS didn’t announce that the 28 Days Later submission window was open.  It’s because the campaign is “under construction.” It will be alive and well in 2012, but how we’re selecting authors this year is different. So stay tuned. We’ll get you all up [ Read the full article… ]