Lorijo Metz lives with her husband and little brown dog in a small town in Indiana. Though she has a degree in acting and directing, she much prefers the anonymity of the keyboard, allowing her characters to revel in the spotlight while she sits quietly sipping tea or coffee, nibbling on cookies, and dreaming up ways to complicate their lives. She is the author of Floridius Bloom and the Planet of Gloom, illustrated by Matt Phelan and published by Dial Books for Young Readers; as well as over 30 nonfiction, educational books for kids, published by Powerkids Press. WHEELS is her first middle grade novel and first venture into self-publishing. The book review site, Pocketful of Books, called WHEELS “Brilliant” and said, “It is one I know I’ll re-read, which isn’t something I say about a lot of books.” SFNetcast picked WHEELS as its June, Indie book of the month. In 2013, Lorijo made her début as a lyricist on Owen Duggan’s newest children’s cd, Puppy Dog Jig, for which she wrote the lyrics for the title track.
The first thing most potential readers will judge your book by is… The book blurb you’ve so carefully written? The first few words of your first chapter? Your glowing reviews? No, no and no! Whether they admit it or not, the first thing readers judge your book by is its cover—even if it’s only the…
For some time now, I’ve wanted to create a series of posts about my journey into self-publishing and the lessons I’ve learned. Up until about a year ago, if you’d asked me whether I’d ever considered self-publishing, I would have stuck my nose up in the air, made one of those huffing sounds fat old…
Welcome to a discussion of Bitterblue, by Kristin Cashore. After reading my thoughts, please respond by adding additional comments, opinions, and feel free to heartily disagree with me. (If you haven’t read Bitterblue…spoiler alert, you might want to check back after you’ve read it.) Here goes… Having read Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore, I was…
The Graceling Realm Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore Kristin Cashore is the author of one of my all time favorite books—GRACELING. Book 1 of the Graceling Realm series. Not only is GRACELING beautifully written, but I absolutely love the heroine of the story. Katsa is everything a female protagonist should be: strong, smart and beautiful. In…
If you’re like me, a movie must have at least two of the following elements for me to even consider shelling out big bucks to go see it in the theater: Lots of Action Huge Special effects Aliens or Elves Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp or Dr. Who (This last one may differ for some of…
So, I’m sitting in front of my computer wondering what to blog about, and it occurs to me that I have nothing new to say. Nothing! Absolutely nothing! And that’s when it hits me—the perfect idea for a blog. (Okay…not perfect, but at least an idea!) It goes back to a few summers ago when…
That’s right, I’ve combined two categories. No, wait–I’ve combined two categories and subtracted one. Let me explain… A few nights ago, while watching the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics (not from the awesomeness of London, but from the comfort of my own living room), I happened upon the website and blog of writer…
What intrigued me about Across The Universe wasn’t the promise of yet another YA love story or even a murder mystery set aboard a generation ship. No, what intrigued me was a premise that, in my own geeky way, I’d often wondered about. What if we could be cryogenically frozen alive? Would we dream? Would…
From a post entitled: Aelita, Queen of Mars. 1924 I prefer to subscribe to blogs by email. Yet, I must admit to sometimes deleting the emailed posts before I even read them. Hey, life is busy, time is short and choices must be made. (I do read most of them, I promise) However, I have…
I love opening lines and have been sucked into reading many a book simply because of a line like the one below. “Dinnie, an overweight enemy of humanity, was the worst violinist in New York, but was practicing gamely when two cute little fairies stumbled through his fourth-floor window and vomited on the carpet.” And,…