Posted Mar 4 2013 in Academy Awards, bullying, Kristen Stewart, Oscars, Seth MacFarlane, violence
In this year’s Oscar telecast, host Seth MacFarlane started off strong, bantering with “Captain Kirk” actor William Shatner, but quickly lost ground with so-called jokes that were nothing more than sexism and racism. To make room for that, the Jaws theme was played to cut off award winners mid-speech. As the evening went on, I […]
Read More...Posted Dec 15 2012 in gun control, second amendment, violence
It happened again. On Monday, I nearly lost my friend Bill Cameron when a gunman opened fire at the Clackamas Mall in Oregon. Barely four days later, the entire world was sickened over the deaths of elementary school children — babies — sitting in their classroom in Connecticut. Aurora. Columbine. Virginia Tech. How many times […]
Read More...Posted Nov 23 2012 in cyber-bullying, Dan's Blog, fiction, violence, YA
This scene from the end of SEND was the original confrontation between Dan and Jeff. It was cut during revisions for a few reasons — chiefly, because my editor suggested it was too violent and also because the Big Reveal here needed to come from a main character, not a secondary one, to advance the […]
Read More...Posted Mar 30 2012 in author, bullying, cyber-bullying, Dan's Blog, fiction, Patty Blount, Send, suicide, teens, violence, YA
SQUEE! ! ! ! Please forgive the abuse of exclamation points but SEND HAS A COVER AND IT’S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVAH! Behold… Do you love it?!? Tell me you love it. Lie to me if you must. It’s really happening. My precious is A REAL BOOK! *happy dance* I um… *coughs*… went a […]
Read More...Posted Mar 29 2012 in Book Hungry, dystopian, Hunger Games, Miscellany, movie, teens, violence
My Bookhungry book club formed over a year ago around The Hunger Games book – in fact, it was our first book review. So, what better tribute (ha ha, pun intended) than to review the movie? Warning! Spoilers ahead. We saw the movie during its opening weekend and discussed it. I took my son even […]
Read More...Posted Feb 9 2012 in author, bullying, parenting, Patty Blount, suicide, teens, violence, YA
We’re six months away from the release of my novel, SEND, a story about a former bully learning to cope with the suicide he caused when he was thirteen. When I began writing SEND, the plot was made up — born partly from my own fears as a mother of teens and partly from an […]
Read More...Posted Sep 24 2011 in bullying, cyber-bullying, Jamie Rodemeyer, Patty Blount, social networking, suicide, teens, violence
The following blog post was written by my oldest son, Rob, and pre-empts this weekend’s usual chocolate post because the subject is too important to trivialize. I warn you – this is not easy to read and as Rob’s mother, I promise you, it’s even harder to bear because each time I read it, I […]
Read More...Posted May 25 2011 in author, fiction, profanity, sex, Stereotypes in Fiction, teens, violence, YA
While I was writing my first YA novel some years back, I wrestled with the best ways to straddle the too much information fence. I may be writing for young adults but their parents are likely the ones buying books and it’s hard trying to please everybody, particularly when it comes to writing realistic scenes. […]
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