For those of you stopping by my blog for the first time, welcome! Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in the archives.

  • Beyond the Big Idea: a five-part tutorial geared toward young readers about how to track down more information on a subject covered in a nonfiction book
  • It’s almost as if the bats are a metaphor for something: “Much of my time surrounding yesterday’s Austin SCBWI conference was meticulously planned — but meticulous planning will get you only so far.”
  • Original Manuscript: What-nik?!?: A short story, told from the perspective of a professional-wrestling-crazy American boy, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Soviet launch of Sputnik
  • Project: The Day-Glo Brothers: Collected posts about my first book, a nonfiction picture book to be published by Charlesbridge in July 2009
  • Project: S.V.T.: Collected posts about my second book, a mysteriously titled, thoroughly ridiculous picture book to be published by Little, Brown in 2010
  • Project: Masqueraders: Collected posts about my third book — a YA nonfiction project originally code-named “Pasta,” and subsequently referred to as both Impostors and Masqueraders — to be published by Dial
  • Socialit: Reports on conferences, workshops, shindigs, and other gatherings of folks in the children’s book business
  • Thanks, Granddad: A version of the eulogy I delivered for my grandfather, Ernest E. Lewis
  • U.S. History Reading: Book reviews and suggested reading for various periods and themes in American history
  • “Why I Want an Agent” Week: The mental inventory I took shortly before the right agent and I finally connected
  • What am I working on?: Let’s not forget the ongoing work of researching, writing, and revising manuscripts and trying to market the results.
  • What am I waiting for?: And this. There’s lots of this.