Just because . . . this is where I'm going in my head.

YA Suspense. #TheUnmovingSky

I Have A Book Deal!

That's right. I'm thrilled to announce I'll be a part of the Leap/ Shine Team.


Judith Graves, of Leap Books’ YA/NA e-novella line, Shine, has picked up world rights for, THE UNMOVING SKY by K.L. Hallam, which follows two brothers, lost and wounded, who must survive the elements, deal with their shared grief, and escape the clutches of a desperate man out to destroy their town – without getting killed first. Blurb

K.L. Hallam is a member of SCBWI, a singer and songwriter, illustrator and mother of two teenagers. She lives in New York City and spends her mornings writing in a Jazz club.

Leap/Shine Books

Let the Dancing Begin! 

Details and much, much more to come. 

Staying Organized After The First Draft.

You’ve just finished your messy, pukey draft. Now what? Where do you begin?

I love writing drafts.  Anything is possible, and it doesn’t even have to make sense – yet.  Over the past few years, I’ve hand drafted, meaning I’ve handwritten thousands of words. I won’t be able to keep that up much longer. My writing has become illegible, and my hand cramps. Ah, the joy. I do still prefer it when I can. Plus, if I get stuck I can doodle – and there’s no Internet attached to my composition book. 

This is how I wrote as a full-time mom, dragging my kids around to the parks, and pools, places where a computer would not be practical anyway.

How do you stay organized while writing a novel? Which techniques do you use?

 I’m constantly evolving as an organized individual, and look for simple ways of keeping notes and ideas in order. I really enjoy Scrivener for this, where Characters and Places have templates of their own, and you can detail every little thing.

On Anita Nolan’s Blog she writes: The End Is Not The End, a great post that lays the revision process down. (Recommended by Cheryl Klein at her Plot Workshop) It’s my go-to reference. What are they blogs or posts on the revision process that have helped you the most?

Does outlining help you? Or do you save it as the last resort, when you’re really stuck?  That’s the way I fly, on the fly, writing and scribbling just to get it down, and when I’m stuck and in need of ideas I begin writing a list of possibilities.

What do you have to shove aside to get the words down? For me, I write first thing in the morning, without reading the news, or checking Facebook—both of which could change my entire mood for the day and inhibit my productivity.  Once the words are down I can move on.  I’m a morning writer, and when I have the most energy. Evenings are for dreaming.

How do you manage when you have young children, or with children at all?   As for me, see above, when I carried a comp book around everywhere when my boys were young.

Annie Neugebauer’s blog has this for the Organized Writer:

Because organization is just a framework for creativity. There you’ll find templates for submission charts, novel scenes, character charts, questions for an agent interview, and more!  This was quite the find. Thanks Annie!

Guess I’m looking for new and improved ideas. There’s always room for more.  Whatcha got? 

YA Book Review: Blackfin Sky by Kat Ellis

Blackfin Sky by Kat Ellis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sixteen-year-old, Skylar Rousseau walks up the beach and into school like nothing’s happened. When everyone jumps out of his or her skins upon seeing her—because they watched her pulled limp out of the ocean, and buried in the ground, three months ago. She thinks they’re nuts. Sky was just with her two besties, Bo and Cam, the last she remembers. But piece-by-piece, people she doesn’t know, and places she’s never been, creep in until she, too, begins to wonder where she was.

The start of this book begins with a spirited weathervane with a view, and a voice, lulling you into the world that is Blackfin, a town where everyone is a little different, or flat out strange. As pieces of the last three months return to Sky, she wrestles with her part in it. Where did she go the night of her birthday after she ran from Sean’s kiss?

Sky begins to tie things together after a trip to a big top circus, which in present day has burned to the ground. Clues surface, about her family, and about herself. About her talents, and how she can move through timelines. She winds up meeting her real father, and discovers where her gift as a Pathfinder came from. But she’s not safe. There are those from that past who want to destroy Sky and her family.

I really enjoyed the pace of this book, the twists, and the characters, the mysterious tone, and visual detail, and hey—a creepy circus. I cannot resist a freaky-creepy circus.

I can’t go on too, much more, or I’ll kill the suspense. I enjoyed Kat Ellis’ writing style very much. It’s riveting till the end of the last paragraph. My only regret is I didn’t finish this as quickly as I could have–because of “life”. There were a few things I wanted explained, or drawn out, but I suspect Skylar Rousseau has more to tell us. Or at least, I think those around her have big secrets to share. I do hope there’s another book about Blackfin in the works.

Overall, this is my kind of sordid, twisty tale, with a bit of magic, mystery, and a lot of timeline jumping. It was a heck of a lot of fun to read. Good work, Kat. Plus, I particularly enjoyed the fact that the MC has my very same birthday.

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A Watercolor in Stages

I've been so focused on writing for the past few years. I'm finally bringing out my watercolors and brushes. It's not the only thing I've put aside until I can finish the books I'm writing. I've also put my music on hold. Hosting and singing the Singers' Session Jam at Zinc Bar for the last four years, every week, became too much. Sometimes we gotta hit one thing at a time. Because, sometimes, there is too much of a good thing. 

I'll get back to singing and writing tunes. It's a part of who I am.  I practice my vocal exercises every day, and I try and paint on the weekends.  When my kids (teens) allow me have the apartment for a few hours. Oh, and yes, I need a studio. If you know of one in NYC, that's not too pricey, please leave a comment.  

I really thought I'd have fresh paintings to hand out for Xmas. If I find a decent printer I may have prints before the end of the year. 

Pencil (i don't usually )

I like this stage, when it's a little raw.

shaping her personality

went with this expression

Finished. 

If you'd like to follow my painting progressions on Instagram : karenleespree  -- is where you'll find me.

MG Book Review: ALL FOUR STARS

All Four Stars by Tara Dairman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Eleven-year-old, Gladys Gatsby has kept her cooking a secret for years. Until the day her parents come home early from work and discover she’s torched the kitchen curtains.
Gladys simply wanted to caramelize the crème brûlée she’d made. If she had the proper tools it would never have happened. Now she’s banned from cooking altogether, banned from the Planet Food channel, even from cook books for the next sixth months.

Her parents want Gladys to do “normal” kid things, like play more computer games, or go to the mall, and make more friends in general, instead of this cooking thing, which they don’t understand. Her parents’ idea of cooking is to not follow the directions, and throw everything into a microwave. Everything! Even chocolate chip cookies. Though most nights her parents would rather just stop at Pathetti’s Pizza, Fred’s Fried Fowl, or Sticky burgers. Gladys fears she’ll starve over the next sixth months.

Her Aunt Lydia, who lives in Paris, has been the beacon of good food in Glady’s life. “On any given day she might offer her niece a dried persimmon dipped in chocolate, a lavender-flavored sandwich cookie, or a pretzel coated with a green powder called wasabi . . .” When Glady was seven, she secretly brought Gladys into New York City to taste what a real restaurant was like. Gladys’s life changed.

It’s a new year. Glady’s enters the sixth grade, and dreams of pho bo—the Vietnamese beef and noodle-filled breakfast soup she cooked in fourth grade. She keeps notes in the food journal her aunt Lydia sent. But Gladys would never tell the kids at school about her gourmet tastes or talents—they’d only think she was even more of a freak.

Gladys’s new teacher Ms. Quincy wants the class to write an essay for the New York Standard about what they want to do in the future. One will be chosen to represent the school. Gladys is hesitant because she doesn’t want the kids to know that ever since she read her first dinning section of the New York Standard--the newspaper banned by her town--she’s wanted to write food reviews for them. Gladys struggles to write the essay. She doesn’t want to be singled out by her classmates--and if her parents find out what she really wants to do they’d “totally freak” and probably extend her sentence.

But the new boy next-door, Sandy, pushes Gladys to write about what’s really in her heart. A twist of fate turns the tide, and Gladys finds herself the position she’s only ever dreamed of. She will be challenged, and she’ll have to figure out a way to make her dreams happen on her own. I loved this story. This is an ideal book to give to any young budding chefs, or foodies.

Warning: You will become very, very hungry while reading this book. It inspired me to get back in the kitchen and cook up something exotic and delicious. And was so much fun to read. ALL FOUR STARS gets five stars by me.







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The Garden Meditation.

A garden for rest, respite, and revisiting thoughts -- or having no thoughts.

The flowers whisper with me; be still as the wind bows down, a whiff, and a lighter, heart-felt song of a stringed tempest.

A past that is at once familiar: A window opens then shifts before my body-self can understand.

It’s all right. Everything’s as it should be. The tempest came as I called it (just now), tickling me. I feel love wrapped in awe. Everything’s alive.

Thoughts are most crucial and must be guided.

I guard, and my guardian guards me, ancestors of the past?

I recall these things as I sit in this garden, the flowers speak to me: watch and listen, they show me. They do not “tell” me.

Pink slides romantic notions, yellow and gold, the sun’s glory unfolds, deep pink in longing and desire. Green heals; it absorbs and gives nourishment, ideas, and inspiration.

White bleeding hearts dip languidly, peacefully; everything around me, coalesces, more swirls form, again, a tempest spins into this spot I sit in the garden.