I've gone through so much working on Boiled Cat. I've had learn a lot, worked like I've never worked before, and done things I didn't think I had the ability to accomplish. But it's been worth it. I've never had as much fun as I've had this past half year. From building the HUGE www.boiledcat.com site - to learning how to create a Kindle e-book I've really grown as a writer.
I had two books come out this spring - both I'm super proud of. Touch is one of the best books I've written to date. It's about a hacker who, in the first chapter, takes down the schools system with a cute electronic sheep hack. Boiled Cat came out shortly after. It's about a punk rock singer trying to run from his past but learning that to keep the family he's worked so hard to get - he has to stand and fight. Both very different books, but similar in that they both have strong male teen characters and have a lower level of reading. I always try to make my books accessible by youth who have difficulty reading. After all I did when I was a teen and dyslexia isn't something you can concentrate your way out of.
Anyway, I hope my books go over well. But really, I write what I want to read. That way, at least I enjoy the results.

Two truths and a lie – ever played it? It’s a game where you say two things that are true about yourself and one thing that isn’t and the people you are with try to pick out the lie. The more detail the lie has, the more it tends to be believable. It’s like that in writingThe more details you add, the more senses you use, the more you know about your subject – the more your writing sounds real.

I was writing a creepy scene where my main character walked through a rather rundown neighborhood in London, England. I had never been to this neighborhood in my life. The last time I was in England, I was twelve and nowhere near this place. So to research I found a walking tour on the internet. It was just visuals, but it gave me a good impression of things. Then I read articles about the neighborhood, just a couple, for flavor. I found out about how the police handled things and what was socially acceptable. After that I picked one image for each of my senses to work into my scene. Then I plotted the whole thing out.

I think the resulting scene is one of my best works. One of the people in my critique group said, “I can really tell you’ve been there.” That made me happy. So bring the techniques of two truths and a lie into your work and see just what it can do.

My February Trilogy hasn’t been picked up by an agent yet. My readers are complaining. I have to get it sold. But, there’s something wrong. It’s just not – I don’t know – exciting enough. I mean, sure there are gun fights and poisonings and grenades, but something’s still not right. I just can’t put my finger on it.
Then I talked to my daughter. She asked me what exactly was wrong and the more we talked the more I realized – the stakes aren’t high enough. They are in the second and third book. But the first one, it kind of falls flat.
So come November – I’m going to dive into February and pump it up. Make all those things she does life or death, because really, being a secret agent, her life is against the wall most of the time.
Now I feel better about things. Now I can fix this and finally get an agent. Did I mention my daughter is super smart.