The Most Powerful Tool
I create stories—and teach the craft—because story shapes who we are…and who we can become.
New Release
We've all had the experience of being completely whisked away by a book.
Of experiencing the fictional world as though it were real.
But how does that actually happen?
How do you whisk your own readers away?
This book explores how to make a fictional world feel absolutely real.
There’s more to the story.
I’m a storyteller. Always have been, ever since I was a little girl. I’d sit at my child-sized rolltop desk, writing stories and adding crayon illustrations. Or I’d tell them out loud, off the top of my head, into a tape recorder. I’d even make my brother play out some of the parts, giving him dialogue to repeat!
Since the crayon and cassette tape days, I’ve gone on to publish with the Big 5 and smaller houses, as well as independently through my own imprint, InToto Books. I’ve received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, won silver and gold medals in Foreword INDIES Book of the Year and the IPPY Awards, respectively, been featured on Booklist’s Best First Novels for Youth and School Library Journal’s What’s Hot in YA, and chosen as a PW Pick of the Week. I’ve also made the Master Lists for several children’s book awards, including the Missouri Mark Twain Award.
In addition to my writing and publishing, I founded InkBerry Designs (where I sell illustrative and commercial art), I produce a podcast, and I offer both editorial guidance and courses and resources for writers.
It’s all a story in progress…
The Story Lab: Manuscript Rescue
Me, too. Actually…I have more like 20 or so drawer manuscripts. And at Patreon, I'll be resurrecting them one right after another, each in a different genre. Right out in the open.
I probably wouldn’t have had the guts to do it when I was starting out. Now, after 25 years as a full-time writer? I want to let you in to see it all: how a novelist with a bit of experience can go back and rebuild (or finish) a manuscript they once loved that lost its way a long time ago. Look, any manuscript can find its way. It's not an easy or simple or clean process. Frankly, it doesn't matter how many times you've done it; each manuscript rescue feels like a new experiment. But I figure if I let you look over my shoulder and watch me as I rescue mine, it will give you direction on how to rescue yours as well.
Got a novel in a drawer?
Inside The Story Lab - The Comedy Comeback
Nobody talks about comedy in writing. Nobody. Technically, I'm rescuing a rom-com. But I'm breaking down the comedic aspects at The Story Lab, not the romance aspects (there's just a ton of romance-writing stuff out there already). So if you want to know more about comedy--if you're working on a book that would benefit from a comedic subplot or doing your own rom-com or would just like to know how to find your own comedic voice, this is for you.
Each week, as I rescue this manuscript, you'll find advice on:
Building humor into characters without making them stereotypes
Strengthening a comedic subplot
Turning flat dialogue into comedic dialogue
Structuring scenes in order to account for comedic timing
Incorporating running jokes
Resources for Writers
I’m a critically acclaimed author with decades of writing and teaching experience. And I can help you learn to draft with confidence and revise with purpose.
Write a Story Readers Can’t Put Down
On my YouTube channel, I explore the craft of fiction in depth, examining all those terms writers toss around but often find really hard to fully define.
For example: What is a subplot, really? How is it different from a micro-goal? How can it deepen a novel’s main storyline?
Alongside craft deep dives, I also share practical, technical guidance for working writers, including forthcoming videos on formatting print interiors in InDesign and navigating the production side of publishing.
It’s an ongoing exploration of how stories actually work both on the page and behind the scenes.
Craft Conversations
It’s My Story & I’m Stickin’ With It
The writing life isn’t easy, but it in no way has to be as hard as we often make it. I’m the first to agree that there are no hard and fast rules in writing. But too often, that leads writers to think they can find no rules for themselves. Which, in turn, only leads to grappling around in the dark every single time the writer sits down to draft the next novel.
I’ve spent more than twenty years as a full-time author (a published novelist since ‘10), and I’ve learned that the messy, elusive process of writing a book can absolutely be streamlined. As writers, we can also equip ourselves with a step-by-step guide for revision, so that we never have to dread the editorial letter.
My Substack (It’s My Story & I’m Stickin’ With It) offers tips, tricks, and insights into various approaches to writing—and by writing, I mean drafting, outlining, brainstorming, revising, etc.—that work for me and (now that I’ve opened my door as an editor) my own clients. Those approaches will help other authors find their own paths as well.
When a writer stops fighting the process, it opens them up to experience more creative play.
And there’s no better feeling than that—than creative play. If you’re struggling to find it again, “creative play” can sound like the loftiest of goals. But we’re writers—we specialize in lofty goals.
Let’s play.
InkBerry Greeting Cards
My most popular offerings at InkBerry Designs are my greeting cards. It’s been so incredibly lovely to be a small part of so many special occasions: birthdays, friendships, and love stories.
Digital invitations and personalized physical cards coming soon.
My Author Shop
Stories for All Ages
I’ve written for readers of all ages. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed releasing works for young readers—visiting them in classrooms and meeting them in virtual discussion groups. My MG novel The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky, a Finalist or Master List nominee for readers’ choice awards in Missouri, Illinois, South Carolina, Alabama, and Oklahoma, got an updated re-release in ‘23 and is available in ebook, hardback, and paperback forms.
My story “Spooklight” represented Missouri in the Haunted States of America, a spooky anthology for young readers, published in conjunction with SCBWI and Henry Holt.
