Cole is a nice guy. And Alex is lucky to have him for a boyfriend. He’s a sports star and charming and likable; he encourages Alex’s poetry and thinks she’s special and he’s not afraid to pursue her or embarrassed to let her know how much he likes being with her. Loves being with her,…
After our teen group meeting, a group of boys split off and starting playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl and a group of teen volunteers came into the room and started eating leftover cake and ice cream. It was a fun atmosphere. One of the teen’s boyfriend arrived and looked around. “Um,” he said slowly, pointing…
As most of you know, I LOVE CANADA. Oh, how I love Canada. (Canadian publishers and libraries looking for employees: hit me up.) The past two years I have spent my annual long vacation in Toronto, attending the Toronto International Film Festival and wishing I lived there. I spend a lot of time waiting in…
I use fiction as a way to interpret my life and survive my hurts I was going to try to get to that, like, eventually. I was going to make a bunch of big grand allusions and metaphors and then, ta-dah, I would reveal it all cryptic-like. Ooooh, everyone would marvel I see what she…
Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan won the 2010 Morris Award. As most of you reading this blog probably already know, the Morris Award is, and always will be, dearly close to my heart, as I just finished my first ever selection committee work on the 2011 Morris Award Committee. I heard, first-hand, the way the…
The DUFF: the designated ugly fat friend. The one girl in a group that’s just not “as pretty” as the others. DUFF: it’s a “real” thing, you know. You can look it up on Urban Dictionary, where it’s been an entry since 2003. The DUFF, the girl in any group who’s just not as pretty,…
This was life in Gentry — going to school every day, blending into a world where everyone was happier to ignore the things that didn’t fit, always willing to look away as long as you did your part. Otherwise, how could they go on living near their neat suburban lives? When I was little, all…
Thanks to the amazing Amy Reed (You guys have read Beautiful, right?! It’s like Go Ask Alice but only 100 times better and less full of crap and more full of awesome writing.) I was alerted to the Huffington’s Post recent feature “13 Great Books For Gay Teens.” First, I want to applaud the Huffington…
A few housekeeping notes. For reasons you might expect, comments are now moderated. Don’t despair if you don’t see your comment immediately appear, I’m getting to it right away. And a big, heartfelt thanks to everyone who has recently encouraged and supported me and, more specifically, this blog. It meant more than you probably know….
“We’re the kind of popular that parents like to pretend doesn’t exist so they can sleep at night, and we’re the kind of popular that makes our peers unable to sleep at night. Everyone hates us, but they’re afraid of us too.” At least, that’s the kind of popular Regina Afton used to be. But…
