When I started writing the Lointaine books I had two things I was clear on: All the magic in my world is actually explainable by science, we just don’t necessarily understand science enough to do so. Although Connor, my quantum physicist, is working on it! (This is sort of the reverse of Clarke’s third law that says, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”) And, Therefore, Magic has rules – even if my characters don’t completely understand them.

Being a writer is interesting. When do you actually get to claim to be a writer? I have written for decades but I have never even felt I could list it as a hobby like, say, reading. And forget about talking about it in conjunction with my profession. It felt ridiculous to label myself as a writer when no one had paid me specifically for writing, even though I managed to turn almost every job I had into a writing or editing job.

I’ve gotten lots of questions from friends asking about how they can be supportive of the new book. So here are some suggestions. If you want to keep it short and sweet: buy their books read the books rate and write reviews boost their signal by interacting with social media content attend their book signings and other events (workshops, panels, etc.) The Exhaustive Details In more detail, here is an exhaustive list of the ways you can support your favorite author (whether or not that is me 😊).

Do you ever go into a craft store or art store just to drool over the supplies? Pet the yarn? Run your fingertips longingly over the colored pencils or the textured paper? Or perhaps you yearn for pens that cost more than most restaurant meals. Do you consider adding fabric to a stash that you have already run out of space to store? Or maybe your artistic passion steers you towards plays, cookbooks, or camera lenses… I lust after several types of art supplies but I realized recently that I also hoard for my writing.

Like many people, I ended up homeschooling during the COVID pandemic. In cramming on how to be the best teacher possible to my kids (Oh god please don’t ask me for help with quadratic equations! How did I end up with two math genius kids? They certainly didn’t get it from me!!), I picked up Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating, Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play by Mitchel Resnick. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting but I am enjoying it.