Linda Gerber's Blog

It's summer!

(I know summer doesn't officially start until June 21, but for me and any student I've ever known, summer starts the moment that bell rings on the last day of the school year.

For me, the best thing about summer is the reading. Yes, I do read all year round, but summer means beaches and pools and long, lazy afternoons spent with my favorite books. In my school years, I used to churn through the summer reading list by mid-June, and would spend the other two months scouring library s...

Popping in after bit of a blog hiatus to herald another awesome book into the world. Today I'm pleased to welcome Lauren Skidmore, author of the brand-spanking new book, WHAT IS HIDDEN.  Lauren is a kindred spirit and fellow wanderer... she loves to explore new places and has even been here in Japan, traveling and teaching English. She has her sights set on Europe next. When she's not exploring new places, you can probably find her on the internet with fifteen windows open and looking at...

Every few years, I'm able to find both the time and the funds to get to one of the SCBWI National conferences. The NY Winter Conference rolls around each February, and the LA Summer Conference is in August. Each time I've gone, I've lucked out, because I seem to hit on the Best Conference Ever. (Or is it possible that all the SCBWI national conferences are phenomenal?)

This year, I was lucky to be able to attend the NY Conference on some of the few days that New York has actually had fair weat...

Rather than doing a traditional interview-filled blog tour, Denise Jaden is celebrating the release of her new nonfiction writing book, FAST FICTION, by dropping tips about writing quickly at every stop of her blog tour, and offering some awesome prizes for commenting on any of these posts (including this one!)

The more you drop by and comment, the more chances you have to win these great prizes:

Denise's Fast Fiction Tip: Be kind to other writers.

I would not be where I am in my writing career...

Photo via www.wsjusa.comOn Tuesday, Lindsay Van, Sarah Hendrickson and Jessica Jerome make history. They will compete in the first ever Olympic Women's Ski Jumping event.
Unbelievable as it may seem, Ski Jumping has been a men's-only event since the Winter Olympics began in 1924. Women were not allowed to compete.
I first learned about this gender inequality in 2006 while I was researching for my book, THE FINNISH LINE, about a ski-jumping American exchange student who trains on the hills...

It's February, the month of love!



Around here, Valentine's Day is not the holiday it is in the States. The marketing people love it, and Valentine's displays pop up in the stores, but it's not really a Japanese thing. 

I'll tell you what's universal, though... kindness. For example, here's a compilation of dash cam videos from Russia showing simple acts of kindness and compassion:


Notice how these acts don't have to be anything big or planned out. They don't have to cost anything besides a...

To kick off the New Year, Kristina Springer is joining us on the blog. Welcome, Kristina!
 ***tosses confetti***  

For any of you who don't know her, Kristina is the best-selling author
of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS, JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS, THE PAPARAZZI PROJECT and BOY SWAP.

Here's an experience Kristina had with a small act of kindness that caused a ripple effect:

"I love when people pass on small acts of kindness. I was in the drivethru at Starbucks...

Happy Year of the Horse!  Yeah, we're already more than a week in, but I'm still on the road, so it feels like my New Year hasn't really started yet. I'm just finishing up 2013's final vacation.

What plans do you have for this upcoming year? Have you made resolutions? Do you make resolutions?

I'm actually not sure what I do. Some years I make a list of resolutions. Other years I call them goals. Other years I claim that none of that stuff works/matters/makes sense, and I simply keep on kee...

Medical Thriller author Michael Palmer passed away last week. So sad.





I've only met the man twice, but he was so kind both times, I've always had a special place in my author fandom for him. 




The first time I met him was when I was attending the Maui Writers' Conference in 2004. I had been enrolled to take a week-long workshop with the great Paula Danzinger, but she passed away shortly before the conference, so I was re-assigned to Bob Mayer's group. Bob was great and I thoroughly...

Yes, so it has been a long time since I "came back" to my blog. Clearly, consistency has not been my companion this summer. A lot has happened since I last wrote, including our location change - I'm now happily blogging from Hiroo, Japan.



But that's not what we're here to talk about. I'm very happy to celebrate the release of my friend and GCC sister Amanda Ashby's newest book, DEMONOSITY. You may have seen Amanda around online (she can be found messing around on twitter, managing her fand...