Middle Grade Ninja: March 2022

 To watch new episodes as they air, go to my YouTube channel and subscribe. For shorter clips, subscribe to the Middle Grade Ninja YouTube channel. Middle Grade Ninja is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, Amazon, itunes, Podbean, Podblaster, RadioPublic, blubrry, Listen Notes, and many other fine locations. Erika Lewis and I discuss Irish mythology, world building in fantasy, and planning a series such as the one kicked […]

Middle Grade Ninja: February 2022

To watch new episodes as they air, go to my YouTube channel and subscribe. For shorter clips, subscribe to the Middle Grade Ninja YouTube channel. Middle Grade Ninja is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, Amazon, itunes, Podbean, Podblaster, RadioPublic, blubrry, Listen Notes, and many other fine locations. Elana K. Arnold and I talk about the virtue of islands and plotting a mystery without knowing the ending in […]

Middle Grade Ninja

  Dear Esteemed Reader, After 13 years of amazing interviews with authors and publishing professionals, guest posts and book reviews, blog posts and 212 podcast conversations, this site is on indefinite hiatus.  Never say never. I can’t imagine staying away forever, but I am no longer accepting requests for reviews, interviews, or anything else. An […]

Middle Grade Ninja

To watch new episodes as they air, go to YouTube and subscribe. Middle Grade Ninja is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, itunes, Podbean, Podblaster, RadioPublic, blubrry, Listen Notes, Google Play, and many other fine locations. Donna Galanti and I discuss how she started her writing career at age 40 and exploded into it with discipline and passion. She shares what she’s learned about being productive and […]

Middle Grade Ninja

Newbery Award–winning author Louis Sachar is the creator of the entertaining Marvin Redpost books as well as the much-loved There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom, winner of 17 child-voted state awards. Louis Sachar’s book Holes, winner of the 1999 Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, is also an […]

Middle Grade Ninja

First Paragraph(s): Woodridge Academy, a private school in Heath Cliff, Pennsylvania, had once been the home of William Heath, after whom the town had been named. Nearly three hundred students now attended school in the four-story, black-and-brown stone building where William Heath had lived from 1891 to 1917, with only his wife and three daughters.  Tamaya […]

Middle Grade Ninja: The Importance of Humility in Writers (Or, Unless You’re Teaching the Writer’s Workshop, Shut Up)

Dear Esteemed Reader, I know we usually have a writer here to face the 7 Questions on Thursdays, but alas, Michael Grant wasn’t available to join us. Update: he did join us seven years later. So, instead, I’d like to talk to you about humility in writers and Barton Fink. Total rip off, I agree. Next […]