Politics in Practice
April 17, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
You know, what we’re really talking about is empowerment—feeling like even the smallest parts of us have power and worth. That could be super important to a middle school kid.
April 16, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
These books all share anxiety as a theme, but in conversation with each other they feel like they are capturing something essential about the power of middle grade books.
April 8, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
Isabel in Bloom will be my fourth middle grade novel (my first one in verse). When I began writing it, a few intriguing images had come to me: a girl on a plane, a dried-up school garden, and a balikbayan box.
April 2, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
If AI becomes capable of writing unique novels, just for you, that are better than anything you've ever read before, what would become of the shared experience of a beloved book?
March 14, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
In writing my contemporary YA novel, Just Another Epic Love Poem, I leaned into the granularity of my experience.
March 14, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
Not every character name goes through a rigorous process—some are a little more random!—but this is one of those parts of the writing process that is pure fun for me. It can be challenging to settle on the right name, but when you do, it makes all the difference.
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March 11, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
The key to making that 2015-2024 walk to oblivion and partway back? Persistence. Holding nerve. Holding serve. Hoping to get another chance, and then another, and believing that if only you get that chance, you'll get it right this time.
March 6, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
“Write what you know,” is an excellent starting place for writers. But to that advice, I would add, “Write what you wish you didn’t.”
February 27, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
In UNSTUCK Ms. Bowman suggests various strategies for overcoming writer’s block. My hope is that kids will try some of these strategies the next time they’re “stuck” in their writing
February 23, 2024 by Amanda MacGregor
Cultivating a story idea into a fully realized story is always an unexpected journey. It starts with the wish of a story idea, of what it can be. Then it blossoms into the best laid plans, the outline. After that? That’s the magic.
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