It’s that time of year, folks. The temperature has dropped to a cool 79 degrees. Teachers are posting Amazon wish lists. Flip-flops are swapped for clean tennies that won’t stay clean for long. It’s back-to-school time! Which means, for me, that one-of-a-kind, stomach-flip-flop feeling of walking through those double doors on the first day. I…… Continue reading Five Back-to-School Books to Shake Things Up
Author: Lara Avery
Five Beach Reads for the Rest of Your Summer
In honor of The Year of Second Chances going on sale on Kindles everywhere, I’ve compiled a list of my five favorite “beach reads.” Are they traditional beach reads, in that they are light, breezy, and oh-so-sexy and fun? Sometimes! Do they all take place on beaches? Most of time, yes! And are they challenging,…… Continue reading Five Beach Reads for the Rest of Your Summer
Expecting
Last night, for the first time, I believe I felt my baby kick. There have been flutters before, but I wasn’t sure. As the pregnancy has progressed, there’s been all sorts of movement down there, not all of it pleasant, and it’s hard to distinguish one sensation from another. But then there I was, in…… Continue reading Expecting
2023 Highlights
Every year is life-changing, but in 2023, mine was epically transformed. Here are some highlights: Moved into a new home. The plumbing is falling apart and there is a mysterious footprint in the basement but we’ve got room for all current and future books. Matched with my Little Sister, Skylar, through Big Brothers Big Sisters…… Continue reading 2023 Highlights
Sitting Down with the Bookmark Podcast
Growing up, Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library was a second home. At the start of every week, I would venture through my neighborhood with last week’s treasures, ready to trade them in and head back to my house with bag bursting full of new picture books, chapter books, and eventually Young Adult adventures. My…… Continue reading Sitting Down with the Bookmark Podcast
Interview with The Reading Corner UK
I received a delightful set of questions about The Year of Second Chances from The Reading Corner, a non-profit organization out of the UK that focuses on increasing access to literature, and I thought I’d share. You can read the full interview here. The book is written in a first-person perspective, a decision I loved…… Continue reading Interview with The Reading Corner UK
Notes on Block
Though I’ve expressed the desire to fill my free days starting something new, I can’t seem to bring myself to a place of inspiration. My editors and I were kicking around a concept, but I don’t think the pages I wrote were quite hitting the mark, so I’m stuck in limbo until we find a…… Continue reading Notes on Block
How’s the Book Going: The End and The Beginning
I sent the book to copyediting a few weeks ago, and I’m already primed to write the next one. I’ve reflected here on the value of order and discipline in one’s life in order to enable wildness and freedom in one’s art, and I’m craving wildness. I want to keep pushing myself artistically, a phrase…… Continue reading How’s the Book Going: The End and The Beginning
How’s the Book Going: p. 477
On deadline while I was supposed to be on vacation, 2018. Every submission experience I’ve ever had was defined by the two or three (or five) nights before the deadline. I would spend days camped at a coffee shop, drinking drip light roast out of the largest container they had, taking cigarette breaks every hour…… Continue reading How’s the Book Going: p. 477
How’s the Book Going: p. 329
Listening to a podcast in which two under-employed actors from Los Angeles narrate the life of Dolly Parton from a saccharine script. Eating a lemon-flavored protein bar that tastes like Pine Sol. Two beverages: one iced coffee, one water, both out. My manuscript is two months late, and my editor finally broke her silence. Something…… Continue reading How’s the Book Going: p. 329
Lara Avery 