Happy 2022! (I guess? It’s not exactly off to a smashing start, but here’s hoping it gets a whole lot better very soon!) I’ve been wanting to find a space to share my reflections on writing and parenting, so at the end of 2021, I launched Overthinking It: a monthly(ish) newsletter with personal essays exploring… Read more »
Posts By: laurielmorrison
COMING UP SHORT is Coming (Somewhat) Soon!
My next upper middle grade novel, Coming Up Short, will be published on June 21, 2022, and it’s now available for preorder, on Goodreads, and on Edelweiss (and I think it will be popping up on NetGalley before long, too). Coming Up Short is about softball, performance anxiety, a transformative summer trip (to Gray Island—the… Read more »
SAINT IVY Recap: Resources, Reviews, and More!
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. A very, very long while. I’ve been using my Instagram account to share some of the things I used to blog about—book recommendations, behind-the-scenes information about my novels, and occasional reflections on the writing life. And I keep thinking an author newsletter would be a better… Read more »
UP FOR AIR Release Week Round-Up!
Up for Air is officially out in the world! I had a great time launching the book a couple days early at this party at Children’s Book World, where I was in conversation with my friend and Every Shiny Thing coauthor Cordelia Jensen. And I’ve been busy doing lots of interviews and guest posts. I… Read more »
Mid-April Round-Up: Book News and Guest Posts
Hello, friends! This is an exciting spring! Last week, the paperback edition of Every Shiny Thing came out, and now we’re quickly approaching the publication date for my second book, Up for Air, on May 7th! Instead of writing posts for my own blog, I’ve been busy doing interviews and writing essays for other sites… Read more »
The story of my new book SAINT IVY! (So far…)
If we’re connected on social media, then you probably saw me post a few weeks ago about my new book deal. I’m very excited that I will have a third middle grade novel out in the spring of 2021, assuming all goes according to plan! That seems very far away, I know. But it takes… Read more »
2018 Wrap-Up: Reflections on my year as a writer and debut author
For the past few years, I’ve written a post in late December about my year of reading, reflecting on books that have had an impact on me and patterns I’ve noticed in what I’ve read. I’d love to find time to do that again for this year, but for now I’m more motivated to reflect… Read more »
Happy half-birthday, Every Shiny Thing!
Today is Every Shiny Thing’s half-birthday! It’s officially been out in the world for six months, and to celebrate, Cordelia and I wrote a really fun post all about collaboration. We talked to four other co-author pairs—Kristine Asselin and Jen Malone, Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan, Brad McLelland and Louis Sylvester, and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and Audrey… Read more »
New-Book News and Some (Sort of) New Interviews!
Today is rainy and the tiniest bit chilly, and I’m loving the cozy, stay-at-home weather. It’s starting to feel a bit like fall, and I’m excited to think about beginning a new season. I’ve had a hectic, exhausting, amazing summer full of book events, writing projects I was determined to finish before welcoming a new… Read more »
New Resources for Teachers and Readers!
In the weeks since Every Shiny Thing was published, my co-author Cordelia Jensen and I have had a great time visiting schools and doing other events that have brought us into contact with teachers and kids. Cordelia and I have been delighted to meet and hear from educators who are interested in sharing Every Shiny Thing with students, and… Read more »
Every Shiny Thing’s One-Month Birthday Round-Up
Today is Every Shiny Thing‘s one-month birthday! It’s been an exciting month, and Cordelia and I are so happy to have our book-baby out in the world and so grateful for the support it’s received! I thought I’d share a quick post this morning with some updates and a quick request. We’ve done a lot… Read more »
Every Shiny Thing is here! And so are lots of fun guest posts, interviews, & events!
Hooray! Every Shiny Thing, the middle grade novel I co-wrote with Cordelia Jensen, came out yesterday. We had a wonderful time celebrating with friends and family at our launch party at Children’s Book World in Haverford. We’ve also been busy writing more guest blog posts and answering great questions for a variety of fun interviews…. Read more »
Two fun interviews and a podcast episode!
Hi, friends! I haven’t been blogging much in this space because my Every Shiny Thing co-author Cordelia Jensen and I have been busy doing lots of interviews and guest blog posts as we gear up for the release of Every Shiny Thing in less than two weeks! (It’s out on 4/17! Hooray!) Most of our posts haven’t gone live… Read more »
Olympic Scoring, Risk-Taking, and Failure Without Shame
I always love watching the Olympics and getting sucked into the storylines and wowed by the performances, even in sports I know pretty much nothing about. Over the weekend, I caught some of the men’s single luge and slopestyle events, and I was struck by the differences in how those two events are scored and… Read more »
Middle Grade at Heart Book Club!
As some of you know, I decided not to go back to teaching this year so that I’d have more time and energy to focus on my family and my writing. While that was absolutely the right decision for me at this stage of my life, I’ve missed working with kids and being a part… Read more »
Persisting in the Writing Life: A Guest Post on Lyn Miller Lachmann’s Blog
One fun thing about being a debut author is that I’ve gotten some requests to do guest posts and interviews on other blogs I love reading. Lyn Miller-Lachmann, my classmate from Vermont College of Fine Arts and an author whose work I admire greatly, invited me to write a post about persisting in the writing… Read more »
My 2017 Reading Year in Review
Well, I really didn’t think I was going to meet my Goodreads challenge of reading 100 books in 2017. I was consistently a couple of books behind, and while I was always close enough that I could have prioritized a little extra reading and caught up, I was planning to let myself “fail.” It’s… Read more »
Figuring Out What Matters
Back when my husband and I were planning our wedding, we got some really good advice. Figure out what really matters to you, someone said. Decide on a few big priorities—a few things you care about and are comfortable investing money and/or time in. That way, you can also figure out which things you don’t… Read more »
Why Verse? An Interview with Cordelia Jensen
With Thanksgiving a few days away, today feels like the perfect time to post an interview with an author and friend I am very, very grateful for: Cordelia Jensen. Cordelia and I were classmates at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and I am incredibly lucky to have her in my writing life…and in the rest… Read more »
Why Verse? An Interview with Joy McCullough
I’m working on a new novel these days, and I very much want to write it in past tense, but it very much wants to be written in present tense. Nearly every time I get into a good writing zone with this book, my verbs slide right into present tense. Maybe my subconscious knows more… Read more »