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“You keep it on the inside because that’s the safest way to hide.”

Fifteen-year-old Elliot ‘Matchstick’ Hart spends his days caring for his mum and hiding from the school bully.

Fifteen-year-old Josh McBride spends his days tormenting Elliot and avoiding his abusive stepdad.

Hoping to save his mum, Elliot embarks on an adventure inspired by a picture in an old newspaper. Little does he know that Josh has decided to join him.

On their journey, strangers and surprises force them to look at each other in a different light. As secrets are revealed, will they reconcile their differences or will the secrets tear them further apart?

Read an Excerpt

I’ve spent the last few years making myself invisible. Many teenagers are blessed with unique talents—speak multiple languages or belch the alphabet backwards. Me? I’ve spent the last few years perfecting my own superpower: the ability to make myself disappear. Over the years, I’ve adapted to my surroundings and taught myself how to vanish, like an animal being hunted in the wild. I’ve fine-tuned techniques like staring at my shoes, hiding in the school toilet, and burying my head in a book. Right now, I’m practicing the art of staring at a notice on the wall while I wait for my appointment with Mrs. Spencer, the school counsellor. “Matchstick!” I’m knocked sideways, and Josh McBride’s leering smile is in my face, the same mocking expression mirrored by his friend, Lewis Pretty. Their laughter echoes down the corridor as they slope off. It would be fair to say that my invisibility training still needs work. “You okay?” Felicity Hooper has appeared to my right, studying the same notice from the drama department. There’s a play every year, and every year I dream of auditioning, but I don’t even have the confidence to hold a conversation with the girl standing next to me. The really pretty girl standing next to me, to be specific. “You’re in my history class?” “Yes. It’s Elliot. Elliot Hart.” Who do I think I am? James Bond? “Well, Elliot Hart, are you okay?” She grabs the pen attached to the board and scribbles her name on the audition sheet. Felicity Hooper is amazing, so it’s a damn shame I morph into a bumbling idiot around her.

About the Author:Kate grew up in a small town in Lancashire, England with her mum, dad, and two older brothers. A bit of a tomboy, she loved nothing more than going out for adventures with her brothers, as long as she was back before dark.

She studied English at Reading University and gained a teaching qualification at Manchester. Nowadays, Kate spends her days teaching English at a local high school in Cheshire and her evenings are spent writing stories close to her heart.

She believes teenage years can be particularly difficult and wants to create stories that show empathy and hope for her readers. She lives with her husband, two children, and Jessie, the miniature schnauzer.

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Birthdays: Roger Martin du Gard (1881), Erich Fromm (1900), Eleanor Cameron (1912), Ama Ata Aidoo (1942), Alan Bleasdale (1946), Elizabeth Scarborough (1947), Kim Robinson (1952), Julia Glass (1956), Jonathan Ames (1964), Mitch Cullin (1968)

Roger Martin du Gard won the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Quote: “Understand that success in writing may (a) take a long time (for me, seven years to publish a short story, seven more to publish a book) and (b), once it arrives not offer you much in the way of financial reward.” – Julia Glass

Tip: When you’re ready to quit writing for the day, before you do, set a question or scene that you will have to answer the next time you write. That way, you won’t sit there staring at the page wondering what you were doing or what to do next.

Jumpstart: You’ve been asked to create a character for your favorite TV show. What show is it? What kind of character will you create? Would s/he be a villain or a hero? Or a sidekick? What happens?

Continue reading “Spotlight: Andrew Grey” →

Birthdays: Phyllis McGinley (1905), Margaret Mahy (1936), David Wisniewski (1953), Teresa Nielsen Hayden (1956), Lauren Kate (1981),

Phyllis McGinley won the 1960 Pulitzer for Poetry.

David Wisniewski won the 1997 Caldecott for “Golem”

Quote: “I majored in creative writing in college, and went on to get a master’s degree in fiction—but I don’t think those things are necessary to being a good writer. Practice, curiosity, voracious reading, and diligence are more important than any degree.” – Lauren Kate

Jumpstart: You have to create a newsletter for a writer’s group. What would you include? What would it look like? What about a newsletter for your readers?

Birthdays: Ovid (43 B.C.), Henrik Ibsen (1828), Isabel Burton (1831), B.F. Skinner (1904), Bill Martin Jr (1916), Mitsumasa Anno (1926), Lois Lowry (1937), Ellen Conford (1942), Louis Sachar (1954), Nina Kiriki Hoffman (1955), Mary Roach (1959), A.J. Jacobs (1968), Emily Giffin (1972),

Lois Lowry won two Newbery Awards: “Number the Stars” and “The Giver”

Quote: “My personal opinion is that you should not worry about ‘being published’. You should enjoy writing, and writing more and more, so that you become better at it. I always sort of cringe when I hear, ‘I want to be a published writer’ from a kid. I’d rather hear, ‘I love to write’.” – Lois Lowry

Tip: Go through your work and look for weak verbs and change them to stronger, more descriptive ones. Instead of “he walked”, try: strode, crept, tiptoed, stomped, etc. to describe how he is walking.

Jumpstart: Your house is on fire. You live alone and have no pets so there is nobody else to worry about. What do you try to save?

Birthdays: Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821), Irving Wallace (1916), Philip Roth (1933), James Redfield (1950)

Philip Roth was a multiple winner of the National Book Award as well as the 1997 Pulitzer in Fiction for “American Pastoral”

Quote: “The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.” – Philip Roth

Tip: Are you a panster or a plotter? A panster is someone who writes by the seat of their pants. They don’t know who the story is about or where it’s going, they just write and let the story go where it takes them. A plotter outlines everything beforehand. Most of us fall somewhere in between.

Jumpstart: Write a scene using words of only one syllable and short sentences like: “See Spot run.”, but do it as a murder mystery.

Birthdays: Stephane Mallarme (1842), Robert P. Tristram Coffin (1892), Wilfred Owen (1893), Richard Condon (1915), George Plimpton (1927), John Updike (1932), Joy Fielding (1945), Susan Patron (1948), Douglas Florian (1950), Franz Wright (1953)

Robert Coffin won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

John Updike won two Pulitzers for books in the Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom series.

Susan Patron won the 2007 Caldecott for “The Higher Power of Lucky”

Franz Wright won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Quote: “I think the most important part of storytelling is tension. It’s the constant tension of suspense that in a sense mirrors life, because nobody knows what’s going to happen three hours from now.” – Richard Condon

Tip: Many writers are members of groups for support and inspiration. Are you? Look around and see what’s available in your area, or online. Take classes. Bone up on the basics or go to deeper depths. Expand your mind.

Jumpstart: Write a scene about something you’re doing—perhaps a walk you take. Write it both from your perspective as an adult, then from a child’s perspective.

I’m playing catch up here!

Under Mysteries:

Half-Baked Alibi by Devon Delaney – 4 Sparklers for this cute cozy

Caramel Pecan Roll by Joanne Fluke – 3 Sparklers for this 28th edition to the Hannah Swensen series

Under Nonfiction:

The Essential Gluten-Free Cake Cookbook by Michelle Anderson – 5 Sparklers for this yummy cookbook

MIND Diet for Two Cookbook by Laura Ali – 5 Sparklers for this delicious offering

The Complete Guide to Tarot and Astrology by Louise Edington – 5 Sparklers for this informative book

Under Romance:

Let it Melt by Margot Johnson – 4 sparklers for this one

An Angel’s Wylder Assignment by Tena Stetler- 5 Sparklers for this paranormal romance

Twisted Lies by C.B. Clark – 3 Sparklers for this one

Under LGBTQ+ for Adults:

Least Resistance by Andrew Grey – 4 Sparklers for this one.

Enjoy! I know I did.

Birthdays: Sully Prudhomme (1839), Eric P. Kelly (1884), Emory Holloway (1885), Sid Fleischman (1920), Margaret Weis (1948), Alice Hoffman (1952),

Sully Prudhomme was the winner of the first Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901.

Eric Kelly won the 1929 Newbery Award for “The Trumpeter of Krakow”

Emory Holloway wone a Pulitzer Prize in Biography for his book on Walt Whitman.

Sid Fleischman won the 1987 Newbery Medal for “The Whipping Boy”

Quote: “Adult novels are as ephemeral as newspapers. Children’s books stay in print for decades.” – Sid Fleischman

Tip: Read a book. Any book. For a writer to truly succeed, s/he has to also be a reader. Read for pleasure, but also study the story. Rip it apart to see what makes it work.

Jumpstart: While walking through a parking garage, you hear a thump coming from the trunk of a car trunk. What do you do?

Birthdays: Paul Heyse (1830), Lady Augusta Gregory (1852), Charles Howard McIlwain (1871), Carl Schorske (1915), Richard Ellmann (1918), Lawrence Sanders (1920), Ruth White (1942), David Cronenberg (1943), James N Frey (1943), Lynda La Plante (1943), Heather Graham (1953), Ben Okri (1959), Simon Van Booy (1975)

Paul Heyse won the 1910 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Charles McIlwain won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for “The American Revolution: A Constitutional Representation”

Carl Schorske won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction for “Fin-de-Siecle Vienna”

Quote: “To set a forest on fire, you light a match. To set a character on fire, you put him in conflict.” – James N. Frey

Tip: Google (or otherwise search) your name, or your pseudonym. How many places do you show up? Does anyone else share your name? Your writing should be the first thing people see about you, if that is your primary goal.

Jumpstart: Today is the “Ides of March”, a day that will live forever as a dark omen thanks to Shakespeare. What is your character’s “Ides of March”? What bad thing can happen to him or her on this day that would mark it as a day to remember (or forget)?