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Debbie’s Blog

Welcome to my new blog, which now includes content from many of the blogs I’ve created over the years. You can now also access content via category from this one page instead of having to search for my individual blogs, which were scattered over various platforms and websites.

No illustrator track at Niagara Writer Retreat/Conference this year

A while back, I mentioned that I was going to be on the faculty at the  Niagara Retreat and Conference this coming May. Not enough illustrators signed up to warrant keeping the Illustrator track, so the conference has decided to drop that part of the programming.  For those who signed up . . .




Looking forward to reading these Sara Zarr books

I’ve been wanting to read Sara Zarr‘s books ever since hearing her speak at the SCBWI Winter Conference in 2011. I was blown away and inspired by her closing keynote (you can read about it on the SCBWI Conference blog). I generally have way too many books on my “really want . . .




Writers, illustrators and Twitter’s Vine app

(To stop the video above from repeating, just click on the image. To hear my riveting narration, click on the speaker icon.) I recently downloaded the Vine app on my iPhone after hearing a lot of buzz about it. Vine is an app by Twitter that enables users to easily create short . . .



It’s official: Just received contracts for RUBY ROSE books!

Last year, I mentioned that I was going to be illustrating two picture books by Rob Sanders for HarperCollins. Then Rob and I found out that his editor, Maria Modugno, was leaving HarperCollins to join Random House. Since I still hadn’t received the contracts, I didn’t know what would happen. Would the new editor . . .




Publishing with Skyscape/Amazon Children’s: An Interview With Leslie Stella, YA author of PERMANENT RECORD

Leslie Stella is the author of three novels of contemporary adult fiction and (launching this week!) her first novel for young adults, Permanent Record, Amazon Children‘s new Skyscape imprint.  Plot summary for Permanent Record: For sixteen-year-old Badi Hessamizadeh, life is a series of public humiliations. After withdrawing from school under mysterious circumstances, Badi enters . . .