Welcome to our channel surf, where we highlight our favorite writing, publishing, and/or book-related posts of the week by middle grade authors! Hit the pause button for a sec and check this out…

Patience and Perspective: Project #365thanks

by Claire LeGrand, author of THE YEAR OF SHADOWS

Every day for the next year, you can join Claire in tweeting something – anything! – you’re grateful for using the hashtag #365thanks. Seeing as we’re all in a business that’s known for being kinda negative (yeah, pub industry, I’m lookin’ at ya), I think this is a fantastic way to spread a little positivity.

Meanwhile…Middle Grade (Why We Write MG)

by the MG authors at Lucky 13s

Love this post – all of the Lucky 13 (aka 2013 debut) MG authors contributed to this great list of reasons why they write middle grade.

Should Consumers Be Able to Buy and Sell Used Ebooks?

by Nathan Bransford, author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp

Oh man, is that ever a loaded question. My first reaction was shared by many – just what the heck is a “used” ebook? Nathan has some interesting thoughts.

What Every Middle Grade Writer Should Know About Middle Graders

by Lee Wardlaw, author of 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents

This is the second part in a great series by Lee, in which she covers some psychological, intellectual, and physical characteristics of tweens.

Eye Rolls! And Shrugs! And Exclamations…Oh My!

by Jan Gangsei, MG author

What Jan says here is so true – we all have certain crutches, quirks, something, that turns up repeatedly in our writing yet we never, ever notice until an editor points it out. For me, it was “as.” “He did this as she did that.” “She laughed as he scowled.” “He whistled as he worked.” Ugh.

What’d I miss? Let me know if you caught any great middle grade posts this week!