Award-winning author: WHAT STARS ARE MADE OF, MONSTER TREE, etc. Making silly sketches & poems & snuzzling cats. Better @ Substack (https://sarahallen.substack)
Joined August 2009
- Tweets 14,209
- Following 801
- Followers 4,010
- Likes 13,324
2,343 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
My little newsletter is growing fast! We've got insider interviews, teacher resources, book recs, and more! Come join me? sarahallen.substack.com/
1
7
733
What book, film or TV character over 45 is your very favorite?
16
You guys, I am very proud of myself, I just did something* I am absolutely petrified of, that overwhelms and freaks me out so much every time I have to do it that I want to puke. But I did it! And I'm not even dead!
*see: buying plane tickets
3
104
"What advice would you give to writers who want to at least try social media to build their career but feel weird about posting?" sarahallen.substack.com/p/th…
58
This year, I decided that my main author platform social media goal was consistency. (I'm talking Insta and TT, not here. Here I'm a squatter.) Didn't matter if I posted meh stuff, if it got no views, but I WOULD do 1-2 posts a week no matter what.
I HATE that it's working.
29
Are you a plotter or a pantser? Honestly, the longer I do this writing thing, the less clear-cut the answer feels. Here's what I've actually noticed about my process after several novels — 🧵
1
24
So, back to the outline. Fill in the holes. Push it further.
Then enthusiasm kicks in again and I'm back to drafting.
Outline → draft → outline → draft.
It's my pendulum process! And now I know its a feature, not a bug. It's just...my process. 🤷♀️
1
19
I'm at almost 50k words on my current WIP and just swung back to outlining mode. But I'm almost to That Scene and I'm so freakin excited!
What about you — plotter, pantser, or somewhere on the pendulum? 👇
(I wrote more about all this here: sarahallen.substack.com/p/i-…
11
I've sometimes felt like I was doing something wrong, because I never quite felt like a true plotter or a pantser, because my brain just kept jumping between the two. Now I treat that like a feature, not a bug! What about you? Are you more of a pantser or a plotter?
3
2
72
I just want you all to know that I made a robot display at the library and he is very cute :D
1
59
I just did a middle school visit and an eigth grader wearing thick liner and a choker necklace told me I was the "coolest author ever" so I think the Jedi mind-trick worked!!
1
47
Sarah Allen (MONSTER TREE out now!) retweeted
Happy 2nd Birthday to The Chambered Nautilus, a #middlegrade #STEAM tale of the power of friendship & a magical carnival ride modeled on the spiral-shaped sea creature.
#writingcommunity #kidlit #teachers #librarians #writerscommunity #mglit #authorsoftwitter #educators
1
7
97
Filming a silly today and a little worried how much pretending to be 70 feels like my true form.
1
40
Yeeeah boi we're going to the seventh continent today to see what its REALLY like! Thanks to Greg Neri for being our guide! sarahallen.substack.com/p/wh…
1
43
The middle grade market is struggling. I see it in my MG author friends who aren't getting deals on incredible books that would have sold like lightning just a few years ago.
But I have two reasons why what's happening right now might not be such a bad thing. 🧵
2
2
87
What IS working is graphic. Graphic novels are 25% of the MG market and sales have doubled in the past five years. Snappy books, short chapters, verse, illustration — books that still look and act like books for kids.
1
33
We're figuring things out. It's complicated. But as we do, I believe middle grade will bounce back more vibrantly than we could imagine.
Full essay 👇
sarahallen.substack.com/p/al…
25