(View entire post here)

Rachel Simon is our guest blogger during the week of June 8th. If you have any questions for Rachel Simon, add a comment to any of her posts.

Here is more information on Building a Home with My Husband:

The bestselling and highly acclaimed author of Riding the Bus with My Sister returns with an illuminating and tenderhearted memoir about the unexpected ways a home renovation can change a life.

Rachel Simon's historic home on a charming tree- lined street was hardly ideal. It was too small, too dark, and there was a gaping hole in the dining room ceiling. So when the house is burglarized, Rachel and her husband, Hal, agree it's time to sell. But in a difficult housing market, and with Hal being an architect, they soon realize: Why leave when they can renovate?

Rachel prepares herself for the disagreements and disasters that can accompany a major home renovation. But what she isn't prepared for is the emotional journey that will blow open the seal around everything she thinks she knows about herself, about family, and about the misunderstandings and resilience of love. From Hal's first design sketch to the last stroke of paint, memories of a difficult childhood, friendships left behind, challenges with siblings, and an improbable path to marriage come bursting out. Once the dust settles, Rachel is astonished by the many gems revealed along the way-and comes to discover profound insights about the construction, demolition, and renovation of personal connections.

(View entire post here)

Phaedra Weldon is our guest blogger during the week of June 8th. If you have any questions for Phaedra Weldon, add a comment to any of her posts.

Here is more information on Phantasm:

The newest in a series that's "part paranormal whodunit, part urban fantasy" (Publishers Weekly) by the author of Wraith and Spectre.

Just when Zoë Martinique, formerly ordinary twenty-something, was getting used to the idea that she was possessed of extraordinary powers, she lost them. Without cause or warning. And at the worst possible time.

Now, unless she can figure out how to go Wraith again, she won't be able to rescue her mother, whose soul is trapped on the Abysmal plane.

Her only hope is to join forces with an old enemy, who has his own dark reasons for helping her. From him she learns that only a traumatic experience can bring the Wraith back. To get out-of-body, Zoë will have to look for big, dangerous trouble-and fast.

For there is a deadly and powerful being within the Abysmal that wishes Zoë never existed...and it's coming for her.

Read an excerpt from Phantasm. 

(View entire post here)

So now you've got a feel for Morganville itself, and for some of the people in it.  Here's some of the more ... unusual elements that found their way into a young adult story.

And, of course, the troubles they caused me, as a writer, along the way.

Physics.  Claire could have had any old hobby, but noooooooo.  I had to choose physics as one of her specialties.  Now, this actually stems from the fact that in college I was flat-out fascinated by applied physics; my favorite classes and labs had to do with how physics worked in the real world.  Theoretical physics wasn't quite so easy or fun for me, so naturally, Claire has to be fascinated by that.  Trying to get inside the head of a girl way smarter than me, who understands such things, is a real challenge, one I'm sure I occasionally fail.

Typical resources I've used along the way on the trail of physics knowledge include the reader-friendly The Complete Idiot's Guide to String Theory, Physics for Dummies, and Quantum Physics: A Beginner's Guide.  Although I had to step up to the highly entertaining book by Michio Kaku, Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel.  Then onward to the really tough stuff, which generally comes bound in textbooks or little chapbooks, and has no concept of "reader friendly."

Ouch.