Jessica McCarty, Author

"Are there even any?" she asked me. I searched for an answer, flabbergasted. How could this teen not  know clean young adult novels exist? I had this conversation nearly two weeks ago. It's bugged me every since. This girl genuinely seemed to think a YA novel, sans tons of swearing and sex, was the unicorn of the literary world. So at the risk of appearing to do a repeat of last week, I'm handing you another list of recommendations. That way you can respond in a helpful way, unlike me with my silent blinking shock. The following are books and authors that I've personally read. They are clean fiction books for teens. Sara Ella The Unblemished trilogy--Fantasy Sara has a Little Mermaid retelling coming out in November that deals with mental health. I'm confident this will be an excellent read as well. C.J. Redwine The Ravenspire series--Fantasy These are fairy tale retellings with a slightly darker twist. I ...

I was trying to decide what to do for this week's blog when I saw a YouTube video by Nadine Brandes called "My Top Seven Favorite Book Series . . . So Far." It sounded like a good direction for this week, especially since I had zero ideas. However, I'd like to call mine "recommendations" rather than favorites. If I were to attempt listing my favorites we'd be here the rest of the year. Also, these are the books I've enjoyed  recently . Again, listing recommendations from everything I've ever read would be utterly ridiculous. So, here are my book recommendations by genre. Historical Fiction *Jody Hedlund *Melanie Dickerson Both of these ladies have wonderful series. Most of Melanie's are young adult books. A lot of them are written as fairy tale retellings. Jody has more books geared for adults. However, she has recently started writing young adult fiction, and I love them! Nonfiction * Jump by Steve Harvey * Capital Gai...

I was reading a devotional Monday and the writer told of an unusual prayer she prays. She asks God to surprise her. Intrigued, I thought, "Okay, God. Surprise me today." I was definitely a little hesitant to do so. Surprises aren't always good, but God is. I've continued this throughout the week. Here's what happened . . . Monday--I was text by a family member with a publishing question. If I'd thought about it, knowing the situation, I wouldn't have been super shocked. However, I was still wasn't expecting it. Tuesday--I was text by a young friend who just left for college. We don't really text much, and I assumed she was busy with school, so it was another fun little thing. I told my husband about my silly prayer, joking that all the answers were coming via text. Wednesday--God really shook things up. I wrote a couple of neat, unexpected backstory details for my characters. I discovered a new song to inspire my writing, Meet Me...

I thought I'd start off today by sharing what we'll call "resources for writers." These are the places I frequent online that help me with writing and marketing. If you're a budding writer, you should check them out! *Blogger Obviously. But honestly, it does not cost you a single dime to use Blogger. I'm all for that, honey! *Pablo.buffer.com Pablo has tons of photos you can use for free. I use it all the time now for quotes on my blog (see picture above). It's not as versatile as Publisher, but it's great if you want to create something simple and quick. You can also upload your own photo and add text. *Ambient-mixer.com I use this when I want to create atmosphere for a writing session but don't want the distraction song lyrics. There are all kinds of sounds. You can even create your own mixes. *YouTube Oh my gosh, so many things! There's music galore to get you in the writing mood. If you need to do research, sa...

This was my mantra while writing A Desperate Love : "It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be possible." To be sure, my "tools" weren't the best. I started out with notebooks & pencils, and finished on library laptops on my days off. A possible variation of this mantra is "It doesn't have to be practical . . ." I like practical. As my rough draft phase draws to a close, I again find myself wishing for practical. If I only had X. I've taken it to the prayer. I keep feeling like I need to trust that I'll have what I need when I need it, that it will work out just as it did before. I got a call this morning, one of my X's offered to me. It's not in the form I'd like it, BUT it's a step up. That's important! I'm thankful for it. I'm going to embrace it. Because nobody gets "there" overnight. I've been doing an online study of the book of Mark. I'm behind on...