Katiaesque

  • FIRST REVIEWS: BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS

    Ah, the life of an author. All glamour and fun, you say? Well. Not when you get your first negative trade review. Like, the kind that takes your book down all the way. Back in the trenches (ah, the safe, anonymous trenches before your writing comes out into the world), I’d gotten plenty of rejections,…

    Katia Raina

  • It’s Official: I Love School Visits!!!

    Back from Camden, New Jersey last night. Oh what a truly magical way to kick off my school visits. I knew I’d love doing them, I just didn’t realize how much. I met some of the most amazing young people I’ve ever known (and that’s saying a lot, because I happen to know a lot…

    Katia Raina

  • #1 in YA Jewish New Releases

    It’s so surreal, I just have to share. My debut novel, so embarrassingly many years in the making, a little under four months now before its actual launch, is currently a #1 in New Release in Jewish Teen and Young Adult Fiction on Amazon. Just as incredible, as of this writing, it is sharing a…

    Katia Raina

  • Day 7: CASTLE OF CONCRETE

    CASTLE OF CONCRETE by Katia Raina, Young Europe, June 2019 #YADebut2019 #MagicMirror Aaaaand here it is, my friends: the news and the big mystery; here it is, the secret revealed! My historical YA debut, CASTLE OF CONCRETE, set in the last year of the falling-apart Soviet Union, is the story of a timid Jewish girl…

    Katia Raina

  • Happy New Year!

    After three years of silence here on the Magic Mirror, magically, I am back. So much has changed. I live in DC, for one thing. And the people I teach happen to be, for the most part, a lot shorter. (Quite a few of them even shorter than me! Ha! — For now ;)) I…

    Katia Raina

  • Happy New Year! Off to Graduate!

    Happy 2015 my dear readers! May it bring you love and joy and beauty (not to mention, lots and lots of writing, of course)! The year 2014 has been pretty exciting. I completed the second half of my studies at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Learned up to my ears. Wrote a critical thesis delving into novels in verse. Finished a draft…

    Katia Raina

  • Hanging A Shingle

    Hi all, A couple of things this week. First, I would like to welcome the new subscribers. Every time someone new joins the small but beloved audience of this blog, I get nervous. I feel like going, “what me? What would they want to hear from good old me for, when there are so many other great,…

    Katia Raina

  • Flying

    Happy Monday, everyone! Yes, happy Monday. Whether it’s a day job Monday, or just a busy Monday. Try to treasure it no matter what. Measure your Mondays with new words, measure them with love, with little bits of beauty. Try to fly through Mondays, if you can. Try to, even if you cannot. I think…

    Katia Raina

  • Writing Goals: A Progress Report

    Just a little more than a month ago I blogged about my new — or updated — writing goals. Writing vows, I called them. Summer is often my time to take stock, and re-adjusting my goals is one way I try to make sure I stay on the right writing track. This post is an update, for anyone…

    Katia Raina

  • Still Me

    Just a note today: yes, I survived the week. I am kind of astonished. Yeah, I’m a bit tired, sure. But I did it! I worked — and did pretty okay, I think. My bosses seemed happy. My family seemed pretty happy. Most incredibly of all, I seemed pretty happy. I walked my dog every single day. I…

    Katia Raina