Member-only story
‘Across the Risen Sea’ Book Review
A MG spec-fic adventure featuring crocodiles, sharks, and more
I stumbled across author Bren MacDibble via the So You Want to Be a Writer podcast (episode 272). I was immediately taken with MacDibble’s casual, laidback attitude — she sent out two different novels (one YA, one MG) on the same day (one to the Ampersand Prize and one to Allen & Unwin’s Friday Pitch) and ended up with publishing deals for both.
‘I was just on a crazy day where I just sent anything off that day. Apparently that works!’ — Bren MacDibble
MacDibble also talked about how her house burnt down during the editing process for those two books, and she just kept on keeping on.
‘So I was like, “In the Dark Spaces” was going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. And “How to Bee” didn’t go back and forth often, but every now and then I had to stop throwing burnt objects into skips and … Read through a manuscript.’ — Bren MacDibble
While listening, I looked up MacDibble on Instagram and followed her immediately…
