This week was quiet on the Ninth Day front, but Ooligan has been in constant motion getting ready for this weekend’s Write to Publish conference. This year, the theme is Write What You Know. Most of the authors and experts who will be speaking at the conference work with various forms of nonfiction, including memoir, biography, journalism, and travel writing, among others.

This recent attention to nonfiction has got me thinking: even though Ruth writes primarily fiction these days, she writes what she knows. Ruth denies having time-traveled herself, but she knows more about Jewish life, women’s suffrage, the Free Speech Movement, medieval Paris, and 60s music than anyone with a full-time job has a right to know. She has found a way to mix a handful of utterly unconnected interests and write not only one, but two fantastic novels for Ooligan. Because she writes what she knows, does that make the writing easy? Nope. Does that make it fun? Definitely. In my opinion, having fun while doing something you love, even if it’s hard, is all we can ask for.

If you’re planning to come to Write to Publish, please say hi to Kelsey or me. We are always willing to talk about The Ninth Day, Ruth, time-traveling, and young adult lit.