Will Ritter

A black and white photo of a rubber chicken under dramatic lights.

We’re in the silent era currently, but I’m prepping units ahead of time—and the golden era is gonna be LIT. In addition to film analysis each unit, they’ll also do a synthesis assignment—AKA “do it.” Just finished putting together light boxes for them to practice achieving noir lighting with toys.

A LOT of heaviness this year, so I am trying not to miss appreciating the positives along the way.

Teaching a FILM AS LIT 🎥 class for the first time, and I am loving it. Yesterday was Buster Keaton… and students are actually engaging & having FUN. (Also, made my classroom a blockbuster. 📼)

Hi, Seven. I am hard at work on a writing project that has been quietly growing for several years. I did love Algonquin, and I am sad about it closing—but I will find a good home for my next story eventually.

OMFG!!! What an awesome gig!!! Those pages are going to be 🔥.

You can find powerful #truths in literature—like this one in Book 4 of @willritter.bsky.social ‘s wonderful Jackaby series. #empathy #emotionalresilience #kindness #leadershipskills #compassion

😊

A smiling Denzel Washington holds the book Green Eggs and Ham while looking dapper as usual.

I've had Denzel's up in my classroom for the past decade. It's so charming. :)

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Fully drafted, you say?

If you have not discovered these books, they are AMAZING.

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Oh, really?

Oregon readers! I am so excited to be joining @rosieethor.bsky.social for the launch of FIREFLY: AIM TO MISBEHAVE tomorrow! Don't miss it if you will be in the area of Beaverton on Friday!

I loved the second season. Lots of loose ends seem bonkers but DO tie together at the end—very satisfying emotional arc—great classic Norse homage in the final episode.

(In mythology, all stories are the trickster god’s stories—because what is a story if not a clever lie with a glorious purpose?)

Having flashbacks to the time I commented on the bird site that writing MG was, in some ways, even harder than YA, and YA, in some ways, even harder than Adult… and got the most vitriolic hate (from non-writers) for claiming that writing for children could ever be as hard as writing REAL books.😐

Joke calendar reads: July 25th. I told my son I’d go a whole day without making any furniture jokes. Sofa, so good.

Okay… so my feed is full of couch jokes right now. Tell me why—today of all days—this is the DAD JOKE of the day. The universe is in on it.

News is out: Algonquin Young Readers (home to all of my original books for ten years) is shuttering. Little Brown YA will absorb existing projects, so thankfully books won’t be orphaned—but good people are losing their roles and an era is coming to an end. Proud and grateful to have been part of it.

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I'm just...

Me: (Prepping a pitch a bit outside my norm.) I can do this. I've spent the past decade building connections & supports.

Agent: I'm no longer representing your category of books.

Editor: I'm retired from editing.

Publishing House: We no longer exist moving forward.

Random passing stranger: 🖕

OMFG. For the third time, Scrivener, there is no “Desmond.” I promise. This book is about actual, literal hell-monsters. Please. Just let me type “demons.”

I am in DC! Made it at last! Woo!

If you’re in town, I’m excited to be chatting at the Ogden Nash pavilion on Saturday with Kim Johnson about her new book INVISIBLE SON at 3:15-4:05, followed by a signing.

So excited to be on my way to the Gaithersburg Book Festival!

(LESS excited to have gotten up at 3AM, and to have sat on the tarmac in a middle-seat for an hour while my 2nd plane turned into a sauna because they couldn’t get the engine started and eventually just deplaned.)

… But YAY BOOKS!

This is the title of a Lish McBride book, and it is AMAZING. 😄 The sequel, NECROMANCING THE STONE, is also killer.

If Corey can grow a mustache at Will, then Will can grow one at Corey. BAM! Mustached! How do YOU like it?

Our neighborhood is the coolest in the multiverse. 😎 Also, apparently I’m going to need to add the Elatsoe books to my TBR!

Congrats to @littlebadger.bsky.social on the new release, BTW! The reviews are positively glowing, and the story sounds marvelous. :)

Link: t.co/0yF0qNrFiw

Audiobook sale. Rook by William Ritter.

Audiobook sale alert! My follow-up to the Jackaby series, ROOK, is going for $4.99 until the 29th. /end shameless self promotion.

Happy Update:

POWER IS BACK AT MY HOUSE!!!
Eight days dark, but it’s finally up and running! Woohoo! 🎉

Utility crews have replaced more than EIGHTY downed poles, and they’re still working. It’s wild. Super grateful!

Ice storm update: Day 8.

Ice is mostly gone, lots of down trees. STILL no power at my house OR my school, but they’re making progress.

(The district has not YET declared school cancelled Monday, so just hoping they don’t make me go back to my ice house to work in the morning.)

‪Update: day four, ice is still so bad. Woke up to 18 degrees. We finally called uncle. (Thankful that I bought emergency tire “snow-socks”.) We JUST made it to a hotel a few cities north before the freezing rain started again. Waiting it out with heat & warm water.‬

‪Stay safe!‬