where deadly meets fabulous
The good news: my first round of cover proofs are in! The bad news: I am way pickier than I realized. On of my friends put together these mages for my novel cover earlier this week and while they are totally gorgeous they are totally not what I have been imagining in my […]
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A radio producer once told me I sound like I have rocks in my mouth when I talk. She was not the first. People have been asking me if I’m from somewhere else all my life. I’m not. That thing they think is some kind of exotic backstory is just a big fat lazy tongue. Or maybe it’s […]
Read MoreLet me just introduce myself by saying that the piece I am about to read completely sucks. In fact, so do I. I didn’t exactly put it that way at my writing group yesterday, but as one of my reviewers put it, by opening up my excerpt by confessing that my work is ‘low-brow’ young adult faction, […]
Read MoreI was recently rejected by a literary agency. It went something like this: “The pages you sent are well-written and enjoyable, but unfortunately, J did not connect to the story as much as she was hoping to, and so she will not be offering representation” Of course, this happens a lot these days but this […]
Read MoreBecause sending emails with missing attachments, pocket updating my Facebook status with such as gems as ‘Jackie is slkdjfsldf’ and broken links on my LinkedIn account weren’t enough I have recently been introduced to a whole new arena of potentially damaging electronic embarrassment: the query letter. Misspelling agency names, classifying my work in the wrong […]
Read MoreOn one block I see the windows through which scores of young women once leapt to their deaths, fire driving them from factory floor to the cool of the open air…someone else who remembers place white roses on the sidewalk (Brooks, In the City).” In my attempt to be more mindful of the world around […]
Read More“Anyone who’s ever quit smoking knows that feeling. And that’s me if I don’t get to write. It feels like I’m jonesing.” Douglas Coupland I used to think writer’s block was for wimps. For people that lacked the willpower to sit down at the computer and just get to it, and frankly, probably weren’t meant […]
Read MoreHow doth the successful author lead their lives? In his self-titled book on writing, Henry Miller claims that the key is “writ[ing] first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.” Sure, I can agree that if I’m really serious about my craft I should probably wait till after I’ve reached my daily […]
Read MoreThe last time I completed a manuscript I was filled with excitement and anticipation. This time, it was more like WIDE EYED FEAR. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the last few projects have fallen flat on their 12 point font faces, that after over a year of work I am […]
Read MoreThe first page is the most valuable property in a book. If a reader doesn’t feel compelled to get beyond those first few paragraph than the rest might as well be pi numerals. I have been told this many times by editors, and yet one of the biggest pieces of feedback I got about a recent manuscript was that […]
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