Book Review: Do You Want to be a Model?, a fashion memoir by Ines Crnokrak Skerlic

November 7, 2016.Reading time 1 minute.

There is something totally fascinating about seeing bad things happen to pretty people–especially when there is tons of gore involved. Enter Do You Want to be a Model?, the real-life story of a young Serbian teen navigating her way through the stuff of fashion nightmares–from model apartments that would make your skin crawl (literally) to embezzlement-prone fashion agents with a […]

Book Review: The Stories Models Never Tell

September 18, 2016.Reading time 2 minutes.

Because nothing says fabulous like strutting the runway in a remote desert compound where the armed guards are so FREAKING terrifying that you’d rather pee in a bottle than ask to use the loo. Enter the The Stories Models Never Tell, a memoir written and published by former model Christine Hart. The book follows Hart’s career in […]

Review of Model: A Memoir by Cheryl Diamond

August 5, 2016.Reading time 1 minute.

Think the Wizard of Oz, but with an orange cat instead of a little black dog…and more eating disorders. Cheryl Diamond is an aspiring model facing the world on her own for the first time…in stillettos. Having landed a contract with a New York agency, this plucky teen packs up her cat and heads for […]

What matters most: a writer’s rejection

March 25, 2012.Reading time 1 minute.

After five years of Penguin wishes and Harper Collins dreams, I have finally come to the conclusion that my memoir manuscript about working as a model in Japan may never be published. According to the most recent rejection, this one from Scholastic, there just isn’t much of demand for life stories in the young adult […]

Rejected! Me! Book! Now! Sucks!!

November 25, 2011.Reading time less than 1 minute.

OUCH! My first proper publisher rejection! After telling me that my story was compelling, said publisher, who I will not name specifically (except to say that they are often eaten by killer whales and march in a waddling-like fashion) gave it a pass. I know, I know, writers have to have a tough skin blah […]

Writer anxiety: the pre-publishing (hopefully) waiting game

October 20, 2011.Reading time 1 minute.

MUST stop COMPULSIVELY checking EMAIL for POSITIVE publisher RESPONSES. As of Monday, my manuscript has now officially been sent to FOUR publishers. My agent says to expect a two week turnaround, which, considering that I have been working on this project for probably about 5 years, is pretty darn quick. However, when you average about […]

In Search of the Ultimate Author Bio

July 2, 2011.Reading time 2 minutes.

Recently, agent (and yes, writing that phrase still makes me feel all special and bubbly inside) asked me to put together bio. And I must say, so far the task has proved even more challenging than writing the 58 000 manuscript it is supposed to be promoting. What makes a great author bio? What makes […]

Whoot whoot! one more step closer!

June 11, 2011.Reading time 1 minute.

Yay for me! My manuscript revisions–which took me about three months to complete and involved reworking practically every damn paragraph in what I now call the BEASTIE–have been accepted by my agent. I think her exact words were ‘excellent and stunning’. Okay, I maybe those weren’t exact words, but they were definitely good ones, which […]

the perpetual wannabe…

June 5, 2011.Reading time 1 minute.

Now that I’m no longer two, I don’t often get chastised—but I did recently. It happened after I referred to myself as a wannabe writer in an email, to which my friend replied “dude, don’t you think you’re more than that by now?” I don’t. Funny thing is I remember feeling the exact same way […]

The Great Publishing Hole of Darkness and Death

May 22, 2011.Reading time 1 minute.

Publishing a book is no straightforward feat. Thus far in the process, I have a) produced a manuscript b) secured an agent and am c) still totally full of questions. Yesterday I received an email from said agent acknowledging receipt of my revised manuscript; however, I did not receive any response to my most pressing question: What […]