Time passes by unnoticed. Noises, objects, even people fall away and nothing exists but the keyboard and the screen above it. A few years ago, back in that exceedingly luxurious period of my life when I had loads of free to myself, not only did I read but also took extensive notes on Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s […]
Reading Neil Pasricha’s blog about all the things he’s grateful for is definitely a smile-rising experience, but it’s the story of the blogs creation that captivates me most. According to a radio interview I heard on CBC with the author, Neil first set a goal of 1000 hits for his blog–and when he met that […]
My legs are pumping, my feet are pounding and my heart is dancing in my chest like one of those dapper kids at the Robson square swing night. I don’t know exactly why or how–maybe it’s the faster than usual movement of blood or the sudden uptake of oxygen I can always think much clearer […]
There is nothing quite like reading a really good author to fuel one’s creative juices–however that’s not why I have included Mrs Atwood here. What I really find inspiring about the lady is her attitude. I saw her for the first time yesterday at the Vancouver Writer’s Festival and was impressed by her humor and humbleness. Despite her amazing […]
Could there be a better way to kick off my Mental Gatorade challenge than spending the day at the Vancouver Writer’s festival? What I love about this festival is the opportunity to hear authors and publisher talk about writing like it matters, like it means something–like when I am sitting alone at my computer I […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]