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 […]

My First Official Review

June 6, 2016.Reading time 1 minute.

Was it lovely when my mother-in-law phoned to let me know she had thoroughly enjoyed my novel? Sure. Did I get a bit of a high every time my writing group complimented me on an excerpt. Hell, yeah. BUT THERE IS NOTHING QUITE AS AWESOME feeling as getting a positive review from a complete stranger–especially […]

Cover pages and other ways to lose friends . . .

August 23, 2015.Reading time 2 minutes.

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 […]

Never say aliens told you to write it and other query advice from Chuck Sambuchino

February 2, 2014.Reading time 1 minute.

I used to think that, querying was like that time I went to a wedding in mom’s Fluevogs and got a matching set of oozy, cheese-grader blisters on my heels ten minutes into the ceremony: painful, but endurable (with enough complimentary champagne). I was wrong. Apparently, a more appropriate metaphor would be if I had followed […]

Be grateful…or John Green will kick your ass

August 26, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

Sometimes when I read about the latest Top Novels being featured by the NY Times and realize mine isn’t listed because oh yeah, it isn’t PUBLISHED I start to feel sorry for myself. And by sometimes, I mean always. John Green would probably call that petty. Talking about the Americans’ access to public education, the […]

Something I learned about writing today: Covers matter…a lot

February 17, 2013.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Despite that saying about not judging books by covers and all that, they do. Big time. Just look at all the fervor generated by the recently released version of Anne of Green Gables, featuring a hot blond instead of the classic diminutive red head. I admit, the change is rather surprising, considering the many reference […]

Things that inspire me to write #38: The Gathering

December 22, 2012.Reading time 1 minute.

There is no place like home. Unless you happen to live in New York or London reading a novel that is set in your home town is a special and rare treat, something that I am currently experiencing with Kelley Armstrong’s The Gathering. This paranormal YA novel takes place in my home province of BC, […]

Things that inspire me to write #42: Friends

December 17, 2012.Reading time 1 minute.

They laugh at my jokes, even if they are not always funny (it happens). They listen to my doubts and urge me to carry on. They think everything I write is Giller worthy (one of them anyway). They provide alcohol when alcohol is needed, and chocolate when chocolate is needed. I may lose hope of […]

Things that inspire me to write #43: On Being a Late Bloomer

December 16, 2012.Reading time 1 minute.

There is nothing crappier than discovering you are the same age as someone who is way more successful than you. Yes,that’s right, John Greene, the YA author of like a billion awesome novels is just one year older than me! And yes, I might still be wallowing in a box of Oreos and self pity if […]

Things that inspire me to write #45: Ellen Hopkins

December 14, 2012.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Because, she thinks leaning over the keyboard with a crowbar spine, I never believed, I could get pulled into a novel, Written in verse. Or that it was even possible. So thank you Ellen Hopkins, for disrupting–and expanding–my concept of what a novel can be, you inspire me.