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 […]

Multiple submissions, OCD and peanut butter

February 17, 2011.Reading time 3 minutes.

If you’ve checked the website of a literary agent or publishing house lately, you may have noticed that most of them make a point to warn prospective authors to expect an exceedingly lengthy response time. They never say exactly how long, but if you have recently sent off your manuscript, be prepared for endless hours […]

The Universe Will deliver…more than pizza and Chinese food

January 31, 2011.Reading time 2 minutes.

Everything that is coming into your life you are attracting into your life. And it’s attracted to you by virtue of the images you are holding in your head…(The Secret, page 4)” If you haven’t already seen it, The Secret is a documentary film about the power of positive thinking in which most of the interviewees […]

How to get a literary agent…and confronting the green-slime monster under my bed

January 19, 2011.Reading time 6 minutes.

Save Changes? Yup, don’t mind if do. And so it was with a deep sigh of relief that I did my last spell check and finally concluded that my manuscript was ready to Go Out in the World–leaving me to sit back, relax, and catch up on season two of True Blood. I mean, surely after […]

Dear loser: the joy of the rejection letter

January 3, 2011.Reading time 2 minutes.

When I was sixteen and selling my face to Japanese marketers, my agent told me not to take rejection personally. “It’s just a business” she said, “don’t get down if some clients don’t like your look.” It didn’t work then, either. I received my first proper rejection from a literary agent about a year ago—and […]