The Debutante Ball, established in 2007, is a group blog for authors making their debut in the literary world. We are now in our twelfth season of celebrating up-and-coming authors. Former Debs include bestsellers in the genres of women’s fiction, mystery, literary fiction, nonfiction, young adult, and more. Click on any of the photos above to learn about The Debutante Ball Class of 2019 and their books. Read about the bestselling…
Interview with Guest Author DJ Lee
When her friend vanishes in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana, DJ Lee travels there to find answers. The journey ends her fifteen-year quest to uncover her family’s troubled history in this remote place. In Finding Home in the Bitterroots (Oregon State University Press), Lee struggles with wild animal encounters, dangerous river crossings, bush plane flights in fog, and strange characters who come to the mountains to seek or…
Researching Patoi for The Goddess Twins
Most of my book was borne from my imagination, conversations I’ve thought of having, or abilities I’ve only dreamed and desired. I have thought about having the ability to read minds for my whole life. As a child, I was sure my mother could read my thoughts; she always knew when I was trying to lie! And the ability to move objects? I have wanted this since childhood, when I…
I’ve never had research come in handy like this before.
When you’re a science fiction author, you spend a lot of time with your head in the clouds. While other authors are researching down-to-earth events and happenings, we’re wondering just how long it takes to get to some unknown star across the galaxy if we’re running one’s warp-engine jets at three times light speed, or what an advanced alien society might look like if its planet developed off silicon instead…
Researching Mundanity: The Details in Contemporary Fiction
I wrote my first novel about a world I’d been living in forever: the large public school. As a teacher for nearly 20 years, I was intimately familiar with the settings, the procedures, the schedules, the conflicts, and the characters that typically populate an illustrious institution of learning. In fact, at one stage in my revision, I was asked to make things less realistic. “What’s with all the armpits and…
In the face of the pandemic, bookstores find a way to keep the engine running
Ever since you were a child you knew you wanted to write a novel. But as the years went by, life and career kept you from pursuing your dream. Finally, in your 40s, you crafted your story, the one that had been stuck in your head for more than a decade. You spent years fine tuning it as best you could before submitting it for publication. However, after a while,…
Interview with Author Sarah DiGregorio (and Book Giveaway!)
As someone who dealt with many complications getting pregnant, I was excited to talk to Sarah DiGregorio, who writes about premature birth in her book EARLY: An Intimate History of Premature Birth and What It Teaches Us About Being Human (Harper). In this reported memoir, the freelance journalist, who covers both healthcare and food for many publications (including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The Wall Street Journal, and Catapult)…
My Most Perfect Day (Not).
My most perfect day was any day before the Coronavirus hit. I woke up, took my daughter to school, then spent the day writing (or procrastinating on writing which I hope is the same thing. #goals). Then I thought about what I would write next, to whom I would sell it, and working on my book marketing plan. And setting up book promotion events. And calling the press. It was…
How I’m Coping With The Pandemic
So, I know it has been for everyone, but things have felt beyond surreal to me these past weeks. I was just in San Antonio for the AWP writing conference, where I had an amazing time! San Antonio is beautiful with a river running through it, like Venice. My purpose for going to the convention, even though it was almost nearly cancelled, was to gain insight on how to turn…
No longer such a perfect day
Back in August, we Debutantes got together over video-conferencing to work on the list of topics we wanted to talk about this year. Some of these topics were developed in previous years by other Debs. Some, we came up with on our own. None of them were developed with a global pandemic in mind. This week’s topic is “A Perfect Day,” which I’m finding hard to talk about now that…
Kathleen’s Perfect Day (Turns Out, the Standards Have Changed)
Well, it certainly seems strange to be writing about a perfect day in these new and eerie times. Is it cheating to say that my perfect day includes NOT reading scary news articles about the potential trajectory of the coronavirus? Not making a six am grocery store run to maintain social distancing? Not quietly monitoring my lockdowned kids’ snacking, calculating when I’ll have to procure more food? Not worrying about…
