All I know about real debutantes I learned from reading Susan McBride’s yummy YA series The Debs, and from one episode of the O.C. where a hapless and suddenly destitute Mischa Barton dons a white dress and a fight breaks out over her father’s embezzling. It’s a pretty good episode, actually. (You’ve got to skip to the end for the white dresses and drama. But then you may miss out…

Now that we’ve chosen our lovely new class of debs and are getting close to handing them the reins/reigns, I have a terrible case of senioritis. We’ve all debuted, the cotillion was glorious, my pristine white frock fit fine, my tiara was nice and shiny and I didn’t tumble over forward during my big curtsy. So. Who exactly is going to keep me from jumping into the lake in my…

This week’s topic is all about what you (and I) don’t know. And no wonder it’s a topic of conversation for writers. If it weren’t for what I don’t know, writing and reading wouldn’t hold nearly the charm they do for me. I find not knowing something–how a sweepstakes works, how to make a forced out in baseball, how to shuck an oyster–the most inspiring part of writing. Of course…

So, Deb Kerry talked about not enjoying the process of writing endings in this week’s post, and Dana’s mentioned that too now. Well, guess what–I love it. My first drafts tend to be super-short, so writing endings feels a little like rolling down a hill. With a huge boulder right on my tail, Indiana Jones style. I’m writing like mad away from all the plot threads I know I’ll have…

I’ve often joked that the worst part of being a writer is letting people read your work. For a long time I didn’t let anyone have it, and then when it became apparent that the only way to get paid for your writing was to let other people actually gaze upon it, and worse, that those gazers would, possibly, tell you what they actually thought of it, I gave my…