After I’d put my novel through dozens of revisions over the course of many years, I felt confident enough to take the next step—pursuing representation from a literary agent. I combed through stacks of books at the library for guidance. Here’s what some of those books told me about crafting the almighty query letter: Get the agent’s attention with your introduction Reference comparables (books like my book) in the first…
Thank you so much to yesterday’s guest, Jenee Darden@CocoaFly ! Retweet and share on Facebook for a chance to win a copy of WHEN A PURPLE ROSE BLOOMS. When a Purple Rose Blooms – Guest Author Jenee Darden @DebutanteBall #ClassOf2020 #guest #author News from the Class of 2020 Debs: Lisa Braxton has been asked to guest blog on a blog for women writers. She is sure the exposure she’s…
Hey, let me tell you what I’m trying to do at this very moment: prep for my author marketing meeting, watch videos for learning how to write a TV treatment, upload all the business cards of people I met at a professional conference this weekend, write an article about a conference I attended two weeks ago, photoshop my author photos, upload guest author interviews and write this piece. Oh, and…
Every writer I know, heck, every human I know generally has a lot going on. It’s overwhelming and impressive, when you sit and unpack how capable and effective some people can be, even when they are juggling a million and one responsibilities. Personally, I have found that I perform really well when I have more than a few things on my plate. I have found I can tap into a…
I read once that air traffic controllers must be able to concentrate in a room where multiple conversations are going on simultaneously. For example, in a large airport tower, the room could be filled with the sounds of controllers speaking with several pilots about all manner of clearance, changing frequency, taxiways, takeoff, etc. Controllers must be able to make quick decisions and not be distracted by the conversations of their…
For those of us who grew up with Friends-waiting for weekly episodes to drop on regular TV- we never imagined that this would be the show to survive, no, thrive among millennials. Now, with its 25th anniversary comes Kelsey Miller’s I’ll Be There For You (Hanover Square Press, 2018), a pop-culture study on Friends. So excited to talk to her and hear about upcoming projects! Follow Kelsey: Instagram Twitter…
Well, I’m glad Halloween is over. Now it’s time for more prosaic fears. Myself. Yup, it’s that time of year again, when my book edits were submitted (“This is the last time you can make substantive changes,” GULP) and I am in that twiddling thumb space. I’ve been in this space before — the first time I handed in my draft in June — but after that I collapsed. I…
Happy Halloween! Wanna hear something truly scary? So, one of the biggest fears that kept me from writing or sharing any of my work was the belief that no one would care about what I had written. And past not caring, I imagined that people would ridicule me and my work, and I imagined the pain and embarrassment would absolutely kill me. Yup, I had extreme impostor syndrome in relation…
Well, this topic is timely for discussion for me. I’m in the tail end of final revisions to my novel right now and have experienced working with different editors to get my novel ready for publication. I first have to start by saying this: I am so very grateful for the editing process, for the time and care editors and beta readers have given in helping make my creations better….
To paraphrase Nick Hornby, My desert-island, top-five most memorable books in chronological order: 1. Escape to Witch Mountain Tony and Tia were different. (Didn’t we all feel that way as kids?) They could both read minds and had telekenisis – they could move objects with their minds. That was a talent I tried to practice as I suffered silently at the dinner table. Instead of paying attention to what was…
