Okay, wow. This post (my last!) marks a full-circle moment for me. I first learned about today’s guest, Amy Poeppel, right here on this very site. A member of the Deb Class of 2017, Amy’s wry and real posts led me to her novel, SMALL ADMISSIONS. That laugh-out-loud story spurred me along in my writing journey and made me feel like there might be a place for my own humorous…
We hope you enjoyed yesterday’s interview and book giveaway with Carole Stivers. RETWEET OR SHARE for a chance to win a copy of THE MOTHER CODE. #DebBallGiveaway #giveaway #author We are so excited to host Carole Stivers. RT for a chance to win THE MOTHER CODE. #DebBallGiveawy #giveaway #authors #writing #writingcommmunity #readers https://t.co/3wn0pOYlTs pic.twitter.com/Fup2W86VGx — The Debutante Ball (@DebutanteBall) August 22, 2020 Interview with Carole Stivers, author of The Mother…
Many years ago, our family stole a page from the Obama playbook and added roses, thorns, and buds to our family dinners. It’s the high, the low, and the something we’re looking forward to. Here are a few from my debut year: Roses: So many times, I shook my head in disbelief that I was actually launching a real live novel I wrote myself. Like, what?! How did this even…
Greetings and salutations and welcome to the Debutante Ball! I was so excited when I read the first words of the email I received on a Sunday morning in early August of 2019 informing me that I’d been chosen as one of the 5 debut authors who would chronicle her “big dance” toward publication. I had been following the Debutante Ball blog for more than a year and eagerly…
Well, our official topic this week is lauch parties and swag. I think I’m the only member of our 2020 class who got a launch party. Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes released on Feburary 2nd. Covid was front-page news at that point, but it still seemed awfully far away. No one here in Minneapolis fully grasped the threat. At my launch, 150 people jammed into my local indie. Gretchen Anthony…
I can’t believe we’re writing about what’s next for us this week! You know what that means, right?! It means we’re almost ready to hand over the reins here on The Debutante Ball to the class of 2021. It’ll happen at the end of August, and I’m so excited! Here’s why: Next year’s writers are undoubtedly going to be awesome and fascinating. The applications are incredibly strong. My debut year…
Our topic this week is the books that inspired us to be writers. I think I’ve covered this in previous posts: I’ve been a voracious reader since elementary school. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I finally decided to give noveling a try when I read Celeste Ng’s absolutely genius Everything I Never Told You, at which point I discovered two very important things: I’m not Celeste Ng AND…
My first manuscript was a twenty-thousand-word trashfire of a multi-generational family saga. I’d decided to try being a novelist (New Year’s Resolution 2015), and then wrote a couple hundred words a few times per week. I published the scenes (now deleted) on my personal blog, which added a bit of accountability to the project. Alice, the main character, went through various life stages. I wrote out of order, tackling pivotal…
This week’s topic is “The Manuscript in the Drawer.” But I have no manuscript in the drawer. The Talking Drum was my first manuscript, and thank goodness I got it published. For this week’s blog post I am interviewing one of my characters. Sydney was in my head for such a long time and is finally on the printed page. She’s been itching for an interview since The Talking Drum’s…
It’s blooper week! I feel like I’m a walking blunder most of the time, so I’m sure I could fill hundreds of blog posts with examples of “most embarrassing moments.” Since no one wants to read that, I’ll pick the category in which I’m most likely to screw up: copy editing. Copy editing comes very near the end of the publishing process. It’s when someone who is brilliant and generous…
