Ernest Hemingway famously said all first drafts are garbage, except he used a way more *effluent* term instead of garbage. This is something that I’ve, at various times, thought was completely true, completely false, and now believe is somewhere in the middle. First drafts are your best effort at the time, and I hate to say anyone’s best effort at the time is no good. I’ve also read lots of…
I’m so pleased to present Alia Volz, our guest blogger this week! She is the author of Home Baked, a humorous memoir of a ‘sticky’ family business, which launched April 20th. I met Alia at AWP, pre:pandemic, and her energy and storytelling talent have burned bright in my mind since. I’m honored she will share some stories with us. About Alia Volz: Author of Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and…
I had two launch parties for Girlish—one in my hometown of Rochester, NY, and one in my current town, Cleveland. Old Hometown Launch Venue: Writers and Books (a writing center) Food: Beautiful appetizer and dessert trays, which remained largely uneaten. Two kinds of wine + bottled water, most of which remained largely undrank. Agenda: chatting, signing, and general milling about. I did a 10-minute reading from Girlish. Takeways: People don’t care…
I love that my normal posting day is Tuesday, which is the day new books come into the world. (No one knows why this is, not even Judy Blume. I know this because I was in her bookstore on a Tuesday when they were shelving new books and I asked Judy Blume why books always release on Tuesdays and she said that she had no idea. Investigative journalism at…
I was sitting on the cabin porch when I got The Call, which in my case, was not actually a call but an email—Thank God, because I hate talking on the phone and the cabin has really bad cell service. (The plastic sheeting pictured here was down when I actually got the email, because it was summer. However, today it is not anything close to summer so the plastic is…
I met my agent during a live tweet of 50 Shades of Grey. It was a different time back then. Twitter was a different kind of place. We did live tweets that dissected the fact that Ana’s never allowed to eat in that damn movie (BUT REALLY THOUGH) and made friends over silly jokes. There were fewer Nazis to worry about. The world was not yet on fire. But I digress……
When my first book is published, I will be forty-seven years old. This dream has been cyclical—one I’ve embraced and abandoned multiple times throughout my life. I wrote my first story in the sixth grade. It was depressing: An old, lonely widow (who loves celery) visits the grave of his wife. I gave it to my dad for his birthday, and was baffled by how hard he laughed after he…
Our theme this week is what we loved about our debut year. There are so many wonderful moments in a debut year to choose from—from getting that first request for a full manuscript from an agent to the day your sale goes through, to seeing your cover for the first time to holding your book in your hand—but book launch is really hard to top. The thing about your book…
After I handed in my acknowledgements to my editor, a funny thing happened. I kept receiving all of the help and guidance and love from all of the people! So today, one day before The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living is launched into the world, let me say thank you to the people who have done so much for me and my debut novel after I turned my acknowledgements…
It is the 2nd Monday in a row that I have the great honor of kicking off The Debutante Ball celebration of another one of our authors—this week, Aya de Leon! I am so grateful to have met Aya on The Debutante Ball! She has been a constant source of positive energy She is wonderfully funny and honest, and always keeps our spirits high. I have learned so much from…
