writer – The Debutante Ball

The Jackhammer in the Basement: On writing (or not writing) through distractions

Thursday, October 29, 2020

“It’s a black fly in your chardonnay. It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late.” Alanis Morissette was kind enough to give us many definitions of irony in 1995, and to those I would like to add, “It’s a jackhammer in your basement when you’re trying to write a blog post about writing through distractions.” We’re getting our house earthquake-retrofitted — a project that was initially supposed to take…

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)…

Saturday, March 21, 2020

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My Book Pitch Letter

Friday, November 15, 2019

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We can discuss pitching and pitch letters till the sky turns green, but what would probably be more helpful is if I show you my book pitch. Unlike fiction and possibly memoir (the debate is out there on memoir) non-fiction, which needs a lot of research to complete the book, is sold on proposal. (I’ll talk proposals another time). But you still need a pitch letter. So here’s mine. Dear…

On Having — and Doing It All

Friday, September 27, 2019

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I used to date this famous author — it was when he was actually on the cusp of being famous — and he would take two weeks off from all of life to write. All of life. Including me! He would hunker down in the library and not have any social obligations just to write his literary fiction. I guess he didn’t have to make a living. Or hang out…

Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Chopping block

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

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Aloha! This week we are supposed to address “what we cut from our books and why:” Well, technically I had almost everything deleted from my debut novel, The Atlas Of Reds and Blues. On May 17, 2010, the Georgia state police raided my home at gunpoint and confiscated, among other things, my laptop. Even though a state judge in Georgia dismissed all of the charges against my husband back in…

Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Temper!

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

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I’m so thrilled the world is now able to get their hands on Layne Fargo’s excellent novel, Temper. It is a masterful thriller, suspenseful and so well-written. It deserves all the accolades it’s going to get. I was hooked from the opening pages, it was cinematic! And I felt I was witnessing an epic battle between the two main characters, Kira and Joanna. These are two strong-willed, deeply-flawed women and…

Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: The case against the green-eyed beastie

Aloha! Everyone gets jealous. It’s human nature. I won’t lie and say that I don’t get jealous. But….. I have to remind myself how far I’ve come. Nine years ago, I was complacent. I was working on my book, and not worrying about too much – I wasn’t sure that I was going to get that book published, but I was sure of the support structure I had put in…

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

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Just Write and Other Groups

Friday, June 14, 2019

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I’ve moved around a lot in the past decade, and I’ve had to cull my writing friends from a number of different sources. The first time I joined an actual writing group was when I moved to the outskirts of Philadelphia and found one through Meetup that was only a few minutes from my children’s school. In many ways, Just Write changed my life. I had started a…

Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Next-generation debutante

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

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Aloha! It’s that time of year, when the class of 2019 looks into the near future and selects the next wave of debs – class of 2020! The year of perfect vision! Starts this fall! Please check out K.A. Doore’s wonderful post, she diligently described the Debutante Ball functions and the Debs’ tasks. It looks like a lot. But when spread among five people who will be lifelong friends, it…

Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Stocking Up for Summer

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

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Aloha! I’ve been celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month this month, albeit intermittently. Each week, I’ve posted a stack of books by authors (and friends!) whose work I love and admire. And I thought I’d end the month with a visual guide to a stack of really great books that you should check out this summer — some are upcoming titles, such as Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok…

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