When I think of summer reads, I think of my youth spent staying up much too late devouring books with a flashlight or paging through books in the library while the a/c is going hard as it can. I think of the books read in one sitting, as light and satisfying as ice cream, or books read at the beach without getting (too) sunburnt. Books tucked into your backpack for…
[News Flash] May 26, 2019
Thank you so much to yesterday’s guest, Roselle Lim! If you haven’t already, enter the #DebBallGiveaway to win a copy of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune. You can enter by sharing our post on Facebook and/or retweeting the following tweet (make sure you follow @DebutanteBall on Twitter too!): So excited to host @rosellewriter this week on @DebutanteBall RT & follow for a chance to win Natalie Tan’s Book…
Interview with Roselle Lim and Giveaway for Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune
I could not be more thrilled to be hosting author Roselle Lim this week on the Ball! I’ve been waiting many months for her magical debut, Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, to come out, and now it’s almost here! Roselle Lim was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada as a child. She lived in north Scarborough in a diverse, Asian neighbourhood. She found her love of…
A Writing Education
I’m always interested in talking about formal education when it comes to the arts, because these are vocations for which anything goes—you can study painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, or you can paint in a completely naïve, unschooled manner, learning everything by feel, and the validity of your art will not necessarily be affected. You will simply invite different kinds of judgement. I always go…
Where should you study writing? Here’s where I’ve taken great workshops
Looking to write a book? Here are some places I recommend you check out. While the offices for the following schools are based in New York City, I think they all offer online courses, so you can be based anywhere and still get a great writerly education! Sackett Street Writers Workshop – I took a novel generating course here and I am so glad I did! The course I took…
The Greatest Teacher
My formal writing education is limited to a couple college courses on fiction writing and playwriting. I don’t remember much of anything I learned in those classes, though I suppose some of the knowledge must be rattling around in my subconscious somewhere. I’ve never had any desire to get an MFA (two useless graduate degrees is quite enough already, thank you). Most of what I know about writing books, I…
Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Study, Steady
This week’s topic: “MFA vs NYC vs Choose Your Own Adventure.” Aloha. What if my writing education has been all three? I confess I’m a bit of a professional student. I love to be in a class, I love to have homework and get direction. The underlying motivation all throughout my writing life has been my desire to find community and gain skills, to chip away at a steady pace….
Writing Fanfic was My MFA
I’ve already written before about my writing education – that I had none. Or at least no formal one. By the time I knew MFA’s were even a thing, I was three years deep into a Classics degree. But that’s okay – I’d already spent six years writing fanfiction, which turned out to be as good as an informal education. There’s a common piece of advice thrown about in the…
[News Flash] May 19, 2019
Thank you so much to yesterday’s guest, Robyn Bennis! You can pick up her new book The Devil’s Guide to Managing Difficult people next Tuesday, May 21st. We are delighted to welcome #RobynBennis to @DebutanteBall this week! Her latest book, The Devil’s Guide to Managing Difficult People, is out Tuesday – @KA_Doore @MFournierWatson @LayneFargo @estefsays @devislaskar #WritingCommnunity https://t.co/jw8pfjgUcq pic.twitter.com/owsDJDx7cO — The Debutante Ball (@DebutanteBall) May 18, 2019 News from the Class…
Interview with Robyn Bennis
I’m so excited to welcome Robyn Bennis to the Ball this week – not only does she write some Damn Good books, she’s also my editor-cousin, and is as quick and hilarious in real life as her prose. After going through the traditional publishing route with two books, she’s dipping her toes into indie with a release next week (!!). Talk about a wild ride. Author of the well-acclaimed, thoroughly…
