I really want to write a rant to all the devastations of the day: the Kavanaugh vote in the Senate, the FBI’s incomplete investigation, the senator from Maine’s weak speech justifying her vote against women, the Senate’s dismissal and nullification of Dr. Ford’s courage. But I have to write for the Debs, it’s that time of the week where the Debs must cull their thoughts for the topic at hand….
Chronicles of an X-American (part 1) The best training is to read and write, no matter what — Grace Paley I’ve always been a poet, and it’s always some tributary of poetry that I return to when I have my teeth, metaphorically, kicked in. I started writing poems, mostly nature poems, when I turned nine. I was fast with my first drafts and slow to revise. Only my fifth-grade…
I listened to a woman read a chapter from her romance novel about gay male truck drivers. Within a few minutes, it became glaringly obvious that she knew nothing about gay men or truck drivers. I was incensed—this was my community she was writing about so badly—but I was also chagrined. I was reminded of my own 300-page gay romance novel I had written several years before. Like the author…
Sometimes I like to sit down and think about all the parallel universes where other Kaitlyns are going about their daily lives having walked down paths wildly divergent from my own. Here’s a peek at a few of those other universes. Before I (TO THE ENDLESS DISAPPOINTMENT OF ADULT KAITLYN) Decided I Hated Science: Kaitlyn Sage Patterson is an equine veterinarian. She lives on a sprawling farm tucked up against…
Publishing is rife with fear. Fear of bad reviews, fear of being dragged, fear of being forgotten or never published again or having our books canceled. And the thing is, some of these fears will, inevitably, be realized. We writers aren’t perfect, and the publishing industry certainly isn’t perfect. Something is bound to go wrong. I realize that, as I write this, I’m in the calm before the storm. I’m done…
Y’all. I didn’t get home until almost 7 last night. I’ve only spent one entire day at home since August 13th, and I am a homebody. I (try to) maintain a full-time job, a healthy marriage, and I’m currently actively working on THREE manuscripts. And that’s not taking into account the dogs, or exercise, or eating real, healthy food on a regular basis. I clearly did not get the memo…
It is with great pleasure that The Debutante Ball welcomes fabulous author Georgia Clark to the guest chair! Georgia is the author of the “feisty, feminist fairy tale,” THE REGULARS, along with two YA novels. In addition, she is an improv actor, screenwriter, book marketing guru, and a terrific friend. Information about her new, cutting-edge, online course on effective book marketing — The Pro-active Author — is here and below. If you…
The Debutante Ball is thrilled to welcome author Camille Perri to the guest chair! Her debut novel THE ASSISTANTS, released in May 2016, is a fast-paced, fabulous book that J. Courtney Sullivan calls “addictive, hilarious, and smart. It’s “9 to 5 for the student loan generation,” and Publishers Weekly describes it as “if the characters from HBO’s Girls were capable of larceny and blackmail.” I loved meeting Camille at the Point Street Reading Series…
Oh, this one’s easy. What did I love best about my year as a debut novelist? I PUBLISHED A GODDAMNED NOVEL, PEOPLE!! Okay, I won’t just exit stage right. Even though that was what I loved best, there were other things I also loved. Things like: Getting to know my fellow Debutantes. Other than Louise, whom I’d “met” on the AgentQuery website, all of these women were strangers to me. One year…
As the only Deb who has launched (but only for TWO MORE WEEKS because TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY both Aya’s and Heather’s books pub!!!), I’m going to focus a bit more on post-launch and let the others give you soothing words for the pre-launch. First let me say, my headline is a lie. I have no idea how one keeps one’s soul intact. I sold mine to the devil two…
