It has been a rough week in the news, and I imagine that I don’t speak for just me when I say that what’s playing out in the screens is also affecting us in our hearts. On weeks like this, writing feels like looking up to the sky, lifting my face towards a God I don’t believe in, waiting for an answer. What can I possibly write to make anything…
This week for The Debutante Ball, we’re sharing our journey to getting a literary agent, so I dug through the archives of my email outbox so you can experience truly and authentically the real realness of my querying process, before I landed the book deal for THEY COULD HAVE NAMED HER ANYTHING. WARNING: THERE ARE TWO PARTS OF THIS BLOG POST. THIS IS STORY #1. Read this story to be…
I remember listening to Santana’s “Maria, Maria”, and wondering what the hell kind of Latina I was for not being more like HER. In college in Southern California, I even used to think: she’s not far from me now. She’s out there, falling in love in East LA, and here I am, earning a college degree and making passes at men outside my family’s income bracket. That gap between me and…
Hi, I’m Stephanie and guess what? I’m a Virgo. September 1st was my birthday and a bunch of us rented an apartment by the sea. A friend of a friend offered a tarot card reading for the occasion, but I was nervous, so I asked several questions–how long does it last? Who asks the questions? When we drove back home to the city, I was relieved that I had escaped…
Reading is a crucial part of a writer’s job, so this week, we’re discussing books that influenced us. I’m choosing to interpret that as “books that influenced your upcoming publication”, because if it was just books in general, I’d be here forever. Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series: If you ever want to spend seven thousand pages immersed in the late Roman Republic (and seriously, who wouldn’t?), go swimming in…
This week the Debs are talking about the books we’ve read during our debut year. And while I’ve read outside of my historical fiction category — some great women’s fiction, chick lit, and thrillers — I spent a lot of time cozying up with my genre. Raise your hand if you also read any of these. If you haven’t had a chance yet, click on any of the covers below…
Happy 4th of July, everyone! I hope you all are having an awesome day of rest and reading. Unfortunately for me, it is a day of guilt and shame because the topic of the week involves a New Year’s resolutions check-in, and I’m not feeling too good about my performance six months in. I made only four, count ’em four, very MODERATE New Year’s Resolutions this year, and my score…
Congratulations to Kathryn Balteff, winner of our #DebBallGiveaway of WRITING HARD STORIES by Melanie Brooks. We send our thanks to Margaret George for being our guest yesterday on The Debutante Ball. If you haven’t already, pick up a copy of THE CONFESSIONS OF YOUNG NERO or enter to win a copy by sharing our post on Facebook and/or retweeting the following tweet: RT to Enter! Interview w/ Margaret George + #DebBallGiveaway of CONFESSIONS…
CONGRATULATIONS, LYNN!! Lynn’s memoir, CAGED EYES, is by far the most important book I read in 2016 – it educated me, angered me, and made me want to DO something. That’s one of the many wonderful things about reading. There are books that entertain. There are books that make you think. And then there are books that make you get up off the couch and act. In the wonderful NY…
This week the Debs are sharing their favorite reads from 2016. I tend to read various age groups, drawn to a book because of a must-read premise, so my fave books from 2016 are both adult and young adult. Though, it just so happens all of these novels are historical fiction. Looks like I did quite a bit of reading in my own genre. Without further ado – and in…
