There’s only one difference between me and Anne, Amy’s fictional author in her hilarious post yesterday: unlike Anne, I know exactly where every cent of my advance went. My advance was split into three payments – the first third upon signature of the book contract, the second third upon delivery of the final manuscript, and the last third upon publication. Each time my agent sent me a check, I…
CAST OF CHARACTERS Scott: An accountant. Hair parted neatly to one side, slightly awkward, mid-thirties, three-piece suit. Anne: A writer. Early fifties, wearing cute jeans and a jacket, an expensive but worn handbag. Her roots need attention. Scott sits at a desk in his generic office. Anne knocks on the door. Anne: Hello? Scott: Hi, Anne? Nice to meet you. Come in, please. Anne: Thanks for seeing me. …
This week, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we’re chatting about luck and how it’s had an impact on our success as authors. When writing this blog, I actually typed “what is luck?” into Google. You guys know how I love Google. Here’s what came back: Success or failure brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions. Let’s remove the failure part, because… positivity. So, I’ll revise this to…
Congratulations to Bonnie Karoly, winner of our #DebBallGiveaway of Abby Fabiaschi’s I LIKED MY LIFE! We send our thanks to our very own Lynn K. Hall for being our guest yesterday on The Debutante Ball. If you haven’t already, pick up a copy of CAGED EYES: AN AIR FORCE CADET’S STORY OF RAPE AND RESILIENCE Or you can enter to win a signed hardcover by retweeting this tweet on twitter: Interview with Lynn K. Hall + #DebBallGiveaway of CAGED EYES. RT…
Congratulations to Haley Harrigan, winner of our #DebBallGiveaway of Jessica Chiarella’s AND AGAIN! We send our thanks to our very own Tiffany D. Jackson for being our guest yesterday on The Debutante Ball. If you haven’t already, pick up a copy of ALLEGEDLY. Or you can enter to win a signed hardcover by retweeting this tweet on twitter: Interview w/ DEB Tiffany Jackson + #DebBallGiveAway of ALLEGEDLY. RT to Enter! https://t.co/ePkkUHd77T pic.twitter.com/BmxdBZoX02…
Congratulations to Laurice McClung for winning a copy of Elizabeth Brundage’s book ALL THINGS CEASE TO APPEAR. We send our thanks to Breeana Shields for being our guest on The Debutante Ball yesterday! If you haven’t already, please pick up a copy of POISON’S KISS or enter to win a signed hardcover by retweeting: Enter the #DebBallGiveaway to win @BreeanaShields‘ #PoisonsKiss! RT to Enter, Ends 12/23 https://t.co/kmjqtgOXy1 — The Debutante Ball (@DebutanteBall) December 17,…
This week’s Deb topic is about big decisions we’ve made as writers. I’d like to talk about that time I decided to quit writing. Back in 2015, I wore many hats. I was a stay-at-home mom of a feisty toddler. I was a wife. I was a full-time advertising copywriter, who worked remotely while also caring for my daughter. I was growing another human being. I was trying to become…
With one book on shelves and another headed toward copyedits, I’d like to say this whole publishing thing is all starting to make sense now. I mean, there are definitely myths I’ve seen debunked in my time in the trenches. Like the idea that any agent is better than no agent. (So not true!) Or the idea that the big agent is always the one to go with. (Again, not…
I was a competitive gymnast growing up and the vault one of my best events. At least until this one competition, when my teammate fumbled her vault by running right into it instead of hand springing over it. As I watched her try again – running into it again – two things occurred to me: 1) Our coach was going to FREAK OUT. 2) Vaulting was impossible. I mean, how…
Like Amy, I can think of plenty of HARD moments along the way from writing that first word of that first book to where I am right now, but truly scary moments? Luckily there haven’t been many and as I think more about it, I realize they were directly tied to these words from my agent: “They’re taking your book to acquisitions.” Heart stopping words, I tell you. But of…
