debut author – Page 2 – The Debutante Ball

When a Purple Rose Blooms – Guest Author Jenee Darden

Saturday, November 9, 2019

When a Purple Rose Blooms (Nomadic Press, 2018), is a collection of essays and poetry about Black womanhood from Jenee Darden’s personal experience. She writes about love, sex, race and mental health with honesty, humor, and insight. This is Jenee’s first book and we are so excited to have her share some of her brilliance with us today. Follow Jenee: Website Twitter: CocoaFly Twitter: JeneeDardenFacebook Instagram *** What is one…

What is Scarier than Empty Space?

Friday, November 1, 2019

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Well, I’m glad Halloween is over. Now it’s time for more prosaic fears. Myself. Yup, it’s that time of year again, when my book edits were submitted (“This is the last time you can make substantive changes,” GULP) and I am in that twiddling thumb space. I’ve been in this space before — the first time I handed in my draft in June — but after that I collapsed. I…

The One Thing Scarier than Halloween

Monday, October 28, 2019

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Halloween is a spook-tacular occasion, what with ghosts, goblins and ghouls ringing the doorbell and phantoms roaming the streets. If you’re a writer, what’s even more terrifying than Halloween, is being haunted by your fears. The 1980 major motion picture, The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall, offers a spine-tingling example. Jack Torrance, as portrayed by Nicholson, is an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a position as…

Where Do You Draft Your Words?

Friday, October 11, 2019

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Did you ever notice how, on TV or in the movies, when they want to show the difficulties of writing, they have people sitting in front of a typewriter tossing off crumpled pieces of paper into (or near) the garbage? Real writing isn’t like that. First off, we use computers now, so the visual of trying to write is much less dramatic…just a cursor key going forward and backward. More…

Interview with Desiree Cooper, Author of Know the Mother

Saturday, September 28, 2019

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I am so excited to welcome Desiree Cooper to The Debutante Ball. Desiree and I are both Kimbilio fellows. Kimbilio is a national residency for fiction writers from the African diaspora. Desiree is a 2015 Kresge Artist Fellow, former attorney and Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist. Her debut collection of flash fiction, Know the Mother, is a 2017 Michigan Notable Book that has won numerous awards, including 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award. Cooper’s…

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…

My Bumpy Path to Publication

Friday, September 20, 2019

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When I was pregnant and so nervous about it — I’d had previous losses — the doctor told me I wouldn’t be happy until I have the baby in my arms. And so it will be with publication. I am “pregnant” now — with a baby ready for publication, but this baby’s a book. I suspect I won’t really believe it until I am holding it (her?) in my hands….

My path to publication required the right shoes

Monday, September 16, 2019

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I arrived at the book fair exhibit hall of AWP, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference hopeful that I’d be able to complete my mission: to convince the editors at a small press that they should publish my novel. After a six-hour train ride that took me several states away. I said a silent prayer and slipped into the comfortable shoes I had packed, my burgundy, suede Crocs….

Introducing Amy Klein: Author of THE TRYING GAME

Friday, August 30, 2019

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I’m beyond thrilled to introduce you all to your new Friday blogger, Amy Klein! Amy is the author of The Trying Game: How to Get Pregnant and Get Through Fertility Treastment Without Losing your Mind (Ballantine, 2020) based on her New York Times Fertility Diary column. As soon as I read her application, I knew I wanted her to be on the Debutante Ball, and now I’ve got my wish. It…

Introducing Yodassa Williams to the Deb Class of 2020!

Thursday, August 29, 2019

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We are thrilled to introduce Yodassa Williams to the 2020 Debutante Ball! Yodassa’s debut novel The Goddess Twins will be published in May 2020. Yodassa is a writer and award winning performing storyteller, who crafts from intense life experiences and a wild imagination. An alumnae of VONA/Voice’s workshop and the Fortify Writer’s Retreat, she completed a residency with Yefe Nof and has performed at Lit Quake, Burning Man, and Moth…

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