Crystal and Amy both nailed it with their posts about the experience of time leading up to book publication. Like Crystal, when my book drops it will be exactly a decade since I began writing. Like Amy, I’m often confused about all the conflicting advice as to what I am to be doing in these months leading up to the on-sale date (though my jokes about the tension aren’t nearly…
It didn’t matter how many times I took a crack at the acknowledgements for Caged Eyes, the note felt distressingly inadequate. There simply wasn’t enough space to convey the magnitude of my appreciation for the many, many people who played a part in my story becoming a memoir. Book publishing is a team sport. And memoir? It’s even more so. I’m immensely proud that Caged Eyes will be the first…
I heard it eighty-seven times at least: “Don’t get too attached to your title!” Every time I took a workshop or attended a writers’ conference, someone reinforced this idea that writers have very little control over the ultimate titles of their books. “Once you sign with an agent, she’ll change it anyway. And then your publisher will change it again.” Fellow writers – I think you know what I’m talking…
I’m sitting down to write this while obsessing over election results, and – I don’t think this will surprise many – I imagined posting this blog amidst very different news. Truthfully, I’m brokenhearted. This week we’re writing about big decisions we’ve made, mainly as writers, but otherwise too. My vote for the democratic candidate wasn’t a big decision; it was the only choice I could have made. My decision to publish…
First thing in the morning, I take a cup of tea to my laptop. I work dutifully for four hours before taking a break for lunch, abstain from surfing social media in between sentences, and write at least 1,500 hundred words a day. …Yeah, right! I hate admitting this about myself, but I’m terrible with putting structure around my writing. I like to consider myself an organized person, someone…
Can you believe the color and transparency of Island Lake (above)? I took that photo last summer in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. It’s one of my happiest of happy places, a place to which I can transport myself when I’m stressed or upset – so needed this week since we’re talking about publishing fears. The other day a few of us Debutante Ball authors were commiserating about our pre-publication jitters…
This week we’re writing about torturing our protagonists, about creating fictional worlds full of conflict and drama, which puts me in an interesting position since I am my own protagonist. Alas, I didn’t have a lot of choice in my plot line! So instead, I thought I’d write about the opposite: protecting myself as I’ve written and re-written and worked to publish Caged Eyes. But first, can we agree…
I’m going to shoot straight with you and tell you something I suspect a lot of authors are afraid to admit: every single book has its own unique set of limitations. There’s no such thing as the One Great American Novel (or memoir). The reality is as authors we make thousands of choices, and sometimes those choices create give-and-take sacrifices. It turns out a single book can’t be everything.** When…
I’d love to write a post for today about how easy it was to find an agent. It’d go like this: I whipped up a few query letters, shipped them off, continued to write another book without any angst at all, and then magically one day a phone call and offer of representation changed my life. Simple! No big deal! Alas, that’s not how life unfolded. In reality, it took 61…
Congratulations to Theresa Snyder for winning a copy of THE ASSISTANTS by Camille Perri! We send our thanks to Anjali Mitter Duva for being our guest on The Debutante Ball yesterday! If you haven’t already, please pick up a copy of her novel FAINT PROMISE OF RAIN. You can still enter the GIVEAWAY: RETWEET on Twitter, and/or SHARE on Facebook by noon (EST) September 30th to win a copy of FAINT PROMISE OF RAIN (US only). We’ll select and contact the…
