This week’s interview is with Ellen Birkett Morris whose debut, LOST GIRLS, explores the experiences of women and girls as they grieve, find love, face uncertainty, take a stand, find their future and say goodbye to the past. Below, Ellen talks about her favorite time of day, books that inspired her as a child, and a few of the amazing prizes she’s won over the years. Enjoy! ABOUT ELLEN Ellen…
This week’s interview is with Mary Keliikoa whose debut novel, DERAILED, came out last May and has just been nominated for a Lefty Award for Best Debut. Congratulations Mary! Below, Mary talks about her love of early mornings and dancing, a co-worker that tried to sabotage her work, and what literary success looks like to her. Enjoy! ABOUT MARY Mary Keliikoa spent the first 18 years of her adult life…
This week’s interview is with Rachel Mans McKenny, whose book THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT comes out on December 8th and tells the story of an entomology PhD during a year of family and romance-related drama. Read below about Rachel’s road to publication, her bucket list, the best money she’s spent as a writer, and more! ABOUT RACHEL Rachel Mans McKenny is a writer, professor, and humorist from the Midwest. Her…
This week’s interview is with Kelly Duran, whose book CAN’T TAKE IT BACK tells the interconnected stories of four women over the course of a kindergarten school year. Read below about Kelly’s transformative trip through Europe, her hope for connecting with readers through her books, and her recognition of writing as an integral and necessary part of her life that enhances all her other roles. ABOUT KELLY Kelly Duran…
Trigger warning: depression, anxiety. People who have experienced trauma may associate the excitement of success with the same physiological reactions as trauma. They avoid subjecting themselves to excitement-inducing circumstances, which causes them to be almost phobic about success. Psychology Today This week’s topic (navigating failure) isn’t hard or scary for me, because I’ve chosen failure for so much of my life. Navigating failure is historically pretty comfortable for me….
I’m susceptible to a long list of faults, but envy isn’t high on that list. I’ll admit it though, I’m human, and of course that feeling creeps in every once in a while. For instance, when Rockstar Debutante Ball author Jenni announced her second, third, fourth, and twenty-sixth book deals, I had a moment of envy. (Seriously, Jenni, you’re freaking amazing.) The flip side is that Jenni has put…
It’s been ten years since my stint in Hollywood, and sometimes I still wonder “what if”? What if social media had existed back then? What if I’d tried harder? What if I’d written one more script? What if I’d moved to L.A. to actually make a go of it? Everyone has those moments of envy and competitiveness — it’s what fuels long-running race-to-the-finish shows Survivor, or even those vicarious-living shows…
Clap your hands in welcome for former deb, Kerry Schafer. She graced these blog pages last year when her debut novel launched. Now she’s got her second book out in the world and a bunch of wisdom about this crazy publishing world under her belt. Kerry’s fantasy novel, WAKEWORLD, the second of the Books of the Between, was released on January 28th. It is a hybrid of urban and high…
This week I’ve been thinking about the beacons of light that dot my writing journey — writing “the end” for the first time, receiving that first agent request for a full manuscript, announcing KILMOON’s publication date to everyone I know. But you know what? Those fabulous moments are fleeting, and you can’t count on them. I hate to be the Grinchy deb as we end this week filled with holiday festivities and…
The Debutante Ball is delighted to welcome Léna Roy for a turn around the floor. This week, Léna joins the Debs in talking about balance. Léna Roy was raised in NYC, in the cloistered environs of a theological seminary, with extracurricular education provided by Manhattan’s club scene. When not writing, she’s worked as a bartender, an actor, and with at-risk adolescents in Utah, California and NYC. She now lives with…
