Like a Virgin: Second Drafts
The great thing about the first draft is that it can be as stupid as you want. All you have to do is type shit into the keyboard. Then, after 80k words (or, you know, whatever) and one month to…
Author Archives: Kelly J. Ford
Friday Feast: Questions to Ask During “The Call,” Submission Secrets, Book PR Lead Time, Fiction vs. Fact, and Awesome Places Ruined by Popular Books
Happy Friday, folks. Apple picking season is in full effect here at Dead Darlings headquarters in Boston. And much like those daytrippers who peruse the sweet and tangy offerings of bucolic family farms, I’m up to my ears in fantastic bookish…
Friday Feast: In Praise of Rejection, Writers Who Give Up, Things Writers Know, Perfect Practice, and Six Debut Novelists Look Back
Fall is the time of year when I most feel the pressure to get the words on the page and revise the stories that I allowed to languish all summer (or since last year). Maybe it’s because October is a…
Friday Feast: Authors in the Red, Tips for Selling, Nine Editor Schedules, and a Handy Form for Asking Other Writers for Favors
Apologies to the handful of folks who received the half-written Friday Feast yesterday (a Thursday). The Super Blood Moon, jet lag, deep fried corndogs*, and funnel cakes affected my ability to read the calendar and complete sentences. But they did…
Friday Feast: After the Debut, Sad Sales Figures, the State of Publishing, Giving Up, and Marketing in the Era of Social Media
This is gonna be quick and dirty this week ’cause I’m heading to the homeland for dominoes with my daddy, biscuits and sausage gravy, some John 3:16 Pizza (I don’t know the real name, but it’s a great pizza joint…
Rejoice, For I Have Risen from Slush (or, How I Found My Agent)
I have a complicated relationship with the word “slush.” In the seventh grade, my stepbrother ratted me out for “borrowing” 71 pennies from my parents’ penny jar to buy a slushie at the 7-11. I got a stern talking to, which…