‘Tis the Season for Discipline
Fortunate are the writers whose first germ of a novel is a plotline, a concept, a scene, or a theme – ideas that provide a starting point, the bare bones, a guide. Then there’s me. Having grown up in Wisconsin with…
Category: Debut Novel
Friday Feast: A Cooling Mist of NaNoWriMo Flavored Novel Writing Advice, How to Review a Trans Book as a Cis Person, Taking Your Writing Deeper, a Reading Guide for Those in Despair about American Politics, and Why Book Pre-Orders Matter
Sometimes, you think: there’s no way I’ll meet this deadline. My brain is fried. My eyes burns. My motivation is at a low point. My fingers feel like fists on the keyboard. And then something magical happens. 12 hours later,…
Friday Feast: 10 Books Featuring Subversive Women, 10 Must-Reads for Donald Trump, on Receiving and Accepting Novel Feedback, That Uncomfortable Feeling When Writers Don’t Write, and What Happens When a Debut Author Won’t Join Social Media?
My Grandma Sue lived alone in the middle of a rice field in southern Missouri. The electricity would flicker if the wind blew too hard and the water smelled like lead. She stole all her dad’s savings and ran away…
Friday Feast: The Literary Wilderness; The Slut-Shaming of Romance Novels; How to Publish a Book; On Solitude, Compromise, and Publishing That First Novel; And Tips on Writing Book Reviews
My big deadline this week entailed completing and submitting my author questionnaire. In this document, you outline some basic facts, like your name (important), publishing and media contacts (most important, which is sad, because I have none), and digital outreach…
YA Wednesday: Adult Novels Marketed as YA, YA Marketed as Adult, What Makes a Book YA, Who Is Young Adult Literature For?
I was recently talking to a woman about my book at a wake (yeah, I promote wherever I can 🙂 ). When I said, “It’s a YA thriller,” her eyes glazed over. I quickly added, “But I originally wrote it…
Three Things I’m Glad I Did Before My Debut Sold
If you decide to go with traditional publishing, there’s very little you can control once you hit Submit on your query. You’ll feel jittery. Hooray. That’s normal. You’ll feel self-absorbed and needy and desperate. Super. Also normal. But I’m here…