When this post goes live, I’ll be sitting with the Nobscot Niblets — my writing group extraordinaire — listening as they discuss my second novel, What Happened in Granite Creek, which is slated for an October release. They’re my wonderful beta readers and have been for 6.5 years. Their feedback is always kind, encouraging, but […]
Once upon a time, in a land too close to home, there was a girl — a writer — penning the product description for her debut novel. After writing and rewriting, she sends it to some smart writer friends to review, including a copywriter who responds and points out that she likely does not mean […]
A couple of months ago, I posted my first round of shout-outs. Methinks I’m due for a second round of gratitude-filled thanks to the awesome folks who’ve been helping me out. Here we go, in no particular order: Cheryl Perez from You’re Published did the interior design/layout and back cover and spine for the paperback […]
Forgotten April, my debut novel, isn’t my first novel. Like so many writers, I have a bottom drawer dweller, or, in this case, a novel that lingers on my hard drive in a folder called “Bad First Novels.” The novel is called Lily’s Legs. Don’t ask me who Lily is — she’s not a character; […]
I write even though… …there are no guarantees. …some people hate my writing. …sometimes all I can think in is cliches and mixed metaphors. …brilliant books humble me as much as they inspire. …I’ve racked up rejections and I don’t have an agent. …self-publishing is still the bastard step child of the publishing industry. …character […]
Feeling a bit twitchy and out of sorts. Novel #2 is officially with beta readers. Forgotten April — the paperback version — should be on sale by the beginning of next week, provided the next proof looks okay. I haven’t looked at sales once since I put the eBook version on sale, and I don’t […]
Been lost in the weeds the last few weeks, first recovering from an existential crisis that came about after reading this blog post, specifically the last line and all that it implies. So I started watching videos with Christopher Hitchens and then reading about near-death experiences and now I’m here, still unsure of what I […]
Yeah, it’s a commercial, and I know that in and of itself will rub some people the wrong way, but I think the commercial part is really downplayed and the message is 100 percent accurate. This is why I read. This is why I write. Happy Friday!
A friend of mine recently told me about an interesting thing she did for her book club. I’d recommended that she read Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. She brought this recommendation to book club and added an interesting element: read A Moveable Feast AND The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, which is written in the voice […]
Whenever I read a book I don’t like, I go to its Amazon page and read the 5- and 4-star reviews and remind myself that mine is just one opinion in a sea of thousands and to get over myself. It gives me hope, actually, since it shows that there’s probably a writer out there […]