As glorious spring arrived here in midcoast Maine, my writing mojo was stuck, frozen in the deep winter of “you are never going to get out of this place, lady.”
I’m drafting, so I told myself that I should be comfortable with the world of incompletely formed story pieces, plot holes, etc. But the perfectionist part of my brain was clearly NOT.
Read MoreOver last summer and early fall I was mostly focused on querying my first MG novel. My mind was entirely focused on the status of my queries to agents, and I am embarrassed to admit I spent a ridiculous amount of time staring at timelines on QueryTracker — A TOOL THAT IS BOTH A BLESSING AND A CURSE!
As a first-timer in the query trenches, I think I did a pretty good job of preparation, but definitely learned some lessons. It should be stated, regardless of how obvious, that everyone’s querying path looks a little diffrent. Truly, I have yet to hear two “path to publishing” stories that are identical! However, now looking in the rearview mirror after a few rounds of querying and dozens upon dozens of rejection under my belt, I thought it might be helpful to share what I think went well and what might be tweaked in my next round.
Read MoreI have edited, parsed, cajoled, scrubbed, erased, scribbled, cross-checked, eliminated, fretted about, read aloud, and examined my manuscript more times than I can count. I have worked with beta readers, sensitivity readers, whale experts and on-demand fishing folks. I have made the leap in my thinking: now is the time.
Time to jump in. Into the query trenches I go!
Read MoreOnce upon a time I knew the alphabet by cryptic abbreviations, otherwise known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet (I had to look that up, which is how long it’s been since I’ve used it).
Now I’m learning the alphabet soup of the publishing industry. Every sector has its jargon, and the book writing and publishing world is no different. No, cheddar is not publishing industry jargon. But really, writers, what comes after beta? Cheese seems like an obvious option, IMHO.
Read MoreSpring is springing, the birds are singing, and I am getting serious about writing routines. My absolutely favorite time of the week is the morning I have scheduled with my dear friend and fellow writer to do this hard, wonderful thing TOGETHER.
Here’s what that looks like: we sign on to zoom, we catch up, we talk about what we’re struggling with in our writing (there’s always something), and then we simply WRITE. On mute. No cheating.
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