A couple of weeks ago I mentioned pulling out my plot grid when I was revising a manuscript and promised to talk more about that later. Now that NaNo is finished and many of you have a very rough draft in place, it's key to pull out or create a plot grid.Why have a...
So you’ve written the story of your dreams. You’ve stamped your soul’s signature onto it. With all your heart, you believe it’s publishable, unique and marketable. It just has one itsy problem. It’s a big fat mess. Yep. That’s me with my latest WIP. It’s a new series...
I've been tagged by Justina Ireland, author of upcoming VENGEANCE BOUND, and Tara Gallina.I'm supposed to answer all kinds of questions about the book I'm working on. I'm actually working on two other projects, one a sequel to GILDED, and another is a dystopic...
The other day, I was sitting on the sidelines watching my son's soccer practice. On the field behind me a football coach was yelling at his players, saying, "If you're not sweating, you're not working hard enough!"My first thought was, “Man, I’m glad you’re not my...
Over at the MiGs, I wrote a post called After the Book Deal- The First 3 Months, which will end up being a series on things you can do after you get your book deal. The whole process can be daunting and you might wonder, where do I begin? Hopefully this series, After...
Every day we as writers face fears. Fear of rejection, fear of reviews, fear you'll never land an agent or editor, fear that your next book won't sell, fear your agent or editor won't approve those edits. The list is endless. But the only way to overcome those fears...
This weekend has been overwhelming. I've been blown away by the well-wishes on Facebook and Twitter, the emails and blog posts. It's moments like these that all the years of late-night writing, tears over rejections and fighting self-doubt become worth it. I'm so...
Finally, finally I can scream from my rooftop that I've got a book deal! I've been keeping this little secret for a hundred years now. (Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration).I am so pleased to announce that my young adult paranormal, GILDED, sold to Amazon...
During the SCBWI conference in Orlando, FL, I also attended the Young Adult workshop. This was led by Noa Wheeler, editor for Henry Holt, and Nancy Werlin, bestselling author of numerous books including Extraordinary. These two ladies did an excellent job exploring...
Every secret has a price… I’m very pleased to welcome Elaine Wolf today. She has offered to share her thoughts on her publishing journey and what inspired her to write her book, CAMP, published by Sky Pony Press (an imprint of SkyhorsePublishing). This YA novel...