I used to be a fan of the notion that no plot was no problem when it came to writing a book. I took part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) because that mantra spoke to me. After all, I was a pantser at the time. I spent that November
Read MoreIf you have completed a first draft of a book, congratulations! That is a huge feat in and of itself. You may be wondering what to do next. Search for agents? Write a query letter? Consider self-publishing on Amazon? Before you do any of those things, I want to draw
Read MoreEverybody wants to be an author. Okay, perhaps that is an overstatement. So, let me try again: A LOT of people want to be an author. I know this because I have had A LOT of people tell me this since I first announced my book deal. I understand this
Read MoreI fail at marinating. Perhaps part of my problem is that I can be bad at planning ahead—blame my type b personality for that one. I can balk at things like meal planning and question the benefit of marinating. It has become such a joke in my family that we
Read MoreLast January, I received the following message from one (of the many!) literary agents I had queried: I finished reading over the holiday and loved your book! Thank you so much for sharing. Before I read again for editorial notes, I wanted to check in to make sure the manuscript
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