The eternally-wise "they" say that you get rejected 99 times before you get a buy in on your novel or submitted piece of work. But even knowing this intellectually, getting a pass on a manuscript still sucks. For me, the first couple were a particular drag. It's like getting dumped after the first date. On … Continue reading Query Rejections
After spending a few years playing around with the idea of writing fantasy (and then writing several fantasy manuscripts that I wound up shelving) I decided to go all in with contemporary YA. I knew by the first outline that I was a stronger writer in contemporary YA, I'm going to credit (blame?) my first … Continue reading Fantasy vs. Contemporary
I've spent the last three weeks off my routine and it's been driving me crazy. I've always been a morning person, preferring to go to bed early and wake up early. Even in high school and college, assignments were completed in the pre-dawn hours, and this was before I liked coffee. The ever-shifting hours of … Continue reading This Writer’s Routine
I write things constantly that the blog gets neglected. Sorry!
As I am currently unrepresented by an agent and editor-less, I have to establish my own deadlines. Here's why this is a challenge: I started my career in news, which consisted of constant deadlines from like, 50 sources. By the time I left news for good a few years ago, I seriously had not ever … Continue reading Deadlines and Due Dates
The first draft of my latest attempt at a novel has (among others) the following characters: A black school shooting survivor A sikh young man A transgender young man A person with Tourtette's Syndrome A domestic violence survivor A hispanic woman with a PhD A lesbian A gay man A black man in the military … Continue reading Writing Marginalized Groups
I set the rather auspicious goal of completing a totally new manuscript over winter break, which was about two weeks. I didn't start from scratch- I had a solid outline I'd been tweaking off and on for a few months and a few thousand words. I figured if I had first mess of a draft … Continue reading Goals: Achieved and Set
A little writing challenge for winter break
After a frankly exhausting series of fiction workshops, I took the summer off and did more or less nothing. I needed it, and I'm glad I did it, although I do wish I had been more productive (but if I had, it wouldn't have been a break, so...) But now, in an attempt to get … Continue reading Flash Fiction in a Flash
After my writer's retreat in late spring, I pretty much stopped doing things. Well, creative things anyway. I stopped writing. Granted, I had just put that final polish on Hot Mess #1, now no longer a hot mess. Hot Mess #2 had its first read-through and has a rat's nest of a plot hole, and … Continue reading Writer’s Lincoln Log
The Merry Manuscript 