The Importance of Sample Chapters

Posted by on Apr 22, 2013 in What I've Been Reading, Writing Life | 5 comments

I love discovering new authors to add to my list of favorites. Since becoming a writer, I’ve probably given more debut authors a chance than I ever did before I began writing for publication. Part of that is due to how many writers I’ve friended on the journey who have published in the time we’ve known each other. But along the way I’ve discovered I really enjoy the freshness new authors bring to a rapidly-changing publishing climate. Also, there’s something fearless in a newer writer’s voice, and it comes across in how they tell stories. This is both in...

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How do we say THANK YOU to the authors we love?

Posted by on Nov 18, 2012 in What I've Been Reading, Writing Life | 6 comments

Before I ever became a writer, I was a reader. And before I ever became a blogger and a tweeter and a frequent visitor of Goodreads, I had no idea how much writers appreciate hearing from readers. So, just in case you are ever wondering: AUTHORS LOVE TO KNOW READERS ARE LOVING THE WORDS THEY SPENT SO MUCH TIME WRITING, REWRITING, CRYING AND PRAYING OVER. As you know, I’ve had an extremely sad year because of this. And one of the things that has gotten me through many rotten days has been the ability to escape into some pretty awesome books. So, for today’s post, I am nothing more...

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Dystopian – Ultimate in Crossover Potential. And some books I’ve been reading, including Divergent by @VeronicaRoth

Posted by on Jul 13, 2012 in What I've Been Reading, Young Adult (for adults, too! :)) | 8 comments

If an adult who doesn’t read much YA literature asked me where to start as far as YA, I’d have to recommend a few of my recent dystopian reads. For some reason, dystopian seems to reach a large audience of many ages and both genders. I’ve read quite a few dystopian novels recently. I mentioned Unwind by Neal Shusterman in this post. Unwind is one of my favorite made-me-think-big-time dystopian novels. And I list a few more further down in today’s post. The thing about dystopian novels I find interesting is that they seem to cross or plow through age barriers. For...

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If I Had One Piece of Advice For Aspiring Authors…

Posted by on May 22, 2012 in Writing Life | 28 comments

I’m no expert (for so many obvious reasons), but I have been asked recently what I think is the most important thing writers should do to become… well… writers. And I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, because I’m constantly wanting to improve my own writing and continue to strive toward some sort of expert status. (Please don’t remind me how far I have to go. It hurts my feelings.) I’ve thought about advice such as: Read and study books on the craft of writing. Blog. Attend conferences. Write. And write daily. Study the industry by reading blogs...

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