A Morning in the Life of a Published Writer

Posted by on Jan 25, 2013 in Writing Life, Young Adult (for adults, too! :)) | 22 comments

My first morning as a published writer: At 5:00 AM this morning, my phone buzzed with a text message alerting me that there would be no school for my children. A “snow” day!!! I fell immediately back to sleep. At 5:20, my daughter’s cat, Olivia (aka KeePoo) bit me. She. Bit. Me! On the hand, right between the thumb and forefinger where you’re most sensitive. While I was sleeping. I don’t know why! She then curled up beside me and went to sleep. (We’ll have to talk about cats in another post – Sheesh!) At 5:29, I realized I couldn’t go back to...

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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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Platform building: Is it impossible for novelists?

Posted by on Jun 4, 2012 in Uncategorized | 14 comments

I received my copy of Michael Hyatt’s Platform Get Noticed in a Noisy World on Friday. And while I have not read the whole book YET, I have watched some of the videos that I received after buying it last week, and glanced through some of the chapters. I am excited about this book. It is filled with encouragement and advice and step-by-step instructions for writers, new and established, to build a platform—a foundation for getting a person’s most passionate message out. And not just writers, other business people as well. However, I’m concerned about something. This is...

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Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and Stephanie Perkins

Posted by on Feb 13, 2012 in What I've Been Reading, Writing Life, Young Adult (for adults, too! :)) | 14 comments

This is more than a book review. This is a story of how I fell in love with a couple of books and the author behind them. And this is a lesson in how much a writer learns simply from reading good books and then stalking the author in blogosphere and on Twitter.  (Not really, but kind of.) You see, I’d seen the cover of Anna and the French Kiss numerous times. I’d come across it on blogs, in the library, and in book stores, and yet, for some reason, I kept passing it by. I have no idea why. No, that’s not true. I know why. Kind of. I liked the cover and I loved the title,...

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