Welcome to the May book review! At the end of each month, I review the books I’ve read. Enjoy! The Book: Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe The Category: Memoir In Three Words: Star-studded. Surprising. Successful. Biggest Takeaway: As I was born in the early 80s, I missed the bubble of idolizing Rob Lowe the teen. I got […]
If I Could Slow Down Time
This weekend I took my son to his favorite playground for the first time this season. Last spring and summer, when I was a stay-at-home mom, we went frequently, sometimes several times a week. Now that I’m a working mom, it’s much harder to find the time or energy after work, and the weekends are often packed […]
How To Brand Yourself As A Writer: Guest Post
I’d like to introduce today’s guest poster, Carol Chiao. Carol and I met at the Writer’s Digest Conference last summer and have kept in touch ever since. I’m excited for her to share her marketing expertise with us today. Writers sometimes complain that branding is a mysterious concept. It doesn’t need to be. Brand encapsulates […]
Finding the Heart
At the close of the writer’s retreat I attended recently, the moderators asked us to look back over our weekend’s work and consider which pieces worked best, and why. I jotted down a few words that described my favorite essays: “family” “relationships” and “love.” Then, reconsidering, I drew a big circle around the word “love,” because […]
The Write and the Re-Write, Part 2
Continued from Part 1… After receiving much helpful feedback on my novel from agents, I had many questions to consider: Should I keep querying and hope another agent would accept the original manuscript? Or should I do an extensive edit? If I were to edit, how much would I change? Which of the agents’ suggestions […]
The Write and the Re-Write, Part 1
In my very first fiction writing class, my teacher mentioned an author he knew who would write an entire first draft of a novel, then erase it- literally delete it from his computer– and start his re-write from scratch. My fellow students and I were appalled. I couldn’t imagine doing all that work and then […]