On The West Wing, one of my favorite TV shows, there’s a simple line they use to signal that the president or his staff is ready to move on to the next issue or problem. One of them says, “What’s next?” Well, “What’s next?” is what I’ve been wondering myself for the past couple of […]
query
10 Things I Learned Re-Writing My Novel
I’m happy I finished writing my novel. I really am. But the end of writing meant the beginning of the next part of the process: querying agents. Querying can be… unpleasant. Oh, the actual searching for agents, fine-tuning emails and sending pages is not so bad. But after that comes the waiting. The staring at […]
2015 Writer’s Digest Conference Recap: DIY MFA love!
“I love this so much, I want to cry.” Those were the words running through my head all weekend, as I traversed the halls of the Roosevelt Hotel from conference session to keynote speech to networking event. Not the most poetic thought, maybe, but it echoed what was in my heart. I love writing, talking […]
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 […]
Just Keep Writing
Last week, I was corresponding with a friend and fellow writer whom I met at the Writer’s Digest conference back in August. We were comparing notes on the book-publishing dream; we’re both in the process of seeking agents for our first novels. After catching me up on the agents she’d talked to, the re-write she’d just […]
January “Accept” And Monthly Motto Check-In
SowulWord for 2014: ACCEPT I wish I had started choosing a word for myself years ago. I love, love, love my word for 2014. It has started to feel like a mantra. Whenever I feel frustrated about something, I call on ACCEPT, and it calms me right down. ACCEPT is shorthand for “Is there anything […]